3 Insights for Agile Leaders from the Agile Business Report

The recent Agile Business Report in The London Times centered around improving agile leadership. Interviews and data emphasized both the financial and cultural benefits of adopting agile practices, especially in response to times of turmoil. While these insights are not necessarily new news, it seems that the civil unrest, a global health crisis, and collapse of the supply chain in the past few years have served as a pressure cooker for businesses, intensifying the usual stressors that separate the agile businesses from the fragile ones. 

We’ve distilled the 13-page report down to three key concepts for leaders of agile organizations as well as the key takeaways for each. 

1. Leaders Must Be Honest About Their Motivation to Be Agile 

Many leaders seek an agile transformation or to “become agile” as a means to speed up production. But operationally, agility isn't just about moving faster; it is about being intentional in simplifying and streamlining processes to move more fluidly from reaction to response, says Teddy Carrol, Scrum Alliance Certified Enterprise Coach. 

According to Ray Arell chief of innovation and business development at Agile Alliance, “The most common problem in agile adoption efforts is forgetting that agile is not just a process— it’s a culture.” He goes on to say that too often, leaders invest heavily in agility learning and development for delivery personnel but neglect the equivalent for themselves.

Key takeaway: Remember, agility is not a means to an end. If you would like to reap the benefits of agility, you’ll need buy-in throughout the entire organization. You’ll also need to practice what you preach and lean into an agile way of working yourself. 

2. Agile Leaders Empower their Teams

In the article “Le geek, c’est chic,” the author, Adrian Bridgwater, implores business leaders to take notes from the veterans of agile working: the software engineers. Coders, says Bridgwater, have lessons to teach business leaders about the pursuit of more perfect problem solving and the inevitability of chaos: “Understanding the inevitable chaos that exists in the real world [once customers get their hands on a product] is an important business lesson.”

When it comes to employee recognition, software engineers know a thing or two as well. Software engineers, says Bridgwater, are happy because “they are makers who are busy making.” They are also happy, Bridgwater says because they love what they do. They recognize the value of effort and want to see everyone rewarded when they do good work. Bridgwater asserts that this is why so many developers support the open source movement. They believe that “people, products and code should be brought to the top of the pile if they are good, not because they have good connections, good parents or a good education.” 

The Agile Manifesto specifies that we should “build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.” It’s important, says Bridgwater, to recognize effort, potential, and drive as well as innovative thought and action. This means that agile leaders should communicate openly with their team members, listen, and observe. After all, most practical process solutions are likely to come from the people doing the work.

Key takeaways: Unlike traditional organizations, agile companies don’t expect leaders to have all of the answers. Being a good agile leader means practicing servant leadership and ensuring your team has what they need to innovate and get the job done. In other words, leaders, it’s time to start listening to and empowering your changemakers. 

3. Real-World Agile Adoption is on the Rise Because it Works

Research conducted by McKinsey in the first few months of the pandemic found that companies that fully adopted an agile model before the crisis started had outperformed non-agile companies. Data from the report’s infographic also shows an increase in employee engagement across the board including an increase in the ability to learn from mistakes and adapt to change. Specifically, 35% of agile business divisions said their employees were more engaged, 33% noticed a significant improvement in their operational performance, and 31% reported a significant uptick in customer satisfaction. 

That’s why organizations across a multitude of industries are starting to adopt agile principles in response to recent challenges. Prime examples from the report include: 

• Unilever, which adopted agility in response to recent supply chain issues, 

• SpaceX, which recognized an incredible increase in speed-to-market thanks to agile prototyping, and 

• World Bank to USAID, which embedded agile methods in certain areas such as proposal writing to speed up processes.

Key Takeaway: Agile companies not only perform better in a crisis, their employees are happier as well. What’s even better is that the organization doesn’t have to implement agile perfectly to experience the benefits. 

Related Article: 4 Things Agile Practitioners Need to Know From the Agile Business Report

Want to dig deeper into the report and infographic? Download it here: