Two Crucial Agile Leader Traits: Compassion and Transparency

An agile leader is someone who is inclusive, democratic, and exhibits a greater openness to ideas and innovations. With a passion for learning, a focus on developing people, and a strong ability to define and communicate a desired vision, agile leaders possess all the tools necessary to successfully inspire others and become change agents within any organization. Agile leaders also possess two characteristics that might surprise you: compassion and transparency.

Agile Leaders Are Compassionate

After training hundreds of agile leaders in Certified Agile Leadership (CAL) classes, I have seen first hand how much agile leaders focus on the needs of others. They acknowledge other people’s perspectives, give them the care they need to meet their work and personal goals, involve them in decisions where appropriate, and build a sense of community within their teams. In other words—they exhibit compassion! This compassion leads to higher engagement, more trust, and stronger, more empathetic relationships with team members and other stakeholders. 

“...Compassion creates highly effective leaders. - Chade-Meng Tan, a Google pioneer, award-winning software engineer, international bestselling author of Search Inside Yourself. 

Agile Leaders Are Transparent 

Another key tenet of agile leadership is transparency, including emotional transparency. Keeping secrets inherently divides humans and erodes trust in any given relationship, including business relationships.

A 2017 Study published in the Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies concludes that when leaders express their true feelings and vulnerabilities, it boosts employee morale by instilling a sense of “psychological safety.” 

“...The transformation from “I” to “We” … is the most important process leaders go through in becoming authentic.” Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic as quoted by Chade-Meng Tan.

The NeuroLeadership Institute, NLI (a global research organization that studies the neuroscience of leadership) asserts that if we want to understand what motivates and engages employees, we need to understand that human beings are inherently social, and thereby highly attuned to social cues, even in business environments. 

NLI research shows that humans are sensitive to five categories of “social threat and reward,” Certainty, Status, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness: the SCARF® model. When the brain registers a “social threat” in any one of those five categories, it responds just as it does to physical pain, triggering changes in the prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain responsible for planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and moderating social behavior) that undermine our ability to forge trusting relationships. Conversely, when the brain perceives a “social reward” in one of those five categories, our ability to engage in problem-solving, collaboration, and creative thinking is exponentially enhanced.  

It stands to reason that concealing anything of importance (fear, uncertainty, shame, etc.) could lead to uncertainty among those around you. We can all agree that Leaders who are not emotionally transparent are inherently restricting access to the “true” thought processes behind their decisions. That can generate uncertainty among their teams. 

But more importantly, the NLI contends that, for most people, the brain perceives ambiguity as inherently threatening, and team members tend to interpret (even if it’s subconscious) a lack of full disclosure as “social rejection.” It stands to reason, then, that the result will be team members who are anxious, untrusting, and much more resistant to collaboration. That’s why it’s so critical that agile leaders purposefully foster a culture of transparency.

A Reinforcing Cycle of Compassion and Transparency

Agile leaders who are emotionally transparent create environments of trust, where team members feel empowered to share more of themselves. This in turn gives leaders more opportunities to show empathy and compassion. Deeper trust leads to more empathetic, more compassionate leader-team relationships, where leaders acknowledge other people’s perspectives, give them the care they need to meet their work and personal goals, involve them in decisions where appropriate, and build a sense of community within their teams.

About the Author

Brian Rabon is a CST® and Chief Executive Officer for The Braintrust^SM Consulting Group.