What are your companies' true colors? - 9 ways Agile leadership helps to overcome rough times
Command and control is not the answer
When times are good, it is easier for organizations to see the benefits of agile leadership. They can capitalize on the positive environment to foster collaboration, and creativity and ensure trust. In a thriving organization, people can blossom. This can push the organization to new heights.
But what happens with agility when times get rough? Many organizations do away with Agile as it is seen as unsuited for the rough times when painful decisions are required. But this is a huge mistake.
When an Agile way of working is part of the company culture, people will not recognize their leaders when they switch into command and control mode. This will highly impact the trust.
The damaged trust results in confusion, low morale, increased stress, decreased engagement, poor decision-making, innovation stagnation and lower efficiency and effectiveness. Abandoning a well-established leadership approach will bring the company in a downward spiral.
The good news is that agile organizations can overcome rough times without abandoning their identity. In this article, I will present 9 ways to do this.
1. Show empathy and provide support
If leaders want to sail the organization through rough times, they need to have and show empathy to the people. They have to recognize that rough times can be stressful and challenging.
They should also offer support. Personal check-ins on people’s well-being can go a long way. So does a focus on work-life balance to avoid burnout.
2. Lead by example
Leaders who wish to see a certain behaviour from their professionals must lead by example. This means that they should show these desired behaviours and attitudes as well.
Leading by example helps to build trust, encourages the desired behaviour and attitude and fosters an agile culture.
It is about actually doing what you expect from others as well. It includes elements like:
Honesty and integrity.
Being visible and approachable.
Communication.
Accountability.
Transparency.
Empathy and respect.
Learning and development.
Work-life balance.
Inclusion.
3. Be transparent
Transparency through open and honest communication is vital to building trust. It shows the people that you take them seriously. On top of that, by being transparent you allow them to bring ideas to the table you would never think of yourself.
Transparency is another element to fostering continuous learning and enabling effective adaptation to overcome rough times.
4. Have a clear vision to overcome the difficulties
In an agile organization, leaders have a clear vision of the company’s future state. This vision works as the north star for the teams to decide what they need to do to contribute to achieving this goal.
The same is still true when the company needs to overcome difficulties. Perhaps even more so. Establishing a clear vision to overcome the difficulties will allow teams to focus on this despite their challenges.
5. Involve the teams
The organization has many professionals who can contribute in many ways to face the challenges. There are numerous benefits to involving the teams:
It will help create a sense of ownership (we are all in this together, and we are getting out of this together).
It will help bring all important information to the table raising understanding of what to do.
It will help reduce resistance as people know they are being taken seriously.
6. Ensure alignment
Having a clear vision is important, but the next step is to ensure teams are aligned with this vision. Leaders can achieve this by facilitating the teams to ensure their goals help reach the company objectives and overcome difficulties.
Another aspect of alignment is to have regular moments of reflection to assess how the organization and the teams individually are doing in their effort to overcome hardships.
The organization’s agility comes to life when leaders and the teams assess their progress, allowing them to gain the latest insights that inform them what best to do next.
7. Embrace Change
Navigating an organization out of rough times is a complex endeavour. It, therefore, makes no sense to create a rigid plan to follow. Instead leaders and teams should take their learnings to change direction and optimize the chances of reaching their goals.
8. Understand and address resistance
When the organization is going through rough times, some of the changes will not make everyone happy. People may resist these changes. The worst thing to do is to ignore apprehension and resistance.
Agile leaders should be able to detect this early as they openly communicate with their professionals. This allows them to address it through open dialogue, understanding the root causes, and working collaboratively to find solutions.
When leaders show they take people with doubts seriously, aiming to come to a solution, this will help build trust.
9. Letting go of people with respect
All the points discussed above also apply to handling the difficult issue of letting go of people. When an organization is in trouble, people will understand that some necessary measures will be painful when you take them seriously, inform them, align them and involve them.
Showing compassion and respect and minimizing the negative impact on the affected individuals and the remaining people go a long way. It is important to acknowledge the emotional impact of the layoffs and be empathetic and understanding in all communications.
To help the affected people, leaders can ensure support such as outplacement services and job search assistance.
End note
During rough times, an organization and its leaders show their true colours. Your people will not understand a sudden switch in leadership style from agile leadership to top-down management. It will not only affect the improvement journey. It will also have a long-lasting impact. Once the sky has cleared and leadership turns “agile” again, the trust will get a final blow. No one wants to work with turncloaks.
It is good style to word this challenging topic in a positive way!