The Pathway of Agile Leadership in Digital Transformation

In an interaction with Industry Outlook, Biren Parekh, Director at CRISIL, shares his views on the role of agile leadership in digital transformation. He is an Information Technology executive with over twenty-six years of experience managing and implementing complex BFSI digital transformation programs for top-tier global retail and corporate banks. He has deep domain expertise in Retail and corporate banking and related ecosystems.

How does agile leadership facilitate successful digital transformation initiatives within organizations?

Agile leadership is a must-have competency in this disruptive world. Technology is progressing at a fast pace, and if one tries to lead in old-fashioned traditional ways, they will soon be edged out by new-gen leaders and startups. Agile leadership is very much the need of the hour across the business ecosystem and for business agility.

The question here arises: how does it help? There are certain requisites of agile leadership. Agile leaders should understand the market trends and innovate on agile strategies. One needs to think out-of-box and explore various unconventional alternatives that will add incremental value to the business. Furthermore, for agile leadership, a customer-centric focus should be there, and it should be built into the strategy for a smooth digital transformation.

Digital transformation is neither a one-time activity nor the only thing. It is a journey, and continuous re-alignments and course correction can only make digital transformation agile and successful.

 What are the key characteristics of an agile leader in the context of digital transformation?

There are certain key traits required for donning the hat of an agile leader.

First, the person needs to be client-centric and client-centricity should be built into the strategy to implement a frictionless digital transformation. Any leader who cannot understand the unstated requirements of the customer is bound to fail.

Such a leader needs to consult and take opinions from various stakeholders involved in the project, get their buy-in, and accordingly coordinate with the team for successful execution.

An agile leader should have the gumption to deal with failure, and the ability to swiftly adapt to new trends and evolving technology.

Furthermore, an agile leader needs to be collaborative and not dictate terms to the team. While the role of an agile leader is also to supervise the whole process of implementation, he needs to empower team members to make decisions.  If they make mistakes on the journey, they should not be penalized.

Continuous measurement and improvement will only help a leader know whether the digital transformation is progressing in the right direction, and at the same time, should also look into the incremental business value that can be delivered periodically. He should stay outcome-oriented at all times.

How can agile principles be effectively applied to navigate the complexities of digital transformation projects?

Agile principles are always meant to add business agility to the organization. It is about providing meaningful outcomes in an acceptable period of time. Here, an agile leader should look at the smallest of opportunities through which delta work can be delivered in a lesser amount of time.

Added to this, an agile leader should always look at continuous improvement in business processes. Most importantly, as mentioned earlier, agile leaders should always follow a collaborative approach. It should never happen that stakeholders are being consulted after implementation. Everyone should be on-boarded right from the start until the completion of a project. At each checkpoint in the process, stakeholders must be consulted, and their feedback should be considered before moving forward. These are some of the actions that need to be taken by agile leaders for their ideas and processes to succeed.

What role does agile leadership play in fostering a culture of innovation and adaptability during digital transformation efforts?

Empowering people is the first and foremost requirement for agile leadership. Team members need to clearly understand the deliverables, constraints, risks, and timelines before initiating any project. This can be achieved by ideating and commissioning proof-of-concept before embarking on the journey. The objective should be to consistently deliver incremental value to the business in an agile manner. At the same time, teams should be encouraged to innovate and try creative ways to deliver solutions without punishing them for their failures. Only with this, an agile leader will be able to achieve project success much earlier than expected.

“Continuous measurement and improvement will only help a leader know whether the digital transformation is progressing in the right direction, and at the same time should also look into the incremental business value that can be delivered periodically.”