AGILE

LEADERSHIP
FOR A NEW
GENERATION
AGILE LEADERSHIP | SLALOM CONSULTING

workforce mean that the traditional, top-

The traditional model down model of “leadership” must transform.
The new organization must allow room for
When most people think of leaders, their the changing employee base to be fostered
minds go to someone in a position of and to grow in a new way. The traditional
power: a visionary or executive—a boss. model impairs individuals (and therefore
In the business setting, one imagines a companies) in several ways:
corporate vision starting at the top with
the CEO and being handed down, each • Employee potential often goes unrealized.
person receiving the vision and passing it When applying the narrow definition of
to the rank below. However, the traditional leadership to an organizational structure,
model sometimes lacks an ownership of formal “managers” (who are seen as the de
goals and plans as they are cascaded down facto “leaders”) may be too concerned with
taking credit for an idea crafted alone and
through the organization. This traditional
executed by their team. This aggregation
model of leadership gets diluted to equate of credit under one person for work done
to a hierarchical management structure. together impacts collaboration.
Nonetheless, leadership and management
• Morale is lowered. When employees are
are not synonymous.
kept quiet and made to execute ideas—
instead of offering input and taking
A traditional view of a single leader per ownership—morale takes a downturn.
organization—whether that organization is Morale is the culture of the team, and
corporate, political, or social—is out of date. when it goes sour it poisons the group
Too many people equate leadership with a and may lead to other issues such as poor
performance and increased turnover.
title. At Slalom, we have found that leaders
are spread throughout an organization at • Decision making is too narrow. In a
various levels. And in many cases, these hierarchical model, decision-making power
leaders do not have a “leader” title. and even idea development are limited to
the few at the top rather than incorporating
the strength of varied experiences and
backgrounds of the rank and file.

The environment changes A traditional top-down leadership hierarchy,

which limits decision making, direction
As an increasing number of baby boomers setting, participation, and ownership, is
retire and the number of Millennials one of the key reasons that Millennials
continues to rise in the workforce, have gained a reputation for disloyalty.
companies are seeing a dramatic change in They continue to bounce from job to job
the skill sets and desires of their employees. in search of a place that will offer them
The new generation is more tech savvy than what they seek: the chance to build
its predecessors, wants a different type of new skillsets, take ownership, and lead,
“meaningful” work, and is more satisfied in a regardless of title or role.
collaborative environment in which to work.
Slalom believes that these changes in the

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several of those values are relevant and

Making the shift transferrable from software development
to any type of leadership: collaboration,
In the late 1990s, the software development communication, and team interaction.
industry was experiencing similar Combined, these traits are a departure from
challenges: old notions, stagnant processes, the hierarchical decision-making process,
and formal control structures that were which is restricted to the executive levels,
not producing optimal results. From this and filter down through the organization.
situation, the Agile Manifesto was born in In collaborative and communicative
Utah during the winter of 2001. The Agile environments where teams are solicited for
Manifesto1 was developed to rid the industry opinions on business decisions, employees
of its “arcane policies” and better position feel accountable and motivated. They are
it to move aggressively into the faster more likely to want to see their work driven
paced e-business economy. It preached to a successful end because they participate
face-to-face communication over written in setting the goals. This adjustment creates
communication, tight self-organizing teams, a new culture and improves team member
flexibility in approach, and frequent, iterative satisfaction, which can link to a host of
builds to deliver faster value to customers. desired individual and corporate benefits,
It became the foundation for change in the including increased morale, improved overall
industry. job satisfaction, higher retention rates,
fresher ideas, and faster speed to market.
Slalom believes that all organizations can
borrow from the changes put in place at the Based on technology’s Agile Manifesto,
turn of the century by the software industry. a spin-off Leadership Manifesto2 was
Similar to software developers’ change proposed 10 years later, in 2011, by
in perspective, by shifting the focus on members in the Scrum Alliance community.
leadership and decision making to become The resulting ideas emphasized individual
more flexible and agile, organizations can development over the company’s
dramatically change the way in which they momentary necessities, team-building
operate. This change will address both strategy over tracking and monitoring the
the need for more creative output from team’s results, and taking action based on
organizations and the ever-increasing root cause over taking action based on an
need for better quality. It can also act as unaccountable “best practice.” Slalom has
the catalyst to engage employees across had the opportunity to work with clients
the organization to take part, lead, and be that have embraced this new form of Agile
owners. Leadership.

