Management practices
The management practices that go with agility: style matched to autonomy, servant leadership, self-organising teams, levels of delegation, visual management and continuous improvement.
- 27 cards
- 6 topics
- Free
The outline, topic by topic
Each topic is weighted the way the exam weighs it.
- Concepts
- Questions
- Sort and link
- On the timeline
- Scenarios
- Understand
A few cards from the deck
Situational leadership: what is it?
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A way of leading that changes with the person's skill and motivation for the task: directing, coaching, supporting or delegating.
No style is good in itself: a motivated beginner needs instructions, an autonomous expert needs a free hand. The same manager switches style from one task to another.
What is the risk of a directing style, with detailed instructions every morning, towards an autonomous, committed expert?
- Demotivating her and holding back her initiative
- Leaving her with no frame, at the risk of drifting from the goal
- Making her lose her bearings, for not knowing what is expected
- None: more instructions can only reduce uncertainty
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Demotivating her and holding back her initiative
A skilled, committed person experiences detailed instructions as distrust. Directing leaves her neither without a frame nor in the dark: it smothers her. The style must follow her level of autonomy: here, let her decide.
The four styles of situational leadership are …, coaching, … and delegating.
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The four styles of situational leadership are directing, coaching, supporting and delegating.
From most guided to most free: directing tells, coaching explains, supporting decides with the person, delegating lets them decide. The person's autonomy determines the choice.
Servant leader: what is it?
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A leader who spends their energy removing obstacles, building skills and shielding the team, rather than handing out tasks and checking.
They measure their success by the team's. The Scrum Master is the example: no authority over the work, but a role that makes the team more effective.
The manager hands out tasks every morning to a team that is supposed to organise itself. It no longer dares to decide anything and waits for instructions. What comes first?
- Add a morning check-in meeting so everyone justifies their choices
- Leave the team with no frame until it gets used to it
- Replace the manager with a more directive project lead
- State the level of delegation for each kind of decision, and raise it step by step
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State the level of delegation for each kind of decision, and raise it step by step
Micro-management taught the team to wait, and no one knows what they may settle. Making the levels explicit (“the choice of tool is yours”) restores a safe ground, and it is widened as trust grows.