Are you an agile leader?

Dear Entrepreneur,

The entire world has dealt with so much uncertainty since the turn of this decade than most living humans have encountered in their entire lifetime.

The global business community has not been immune to this series of tumultuous events, from the pandemic that hit at the turn of the decade, to political leadership crisis in some parts of the world, to the civil unrest in some parts of the Middle East, the fallout of Brexit on the United Kingdom and the entire Europe, the Ukraine-Russia war, which significantly dried up global supply chains, to the massive shake-up in the global technology industry and the now-looming global recession.

I have always been of the opinion that business leaders will be relied on heavily to shape the new direction for global peace, prosperity and progress. It is no mistake that the drive to combat the biggest challenge plaguing our entire human existence – climate change — has only begun to record meaningful progress because of the significant buy-in of global businesses and business leaders.

During a leadership training, which I recently facilitated for an all-female group of middle-level managers in a Nigerian corporation a few days back, we spoke extensively around the subject of “Agile Leadership” as the core strategy for thriving in critically uncertain times.

“Agile” and “agility” have become such buzzwords touted around very freely in management consulting and coaching circles. Yet my simple pragmatic definition for agility is “to be nimble, malleable and open to change everywhere else but at your core” – your core simply meaning your values and your vision.

As an entrepreneur and business leader, I recall at the beginning of the year trying to find an appropriate theme for our firm’s commencement retreat – without much deliberation, it occurred to me that most of what I have found myself doing is to stay abreast of our changing business environment and finding ways to steer the ship of the business in a pragmatic and adaptable way.

Voila! The phrase that succinctly captured what me and our management team had been doing was “course correcting”. Chances are – if you have had any deep conversation with me in 2023 — that I must have mentioned that phrase once or twice. Please indulge me, it is now so deeply etched in my subconscious and perhaps in that of my colleagues and spouse too. I told you it was my eureka moment.

At the core of today’s leadership, capability test is our threshold for dealing with UNCERTAINTY. No doubt it takes an agile leader to continuously anticipate and embrace changing realities without getting buried under the pressure of having to almost persistently change course, amend the strategy and sell this to the team in a way that inspires hope of ultimate or eventual success – this is the hardest part because it takes conviction to continue to be what a leader ought to be at its core – “A frame of possibility”.

While asked what the key attributes of an agile leader are during the leadership training I referred to earlier on, a few of these words featured in my response: self-mastery, flexibility, decisiveness, continuous learning, transparency and accountability. Nonetheless, the key question to ask is: Are you an agile leader? I have highlighted below what in my opinion are the key attributes of an agile leader:

An agile leader keeps the team aligned around a central purpose.

Is the purpose or vision of your organisation so clear that it can be articulated by the least member of your team? Is the vision easily perceived by clients, new hires and your competition without you having to say a thing? Your first goal as a leader is to sell your corporate vision first to yourself and then to your team to the point of extinguishing any iota of doubt as to its believability or achievability.

An agile leader models a culture of continuous learning.

Settle in your mind that you will never know enough to navigate today’s problems. A leader must be in consistent search for new body of knowledge that enhances your problem-solving capabilities. However, beyond being a continuous learner, make sure to enforce a culture of learning, sharing and rewarding inquisitiveness, research and innovation within your team.

An agile leader is comfortable with uncertainty.

Many of us were raised to build comfort around routine. Unfortunately, the world as it is today does not allow us such privilege. The odds are changing and restacking on a per-second basis. Therefore, beyond the things that remain loosely consistent (I say loosely consistent because even these could change on the super strength of conviction) is the core of your existence – your values and your vision. You must be open to the reality that things could change in an instant and that you must be prepared to respond firmly, thoughtfully, but quickly too.

An agile leader is solution-minded.

Pragmatism is one of the key parameters for assessing leadership capabilities today. Do you dwell on issues or promptly switch to solution mode? Do you play blame games or stay firmly on the way out? Do you equip your team with the capacity to think through and freely and fearlessly contribute to building solutions?

Read also: How to strategically train and reproduce leaders in your organisation

An agile leader holds self to account.

A leader ought to live always by the rules, uphold the culture and values yet hold self to a much higher standard of conduct, output and result. You must self-assess but also create formal structures to get feedback and be appraised by your team. Always report back to the team on how you have collectively fared in terms of accomplishing your shared goals. While at it, be sure to take personal responsibility for the overall outcome – Yes! Because the buck stops firmly at your table.

An agile leader acknowledges own failure and errors.

A leader that paints a picture of perfection is bound to fail. Be sure to acknowledge that you are not perfect and that you certainly do not know it all. It builds trusts and embodies confidence. Beyond this, be comfortable to acknowledge errors and failures in front of your team. It makes it easier to get their buy-in to try again or to change course.

An agile leader is not afraid to change or course correct.

Finally, when the odds have been restacked, or key variables have changed, it is unlikely that the same strategy you were working with would still deliver your desired result. Have the courage to go back to the drawing board and promptly rejig the plan.

Leadership is neither a badge of honour nor a reward; it is a call to service, which is terribly hard work as it were. Today, the world needs agile leaders who have multi-competencies, are quick thinkers, open-minded, not fixated on old, dated ideologies, systems or strategies but are willing to morph into whatever the circumstances require them to be to steer the ship of their corporation in consistently turbulent and high tide waters – Are you that leader?

Yours in Entrepreneurship,
Tosin Ajose

Ajose is an award-winning commercial lawyer and a founding partner at DealHQ Partners, a transactional advisory firm in Nigeria.