“The way we’ve been leading is not going to serve us in today’s environment much less in tomorrow’s environment.”
In today’s complex environment the pace of change is accelerating AND we are more interconnected than ever. This is spurring an evolution in leadership styles. Based on five years of research, Bill Joiner has developed a model of leadership agility that points the way forward. The research defined how an agile leader thinks and behaves and demonstrated that agile leadership is correlated with better business performance. Agile organizations need a combination of this agile leadership and culture with agile structures and methods (like OKRs).
There are three common levels of leadership in this model, each building on the previous. “Expert” leaders make up 55% of today’s management ranks. As the name implies, this style is based on the leader knowing more than subordinates. It works well when the environment is stable, and is the most traditional style. “Achievers” make up 35%, and are more focused on delivering business results than on ”knowing best.” “Catalysts,” the most agile category, are only 10% but are the growing edge of leadership today. They are focused on building the capacity of their organization to sense and respond to change while delivering results. Each level demands new behaviors, increased emotional intelligence and cognitive capacities.
The first half of the videocast is Bill’s presentation, followed by a reflective conversation with Daniel.