In this article relating to Agile Leadership Challenges we talk about 5 important practices that leaders can exhibit that can elevate them to highly successful lean-agile leaders. These 5 practices originate from the book The Leadership Challenge, by Kouzes and Posner.
The book describes 5 practices based off of a survey receiving over 2 million responses from industry practitioners on what practices contribute to highly successful leaders. Two million is a pretty powerful number, so the results make complete sense. Here are the 5 practices:
- Model the way
- Lead by example. Be the example of what lean-agile leadership looks like. Be the change you want to see.
- Do what you say you will do. Exemplify the engagement that you want to see in your organisation
- Vision
- Articulate a clear vision that is in sync with the aspirations of those in the organisation
- Communicate this vision over and over again, reinforcing it every time
- Challenge the status quo
- Experiment and take risks with the existing process
- Search for new opportunities by taking initiative and innovating
- Empower action
- Strengthen others by increasing self-determination, leadership abilities and developing competence
- Encourage the heart
- Recognize the contributions of others showing appreciation
- Celebrate the values and victories and create a spirit of community