No matter where you are in your journey as an agile team leader, you can learn from others’ experiences. Even if you’ve already achieved great results as an agile team, reading other team leader’s stories will help to drive home the value of working with a certified agile leadership coach.
You see, other team members are often skeptical of agile methods. Or they might not know much about them. But reading their experiences can help build trust and credibility among your teammates. And that trust is the first step towards leading an agile team successfully.
What is agile leadership?
To start with, let’s define what we mean by agile leadership. agile leadership is the ability to lead an agile team, both in theory and in practice. When people on a team use the term agile leadership they usually mean two things. First, they are referring to the idea of building trust and credibility on the team. Trust and credibility are incredibly powerful motivators.
They make people want to do great work for the company. And when those people are led by an agile leader, the results can be inspiring and productive teams. Rudimentary leaders have the ability to spark great ideas and enthusiasm in their teams, but don’t have the skills to keep the ideas flowing and the momentum going.
These teams often fall apart and become unproductive after a short period of time. An agile team leader is a transformational leader. When a team member comes to work every day knowing that their leader believes in them, and is working towards their goal, then that person is transformed too. This kind of transformation happens organically, as each person’s actions have a knock-on effect on the rest of the team.
Why you should work with a coach
What’s great about working with a certified agile leadership coach is that you get access to a team of expert advisors who can provide you with the resources you need to become a better team leader.
These resources can range from tools and techniques to provide you with the skills you need to lead an effective team, to tools and techniques to help you identify and overcome challenges on the team.
How to lead an agile team
The best teams in the world have one thing in common: an agile team lead. And that’s what this article is about. What is an agile team lead, and how can you get one? Let’s start with the definition of an agile team lead from Scrum.org: “An agile team leader is a member of an agile team who has the skills to direct and lead the team through various phases of the product life cycle.”
That definition clearly states that the role of the agile team lead is to direct and lead the team through various phases of the product life cycle. This includes the planning, design, and implementation phases.
Be an effective ScrumMaster
To lead an effective team you need to be able to coordinate and collaborate with the whole team. You also need to have good relationships with the rest of the team members, and be able to maintain a calm, determined and constructive presence on the team.
To be effective as a ScrumMaster, you need to have a clear understanding of the role of each team member. You have to know what skills each person on the team has and how best to use them.
For example, if someone is responsible for building the product, you need to know how they work best with the team, and what their role is going to be in the team. You also need to know what their skill set is, and how the team works best with their skills.
Organize effectively with Agile projects
One of the most important things you can do as a team leader to help your team achieve success is to make sure they are working on the right project. This means you need to know which projects you want to lead and which ones you shouldn’t. You also need to make sure you are staying aligned with the company’s strategic goals by leading the right projects.
To make sure you’re staying on course and that you’re leading the right projects, you can use the following checklist. You should also refer to the guide “How to Stay on Course for Better Results” to learn how to stay on-task and avoid falling into the pitfalls of scrum.
Bottom line
To be successful as an agile team leader, you need to get comfortable with ambiguity. You also need to be open-minded towards different ways of doing things. Thinking outside the box is important. Leading an agile team means you need to be bolder than normal. You need to lead with confidence and make decisions that feel right.