Article

What Is Agile Leadership? 10 Core Principles

October 11, 2024

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Emily May

Anyone can consult Google or ChatGPT to learn what it means to be an agile leader. However, technology can’t replace the knowledge of real-life, bona fide thought leaders who have experience catalyzing change and empowering teams. 

Becoming an agile leader doesn’t happen overnight. Adaptive leadership requires ongoing learning and the continuous improvement of your skill set. 

I connected with experts in our network to gain first-hand insights into the core principles of agile leadership. If you’re asking yourself, “What is agile leadership?” keep reading. 

10 Agile Leadership Principles, According to Experts

Transform Yourself First

Becoming a transformational leader starts with the self. Such a leader has looked into the abyss of their own personal transformation and has come out changed. This self-development process allows leaders to hold a similar space for others on their transformation journey. 

The most important attribute of a transformational leader is their ability to take full responsibility for their own sensemaking process, including:

  • How they handle their own emotions, judgments, and upsets as an exercise in self-mastery (an essential EQ competency)
  • An awareness of their own blind spots and false assumptions about other people and situations and how these create liabilities in how they make sense of the world
  • The ability to acknowledge that others cannot cause emotions in them, and therefore not blame others for their internal process

You can't tell someone to "go transform." You need to show them.

Michael Spayd, The Collective Edge

Michael Spayd headshot

Embody The Change

Leadership's foremost responsibility is not to impose change but to practice it. When the leadership team genuinely embodies the change, these values naturally flow to every corner of the organization, fostering authentic adoption without the need to stitch them on the walls. Easier said than done! And that, in my view, is the most challenging part of any transformation.

Mohamed Ghanem, VIDSCOLA

Mohamed Ghanem headshot

Empower Teams Through Growth

Agile leadership is about empowering and growing others. By fostering collaboration and creating space for individuals to lead, agile leaders unlock both individual and team potential. This approach nurtures continuous growth, building resilient teams that adapt and thrive in any environment.

Jolene Jangles, Balanced Agility

Jolene Jangles headshot

Connect People & Ideas

Agile leaders need to become super connectors, breaking down silos and fostering open collaboration across teams. 

As Seth Godin puts it, “The connection economy thrives on the value created by building relationships and sharing knowledge." This means leaders should actively build bridges, enabling information to flow freely and encouraging a culture of trust and openness. By connecting people and ideas, Agile leaders empower their teams to work better together and adapt quickly to change.

Pardeep (aka Paddy) Dhanda, QA Ltd

Pardeep Dhanda Headshot

Promote Psychological Safety

Leadership means having a deep commitment to nurturing the potential of our employees. Start by taking an honest interest in people development and creating a nurturing and safe work environment. 

Continue by providing the support people may need to break free from entanglements to regain the freedom to grow and thrive. You can show your true commitment as a leader by being there along the way.

Manuela Ramirez, AgileLAB GmbH

Manuela Ramirez headshot

Foster a Culture of Curiosity

Agile leadership thrives on orchestrating curiosity. It’s not just about guiding teams through change but igniting a relentless pursuit of 'what's next.' The true agile leader makes uncertainty a canvas for innovation, turning ambiguity into opportunity and driving teams to create solutions before problems even emerge.

Prashant Shinde, Agile Visa

Prashant Shinde headshot

Prioritize Value Over Tools

Agile leaders understand that tools like Jira and metrics are guides, not goals. While Jira can help teams track progress and metrics offer valuable insights, focusing too much on these can shift attention away from delivering real value. 

True agile leadership uses these tools to support transparency and improvement, but never at the cost of collaboration, creativity, or the team’s ability to adapt to change. The emphasis should always remain on people and outcomes, not just numbers and dashboards.

Dr. Owen Fernandes, Coach2Reach

Owen Fernandes headshot

Ensure All Work Adds Value

When I think about Agile leadership, leading people through flexibility, learning, and behavioral shifts is vital. One way I like to frame the concept is through a value lens. 

As a leader, ensuring that everyone, including ourselves, focuses on work that adds value is critical (highlighted in the first principle of the Agile Manifesto). If you were to take a serious look at the tasks on your plate and those of your people, what percentage of them would truly be valuable? The answer may surprise you. 

Focusing on value also means prioritizing customer and stakeholder needs and ensuring the delivery of products and services that address those needs effectively. Finally, we must foster an environment where people feel valued through autonomy and mastery and work together to produce something of value, contributing to a collective purpose. 

Craig Smith, Skills Development Group

Craig Smith headshot

Invest in Cultural Change

Agile leadership is about leading cultural change within the organization.

For example, in 2017, I was part of an agile adoption at a big bank, delivering training to hundreds of people. In each training, students told me that the transformation would fail. But why? They said it was a top-down approach without understanding the ground reality. After a grand launch and continuous struggle, after six years, agility failed when the bank decided that all agile coaches should be project managers. 

If you look at it in retrospect, it failed not because agility didn't help the organization but because it was merely a process change that paid off initially but didn't bring about a cultural and mindset change, such as how to fund innovation, measure outcome, and sustain change on the ground.

Naveen Kumar Singh, Agilemania

Naveen Kumar Singh headshot

Strengthen Vertical Development

Leadership isn't just the art of managing people; it's the science of integrating perspectives.

In my years of leading teams, I’ve come to recognize that the best leaders are not just adept at managing a group of individuals; they are the architects of a collective intelligence that transcends the sum of its parts. Outstanding leadership is about creating an environment where diverse skills, perspectives, and experiences are not just present but harmonized into a coherent, high-performing whole. 

It’s not enough to gather talent; the real skill lies in integrating how people perceive and process the world around them. This is where vertical development, a key leadership principle, becomes the foundation for sustainable team success.

Michelangelo Canonico, Facilitate Thinking L.t.d.

Michelangelo Canonico headshot

Conclusion

The key takeaway? Agile leadership requires a 360 approach that focuses on internal and external outcomes. Leaders can foster a healthy work environment and value stream by focusing on self-discovery, mutual respect for people, decentralized decision-making, innovation, embracing change, and more. 

But don’t worry–you’re right where you need to be. Agile leaders are constantly learning and growing. Our Leading with Agility course will support your agile leadership development to improve your personal agility, relationship agility, and ability to lead change and transformation. 

Change starts with learning. Find a class today!

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TAGGED AS:
Leading Change, Agility in Leadership, Leading with Agility

About the author

Emily May | ICAgile, Marketing Specialist
Emily May is a Marketing Specialist at ICAgile, where she helps educate learners on their agile journey through content. With an eclectic background in communications supporting small business marketing efforts, she hopes to inspire readers to initiate more empathy, productivity, and creativity in the workplace for improved internal and external outcomes.

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