By Cameron Findlater- Consultant & Coach
One of the current hot topics in organisations is “Agile Leadership”. Agile leaders engendering agile organisations that anticipate and respond to customers’ needs in a variety of circumstances: new, changing, or indefinite.
When we hear the word “agile” we may think of a solo cheetah or bird of prey, a flock of starlings in flight, a group of dancers or team of sports people, all moving quickly yet adeptly, with purpose and direction. In human organisations, agile leaders are resourceful observers, have resilience and learn from feedback. They are always learning to respond to situations, others and themselves.
Agile means many things to many people. So what’s in Agile Leadership for our current and potential clients in our increasingly complex and digital world?
This type of leadership can be more effective in response to ongoing systemic changes in our contemporary VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous*) world. It can create agile organisations. It is focused on customers and stakeholders. It starts with people, not technology.
We at Taylor Clarke became curious about this new buzzword and felt we had to know what was out there. This interest sparked us all just in time for Taylor Clarke’s book club a matter of weeks ago.
The team enjoyed reading the book The Agile Leader** by Simon Hayward. This book club meeting resulted in an explorative and energised discussion during which…
· We identified how our client organisations could reap the benefits of more Agile Leadership.
· We recognised how much of our existing work in client organisations already develops Agile
Leadership e.g. development of leadership in complex and uncertain contexts, and management of the paradoxes that inevitably arise.
· We integrated new thinking into our existing suite of offerings as an agile response to our client organisations’ needs.
Taylor Clarke’s view is that ongoing success in our VUCA world requires ever increasing Agile Leadership …ask Theresa May! We are ready to help your organisation become even more agile through engendering more agile leaders and leadership. Why not get in touch?
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*The term VUCA, coined by the US Army War College, describes the dynamic nature of our world today and has caught on in a variety of organisational settings to describe a business environment characterised by:
Volatility- The nature, speed, volume, magnitude and dynamics of change;
Uncertainly- The lack of predictability of issues and events;
Complexity- The confounding of issues and the chaos that surround any organisation; and
Ambiguity- The haziness of reality and the mixed meaning of conditions
**Hayward, S. (2018) The Agile Leader. Kogan Page, London.
If you would like to explore how Taylor Clarke can help your organisation develop please contact jade@taylorclarke.co.uk or call us 0141 221 1707
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