– And what about me then? Am I still needed at all? –

“My company wants to become lean/agile. They don’t need me as a manager anymore! What will happen to me then?”

This or something similar is often the first reaction of managers when an agile transformation program is announced – especially in middle management. Most of them ask themselves: is in agile leadership even possible?

The first trainings and workshops start, the agile manifesto is read and the fear seems to be confirmed. There is nothing in the Scrum Guide about the role of the manager, the agile coach ignores the manager (if he is allowed to join the trainings at all) and many of the classic leadership tasks move to the product owner and scrum master. 

In fact, the answer is simple. Well, at least simple to understand – but difficult to implement. Just like the agile motto:

🌟”Scrum is easy to understand, but difficult to master” 🌟

5 tasks of an agile manager = agile leadership

And what are the tasks 💪🏻 of a lean/agile leader❓
Ultimately, the tasks can be summarized as “Support and develop your employees” – and that is indispensable. 
More specifically, they include:

👉🏻 Be the role model
👉🏻 Empowerment
👉🏻 Vision & intrinsic motivation
👉🏻 Team development
👉🏻 Lifelong learning

Be the role-model

Live and breathe the agile mindset & culture and lead change through it. If the leader is behind the change, the team will be able to change faster.

Empower

The world is too complex to be mastered by one individual. Only when all the knowledge and skills of the team are incorporated and if they make their own decisions will the best solution emerge – and even faster.

Vision and intrinsic motivation

For employees to make their own decisions, they need a vision and a framework. The agile leader must communicate these. A nice side effect: a vision motivates and gets you out of bed in the morning. A vision or a purpose promotes the intrinsic motivation of the team members.

Team development

1+1>2❗️ A team achieves more than a lone fighter. An agile leader helps the team to grow together and removes stumbling blocks.

Lifelong learning

In our fast-moving times, standing still is tantamount to taking a step backwards. An agile leader creates the space for his/her employees (and him/herself) to evolve.

Ultimately, the tasks can be summarized as: Be a leader instead of a manager!

Are you still managing or are you already leading?

I have never been able to stand terms like “human resources” and “human capital” perhaps combined with a “manage”. To me, they represent the epitome of the dehumanization of the working world. They are leftovers from a time when it was still mainly about factory workers 🏭 who were only supposed to be recipients of orders and just not have any ideas of their own💡. People are nothing more than the other factory inventory 🛠 and capital💰.

To me, the term “manager” belongs in the same category. It sounds like soulless and thoughtless people who have to be (micro-)managed like smallest children. It doesn’t fit at all into our modern, complex and fast-paced working world, where we need highly qualified, highly intelligent people. 

If we want to have and keep such people in our companies, if we want to use their potential, we have to treat them accordingly – and for me that means leading instead of managing.

So what is the difference between an (agile) leader and a manager?

👉🏻 Creating a vision vs. setting goals
👉🏻 Inspire people vs. (micro-)manage people
👉🏻 Coaching vs. guiding
👉🏻 Initiating change vs. cementing the status quo
👉🏻 Shaping relationships vs. defining processes
👉🏻 Encouraging teamwork vs. being a lone wolf
👉🏻 Supporting personal initiative vs. making decisions
👉🏻 Rolemodel vs. determine

And what is the difference for you between a leader and a manager?

In every change and even more in a transformation people go always through the same phases before the change is the new normal.

1. Shock
   👉🏻 We get to know that something changes. If the change is not immediately positive for us, we go through some first negative emotions with a small drop in motivation.
2. Refusal
   👉🏻 People now get angry about the change or refuse to accept it. With it comes a certain amount of energy which often results in quite some activity.
3. Rational comprehension
   👉🏻 At that moment the person rationally understands that there is no way to avoid the change. Motivation is dropping significantly.
4. Emotional acceptance = valley of tears
   👉🏻 This is the lowest point of the curve where people emotionally accept that the past is over and stop all discussions. Motivation and performance is very low.
5. Trial
   👉🏻 The person starts to experiment how they could integrate the change in the (work) life. Mood is starting to get better.
6. Realization
   👉🏻 It becomes evident that things are still working and a (positive) life after the change is possible.
7. Integration
   👉🏻 The change is the new normal.

The phases are not necessarily linear and people can go back and forward several times. Not all employees are at the same time in the same phase of the change curve. In each of the phases different support is needed to move on.

1. Shock
   👉🏻 Somebody is needed who listens and is empathetic.
2. Refusal
   👉🏻 The change needs to be continuously repeated in an understanding way
3. Rational comprehension
   👉🏻 Concrete tasks help to move on and to experience one is still needed
4. Emotional acceptance = valley of tears
   👉🏻 People need time and empathy for their emotions
5. Trial
   👉🏻 People need the safety to try new things without fearing for punishment – a blame-free culture.
6. Realization
   👉🏻 Now acknowledgment is need that people are on the right way
7. Integration
   👉🏻 Back to daily business

To be able to move on after the valley of tears, people need to feel secure enough to try things out. If they fear punishment or even get actually blamed for making errors while trying to adapt to the new circumstances, they will stay forever in the valley of tears. The transformation fails.