Intro Leadership Agility - text

Your Leadership

On Leadership Agility

Your Leadership

will be required in five areas

MISSION

SELF

INTERPERSONAL

ORGANISATIONAL

STRATEGIC

On Leadership Agility

Your Leadership

each with its own challenges

will be required in five areas

MISSION

SELF

INTERPERSONAL

ORGANISATIONAL

STRATEGIC

Problem Solving

Atunement

Steering

Feedback

Composition

Decision Making

GoalSetting

PrioritySetting

Purpose Setting

Interests Setting

On Leadership Agility

Your Leadership

each with its own challenges

and its own leadership styles

will be required in five areas

MISSION

SELF

INTERPERSONAL

ORGANISATIONAL

STRATEGIC

Problem Solving

Atunement

Steering

Feedback

Composition

Decision Making

GoalSetting

PrioritySetting

Purpose Setting

Interests Setting

Value-driven vs Virtue-driven

Reflective vs Proactive

Consistent vs Responsive

Supervisory vs Facilitative

Demanding vs Encouraging

Integrative vs Federative

Democratic vs Autocratic

Visionary vs Pragmatic

Executive vs Entrepreneurial

Sovereign vs Servant

On Leadership Agility

Your Leadership

each with its own challenges

and its own leadership styles

will be required in five areas

MISSION

SELF

INTERPERSONAL

ORGANISATIONAL

STRATEGIC

Problem Solving

Atunement

Steering

Feedback

Composition

Decision Making

GoalSetting

PrioritySetting

Purpose Setting

Interests Setting

Value-driven vs Virtue-driven

Reflective vs Proactive

Consistent vs Responsive

Supervisory vs Facilitative

Demanding vs Encouraging

Integrative vs Federative

Democratic vs Autocratic

Visionary vs Pragmatic

Executive vs Entrepreneurial

Sovereign vs Servant

On Leadership Agility

Click on a cross to find out more ....

Leaders favoring action over thought have a proactive leadership style. It is not that they don’t think, but they don’t wait to finish the thinking before they act. To them, thinking and acting go hand in hand, as most leadership issues can only be resolved by taking them on and figuring out how to proceed along the way. Instead of researching issues to death, proactive leaders believe in getting things moving, trusting that solutions will present themselves as the situation unfolds. Just do it, and apologize if you were wrong.

Proactive

Leaders with a preference to think thoroughly before they act have a reflective leadership style. Instead of shooting from the hip, they take a disciplined response to leadership challenges, first letting the situation sink in, before formulating a preferred solution and then moving to action. To them, it makes sense to think issues through, because many challenges are complex, with many possible courses of action, each with their own uncertain impact. Reflecting first also gives others time to think and give the leader their input.

Reflective

VS

Leaders favoring adaptation over authenticity have a responsive leadership style. Being highly sensitive to the needs and expectation of those around them, they tailor their approach to each specific situation they are in. To them it makes no sense to get everyone to “read your manual”, while you can provide a user-friendly interface. For the responsive leader it is not only a matter of effectiveness to adjust to the specific circumstances, but also a matter of respect – who do you think you are as a leader making everyone adapt to you?

Responsive

Leaders favoring authenticity over adaptation have a consistent leadership style. Coming from the inside, the way they lead is highly consistent wherever they are and whoever they lead. Their character, beliefs and values shape their approach, more or less irrespective of the circumstances they are in. To them “it doesn’t all depend”, but rather “what you see is what you get”.

Consistent

VS

Encouraging leaders prefer to emphasize appreciation over challenge when spurring people to do their best. They don’t like to point towards the gap between current and potential performance, as they find this stance counterproductive. Instead, they focus on the positive, recognizing people’s track record and competences, while showing confidence in their ability and willingness to do a good job in future. They want people to believe in themselves and to have the inner strength to go out and excel, so they focus on mental support and positive reinforcement wherever necessary.

Encouraging

Demanding leaders prefer to emphasize challenge over appreciation as a means of stimulating performance. They believe that the best way to spur an individual to an exceptional accomplishment is by continuously highlighting the upside potential and refusing to accept that the current performance is the best possible. These leaders challenge their followers to rise above themselves and to see that they are capable of operating at a higher level.

Demanding

VS

Leaders more inclined to indirect control by creating the optimal organizational conditions have a facilitative leadership style. These leaders focus on creating the right conditions, getting the right people and then getting out of the way. They believe that the most effective way to bring out the best in people is to trust their competence and their willingness to perform. They give their team members ample room to take initiatives and to determine how to do the necessary work in the way they see fit.

Facilitative

In balancing between tasks and conditions as the primary lever of control, supervisory leaders prefer to influence on the basis of concrete tasks. These leaders tend to be personally involved in the nitty-gritty of day-to-day operations and very hands on, defining tasks and providing their team members with ideas, advice and feedback. They get deeply involved in determining what the team needs to do and constantly follow up on progress, checking on any deviation from the agreed plan.

