How Do I Become an Agile Leader?

Step 1: Spark Agile Leadership Awareness

The first step toward agile leadership is developing awareness of your own thinking, feeling, focus and behavior and how those impact you and others around you. Everyone projects an impression which extends beyond themself and whether they have a purpose behind it or not, its influencing others. The more you can recognize and harness that energy, the more effective you will be as a leader.

Three ways to spark awareness: focus, education and assessment.

Focus

You can improve your self-awareness through direct focus on yourself. Your focus on work, your focus on others, and your focus on the horizon shape your priorities and influence others in positive and negative ways.

Education

Your leadership paths are limited by your awareness of those paths. And while focusing on yourself is useful, it is also limited by your own bias and knowledge. Adding to your library of knowledge will increase your options and accelerate your (re)learning cycle. Explore Agile Leadership Education

Assessment

One of the most powerful ways to learn about yourself is through a 360 Agile Leadership Assessment. This matches your own perspectives to others you engage with as peers, subordinates and superiors at work. And while there are dozens of 360 Leadership Assessments available, one focused on agile leadership thinking, focus and behaviors will help guide your journey. Explore Agile Leadership Assessment

Step 2: Develop Agile Leadership Competency

The second step toward agile leadership effectiveness is transitioning your learning toward competency. Most leaders think at least one stage ahead of their behaviors. Thus, while you have read and understand various leadership topics, likely your own brain is tricking you into thinking you are actually applying those techniques, when in fact others are perceiving something very different.

Developing agile leadership competencies requires resolve, practice and feedback.

Resolve to Grow

Developing leadership competency requires more than learning and experience, it requires disciplined practice. Studies across multiple fields from music to sports to leadership have shown that practice alone will not lead to growth. It requires resolve and discipline.

Virtuoso violinist Nathan Milstein once became concerned as others around him practiced all day long, so he asked his teacher how many hours he should practice. His teacher told him it really didn’t matter. If he practiced with his fingers, no amount was enough. If he practiced with his head, two hours was plenty.

Practice

With music and sports there is a clear understanding and expectation between practice and performance. In fact, practice outweighs performance about 10 to 1 in these disciplines. Yet, with leadership it is likely the reverse, if not worse. When, as leaders, do you practice? When do you have time? It seems we are always “in the game”.

And while explicit practice programs will help develop leadership competency, learning to practice in real-time at work and home is a key competency of agile leaders. Every situation is an opportunity to practice with the right resolve, focus and reflection.

Feedback

With high-transparency fields such as sports and music, practicing, coaching and feedback are critical to success. A failed or even sub-par performance is sure to be seen and have a significant negative impact. Thus, preparation and development prior to the visible performance are critical. With leadership, our failures and sub-par performances are often hidden within the organization, yet the impact can be just as negative. Are you receiving the feedback you need to hear? Not likely.

Agile leaders create a culture where feedback is valued, encouraged, and open. They model giving constructive feedback and receiving it with praise. They are open to coaching and provide coaching opportunities for others to learn and grow.

Step 3: Build a Habit of (Re)Learning

The third and final step toward agile leadership effectiveness is recognizing that your learning and relearning is never done. Past performance does not predict future results. In fact, past performance and experience cloud our openness to a new and dynamic future. Our brains value the ease of what worked in the past over having to learn new ways of thinking, feeling and behaving.

Agile leaders develop a habit of discovery, learning and growing.

They are never done.

This is the essence of a growth mindset.