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Developing Agile Leaders
Carrie Foster
IntroducIng AgIle leAdershIp
The context in which organizations operate is under-
going continuous and multifaceted change. In addition
to the rising levels of political uncertainty, megatrends
such as changing demographics, digital technology,
global competition, and shifting business model design
mean organizations are experiencing unpredictable cus-
tomer demands, increased complexity, an overload of
information, and stretched resources. The ability to con-
tinuously change and be effective in leading through
change will be the key to sustainable organizational per-
formance. To survive in the environment leaders must
become agile in both thought and practice.
Depending on the school of thought ascribed to,
leadership is either something you are born with or
it is something that can be developed. Understanding
whether a leader is born or made is not the intention of
this article, instead what will be explored are the compo-
nents of Agile Leadership and how a leader can develop
agility.
Modes of Leadership
Wilkinson (2006) is often associated with a model
Carrie Foster, specialises in the of agile leadership. His research explored the idea
facilitation of coaching, people of problem-solving success by leaders in their deci-
management and Organization sion making in ambiguous situations. The six-year
Development interventions that study found that even though 81 percent of solutions
deliver added value and a measurable failed, were abandoned, or led to severe consequences,
ROI to bottom line performance. 96.2 percent of leaders believed that their problem
Creative, fun and engaging she is
dedicated to enabling people to have solving was successful, and failure could not be attrib-
the courage to overcome obstacles uted to them. The study concluded that leaders create
to perform in order to deliver the more problems than they solve when engaged in prob-
organisation’s purpose and strategy. lem solving. Dubs (1935) described this phenomenon
as the paradox of certainty. Assured problem solving by
leaders occurs because they believe they have clarity
of what the problem is. This conviction results in lead-
ers believing they can safely ignore certain information
while focusing on what they believe is a priority, there-
fore resorting to outdated thinking patterns, established
control mechanisms, and rationale based on familiar
ideas of cause and effect. The aversion that most leaders
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Developing Agile Leaders
have toward ambiguity when attempting to how the leader currently sees reality. The
make a decision means that they stop seek- leader challenges their existing mode of
ing more information, avoid curiosity, and thinking and broadens their framing of the
rely on known paradigms. However, in an perceived problem. Therefore, developing
ambiguous and complex environment this a revised perception of the problem results
certainty results in higher levels of risk, in an original or generative solution.
because there is a collapse in the relation-
ship between cause and effect and ignor- Leadership on the Line
ing uncertainty. Bypassing the search for Heifelz and Linsky (2002) suggested that
new understanding leads to poor solutions leaders adopt a revised perception in re-
and decision making. The result is that the sponse to the dangers of leading in an
leaders misjudge the internal and external ambiguous organizational environment, of-
forces the organization is facing, which in fering a framework for adaptive leadership
turn reflects a profound ignorance of the to help leaders and organizations mobilize
organizational environment. The reliance employees to undertake the necessary ac-
on certainty culminates in a failure to dis- tions required to find solutions and prog-
cuss the advantages and disadvantages of a ress. They suggested that leaders maintain
particular solution before initiating action the capacity for reflection by “getting off the
and, once action is taken, unanticipated dance floor and going to the balcony” by:
events will force the plan off course. ■ Distinguishing between technical and
adaptive challenges—when all the con-
Wilkinson (2006) offers four modes of trol mechanisms and technical fixes have
leadership: been exhausted and the problem still ex-
1. Technical Leadership—Comfortable ists, then an adaptive challenge requires
with standardized procedures and being behavioral change and shifting mental
certain about their certainty paradigms.
2. Cooperative Leadership—Tries to reduce ■ Find out where people are at— connecting
ambiguity and conflict through coopera- with people within the organization to
tive problem solving to minimize risks have clarity on where the organizational
3. Collaborative Leadership—Recognizes population currently resides on the issue
ambiguity and develops consensus to and how to move forward.
solve ambiguity and restore order ■ Listen to the song beneath the words—
4. Generative Leadership—Works to un- understand what are symptoms and ex-
derstand ambiguity and complexity to amine the system to find the real cause.
define problems and innovate. Agile and ■ Read the behavior of authority fig-
change orientated, engaging in learn- ures—recognize the impact of the ac-
ing and unlearning in order to gain an tions of those in authority and consider
advantage. the organizational political landscape in-
Generative leadership, therefore, intro- cluding opponents and possible alliances
duces the idea of an adaptive and agile to strengthen leadership initiatives. Ac-
leader who spends time on understanding knowledge any personal responsibility in
the issue and is comfortable with ambigu- creating the problem.
ity. The focus is on developing a realis- Heifelz and Linsky (2002) go on to say
tic perception of a problem as opposed to that, “exercising leadership is a way of giv-
moving quickly into decision and solution ing meaning to your life by contributing to
mode. Instead of relying on existing con- the lives of others.” On the basis of a simple
trol mechanisms, which solve a known process of observation, interpretation, and
cause and effect, generative leadership intervention, the activities of the leader are
begins with developing an awareness of weighted toward exploration, collection of
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Developing Agile Leaders
Figure 1: Framework for Agile Leadership
data, and diagnosis to improve the leader- others to adopt a tenacious and positive re-
ship perspective as opposed to jumping in sponse to the demands of a complex organiza-
to take immediate corrective action. Fur- tional environment. (See Figure 1.)
thermore, the focus is on moving people This article seeks to provide a frame-
forward, dealing with fear and understand- work for leaders to develop their agility
ing the human impact that corrective ac- and resilience while learning from setback
tion will have. and enhancing their capacity to act.
