Agility, Scrum, Holacracy, shared leadership and diversity management aim to help organisations deal with new challenges. They are designed to provide structural and cultural responses to developments that organisations are currently facing. These concepts are also said to have the potential to fundamentally transform power relations within companies. (cf. Bauer, Hohl and Zirkler, 2019). The focus of our SOCIUS lab in March was on the contribution that one of these concepts, namely collegial leadership in the context of agile organisational development, can make to changing traditional power relations in organisations.
On 17 March 2022, our colleague Hannah Kalhorn in the fully booked SOCIUS lab „Agile Leadership and Intersectionality“ behind the scenes of her research work Based on interviews with managers and organisational consultants conducted as part of her master's thesis, we gained insight into the conceptual possibilities offered by the introduction and strengthening of agile, collegial leadership in order to sharpen a critical view of power with regard to discrimination.

In the context of agile organisational development, collegial leadership should, among other things, contribute to changing traditional power structures in organisations. At the same time, in the conventional organisational context, there is little practice in Reflecting on power and its effects in this way, that power relations based on the categories of race, class and gender, as well as their interconnections (intersectionality), are also recognised and discussed.

This SOCIUS lab focused on the question: „What contribution can agile change processes make to the transformation of power structures with regard to intersectionality, using the example of the introduction of collegial leadership?“

To familiarise ourselves with the concepts underlying the findings and questions presented during this discussion- and insight-rich afternoon, we were given an insight into a concept of agile organisational development according to Oestereich/Schröder and, following on from that, the concept of collegial leadership. Hannah also took us through the history and political significance of the concept of intersectionality. And then, of course, we moved on to the interviews and their conclusions.

Against the backdrop of the above approaches, experts were asked what contribution the concept of collegial leadership can make in relation to the lack of diversity representation at various levels of organisations.

„The non-representative survey of selected experts showed that agile development processes and, in particular, the introduction of collegial leadership lead to irritation and structural, procedural and cultural changes in organisations [...]. However, unless advisors work decisively towards this goal, these changes are highly unlikely to occur in the power relations regarding class, gender and race.“This is Hannah's summary of the interviews and her analysis of them.

It is not the concept and its introduction, but rather „additional courageous and reflective efforts that can benefit from the irritations caused by agile change processes“ that have the potential to change the power relations in organisations with regard to intersectional discrimination. This therefore requires personal engagement and, above all, the professional integration of agile and discrimination-critical organisational development.“ sums up Hannah Kalhorn.

We, the participants of this SOCIUS lab, were able to agree with this summary. And so it was not the answers, but the questions that they and we asked ourselves during this lab that were the golden grains of dust that we took away with us in terms of awareness and visibility.

Breidenbach/Rollow (2019): New Work needs Inner Work. 22, https://www.betterplace-lab.org/tranformation-muss-ganzheitlich-sein

In my view, the methodical linking of the topic with the AQAL model (the integral map All Quadrants All Levels according to Ken Wilber) by Joana Breidenbach and Bettina Rollow (2019). This enabled us as participants to delve deeper once again and gain very personal insights and questions for further exploration of the topic.
Thank you very much for that!

In this SOCIUS lab, Hannah managed to maintain an open space in which self-reflection, welcoming feelings and questioning were possible. „A space where the focus was not on quick answers, but on the struggle for perspectives, possibilities and partial answers.“, as one of the attendees so aptly put it. We came away with the realisation „that we can engage with the topic of intersectionality and power relations over and over again and will always find new aspects to explore“, as another attendee summarised at the end of these four eventful hours.

However, despite all the openness and interest in the topic of intersectionality in the context of agile leadership, the question of access for marginalised groups remained unanswered in our lab. As one participant aptly remarked, „it was interesting to see who was represented“ and who was not, I might add.

• Bibliography:
  Breidenbach, J./ Rollow, B. (2019): New Work needs Inner Work. Munich: Franz Vahlen Publishing House.
• Kalhorn, Hannah (2020): Intersectionality in agile development processes – an empirical study on the change in power structures using the example of collegial leadership. Hamburg: Master's thesis at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern.
• Oestereich, B./ Schröder, C. (2019): Agile Organisational Development. Handbook for Building Adaptable Organisations. Munich: Franz Vahlen Publishing House.