From Transformational to Agile Leadership: What Future Skills it Takes to Act as Agile Leaders

Abstract

Agile leadership is “in vogue” in today’s fast changing and increasingly digitally connected world of work, yet many business leaders struggle to adapt their leadership skills accordingly. Using insights drawn from transformational leadership theory and a case study of the IT subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, we present a guide for future management skills to create sustainable organizations for a better world. This article argues for the importance of transformational leadership traits, including empowerment, trust, openness, and coaching, in successful agile leadership. Furthermore, affective factors, namely mindfulness and empathy, are important future leadership competencies, especially in a digital work environment. In addition to these specific soft skills derived from transformational leadership theory, managers also need to be equipped with certain hard skills related to technological expertise as well as practical knowledge of agile methods. Finally, the paper addresses the competence to act in network structures as a key success factor for executives and recognize an ongoing paradigm shift from centralized to shared leadership and from the individual to the team perspective.