Leaders and managers need to think beyond the team and facilitate the emergence of a broader capacity for organizational agility. Such a capacity cannot be managed or regulated into existence; such a capacity can only really be catalyzed.
This presentation deck (revised from a presentation given at Agile2012) makes the case for a broader notion of organizational agility, and describes what it's like to manage and lead in ways that catalyze its emergence.
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• These mental models determine the decisions we make, the plans we administer, the management structures we put in place, and the styles of leadership we believe to be effec1ve.
• And these mental models are largely invisible to us
Cynefin model provides a set of explicitly defined mental models—or ‘filters’-‐-‐through which we might produc1vely observe and think about organiza1onal phenomena.
In an agile organiza1on, the job of leadership and management shiHs from managing individuals and teams to managing, and con1nuously improving, the organiza1onal environments in which individuals and teams operate.
View of Leadership Agility in Pivotal Conversa=ons
Agility in Leading Teams
Agility in Leading Organiza=onal
Change
Tactical, problem solving orientation
Believes that leaders are respected and followed by others because of their Authority and Expertise.
Style is either to strongly assert opinions or to hold back to accommodate others. May swing back from one style to the other, particularly for different relationships. Tends to avoid giving or requesting feedback.
More of a supervisor than a manager. Creates a group of individuals rather than a team. Work with direct reports is primarily one-on-one. Too caught up in the details of own work to lead in a strategic manner.
Organizational initiatives focus primarily on incremental improvements inside unit boundaries with little attention to stakeholders.
Bill Joiner, Stephen Josephs, Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change
View of Leadership Agility in Pivotal Conversa=ons
Agility in Leading Teams
Agility in Leading Organiza=onal
Change
Strategic, outcome orientation
Believes that leaders motivate others by making it challenging and satisfying to contribute to larger objectives.
Primarily Assertive or accommodating with some ability to compensate with the less preferred style. Will accept or even initiate feedback, if helpful in achieving desired outcomes.
Operates like a full-fledged manager. Meetings to discuss important strategic or organizational issues are often orchestrated to gain buy-in to own views.
Organizational initiatives include analysis of external environment. Strategies to gain stakeholder buy-in range from one-way communication to soliciting input.
Bill Joiner, Stephen Josephs, Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change
View of Leadership Agility in Pivotal Conversa=ons
Agility in Leading Teams
Agility in Leading Organiza=onal
Change
Visionary, facilitative orientation
Believes that leaders articulate an innovative, inspiring vision and bring together the right people to transform the vision into reality. Leaders empower others and actively facilitate their development.
Adept at balancing assertive and accommodating styles as needed in particular situations. Likely to articulate and question underlying assumptions. Genuinely interested in learning from divers viewpoints. Proactive in seeking and utilizing feedback.
Intent upon creating a highly participative team. Acts as team leader and facilitator. Models and seeks open exchange of views on difficult issues. Empowers direct reports. Uses team development as a vehicle for leadership development.
Organizational initiatives often include development of a culture that promotes teamwork, participation, and empowerment. Proactive engagement with diverse stakeholders reflects a belief that input increases the quality of decisions, not just buy-in.
From Bill Joiner, Stephen Josephs, Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change, p. 8.
“During the early 1980s, a series of academic studies produced statistically significant correlations, showing that the capacities managers develop at the more advanced stages carry over into the way they exercise leadership. These studies also found that, in the great majority of cases, catalytic managers are more effective than conventional managers.
Why? Because they are more strategic in their thinking, more collaborative, more proactive in seeking feedback, more effective in resolving conflicts, more active in developing subordinates, and more likely to redefine problems to capitalize on the connections between them.”
Correlation of Stages to Managerial Styles
Source: Bill Joiner, Stephen Josephs, Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change, pp. viii-ix
• Leaders and managers need to think beyond the team and facilitate the emergence of a broader capacity for organiza7onal agility.
• Such a capacity cannot be managed or regulated into existence; such a capacity can only really be catalyzed.
• By focusing on the broader organiza1onal environment, managers find important design points of leverage.
• Managing through the design of environments creates condi1ons that favor the emergence of par1cular, desired organiza1onal capabili1es and, therefore, behaviors.
• Managing for the emergence of organiza1onal agility is an inherently complex task, calling for a cataly7c approach to leadership and management.