Agile Management – What Is It?

Managers are faced with many tasks and challenges. There are constantly changing trends and new requirements for which they should find a solution. The concept of agile management is about questioning the old structures and making them more flexible.

Definition

• Agile management is mainly based on flexibility. Exactly at this point classical management often has problems. 
• Old-fashioned management concepts usually cannot react fast enough to the constantly changing trends. Decisions should not have to go through a lot of bureaucracy but should be made flexibly. 
• Through agile management, you try to foresee developments. So that you can be one step ahead of your competitors.
• You can measure your progress and improvement opportunities using agile metrics. Check out our blog post Agile metrics.
• To establish agility in a company, you need a good foundation. This foundation includes the following aspects:

Important Aspects for Agile Management

• Communication 
  • Communication is one of the most important components of agile work. Only if you inform every team member and everyone knows the goals and what is changing, you and your team can react quickly to the changes. Therefore it makes sense to discuss in a daily stand-up who is currently working on what.
• Flat Hierarchies 
  • With flat hierarchies, companies can react more flexibly and thus faster. Long decision-making paths are rather impractical. Especially in the service sector customers want help with their problem quickly.
• Open and Constructive Criticism 
  • Agile management problems or wrong approaches are addressed directly to managers and employees. Only an open approach makes it possible to change behavior patterns. In this way, you can create new opportunities for the development of the management.
• Creating a Good Basis of Trust 
  • Healthy trust in employees is an important aspect of agility. Self-organized teams give the employees enough space to make their own decisions. The talents and abilities of the employees can be valued, which leads to more motivation at work.