Supervisory

VS

Autocratic leaders tend to focus on providing clear direction in decision-making processes rather than emphasizing participation. They value having clear lines of authority and accountability to ensure everyone in the organization knows who is ultimately in charge and responsible for the outcomes. Autocratic leaders believe that someone needs to take on the responsibility of making tough decisions to prevent gridlock, messy compromises, and a lack of ownership. This also means that they expect others to respect and implement the decisions that are made.

Autocratic

Democratic leaders value the input of team members in decision-making. They believe that involving people in the decision-making process not only helps gather diverse expertise and ideas for better decisions but also encourages ownership and responsibility. Additionally, participation fosters a deeper understanding of issues and decisions, leading to quicker implementation and adaptability.

Democratic

VS

Federative leaders emphasize diversity over unity when building their teams. Federative leaders realize that a diversity of ideas, experiences and practices is needed to avoid complacency and to fuel discussion and renewal. There is no innovation without diversity. Moreover, diversity facilitates flexibility and adaptability. As companies globalize and societies become more open to diversity along the lines of gender, ethnic background, life style and values, organizations increasingly need to be agile to serve these diverse segments and tap into this diverse labor market.

Federative

Integrative leaders emphasize unity over diversity when building their teams. To get people to really pull together as a team, integrative leaders tend to recruit people who are on the same wave length – embracing common values, sharing a common worldview, speaking a common language, adhering to common rules and working according to common practices. These leaders then quickly shape the team into a tightly-knit unit with a strong sense of shared direction and identity.

Integrative

VS

Entrepreneurial leaders emphasize exploration over exploitation when setting their strategic priorities. Their focus is on driving the entrepreneurial processes within the organization – ensuring the creation of new business opportunities. They concentrate on constantly rejuvenating the organization by getting people to challenge the existing business model and search for pioneering ideas and approaches. They continuously provoke innovation and themselves come up with new business concepts, novel products and improved processes.

Entrepreneurial

Executive leaders emphasize exploitation over exploration when setting their strategic priorities. Their focus is literally on execution – getting things done and getting results. They concentrate on implementing the existing strategy and optimizing the existing business. Top of mind is the efficient and effective functioning of the organization, by using, maintaining and extending the organization’s existing capabilities, infrastructure and client base.

Executive

VS

Pragmatic leaders emphasize realism over idealism when setting their strategic goals. They determine what the organization is capable of achieving and then draw up a plan detailing how it should be achieved. Then they communicate to others exactly what, when and how they want it. The strategic goals they set tend to be SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound – focusing on the period for which they can plan.

Pragmatic

Visionary leaders emphasize idealism over realism when setting their strategic goals. They outline an aspirational and challenging long term vision, far beyond the organization’s current capabilities. Having set a goal that is BOLD – broad, optimistic, long-term and daring – such leaders tend to encourage people to find innovative ways of making it happen. They set the vision and mobilize their followers to co-create the means of getting there.

Visionary

VS

Virtue-driven leaders place much more emphasis on health than on wealth. To them, money is a means, not an end. They might need to run an economically-viable business to survive, but the true purpose is to achieve a higher virtue – either the physical, emotional, social and moral health of direct stakeholders, or the well-being of particular groups, society or the environment. To them, it’s not about reaping benefits from others, but doing good for others. Their mission is to make a contribution,

Virtue-driven

Leaders who place more emphasis on wealth than on health have a value-driven leadership style. They are in the business game to do well – to create material prosperity for clients, employees, shareholders and/or themselves. To them, earning money is not only the driving purpose of business, it is also a bitter necessity, as unprofitable firms will quickly go broke. Therefore, they focus their people on creating a viable business model, building a strong competitive position vis-à-vis rivals and achieving a sustainable level of profitability..

Value-driven

VS

Leaders emphasizing service over self-actualization have a servant leadership style. They see it as their task to help other people to grow and excel, and for the team to achieve success. To them, it is not about accomplishing their own dreams, but about supporting their team in shaping a shared vision and striving towards it’s realization. The organization is not a tool for them, they are there for the organization. As such, servant leaders rarely shout “follow me”, preferring to quietly say “I’m behind you all the way”.

Servant

King Louis XIV of France is famed for declaring “L’état, c’est moi” – the State, that’s me. To him, the government of France existed to serve his purposes, not the other way around. As such, he is the classic example of a sovereign leader, making the organization his tool, not himself a tool for the organization. Sovereign leaders place the realization of their objectives over and above the interests and objectives of their followers. After all, the very reason for taking the lead in the first place is usually to be able to chase their dreams, fulfill their own needs and to be masters of their own destiny.

Sovereign

VS