Distinguishing Lean-Agile Leadership from Conventional Leadership

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Leadership is an important aspect of developing and sustaining businesses. Managers and leaders with an understanding of lean-agile leadership play a critical role in providing direction to the teams. Agile leaders are packed with the skills of providing flexibility, facility, coaching, motivation, collaboration, and a clear vision to achieve the organization's goal.

what does lean-agile leadership mean?

Agile means to be flexible and move quickly by adapting to different scenarios. This skill is currently adopted in several organizations for the smooth management of projects. The recent pandemic has further pushed leaders of organizations to adopt agile ways of working. Lean agile leadership is one of the most sought skills in leaders, project managers, and working professionals.

Difficult situations allow agile leaders to cope with the situation, handle pressure, guide the team, and provide sustainable growth for the business. Agile leaders follow a very humane and inclusive management style. They groom and facilitate their team the same way they would like to be groomed and facilitated. And this aspect is what changes everything. Leaders who adopt agile leadership tend to glue the complete team that works towards the same goal. SAFe agile certification can help professionals attain agile leadership skills that can be used at any point in their lives.

How is Lean-Agile Leadership Different from the Traditional Leadership?

Traditional leadership generally follows autocratic, democratic, and paternalistic leadership approaches for directing and managing the team. In contrast, SAFe lean-agile leadership uses situational, transformational, and servant leadership approaches. Lean-agile leadership allows flexibility instead of rigid structures that do not allow trying new things. Flexibility in the work environment allows inflow of new ideas and experimentation supported by creativity, and clear communication allows teams to be engaged and give a sense of satisfaction. Both types of leadership use different characteristics and skills.

Lean agile leadership is based on several principles that enable managers and leaders to develop agile transformation. Some of the important principles are:

Leading By Example

"Be the change that you want to see in others." This well-known quote from the world leader Mahatma Gandhi forms the first base of agile leadership. Agile leadership strongly follows this principle. People behave like chameleons. They adopt and develop skills that they see in their seniors or leaders. Lean agile leaders lead by example and engage with the team in developing similar skills. They inspire their team by first working on themselves.

Quality Thinking

Quality thinking leads to innovative ideas and meaningful actions toward problem-solving. Agile leadership gives the flexibility to a team for finding new innovative methods for problems.

Continuous Constructive Feedback

Agile leadership enables leaders to develop skills in providing constructive feedback. The feedback provided constructively makes it meaningful and provides a guiding path to work upon. This empowers the person and allows them to think creatively to achieve the expected results.

Use of Emotions

As humans, we all feel different emotions. Understanding emotions and inspiring others through constructive feedback and empathy are key to connecting with teammates. Agile leaders help the team develop skills to manage emotions and use positivity and persistence to make the right decisions. Clearing the team's minds and guiding them with positivity is the key skill of agile leadership.

Building Collaborative Environment

No single person can do all kinds of work. Teamwork and collaboration are directly proportional to efficiency. Teams that work in collaboration have a high chance of attaining efficient work systems and are more likely to achieve success in their endeavors.

Innovation and Creative Thinking

Agile leadership never underestimates the place from which an innovative idea comes. Innovative thinking and ideas that lead to paradigm change can come from anywhere. Agile leaders are broad-minded and respect every idea that comes across. They work keeping the company's goal in mind. Agile leaders allow and support innovative ideas from anywhere in the organization despite their cadre or designation.

Benefits of Lean Agile Leadership

The most important benefit that people can achieve from adopting a lean agile leadership style of management is the sustainable growth of the business. Several other benefits that are achieved that lead to these major benefits includes the following:

Development of humane relationships with the team members and valuing them.
Increased mindfulness and responsiveness at every level.
Forms an environment of continuous learning.
Develops confidence in the entire team.
Challenges become easy to tackle with adopting organized, responsible, and autonomous culture.

Agile environments are best for organizations as they allow every professional a chance to work, contribute, and grow. Developing lean agile leadership at every level in a company is the first step toward success.

Also Read : Leading SAFe Certification and SAFe POPM

How Can Professionals Attain the Knowledge of Lean Agile Leadership

Professionals at every level of the organization can attain lean agile leadership skills through agile leadership courses. Attaining SAFe certification from a reputed institute can change how you work in an organization. Every organization aspires to achieve success by building innovative products and processes. Managing a team is an important aspect of delivering quality products on time, and this is what you get after pursuing SAFe lean agile leadership skills.

Conclusion

Agile leadership is a key component in managing teams within an organization. Professionals with agile leadership skills are preferred by organizations and are preferred to be selected for authoritative positions. It has become more important to develop agile environments in current unprecedented times. Professionals working in an organization require continuous motivation, guidance, and direction for performing their best. Leaders apply agile leadership skills attained from SAFe agilist training to provide a flexible, creative, and collaborative environment.
This environment is essential for teams to think creatively, work purposefully towards the organization's goals and solve problems. Leaders, managers, and professionals at any level of the organization can attain lean-agile leadership skills and contribute to the organization. Lean-agile leadership is the future of leadership.

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