In these days a lot is changing our lives and fond habits; but what will be forgotten soon and what will stay longer? And what do we want? Here I am sharing my observations, discussions and thoughts with you, dear reader – Lets’ discuss our future – the day after!
In recent years agility has become the synonym for modern management. Together with digitalisation, it has one thing in common; A few people know exactly what it is, but everyone feels the urge to implement it in some way asap.
What is so special about it? Scrum and Agile Management are leadership theories to handle the uncertain environment, so-called VUCA – World. Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. This is exactly what we face now with COVID-19.
I am not going through the whole bundle of VUCA definitions, but there are a couple of facts we can observe:
The pandemic hit an unprepared world; there was no real plan and usable tool. We learn while we improvise – it is like driving in fog, always being able to stop and correct our way. It is even tougher, because we are now not even sure how long it would take to reach the destination, and we don’t know what are the exact ways to get there. All the measures we take have enormous effects and complex interdependencies and even the result is ambiguous (herd immunity vs casualties). There is a rough plan that’s it!
All the European governments have been forced to handle this situation since February, the business leaders had to follow with the first lock-downs, at least setting a working home office structure. While many of them did not take it too seriously at the beginning assuming that the lock-down measures would be over quickly, after a month they changed their minds dramatically. Some put their energy into lamenting or blaming the governments, some started with hyperactive micromanagement. The boss has to do everything himself, knows everything better and is the only one who can handle the crisis…
The New York Times wrote a week ago “Corona Has Lifted Leaders Everywhere. Don’t Expect That To Last.” I found it interesting and dug a little deeper. There is the phenomenon that people rally around the flag in difficult times, but in modern democracies, this is not strong anymore. Best example: 65% of the Americans disagree with Donald Trump’s crisis management. After his “sarcastic” utterances last Friday it would be even more.
Most of the governments in Europe presently enjoy large support by the voters, this will be smaller in the future but is not going to fade away, because they have chosen a new and agile style to govern.
They have established strong teams in ministries of the best experts available, they communicate permanently with other countries, they maintain strong and permanent communication with the public in which they openly share their learnings which include some mistakes or changes measures. This is definitely not easy because of the press celebrating any contradiction as food for reporting. But it works.
Some business leaders have adapted some of it, they know that the situation is too complex to be handled by themselves, they communicate and invite everyone to bring in ideas.
They understand that the business plan is worth nothing in a crisis like this, but they know where there is a need in the market for their services and products.
They focus on values, formulate their moonshot – the real meaning of their business. When the decision is taken the path will become clear and be followed in little increments, in sprints as we know well from SCRUM methodology.
This transformation will likely turn out to be quicker and more successful than any old waterfall thinking. Agile management is now being discovered, proven successful and will remain the day after.
What Do you think?
