The practices of agile software development and DevSecOps (Development integrated with Security integrated with Operations) differ from traditional linear systems of working. The people doing this work – who they are and what they expect – and the way the work gets done in today’s tech industry demand a leadership practice specific to this way of working. This book explores leadership practice in today’s technology industry using the twelve principles of the Agile Manifesto as a framework. Each of the twelve principles includes a section of key takeaways to help the reader apply the principle in practice. It extends traditional notions of leadership, specifically Complexity Leadership Theory (CLT), to one that is post-heroic, acknowledging the processual, conjunctive and generative nature of leadership relationships. Leader-follower dynamics are complex—they include power dynamics, conflict, ambiguity, and paradox—and technology organizations are complex. This book challenges the suitability of some aspects of complexity theory and offers practices that are more suitable for leading today’s technology organizations.
Effective software teams are essential for any organization to deliver value continuously and sustainably. But how do you build the best team organization for your specific goals, culture, and needs? Team Topologies is a practical, step-by-step, adaptive model for organizational design and team interaction based on four fundamental team types and three team interaction patterns. It is a model that treats teams as the fundamental means of delivery, where team structures and communication pathways are able to evolve with technological and organizational maturity. In Team Topologies, IT consultants Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais share secrets of successful team patterns and interactions to help readers choose and evolve the right team patterns for their organization, making sure to keep the software healthy and optimize value streams. Team Topologies is a major step forward in organizational design for software, presenting a well-defined way for teams to interact and interrelate that helps make the resulting software architecture clearer and more sustainable, turning inter-team problems into valuable signals for the self-steering organization.
From the New York Times bestselling author of My Share of the Task and Leaders, a manual for leaders looking to make their teams more adaptable, agile, and unified in the midst of change. When General Stanley McChrystal took command of the Joint Special Operations Task Force in 2004, he quickly realized that conventional military tactics were failing. Al Qaeda in Iraq was a decentralized network that could move quickly, strike ruthlessly, then seemingly vanish into the local population. The allied forces had a huge advantage in numbers, equipment, and training—but none of that seemed to matter. To defeat Al Qaeda, they would have to combine the power of the world’s mightiest military with the agility of the world’s most fearsome terrorist network. They would have to become a "team of teams"—faster, flatter, and more flexible than ever. In Team of Teams, McChrystal and his colleagues show how the challenges they faced in Iraq can be relevant to countless businesses, nonprofits, and organizations today. In periods of unprecedented crisis, leaders need practical management practices that can scale to thousands of people—and fast. By giving small groups the freedom to experiment and share what they learn across the entire organization, teams can respond more quickly, communicate more freely, and make better and faster decisions. Drawing on compelling examples—from NASA to hospital emergency rooms—Team of Teams makes the case for merging the power of a large corporation with the agility of a small team to transform any organization.
This book follows on the authors’ successful development of the Three-Pillar Model (3-P Model) for organizing and leading in disruptive times. Its focus is on helping the reader to implement the model and providing a wide variety of application cases for these VUCA times (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity), including global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. The book covers a broad range of organizations: private and public sector, NGOs, local and global governmental institutions, global organizations such as UN, etc. In addition, it shows how the 3-P Model can be applied to challenges in organization design, management and leadership.
Given today's context of tough change, organizations need to be able to innovate as well as develop and implement strategy quickly and efficiently. The key to this is agility - a set of capabilities that can help organizations to rapidly adapt to changing circumstances. At the same time, resilience is also essential if benefits are going to endure over the longer term and if employees are to be kept on board. The Agile Organization focuses on how to build both agility and resilience at individual, team and organizational levels. It draws on a wealth of research, including the lived experience and learning of managers and HR and organization development (OD) professionals to show how it is possible to 'square the circle', becoming more sustainably agile while also enhancing employee engagement and resilience. The Agile Organization showcases the latest thinking - new organizational models, ground-breaking themes and case studies - that illustrate how organizations are addressing the challenge of developing organizational agility. Packed with helpful checklists and practice pointers, this book is a 'go to' guide for senior leaders and managers, HR and OD specialists who want to help bring about organizational transformation and create the new resiliently agile 'business as usual'.
When faced with complex challenges or uncertain outcomes, many leaders believe that if they are smart enough, work hard enough, or turn to the best management tools, they will be able to find the right answer, predict and plan for the future, and break down tasks to produce controllable results. But what are leaders to do when this isn't the case? Rather than offering one-size-fits-all tips and tricks drawn from the realm of business as usual, Simple Habits for Complex Times provides three integral practices that enable leaders to navigate the unknown. By taking multiple perspectives, asking different questions, and seeing more of their system, leaders can better understand themselves, their roles, and the world around them. They can become more nimble, respond with agility, and guide their organizations to thrive in an ever-shifting business landscape. The more leaders use these simple habits, the more they enhance their performance and solve increasingly common, sticky business issues with greater acumen. Whether in large or small organizations, in government or the private sector, in the U.S. or overseas, leaders will turn to this book as a companion that helps them grow into the best version of themselves.
* Presents assessment methods for organization and managementprocesses. * Provides special tools and techniques for managing and organizingR&D, new product, and project-oriented challenges. * Includes real-world case studies.
