Agile Leadership, Soft Skills, and the Incarnation of Christ.
How the Incarnation of Christ reminds us of the skills that matter most at work, home, and in life.
COVID-19 and the impact it is having on our work and home lives are still being felt — positive and negative from more and deeper time with family to jobs lost and anxiety on the rise. As businesses slowly reopen and Americans prepare to either return to work or look for work, one major question looms in the back of my mind: what skills really matter, now?
What skills should our work culture value more or less? What skills make a job seeker more hireable and desirable in light of COVID-19? What skills should Christ-followers hone and sharpen in the workplace? How can pastors and spiritual leaders let the fruits of the Spirit and the qualities of the incarnate Christ change the narrative in the growing “soft skills” conversation? How does Jesus help us gain more emotional intelligence? How can leaders learn to be more agile in their faith at home and at work? How can overwhelmed parents discover the traits to foster in their children at home and for entering the future workforce and world?
I want to tackle these questions by unpacking the simple definition of the word “agile” through an acronym I have created out of the same word.
Agile:
- able to move quickly and easily; “Ruth was as agile as a monkey”; synonyms: nimble, lithe, supple, limber, acrobatic, fleet-footed, light-footed, light on one’s feet;
There has been a shift in recent years towards a more agile style of project management, especially in the field of software development and product design. Agile or lean management is a method of managing projects through incremental tasks and constant assessment and reassessment. It takes a more nimble approach to function as a team. It builds flexibility into a team’s systems and processes and allows for more iterations of design and development. It requires innovation, authenticity, openness, collaboration, and some would even say some generosity and empathy.
I am not a software developer by any stretch of the word. I am however interested and passionate about soft skills. Soft skills are intangible, interpersonal skills involving how a person interacts effectively with other people through communication, social skills, or a high emotional intelligence quotient (EQ). On the flip side, hard skills utilize teachable, tangible, measurable skills like reading, writing, math, software development, or a high intelligence quotient (IQ). Both are equally important and valuable but one is often overlooked.
I think hard skills people can improve their soft skills and soft skills people can improve their hard skills. The two overlap often. Each person can learn from the other.
I think there is more room for agile-styled skills and methods of managing that can inform leadership; especially in light of COVID-19. And to be clear and honor Simon Sinek’s philosophy, “you don’t manage people you lead people”. I think every leader can learn to be more agile not just in their hard skills but also their soft skills in how they lead their home and workplace — from children to colleagues.
I think every leader can learn to be more agile not just in their hard skills but also their soft skills.
To play off of the word AGILE and to help both soft skills and hard skills people strive to understand and learn from each other more, I’ve developed the following acronym:
A.G.I.L.E: Aware, Generous, Innovative, Learning, Empathetic.
The AGILE leader is one who is a bit more balanced in both hard and soft skills taking the best of both and building on their strengths while improving their weaknesses.
I have thought long and hard about this definition as well as strategically and carefully chosen each word on purpose. This type of leader is one I strive to be not just in hard and soft skills for my job but in other areas of life including family, parenting, civic duties, and social engagement. Striving to be more of an A.G.I.L.E leader can help anyone become a better leader, a more effective worker, and a more well-rounded human being. As a Christ-follower, I can see an overlap in these soft skills with the traits of Jesus and the fruits of the Spirit in the Bible (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, self-control).
The A.G.I.L.E Leader
A — Aware
Self-awareness and authenticity have almost become trends in the last few years. With the increase of social media engagement and platform options, it becomes harder for users to not only stay authentic but become more self-aware. It’s hard to stay authentic because it’s easy to hide behind a digital profile or avatar version of our true human selves. It’s hard to become more self-aware because the lines are blurring between our digital self and our human self. Which one is real? Who should I be? Who am I really?
The leader that is working to become more self-aware will be empowered to be more authentic; online and offline. When a leader is unaware of self and inauthentic, it is destructive to both herself and the people she is leading.
This applies to brands too. From the style and visual imagery of a brand online and in social media to the tone of voice and approach to messaging. If a brand wants to be more H2H in its business approach (human to human), it must be led by leaders who are self-aware and dangerously authentic. Fake and blind leaders make bad branders and lead to a bad brand. A brand that won’t be trusted, won’t be followed and ultimately won’t be sustained by profits.
