The Vistage Manifesto

How My CEO Peer Advisory Group Can Make You More Agile

In 2001, 17 delegates from the global software development community convened to formulate the “Agile Manifesto.” It might sound like a skull and crossbones secret society, but it’s the guiding principles for the Agile methodology to help teams deliver more value — the antidote to corporate rigidity and red tape.

I’ll admit, I was skeptical at first. It felt like a formalization of what many of us developers had been doing well informally. We were bucking the structured, linear engineering approach to software development by meeting with customers, having conversations, and building, testing, and delivering what they needed iteratively. But once this manifesto sunk in, it was validating that our iterative and incremental processes had a formal stamp of approval. I felt relief that there was now a movement around a better way to build software. From there, I realized Agile is not just a better way to build software but a better way to run teams, organizations, and even companies. As a software developer turned CEO and executive coach, it permeates nearly everything I do now.

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The Agile Mindset

I’m struck by how many businesses still have very linear processes. When a deliverable hits a milestone or meets certain criteria, it gets moved to the next department and, with that, it suffers a context transfer. Once it reaches a particular stage, it goes up for review and feedback. Linearization of the process is a recipe for failure and introduces risk because you’re not evaluating, reviewing, and learning along the way. If things change, such as a deadline or a budget, you might scrap the whole thing and lose all the value. Agile methods allow us to proceed in a much more interactive and incremental way, where we’re creating and retaining value all along — even if the work product is never delivered, perhaps somebody can use it for subsequent work or even in other parts of the business.

I hear it nearly every day as a Vistage Chair, CEO coach, when executives tell me they have difficulty communicating priorities or their people don’t know how to delegate. Some CEOs try to take on too many things, while others say they can never take a break. In either case, if you don’t have your organization structured and processes defined well, you can’t be confident that your business will keep running smoothly if you step away.

Before becoming a Vistage chair, I was part of 11 startups and founder of four, including one ongoing success called Improving. The original mission of this technology consultancy and training organization was to bring the “Agile mindset” to the software development world, especially corporate IT. We started by teaching software developers to use these methods, such as responding to change and collaborating — eventually working our way up to their managers, department heads, and the whole C-suite. With CEOs, we found ourselves talking about how the entire company could be more agile if they took advantage of the values and principles already implemented lower down in IT departments. We led executives through Agile practices in actions such as planning, strategy, budget cycles, and delivering value to the customer. We even created an Agile-centric conference and used Agile practices to deliver it in multiple cities for many years.

Using Agile practices on non-technical work was my foundation for applying it to other businesses and large organizations as a transformational coach. The pinnacle was working with a large government contractor doing business development. We helped them take customer relationships and RFPs and convert them into proposals built incrementally from pieces and parts used before. We would review along the way until it reached a sufficient quality, or we hit the time limit, doing away with stage gates while keeping important quality reviews. Agile methodologies made a world of difference in framework, structure, and monetary outcome.

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Smooth Operator

During my monthly one-to-ones and Vistage group meetings, I reflect on the Agile teachings and how they may help us now. It’s a privilege to share my experience with the methodology — not only my successes and mistakes but the challenges faced by (and overcome by) others — to help CEOs deliver on their missions. It can be as fundamental as creating a prioritized list of initiatives. That alone allows executives to delegate downward, decide what not to do, and figure out when to outsource. As 2024 shapes up to be another year of economic uncertainty and change, here are some ways in which Agile tenets can help my Vistage members carry on:

Open communication.?Agile principles emphasize the importance of clear and open communication, up and down the chain, to pave the way for significant business decisions. It's being honest and transparent about requirements, priorities, what you're working on, and the progress you're making, to name a few. In Vistage, we provide a confidential forum for you to share challenges among non-competing executive peers and get clarification to bring more concise communication back to your organization. You emerge from a peer group conversation with a vision statement about your company, a project, or why you're restructuring or hiring a particular person — whatever issue is pressing you that month. Vistage helps you clarify your vision of where you want to go, align with your purpose and mission, and understand how it affects the organization to communicate it more clearly.

Frequent feedback.?Another Agile principle promotes regular feedback loops and retrospectives to assess progress and make process improvements. Getting a financial report at the end of a quarter is too slow to make real-time business decisions. Having metrics in place that allow for 360-degree feedback and early alerts is crucial. Vistage members benefit from CEO peer observations to refine their leadership style and decision-making. A Vistage meeting provides a safe and confidential space to receive and process constructive feedback, particularly compelling from diverse industry perspectives that help you arrive at an action plan. After processing Vistage members' complex issues of dealing with a toxic personality or needing to expand into a new marketplace, I always ask what value they got out of it. The feedback is always a " I got more than I ever expected — I’ve got a plan to move ahead now.”

Adaptability and Flexibility.?How often have we heard, "Well, that's how we've always done it." That mentality is the antithesis of Agile. An Agile mindset emphasizes the ability to adapt to change quickly. One of my Vistage members recently went through an acquisition and never forced process changes on either side of the merged organization. I'm encouraging them to promote small changes more frequently, such as regularly updating software and automated workflow. Then, it becomes less scary and part of the culture for more significant changes and improvements. Minor changes set the stage for bigger changes. If a new technology or market dynamic comes along and you're not ready, you're the victim. Then change happens to you. But if you're ready and light on your feet, change becomes an opportunity. If you can respond faster than your competition, then every unexpected or unpredictable thing becomes an opportunity — that's what an Agile organization does.?

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The Smart Work Together

When I reflect on my career as a software developer, instructor, coach, and executive — my greatest success stories were always with others involved. You learn a lot through bumps and bruises when you go it alone. However, I became a Vistage Chair to help CEOs avoid those bumps and bruises and lead with the confidence that they're doing the right thing. I live for those a-ha moments, lifting uncertainty that might hold you back.

Being a Vistage Chair is the pragmatic application of my two personalities — my communicative social side and my engineering-oriented, problem-solving side.

The Agile Manifesto maintains that people should always be valued over process. Similarly, Vistage approaches the CEO as a whole person, not just the leader at the top of the organization's hierarchy.

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Let’s see if we’re a fit.

If Vistage sounds like something you’d like to explore and you’re based in D.C., Maryland, or Virginia, I love to connect with new people and cultivate a meaningful professional network. Please reach out here on LinkedIn or by email to [email protected].