{"id":633860,"date":"2018-06-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/latest-news\/articles\/on-agile-leaders\/"},"modified":"2019-02-06T12:38:21","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T11:38:21","slug":"on-agile-leaders","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/articles\/on-agile-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"On Agile Leaders"},"featured_media":636310,"template":"","meta":{"_has_post_settings":[]},"schools":[34,35],"areas":[16,24,25],"subjects":[],"class_list":["post-633860","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","schools-law","schools-university","areas-competitiveness-growth","areas-strategy","areas-talent"],"custom-fields":{"wpcf-article-leadin":["The search for future leaders is the great challenge faced by every human resources department. Without the right sort of leadership, there can be no cultural change or transformation of any sort: the leader creates the culture. The leadership of the future requires greater flexibility and a strong capacity for management in volatile, ambiguous, uncertain environments marked by a clear component of diversity..."],"wpcf-article-body":["The fast-paced digital transformation currently taking place within organizations poses a major challenge for human resources managers. This cultural change is having an enormous impact on organizational structures, decision-making processes, professional profiles, talent<\/a> recruitment, and leadership styles. Tech-based companies have set an example to follow in this process of change. Just as disruptive technologies<\/a> have proven themselves capable of usurping traditional businesses, human capital management must also undergo a transformation; technology has become a differential factor in the management of people.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAgility in the face of change<\/strong>\r\n\r\nDigital transformation entails more than just incorporating disruptive technology<\/a> into a company\u2019s operations; the management and decision-making models must also be fundamentally overhauled to foster operational agility. The \u201cagile\u201d concept first emerged at software-development companies as a way to adapt quickly during the process of creating customer-oriented products. In this incarnation, the agile approach involved operational processes and methods not found at more traditional companies.\r\n\r\nAgility means knowing how to respond quickly to events, add value continuously, maximize autonomy and empowerment in decision-making, and encourage collaborative work geared towards generating deliverables. Working with this mindset, teams organized in \u201ctribes\u201d and \u201csquads\u201d operate autonomously\u2014like at a startup\u2014to create end-to-end solutions and products. Say goodbye to any intermediate validation or financial<\/a> processes that would slow down these dynamics. Under the guidance of a leader, a service can be adapted to the customer\u2019s needs. Agile leadership calls into question the basic operational principles undergirding more traditional companies.\r\n
Work is no longer seen as a goal, but as a means to an end. Unless companies transfer this philosophy to their management, they will have trouble maintaining a committed staff and keeping the best people.<\/blockquote>\r\nChanging the culture to change the strategy<\/strong>\r\n\r\nCorporate culture is what determines \u201chow you do things\u201d in an organization (as opposed to \u201cwhat you say you do\u201d). Culture is the most intangible and emotional part of an organization and its people; therefore, cultural change is a long, complex process that fundamentally alters shared beliefs, values, and behaviors<\/a>. In order to successfully change its strategy<\/a>, a company must first consider how to push its culture forward so that it becomes a lever instead of an obstacle.\r\n\r\nCEOs of large companies (see: Microsoft) are as concerned about cultural change as they are about redesigning their business strategy<\/a>, since people\u2019s behavior<\/a> and decision-making habits are what ultimately make the difference between success and failure. Peter Drucker, the father of 20th<\/sup>-century management, made an observation that every agile leader remembers well: \u201cCulture eats strategy for breakfast.\u201d\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nDiversity management: the key to leadership<\/strong>\r\n\r\nCultural redesign involves confronting the various handicaps and obstacles that a company must overcome. As the human lifespan grows longer\u2014and with it, our working lives\u2014today\u2019s leaders are finding that they must manage a staff ranging in age from 20 to 70 years. This generational diversity adds an extra layer of difficulty to leadership, especially since the arrival of the millennials and Generation Z, with their distinct cultural patterns, values, and expectations.\r\n\r\nA company\u2019s value proposition must therefore incorporate lines of action oriented towards work-life balance and flexibility\u2014critical factors for attracting and retaining talent<\/a>. Work is no longer seen as a goal, but as a means to an end. Unless companies transfer this philosophy to their management, they will have trouble maintaining a committed staff and keeping the best people.\r\n
Teams organized in \u201ctribes\u201d and \u201csquads\u201d operate autonomously\u2014like at a startup\u2014to create end-to-end solutions and products.<\/blockquote>\r\nCreating leaders: a key business process<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn this context, companies must dig deeper in the search for, and development of, new leadership capacities\u2014a critical process for ensuring the sustainability of a business.\r\n\r\nEach organization must begin by analyzing its current business moment in order to realistically define its needs and the profiles capable of successfully leading its projects. The human resources team should be involved in this process, paying close attention to the company\u2019s business strategy<\/a>. The organization\u2019s needs\u2014in terms of capacities\u2014must be clarified in order to guarantee that its leadership is aligned with specific development opportunities and needs.\r\n\r\nWhen it comes to building the leadership of the future, identifying high-potential profiles is fundamental. Potential means having what it takes to succeed in a role at some point in the future\u2014a prediction ideally based on specific, measurable evidence. To measure potential, companies can use various indicators that predict the speed of a person\u2019s development and learning. Global<\/a> vision, achievement orientation, risk-taking, resilience, flexibility, adaptation to change, empathy, and influence are among the most important competencies of a high-potential profile. It is also advisable to consider various personality-related factors that will either help or hinder a person\u2019s success in a leadership role.\r\n\r\nFinally, it is important to foster professional development by offering solutions aligned with people\u2019s needs, for example by creating development itineraries that combine formal learning with real-life experiences. Job mobility oriented towards personal development lends greater visibility to career opportunities and is also a critical factor for motivation and retention.\r\n

\"Sobre<\/p>\r\nFor any organization interested in developing the sort of leadership it needs, it makes sense to adopt a development process that includes these elements. This is also a preliminary step towards creating a talent<\/a> map for group segmentation. Such a map is an ideal tool for making decisions about human capital\u2014a critical factor for the success of any business plan.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\u00a9 IE Insights.\r\n\r\n "],"wpcf-article-extract-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-extract":["By Rafael Fern\u00e1ndez Qundez<\/strong>. The search for future leaders is the great challenge faced by every human resources department."],"wpcf-article-summary-enable":["1"],"wpcf-article-summary":["The change in corporate culture brought about by digital transformation entails an important challenge for human resources managers. In light of this cultural shift, organizations must develop new strategies with the close involvement of the human resources team. Nowadays, leadership skills have to do with agility\u2014the capacity to adapt one\u2019s management approach to the needs of a new strategy and new realities such as generational diversity on staff. The creation of a motivating work climate, mobility within the company, in-house opportunities for growth, and the segmentation of groups by potential are essential factors for success in the management of development."]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/633860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"schools","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/schools?post=633860"},{"taxonomy":"areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/areas?post=633860"},{"taxonomy":"subjects","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subjects?post=633860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}