Know yourself. Then be yourself. Period.
Jesus led by example in this area as he was fully aware of himself and his identity. He led his followers with a keen sense of awareness of his own identity the ever-changing needs of those whom he came to serve and save. Every follower of Christ should strive to follow Jesus’ lead by leaning into a Spirit-driven self-awareness and others-attentiveness.
G — Generous
We all have our moments of generosity don’t we? Typically when it serves our own personal and self-interests. This is true of both leaders and brands. Here, I’m defining selfishness as the opposite of generosity. I’ve seen selfishness all too much both as an entrepreneur running my business’ social media, to a customer on social media, to a startup founder responsible for our brand voice to now being an intrapreneur doing innovation from within a company. How are brands and leaders selfish? Anywhere they place the advancement of their own profits over the advantage of their own customer. And, it happens in more subtle and crafty ways too.
I’m speaking about an extreme approach to social media that places more value on strategy than on generosity (or building trust). For example, I’ve seen brands so stingy with their RTs (retweets) on Twitter simply because it wouldn’t align with their strategy. Or leaders get Tweeted at or mentioned only to never reply or RT back. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of how to effectively use Twitter and engage with your loyal tribe. Or a brand that spends 80% of its content on Facebook and Instagram hard selling and 20% adding relevant and generous value. This is backward. A brand should sell 20% of the time (brand-focused content, products, services, coupons) and generously give relevant value 80% of the time. This is not rocket science. And, there’s no perfect formula to the above equation. The point is, no one likes to record a 30-minute t.v. show so they can enjoy five minutes of the show and 25 minutes of commercials.
You want to build your brand and make your business more profitable? Get to know your customers. Know their pains and joys. Know their ins and outs. Know their fears and dreams. Then, as you get to know them to be kind to them and relate to them as humans; don’t leverage that knowledge so you can simply sell to them. So when it comes to your Twitter philosophy, yes, strategically follow people that align with your vision and interests. But, step beyond your strategy and be more generous. Tweet more generously. ReTweet others’ content. Reply often. Tag individuals and brands. Mention liberally. This will only prove to build your brand, deepen your tribe’s trust, increase engagement, and eventually better your bottom line.
Beyond just being generous online and through social media, generous leaders must be generous with the people they lead and work with. Give time. Give energy. Give space. Give feedback. Give passion. Give encouragement. Give praise. Give more than you give yourself. This will fundamentally change a person and a brand’s culture into a culture of strategic generosity.
The same is true in how we lead and shepherd our homes, workplaces, and church communities. Are we giving as generously as Jesus has given to us? With our time, talents, and tools? We should lead the way in generosity and not just on Sundays but every day of the week. When nobody is looking and no one stands to gain a thing in return. This radical generosity will leave a lasting impact on our homes and workplaces that will far outlive us.
I — Innovative
Innovation is on the rise; or at least the conversation around it is. Keep in mind, it’s one thing to look innovative; it’s another thing to actually be innovative. Innovation is not simply reserved for those in IT or building technology. Every industry, company, business, institution, process, system, product, service, and person is ripe for innovation. The question is not “will you innovate” but “are you innovating”? Leaders are no exception. For a leader to always be innovating, especially agile leaders, they must be aware of three days of innovation:
- TODAY: how well are they currently innovating?
- YESTERDAY: where have they failed to innovate?
- TOMORROW: how can they begin innovating with an eye toward the horizon of the future?
Innovative leaders, much like agile leaders, always have a keen self-awareness of the people, processes, and products they are innovating. They ask lots of self-reflective questions about how to do things better, cheaper, faster, smarter. They know that innovation does not survive and thrive in silos but requires creative collaboration. Innovative leaders are not satisfied with “business as usual” but looking to disrupt how, where, what, when, and why things are done.
Innovative leaders are not satisfied with “business as usual” but looking to disrupt how, where, what, when and why things are done.