THE THIRD EDITION of the classic book Coaching for Leadership is written for today’s coaches who are challenged with the task of combining concepts from various disciplines in order to help their clients, especially high-potential leaders, learn and succeed. In this sense, coaches have to become discriminating eclectics, developing a keen sense of judgment to select which ideas are best woven into their coaching method and which concepts are best to ignore. Coaching for Leadership is intended to be a cherished companion in that learning journey presented by the world’s greatest coaches, including: Marshall Goldsmith, Paul Hersey, Beverly Kaye, Dave Ulrich, and many more. This comprehensive resource offers a wealth of material for established and novice coaches including proven coaching techniques, key principles, and important learning points. The book offers a concise overview of the foundations of coaching and reveals What it takes to coach for engagement and retention Why mentoring is circular How to build a team without wasting time What it means to be a purposeful leader How to write like a leader The right stuff of leadership What is needed to lead across national boundaries How to coach high potential women Why coaching is empowerment How to influence decision makers Why you should double your value The ten suggestions for successful peer coaching The coaching tools for the leadership journey How to coach executives for succession Coaching for Leadership is a proven resource that offers best practices, sample scenarios, case studies, and practical tools.
New Media in Times of Crisis provides an interdisciplinary look at research focused around how people organize during crises. Contributors examine the latest practices for communicating during crises, including evacuation practices, workplace safety challenges, crisis social media usage, and strategies for making emergency alerts on U.S. mobile phones constructive and helpful. The book is grounded in the practices of first responders, crisis communicators, people experiencing tragic events, and communities who organize on- and offline to make sense of their experiences. The authors draw upon a wide range of theories and frameworks with the goal of establishing new directions for research and practice. The text is suitable for advanced students and researchers in crisis, disaster, and emergency communication.
Leadership and Change for the Health Professional will provide health professionals with the latest thinking on leadership theory and research. It highlights the issues that can block successful healthcare leadership initiatives, and explores ways of constructively engaging with the opportunities provided by change. Each chapter draws out practical lessons for effective and efficient leadership of care that is compassionate and safe. Leaders and students at all levels will be able to use this book to expand their leadership repertoire in a text that engages with many themes, including: • The basics of leadership and the idea of leadership as a "calling" • Motivating employees • Implicit leadership theory • Developing trust • Building learning organisations • Gender and equality • Planning and organising change in healthcare • Leading change The links between the theory and practice of healthcare leadership are skilfully explored with examples of research implemented in practice, and the textbook further equips your study with helpful summaries and suggestions for further reading. This is essential reading for all healthcare professionals in clinical practice as well as students studying or engaged in research on health care management and leadership. With a foreword by Thomas Garavan, Edinburgh Napier Business School, UK. "Amongst the vast number of leadership texts published every year this book stands out. It has been edited with considerable care by two highly respected scholars in the field to make it accessible to all those interested in, and practising, leadership, whether healthcare professionals or students. It is well organised and moves seamlessly to address many important questions about the nature of leadership, including important questions of ethics, gender, trust, motivation, innovation, teams, and distributed leadership. The final section focuses on leading change in healthcare, a critical element of leadership practice in today’s world. Too many leadership books ignore context. This book, however, is firmly rooted in the healthcare context, and aspires to help professionals in this sector to reflect deeply on the complexities of leading through uncertain times. Whilst each chapter stands alone, the book’s merit is in offering multiple perspectives. Curtis and Cullen have encouraged the book’s contributors to address the big debates and themes in healthcare leadership today, whilst keeping in sharp focus the practice of leadership." Sharon Turnbull, Visiting Professor, Lancaster University Management School, UK "In Leadership and Change for the Health Professional, Elizabeth Curtis and John Cullen have crafted an exceptionally timely collection of practically-based research insights. As global healthcare systems face disruptive and often uncomfortable forces for change, this book tackles complex topics that health leaders must understand. While oriented toward generative practice and creative leadership skills, Curtis and Cullen do not shy away from engaging with controversial aspects of leadership development, such as bias, gendered practice, or even clinical failure, making it a valuable resource for educators and practitioners alike. Accessible and lively, Leadership and Change for the Health Professional is a successful blend of current issues with a visionary future." Kathy Lund Dean, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Leadership & Ethics, Gustavus Adolphus College, USA "Curtis and Cullen bring together a comprehensive overview of leadership, from its historical development up to its role within the current healthcare context, presented by a variety of scholars. The particular challenges and demands faced by leaders and those who aspire to lead are discussed within and it addresses the many facets of leadership approaches. Anyone interested in the development of leadership and change will find this particularly stimulating and a valuable text for academic and students alike." Alison H James, School of Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University, UK "This book covers many aspects of leadership, which are timely in nature and directly relevant to health professionals. The contributors are highly respected and offer different perspectives on this complex issue. We need to encourage practitioners to see themselves as leaders – this evidence-based text will serve to guide them in this quest. De-emphasising the individual leadership qualities and including those of teams makes this book stand out from others. The NHS features prominently but despite this, readers from other countries should be able to easily transfer the content to their own health services. The useful websites at the end of each chapter provide further direction for readers. This is a text that is written with a very positive stance, even though the difficulties of being a leader are not ignored. It ends with a discussion on the vision for leadership – at individual, team and organisational levels. Lots to read, absorb and you can do this a chapter at a time which is great." Professor Bridie Kent, Head of School of Nursing and Midwifery, Plymouth University, UK "This book addresses an important topic, where there is huge scope to add value. This is partly due to the scale of the NHS. The language makes the text accessible to professionals as well as academics. It is also good to see that the issue of learning organisations is addressed, as well as impact of leadership on patients." Professor John G Burgoyne, Lancaster University Management School, UK "Leadership and Change for the Health Professional is a timely and authoritative academic and professional exposition of the challenges for clinicians and healthcare managers in carrying out their management roles in our modern medical and healthcare systems. Its focus on change is both apt and relevant in the context of the dynamic development of our healthcare structures." Niamh Brennan, Michael MacCormac Professor of Management, University College Dublin