Agile delivery stresses multiple principles Sarah Burnson, a Director in Information

in its defined manifesto. We’ve found that Technology at Aon Corporation, was

1 — Beedle, Mike, Arie Van Bennekum, Alistair Cockburn, Ward Cunningham, Martin Fowler, Jim Highsmith, Andrew Hunt, Ron
Jeffries, Jon Kern, Brian Marick, Robert Martin, Ken Schwarber, Jeff Sutherland, and Dave Thomas. “Manifesto for Agile Software
Development.” Manifesto for Agile Software Development. N.p., 2001. Web. 18 Nov. 2013
.
2 — Filho, Heitor R. “Achieving Agile Leadership.” Scrum Alliance, Inc. N.p., 5 Jan. 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.

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part of a culture shift in her organization. a team to enable the transformation to take
As Aon moved part of its development hold. The adjustment should start small and
organization to the Agile development make incremental changes that add value
approach, Ms. Burnson worked within her over time. There is no big bang way to move
teams to simultaneously drive an Agile to Agile Leadership.
Leadership change. With the restructuring
of IT professionals to a flatter, less matrixed Organizations are just collections of
organization, there was a desire to empower individuals. Shifting an organization starts
teams for decision making. Ms. Burnson with moving the individuals. It is incumbent
challenged each person in her organization upon those driving for Agile Leadership to
to become an Agile Leader. begin with introspection. If each person
starts with himself or herself, expands his
While the Aon restructure primarily focused or her own leadership agility, and then
on teams and team size (the development gains an awareness of the value, the larger
groups were organized into teams of 7 to organization will begin to take notice. Once
18 people, with only one person per team the value is recognized, ripples will spread
holding the “manager” distinction), Ms. across the organization.
Burnson worked to engage each of her staff
to take ownership of the team’s output. This Awareness is an effective way to generate
new structure offered many of the more the waves of ripples. One method to raise
experienced team members the opportunity self-awareness is to create a 360-degree
to teach skills to less experienced team feedback loop. An understanding of
members, and it allowed all team members one’s current strengths, weaknesses,
regardless of role to weigh in on an tendencies, and biases will help determine
approach to accomplish sponsor goals and the areas to focus on first. A number of
to become leaders within their teams— credible personality and leadership style
regardless of title. assessments are available, including
Meyers-Briggs, Strength Finder 2.0, and
This change in approach to ownership, Tracom Group’s Social Styles Model. While
accountability, and leadership has enabled the terminology may differ, each tool plots
Ms. Burnson’s department to realize style characteristics along a spectrum.
additional gains in productivity and team The purpose is not to show what is good
morale. Further, it has helped her team meet versus bad, but to generate self-awareness
business sponsors’ needs and has resulted and assist with developing an inventory of
in stronger client relationships. strengths and opportunities. The resulting
catalog provides a starting point for
understanding where to develop. One may
continue to build skills based on natural
Start small to become an strengths, develop new techniques to
Agile Leader compensate for weaknesses, or even adjust
one’s own style in order to counterbalance
A shift to Agile Leadership is not immediate. others on the team.
It takes development, care, and nurturing of

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In addition to personality assessments, it • Set objectives for each role. Objectives

can be helpful to observe leadership styles should be set as larger than what any one
individual can accomplish alone. This will
of others who are seen to be successful
create an acceleration effect, as the team
in their endeavors. Mentoring networks members must reach out to others to
are useful for setting up this type of achieve the desired outcome.
learning. Conversations with a mentor Sarah Burnson
about leadership style and constructive • Be aggressive with establishing timeframes continually works to refine
for objectives. Adding the challenge to her leadership style and
tactics can help learners develop based on
deliver within a tight deadline will best that of her team. She works
practices that work. Real-time feedback is highlight the individual’s ability to be nimble. to understand her staff
an important part of driving improvement. This will help individuals stretch beyond past at a deeper level—what
Modeling is another easy approach. By performance and what they have already drives them personally and

studying the approach of public figures— proven they can deliver. professionally, who is looking
for more accountability and
past and present, strong and weak—one • As a leader helping others to become wants the opportunity
can learn and grow. leaders, make yourself available for to grow?
guidance and questions as needed. Be
available, yet recognize when to walk away For herself, she is always
and let the team members be responsible trying to “find the balance
Coach and lead other Agile for, own, and drive their work. Allowing the between caring and

Leaders team to perform fulfills the larger team’s requiring.” She admits that
objective to deliver more than you are able when modeling behavior,
to do yourself—without them. Additionally, she has also learned about
Since being an Agile Leader is as much this grows the talent pool within the what not to do. Learning
about others—the team, the customer, and organization in addition to achieving the comes not just from good
team’s delivery objectives. leaders but also from the
collaboration—as it is about oneself, the
flawed ones. As a result, she
focus on growth goes beyond individual
Aon’s Sarah Burnson set up a Community is careful to keep her team’s
development. Being an Agile Leader is morale in mind and ensure
of Practice during their recent change in
also about creating a culture in which that she is customizing her
order to facilitate knowledge sharing. This
group development and collaboration are leadership environment
allowed colleagues in “like roles” to share in tune with the company.
encouraged. In order to continue moving
their experiences, cross-train their peers, “Fun, safe, approachable,”
away from a top-down style, an Agile Leader
and bring up the functional capabilities of are what she stresses. “I try
will work on building team members into to learn the culture [of the
the team as a whole. By leveraging this
leaders, effectively moving away from the company] as well as create
approach, she empowered individuals and
title-equals-leader framework. We have seen one of my own [based on
gave them the means to reach a level of
several tactics that are effective in mobilizing the team].”
achievement greater than anyone would
an agile team.
have been able to accomplish alone. By building a safe,
collaborative environment,
Ms. Burnson promotes
• Talk to the team about mission, goals, Ms. Burnson believes that the leaders on
honest communication
and direction. Gain agreement on her teams should be working just as hard with all—colleagues, peers,
overall direction, then divide the work for their colleagues as they do for her. Her sponsors, and leaders—
into meaningful roles, holding members
accountable for delivery and allowing each
accountability is to remove barriers that to foster growth and

person to make decisions within his or her are in their way and advocate for leaders opportunity.

role. to have opportunities to demonstrate their

full potential. “There is not one person,

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including the leader, who has not had to Knowing the impact that individuals using
learn something new,” Ms. Burnson admits. Agile Leadership can have at all levels
“Everyone is constantly learning.” within an organization makes it clear that
Replacing the mental equation of “title” the traditional model is outdated. Not only is
with “leader” isn’t easy, but there is a lot to the traditional hierarchy no longer meeting
be gained from the shift to an agile style of the needs of the changing workforce,
leadership. it is stifling companies and preventing
them from meeting the needs of a fast-
• Employees realize more of their full
changing market. The new method creates
potential. The new model suggests a focus
on growth through continued education. The a paradigm shift—internally with each
cycle allows employees to reach for new employee in the organization driving greater
roles and continue to drive greater value in value, and externally as those employees
the corporation. help companies respond to evolving
• Raised morale. The new model lends demands of customers.
itself to greater job satisfaction through
additive ideation and challenging roles. This For the future, our hope is that everyone
allows layers of ideas and experiences to will see themselves as leaders within
build upon the original. In turn, this builds their organizations, whatever their formal
ownership and drives participation.
roles are in the corporate food chain. The
• Decision making benefits from varied challenge is to continually develop your own
perspectives. A collaborative approach style to become an example for others in
fosters an environment in which ideas the organization. To share the wisdom of
gain strength from varied backgrounds
Bill Gates, an admirable leader and fellow
and experiences. This in turn creates more
thoughtful ideas, strategies, and work technology enthusiast: “As we look ahead
products. into the next century, leaders will be those
who empower others.”

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About Slalom Consulting

Slalom Consulting brings together business and technology expertise to help companies drive enterprise
performance, accelerate innovation, enhance the customer experience, and increase employee productivity. The
firm delivers award-winning solutions in areas such as information management and analytics, sales and marketing,
organizational effectiveness, CFO advisory, mobility, and cloud through a national network of local offices and major
alliance partners, including Microsoft, Salesforce.com, and Amazon Web Services.

Founded in 2001 and based in Seattle, WA, Slalom has organically grown to more than 2,200 consultants. The
company has been ranked as a Top 10 Best Firms to Work For by Consulting magazine four times, and earned
recognition from Microsoft as a Partner of the Year five times. For more information, visit slalom.com.

Sarah Burnson Carl Manello Jessica Leary

Director of Information Technology National Community Lead—Delivery Delivery Leadership Consultant
Aon Effectiveness Slalom Consulting
[email protected] Slalom Consulting [email protected]
[email protected]

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