All agile change interventions have to be effective. Common practice shows that agile change agents often change everything possible or what they dislike, but not what they must do in order to be effective. How can leadership, falsely declared as superfluous in agile organizations, make a significant difference?

Recognizing the need for change, finding the real constraints, setting specific goals, initiating, directing and controlling change and solving the problems along the way is mandatory for leaders to be effective. The mixture of leadership and change agent skills to successfully create and reinforce change within the organization is a possibility.

Intuition and experience help in making the right decisions and supporting others to see the benefits of change.  A lack of clarity of what an appropriate leadership style should be results in low motivation, power struggle between individuals and a deteriorating communication style. Conflicts, a mediocre performance and increasing indifference within a team often mean that leaders either dodge the issues or take care of too much themselves.