I know Halloween is officially over, however, if your company isn’t letting people 
lead from where they are, there may be too much bureaucracy, and too few agile leaders which can have a scary impact on morale, and devastate your bottom line.
One of the best books I’ve ready this year is Accelerate (XLR8), by John Kotter, in it, he argues that people at any level of an organization can demonstrate agile leadership.
Kotter reminds us that management is not leadership. Management is a set of well-known processes that help organizations produce reliable, efficient and predictable results. Leadership is about setting a direction, creating a vision, empowering and inspiring people to want to achieve the vision, and enabling them to do so with energy and speed through an effective strategy.
For organizations to exist in volatile environments both are essential to helping them win.
The Management Leadership Matrix, XLR8 by John P. Kotter
| Leadership | Innovative, adaptive,
and energetic BUT chaotic |
Well run AND innovative,
adaptive, and energetic |
| Doomed | Well run BUT bureaucratic
and unable to change quickly |
|
| Management | ||
As we transition from the spooky Halloween holiday to the season of gratitude, consider evaluating your current business practices based on the matrix above.
Seek out key people who demonstrate agile leadership, acknowledge and appreciate their ability to inspire, focus and create vision and strategy—and get out of their way.
When you provide opportunities for them to lead from where they are you shift from a potentially doomed company, to a well-run, innovative, adaptive and energetic one.
To learn more about how to Develop Strategic Agility, Embrace Change and Drive Results, join us for our open house sessions on the topic in December.
Jennifer Albrecht, Vice President of Professional Development, has been teaching and consulting with Learn iT! since 1997. Since joining Learn iT!, Jennifer has built and facilitated all of Learn iT!’s Professional Development classes including Communication, Leadership, Negotiating and Decision Making.
Jennifer strongly believes in Learn iT!’s 8 Step Model for Learning and applies it in all of the classes she builds and facilitates. Further information on the 8 Step Model can be found here.