The Nine Principles of Agile Leadership
Co-developed by Mark Buchan MSc with the Agile Business Consortium's leadership working group.
Full principles at agilebusiness.org →Actions speak louder than words
Agile leaders lead by example, working on themselves before asking anything of others.
Improved quality of thinking leads to improved outcomes
Better decisions come from multiple perspectives and input from people closest to the problem, not from data alone.
Organisations improve through effective feedback
Agile leaders actively seek feedback, close the loop on it, and model giving it well.
People require meaning and purpose to make work fulfilling
Leaders build and share a common purpose that genuinely connects with their people.
Emotion is a foundation to enhanced creativity and innovation
Bringing emotion into work, not suppressing it, is what unlocks creativity and potential.
Leadership lives everywhere in the organisation
Agile leaders grow leadership capability throughout the organisation, not just at the top.
Leaders devolve appropriate power and authority
Empowerment isn't all-or-nothing; agile leaders calibrate it to context.
Collaborative communities achieve more than individuals
Trust-based teams, given autonomy within clear boundaries, outperform individuals working alone.
Great ideas can come from anywhere in the organisation
Agile leaders listen for good ideas regardless of who they come from or where they sit.