Teams are the pillars of any successful company. Satisfied teams build a culture that is focused on people and their interpersonal relationships. This is a loop that works perfectly when each element in the process works well. There are no good teams without good individuals, no good company culture without good teams. But also, it is simply impossible to achieve good relationships within the team if the company culture does not support it in practice, not only verbally.

In an agile way of working, people are always in focus, both individuals and teams. It can often be read in the literature that self-organizing teams are the most stable and efficient ones. Self-organizing teams don’t come out of nowhere. We need a culture that supports and understands this way of organizing teams. Creating self-organizing teams requires meeting a number of conditions. One of the key conditions to be met is that all team members should have equal voting rights. This is where an agile leader enters the scene, as someone who initiates, preserves and nurtures such an environment. Equal voting rights can be difficult to achieve in practice, although most leaders will tell you that every member of their team is equal.

So how to ensure that every voice is heard and respected equally then? An agile leader has a high level of developed empathy, knows how to listen and feel the “pulse” of his team. He has a good command of facilitation skills, is able to “silence” louder team members, to invite those who are more withdrawn and to support the position of each team member. An agile leader does not condemn a person who expresses views, he only re-examines those views and tries to reconcile them together with the rest of the team. It creates a healthy balance in the team and thus ensures the equality of each individual.

With the full involvement and engagement of each member, the self-organizing team achieves its full potential and achieves an enviable performance. The leader is there to protect, and the company to support and promote such an environment.