This is a talk on Leadership Agility - dwells on the mindset of an Agile Leader, different levels of Leadership Agility and the Leadership Agility Compass.

1. Leadership Agility
Srinath Ramakrishnan
Agile Coach and Consultant
ramakrishnan.srinath@gmail.com
@rsrinath
https://www.linkedin.com/in/srinathramakrishnan/

2. About me
• Over 20 years of IT experience
• Agile Coach

3. Who is an Agile Leader
• Operates effectively amid uncertainty, complexity and rapid change
• Is knowledgeable about Agile values approaches and practices
• Surfaces creative solutions through increased self awareness, a growth
mind set and engaging others
• Aligns and empowers teams toward delivering more customer value
• Takes a collaborative and continuous improvement approach to
organizational effectiveness
• Catalyses change in others and facilitates organizational change
https://www.scrumalliance.org/agile-leadership

4. Agile Leader Mindset
• Shift from a “Predict and Plan” mind set to a “Sense and Respond” mind set to deal
with the complexity, unpredictability and turbulence
• Shift from a “Managing for Results” environment to “Designing environments that
create results”
Creating
conditions that
favor collaboration
and ownership
Designing
structures that
smooth the flow
of interaction,
create
transparency
Telling others
what to do
Controlling how to
get things done
http://www.agilecoachinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/whitePaper-ACI-The-Agile-Leader-Jan-2015.pdf

5. Why do we need Agile Leadership
• Implementing Agile adoption
• Sustaining Agile adoption
• Developing Organizational Agility

6. Essence of Leadership Agility
https://www.ephotozine.com/articles/fujifilm-finepix-hs30exr-bridge-camera-review-19047/images/highres-fujifilmfinepixhs30exr-1_1335879921.jpg
Focus
Step back
Reflect – Gain a broader,
deeper view
Act: Reengage, take
action
It is the ability to lead effectively under conditions of rapid change
and mounting complexity

7. Stages of Development
Explorer
Enthusiast
Operator
Conformer
Expert
Achiever
Catalyst
Co-creator
Synergist
Childhood Stages
Adult Stages

8. Levels of Leadership Agility
55%
35%
10%
Degree of Interdependence / Complexity
PaceofChange

9. Three Leadership Contexts
Leading
Change
Leading Teams Pivotal
Conversations
Expert level
Achiever Level
Catalyst Level

10. Expert Leadership
• Guiding assumptions: Leaders are respected
and followed because of their authority and
expertise
• Organizational change: Tactical focus on
incremental improvements within one’s unit,
with minimal stakeholder engagement
• Team Leadership: Focuses on one on one supervision vs
management/leadership of direct reports as a system
• Pivotal conversations: Low tolerance for conflict: Assertive or
accommodative – advocates or inquires. Tends to avoid giving
or requesting feedback.
http://www.findtheedge.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/how-to-be-an-expert.jpg

11. Achiever Leadership
• Guiding assumptions: Motivate others by
making it challenging and satisfying to
contribute to larger objectives
• Organizational change: Strategic outcome
focus, making episodic changes to
address environmental changes while
seeking stakeholder buy-in
• Team Leadership: Treats direct reports as a system that needs
to be orchestrated as a team
• Pivotal conversations: Moderate tolerance for conflict:
primarily assertive or accommodative with some ability to
compensate using the other style. Will accept or even initiate
feedback, if helpful in achieving desired outcomes.
http://www.centerforstrengths.com/wp-content/uploads/achiever_mountaintop_oneguy.jpg

12. Catalyst Leadership
• Guiding assumptions: Articulate an
inspiring vision and empower and
develop others to make it a reality
• Organizational change: Aim through
the target: Develop organizational
capacity to meet any strategic
challenge
• Team Leadership: Creates a highly participative empowered
team that leads change together
• Pivotal conversations: Greater tolerance for conflict:
combines advocacy and inquiry as needed in specific
situations. Proactive in seeking and utilizing feedback.
http://www.catalystgrp.com/images/AboutUs_TCG.jpg

13. Levels of Leadership Agility
http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/3870357/6/stock-photo-3870357-russian-nesting-dolls.jpg
• You don’t skip stages of levels
• You retain the capacities you
develop at previous levels
• Your agility level can vary
throughout the day
• “Downshifting” to previous levels
can be intentional or
unintentional
• It’s about expanding your
repertoire

14. Leadership Agility Compass
Leaders who are successful in turbulent organizational environments
exhibit four mutually reinforcing competencies
Seeking feedback
and
experimenting
with new
behavior
Analyzing and
solving problems
innovatively
Scoping initiatives
and setting
direction
Understanding
others’ concerns
and priorities &
resolving them
http://www.changewise.biz/?p=1387

15. Context Setting Agility
• Scanning your environment
• Anticipating important changes
• Deciding what initiatives to take
• Scoping each initiative and
determining desired outcomes
Situational Awareness
Quality of attention to the
larger context (Zoom Lens)
Sense of Purpose
How you serve others needs in
meaningful ways
https://www.abelcine.com/store/image.php?type=P&id=1005913

16. Stakeholder Agility
• Involves identifying the key
stakeholders; understanding what
they have at stake
• Assessing the alignment between
your objectives and theirs
• Finding ways to increase alignment.
Stakeholder Understanding
Understand view points and
objectives of others
Power Style
Assertive (advocating own
views and interests) or
Receptive (understand others’
views and objectives)
http://www.schuttelaar-partners.com/public/expertise/multi-stakeholder-relations/stakeholders.png

17. Creative Agility
• Uses problem solving skills that
uses both critical and breakthrough
thinking to generate responses to
ill-structured or unstructured
problems
Connective Awareness
Compare and contrast
different ideas and
experiences and make
meaningful connections
Reflective Judgement
Thought process used to
determine best course of
action
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1895746/images/o-CREATIVE-facebook.jpg

18. Self Leadership Agility
• Determine the kind of leader
you want to be - use every day
initiatives to experiment
towards these aspirations,
reflect on your experience and
fine tune the changes you
would like to make
Self Awareness
How well you understand your
current strengths and
limitations
Developmental motivation
Shaped by professional
esteem, leadership ideals and
emotional tone
http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/27665471/6/stock-photo-27665471-self-leadership-background-loopable-.jpg

19. Heroic and Post-Heroic Leadership
• Heroic Leaders
• assume sole responsibility for setting their organization's objectives, coordinating
the activities of their subordinates and managing their performance.
• However, in complex, rapidly changing organizational environments, heroic
leadership over-controls and under-utilizes subordinates.
• Post Heroic leaders
• retain the ultimate accountability and authority that comes with any formal
leadership role - they work to create highly participative teams and organizations
characterised by shared commitment and responsibility.
“Power Up: Transforming organizations through shared leadership” David Bradford
and Allan Cohen

20. To summarize
• Agile Leader Mindset
• Levels of Leadership Agility – Expert, Achiever, Catalyst
• Leadership Agility Compass - Context setting, Stakeholder, Creative and Self
Leadership

21. References

22. References
• Leadership Agility Webinar by Bill Joiner -
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/1390980439225266436
• http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/2006/12/leadership_agility.html
• http://www.changewise.biz/?page_id=635
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-agility-competitive-advantage-bernhard-h-hilmarsen
• http://www.amazon.in/Leadership-Agility-Anticipating-Initiating-non-
Franchise/dp/0787979139?ie=UTF8
• http://www.agilecoachinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/whitePaper-ACI-The-Agile-
Leader-Jan-2015.pdf

23. http://az616578.vo.msecnd.net/files/2016/03/26/635945489150055587-869285762_thank_you.jpg