A Definition of Agile Leadership Summary
Like many words in management, agility ■ The ability to continuously change and be
has been co-opted from the world of sport. effective in leading through change will
But, again like many words borrowed by be the key to sustainable organizational
business, it is a term used with little un- performance.
derstanding of what it really means and no ■ Leaders must become agile in both thought
singular definition. The Oxford English Dic- and practice.
tionary defines agility as the “ability to move ■ Assured problem solving by leaders occurs
quickly and easily” or “the ability to think because they believe they have clarity of
and understand quickly,” which seems sim- what the problem is.
ple enough. In a fast-moving quickly chang- ■ The paradox of certainty results in leaders
ing business environment, the ability to believing they can safely ignore certain
think, understand, and take action quickly information, leading to misjudgment of
is surely a good thing. However, the liter- the internal and external forces the orga-
ature on agile leadership develops a more nization is facing.
holistic concept, taking into account lead- ■ Adaptive leadership is focused on moving
ership vision, systems thinking, critical people forward, dealing with fear and un-
thinking, creativity, emotional intelligence, derstanding the human impact that cor-
tolerance of ambiguity, flexibility, and bold- rective action will have.
ness. For the purposes of this article, an Ag-
ile Leader will be defined as: the need for AgIlIty
An authentic and humble individual who Many researchers have attempted to ex-
is receptive to ambiguity and connects with plain leadership culture, and for the most
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Developing Agile Leaders
part leadership models are useful in ex- Management all cover that complexity and
plaining the behaviors and attitudes of yet miss it completely. Change is not only
leaders within an organizational context, inevitable; it is present all the time. Blink
often supported by examples of leaders, and the opportunity or challenge has been
who are successful or not. Perhaps a perti- missed, and before the leader can catch up
nent question to ask is whether today’s or- with it, something else is piling down the
ganizational context is really any different alley ready to knock over the unsuspecting
in terms of leadership challenges from pre- and the game is lost.
vious eras. Certainly some things remain Dramatic? No. Technology is changing
the same. People need leading, engaging, so fast that by the time the wrapping has
and motivating, and human beings are still been taken off the hardware it is redun-
human beings with all the complexities and dant. The technology that was once the
idiosyncrasies. Organizations need to meet future is now reaching the apex of its ca-
the needs of their customers while mak- pacity and new thinking is required. What
ing sure that more income is being gener- is left is less about what technology the or-
ated than money is leaving the business, ganization uses, or even how it does busi-
and preferably at a faster rate. Competitors ness as a result of technological capacity.
will continue to compete and suppliers will The difference between success and failure
always be looking to get the most money no longer rests on the scientific manage-
they can for their goods and services. In- ment approaches of great processes and
ternational affairs have an impact on the efficiency; these are now basic necessities
supply of goods and the markets in which for survival and not differentiators in the
organizational services and goods can be marketplace. Quite simply, if an organiza-
sold, and government will develop rules tion isn’t organized, it will fail. However,
and regulations in response to market fail- that said there are plenty of technological
ures. In these ways the challenges and op- advances, which means that getting orga-
portunities for leaders remain the same as nized doesn’t take a genius, just adopting
when the Roman Empire existed. tried and tested practices. Rather the great-
What perhaps separates the present or- est change in the organizational environ-
ganizational environment from previous ment is what technology has done to the
eras is the speed and diversity of change way people think about and interact with
that leaders need to contend with. In pre- organizations. It is no longer about bargain-
vious eras perhaps they needed to under- ing power or threat; positive forces or nega-
stand what their biggest competitor was up tive force, rather the new reality is about
to, and what their customer wanted, and connection, interconnection, interdepen-
on occasion changing commodity prices dence, and dependence. (See Figure 2.)
that would impact their supply chain. Cata-
strophic change would occur in industries Connection
infrequently, driven by political shifts or a Seeking purposeful existence isn’t limited
leap in technology that was a game changer, to those with a religious faith. It is the cen-
but rarely enough that when it did happen ter of what makes us human. Maslow’s
the organizational challenge was felt across Hierarchy of Needs (1943) may be a bit tired
the industry. Today the management mod- when discussing employee motivation, but
els taught in business schools such as Por- he did identify the need for purposeful en-
ters Model of Industry Rivalry, offering deavor. Organizations are constructed by
up five forces of bargaining power of sup- the way people who are connected with it
plier, bargaining power of buyers, threat discuss why it exists and what it is seek-
of substitutes, threat of entry and industry ing to achieve. If people share the organi-
rivalry, PESTLE, SWOT, and Stakeholder zational purpose then they are connected
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