Why and how leaders need to embrace “Tight—Loose—Tight”
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“Tight—Loose—Tight” is more than an agile management concept. It’s a practical framework for leaders at all levels to apply in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) environment that presents many polarities and dilemmas.
For leaders to be effective in this environment, they can’t be certain or even be in control. Instead, they must move away from what they know, including suspending their existing assumptions. And they must move toward how they make sense of the knowledge and wisdom they and their teams have.
The role of leaders is clarifying the purpose, the vision, and the values for the team as well as providing resources, which is the first “tight.” Then leaders need to involve team members in deciding how to best do the work – the “loose” part of the framework.
During this meetup, Liz Guthridge, a coach, consultant, and facilitator, will lead a discussion on what it means to work with Tight—Loose—Tight. We’ll also cover three common challenges:
- leaders are hesitant to give up autonomy
- communication mishaps occur, and
- the desired outcomes and goals (the second “tight”) may be continuously evolving.
We’ll also talk about what it takes to embrace and advance this framework.
𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐳 𝐆𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞
As a US-based coach, consultant and facilitator, Liz Guthridge is known as a “breath of fresh air.” She’s curious, candid, and courageous about challenging the status quo and championing continuous improvement.
Liz is a certified coach through the Neuro Leadership Institute. She has extensive training and experience in applied neuroscience, change management, behavior design (including habits), and lean communications®.
She is a graduate of Northwestern University (BSJ), the University of Connecticut (MBA), and the University of Southern California (MA).
Before starting her own coaching and consulting practice, Liz was a principal with three global change and HR consulting firms. She started her career with Amoco (now part of BP) in its corporate public and government affairs office.
Liz regularly speaks and writes about leadership. For the past four years, she’s blogged for Forbes.