Leadership in Agile Organizations: Leading by example

Agile way of working, agile organization, Scrum, squads, Holacracy, whatever it’s called in your organization and whatever shape it takes: working in a new way requires a new leadership style. In a series of articles, I will take you on a journey through the subject of leadership in agile organizations.

Not unlike raising children

To start smoking or not to start smoking. Running a red light while cycling or waiting for the light to turn green. Cursing or using non-violent communication: in all these cases where the example is set by parents, have been proven to make a crucial difference. We would like to raise our children to become responsible, social and confident human beings. This is not unlike what leaders look for in employees. In agile organizations it is a prerequisite for success. Just as when raising children, setting the correct example is paramount in agile organizations: to stimulate a culture of learning and to create a safe environment for experimenting in order to better serve the customer. Practice what you preach.

Naturally, leading by example is important in any organization. However, in agile organizations it is an absolute requirement, especially when it comes to setting the agile example.

Eat less sugar

I recently read ‘Waar een Wiel is, is een weg’ (Where there’s a wheel, there’s a way) by Jaap Bressers. In his book he offers this example: A long line of people is waiting to present their global problem to the Dalai Lama. Until one man asks: “I eat too much sugar, what should I do?’ The crowd feels it’s a ridiculous question. The Dalai Lama, however, takes some time to think and then answers ‘come back in two weeks’. The man returns to see the Dalai Lama after two weeks who offers him this advise: ‘eat less sugar’. The crowd is astonished, could he not simply have given this advice two weeks ago? To which the Dalai Lama responds: ‘No, two weeks ago I was still eating too much sugar myself.’

Real world examples

Recently a conversation with a company director and a HR adviser offered up a nice example of leading by example. I asked: ‘what would your employees say if I asked them what your company does well and what your company could do better?’ My conversation partners admit they don’t actually know. They react enthusiastically to my suggestion to ask them right away. On the spot the HR adviser and I arrange that we can speak three employees. Their input is a valuable addition to our conversation.

Unfortunately, sometimes quite the opposite happens. During a team training the team leader left, because he had made another appointment. Upon his return the open conversation in the room fell silent. A team subconsciously assumes that a manager who does not set the right example, also can’t be trusted with other things.

It’s only human not to be aware of your behavior as a manager all the time, never mind whether you are setting the right example. A fine example was the manager who approached me, because he wanted to use Scrum for a project. He went on explaining to me what phases he envisioned for the project, the exact planning and what should be delivered at each stage. After a brief explanation of what it truly means to do Scrum we had a good laugh about this together. His next project will be different.

Conclusion

In an agile organisation it is critical that managers learn to lead by agile example. Preaching about an open culture in which it’s OK to make mistakes does nothing for your organization if employees are still punished for these same mistakes during their performance appraisal. Giving teams greater autonomy and responsibility means nothing if product owners and managers still feel the need to get involved in every tiny detail. Telling all who will listen that employees should put customers first, while at the same time introducing a CRM-system that rigidly enforces protocols and procedures for ‘customer-care’ is …. impractical to say the least.

Like trust based management, the subject of my previous post, leading by example is all about doing. The good thing is, once you get started, it becomes contagious.