Jesus primarily taught by asking questions. His approach often bucked the status quo, pushed against the “way things have always been” mentality and led his followers and enemies to ask about the “why?” behind everything. Jesus was a cultural disruptor and an innovator not just in what he did but what he did, why he did it, how he did it, and who he did it with. As the Creator made flesh, innovation was in his DNA and if we belong to him, we should pray for the Spirit to foster that in us too. He was in the people-changing business and essentially spent his time making people new. We have the power to do the same if we trust him and empower his people to do likewise.
L — Learning
I’m naturally curious. Always have been since I was a kid. Questions. Thoughts. Wondering mind and wandering legs. Always moving. Always thinking. Always in learning mode. A leader is only as good as he is curious. A leader who knows-it-all doesn’t.
A leader who knows-it-all, doesn’t.
Learning leaders are always in learning mode. Even when they are teaching others how to learn they are still seeking to learn themselves. The leaders I remember and respect the most who had the deepest influence on me were those who didn’t always have all the answers and often answered questions with “I don’t know”. Or, they would ask more questions than they would offer answers. This shaped me into a deep thinker and questioner my whole life. To a fault I ask lots of questions including “why do you think that?” or “that’s fascinating where does that come from?”. This only piques my curiosity more and leads me deeper into the adventure of learning. Call it deep learning, almost like deep work: deep diving into a topic or thought with single-minded focus until I’ve explored all the depths I can. Leaders who lead with curiosity and a genuine desire to learn about other people, other viewpoints, and other ways of doing things become more knowledgeable and valuable to their team and company.
As followers of our master, rabbi, and teacher, Jesus Christ, we should have a spirit of “always-learning” as he did. Jesus embodied grace and truth, but he would always place himself in a position to listen, learn, and serve others. Not because he didn’t know, but to exegete his people in order to best serve their needs in a way that met them in their context. Too often we chase knowledge and truth at the expense of truly learning others and letting the stories of their lives teach us.
E — Empathetic
Empathy means more than just seeking to understand another person. It’s leaning in so close to the life of another person that you can’t help but experience their life as they do: joys, pains, fears, dreams, strengths, weaknesses, goods, bads, ups, downs, etc. It’s not learning about someone but learning them. Not information but revelation. It’s a genuine desire to truly know another person. Leaders who lack empathy in the way they work or function in a team have lost their ability to relate as a human to other humans. It’s true in relationships and in business. If you don’t empathize with your significant other, you won’t know them and they won’t feel known or loved. If you don’t empathize with your customer, they won’t trust you enough to pay you to solve their problems.
At its core, business is about people. And the essence of doing business is solving real problems of real people. Not avatars. Not users. Not profiles. Not Average Joe and Normal Nancy. Human beings who have pains that need relieving.
At it’s core, business is about people. And the essence of doing business is solving real problems of real people.
An agile leader leads with the customer in mind through every decision. A brand is nothing without its loyal tribe of customers. And a tribe won’t be loyal without a brand that doesn’t empathize with their pains, problems, and needs. Good leaders seek to empathize with their people and their customers to make them feel valued, prized and empowered to do business. This creates trust. Trust deepens loyalty. Loyalty leads to transactions.
Empathy was a major way that Jesus loved on his followers and the people he served. Jesus is the greatest human example of empathy imaginable: leaving his throne in heaven to become human, to relate to man and woman directly by becoming like us in every way. That is true empathy. As the Message says in John 1, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” I love that: moved into the neighborhood! If we want to get to know our friends, neighbors, church community, city, customers, we ought to be willing to move into their neighborhood. To feel what it feels to be them. To think what it thinks to be them. A healthy marriage and an effective parent alike can learn the power of empathy to love their spouse or child in the most powerful way.
Conclusion
I’ve used the AGILE leader not as a flawless model but merely as a guide to lead me and a goal to strive for. I believe that these five character qualities are key to becoming a more agile leader in both soft skills and hard skills in where we live, work, and play: Aware, Generous, Innovative, Learning, and Empathetic.
Because when we believe in every area of life, faith works.
Originally published on LinkedIn as, “The A.G.I.L.E Leader | On becoming a more nimble leader.” https://www.linkedin.com.
