Rudi Bauer & Fanny Jimenez

Flexible Leadership: Balancing Goals, Motivation, and Growth

Are you a manager, or a leader your team would actually elect to follow?

Flexible Leadership: Balancing Goals, Motivation, and Growth
#1about 1 minute

Defining what flexible leadership means in practice

Flexible leadership is the ability to adjust your leadership style based on individual personalities, team situations, and broader company goals.

#2about 3 minutes

Understanding the key differences between managers and leaders

Management provides a stable framework of tools and goals, while leadership focuses on flexibly navigating the path to achieve those goals with people.

#3about 2 minutes

Building trust by embracing curiosity and openness

To move from control to trust, leaders must first cultivate curiosity and openness to what their team can contribute.

#4about 3 minutes

Exploring if leaders are appointed or elected by teams

While teams often choose who they follow, effective leadership sometimes requires making unpopular decisions that are understood in hindsight.

#5about 3 minutes

Why self-reflection is critical for flexible leadership

Proactive self-reflection allows leaders to anticipate changes and adapt their style in advance, rather than reacting to problems as they arise.

#6about 3 minutes

Balancing individual team needs with overall company goals

Flexible leadership involves tailoring your approach to different team members' experience levels while staying aligned with strategic business objectives.

#7about 4 minutes

The three most essential traits of a flexible leader

The core capabilities for flexible leadership are emotional intelligence, a willingness to engage with conflict, and effective stakeholder management.

#8about 2 minutes

How to create true psychological safety at work

Psychological safety is built on a foundation of trust, where team members feel their leader is competent, reliable, and truthful.

#9about 2 minutes

Fostering mentorship for leadership and team development

In a psychologically safe environment, mentorship can happen organically in all directions as everyone can challenge and learn from each other.

#10about 3 minutes

How to amplify quiet and marginalized voices

Leaders can ensure all voices are heard by using different communication channels and preparing introverted team members for discussions in advance.

#11about 2 minutes

A practical first step toward flexible leadership

To start becoming more flexible, leaders should involve their team in creating multiple plans to navigate uncertainty and achieve goals.

Related jobs
Jobs that call for the skills explored in this talk.

Matching moments

Leading through an era of fundamental uncertainty
15:05 MIN

Leading through an era of fundamental uncertainty

From Uncertainty to Empowerment: Personalizing the Human Experience with AI

Q&A: Balancing team structure and flexibility under pressure
55:24 MIN

Q&A: Balancing team structure and flexibility under pressure

One size fits all! Not at all!

Understanding the modern evolution of leadership roles
00:06 MIN

Understanding the modern evolution of leadership roles

Building Your Leadership Muscle: How You Show Up Impacts Culture

Leading through change with trust and transparency
06:06 MIN

Leading through change with trust and transparency

When Vision Becomes Legacy: Generational Change in Family Businesses

Exploring different definitions of modern leadership
00:04 MIN

Exploring different definitions of modern leadership

AI Won’t Replace Leaders: How Emotional Intelligence Defines the Future of Leadership

How to foster a growth mindset in your team
17:21 MIN

How to foster a growth mindset in your team

Growth mindset in Tech hiring: unlocking team potential through collaboration and feedback

Managing the challenges of freedom with a strong feedback culture
23:31 MIN

Managing the challenges of freedom with a strong feedback culture

DevOps at Netflix

Q&A: Managing conflict and leadership challenges
49:14 MIN

Q&A: Managing conflict and leadership challenges

One size fits all! Not at all!

Featured Partners

Related Videos

See all videos
Culture Starts With You: Rethinking Leadership in 202535:11

Culture Starts With You: Rethinking Leadership in 2025

Rudi Bauer & Meghan Hennessy

From Stress to Strength: How to Build Workplace Resilience37:13

From Stress to Strength: How to Build Workplace Resilience

Rudi Bauer & Ludmila Tomperi

Beyond the 9–5: Designing Work Around Humans36:39

Beyond the 9–5: Designing Work Around Humans

Rudi Bauer & Gina Schinkel

The Future of Work: 
Are High-Agency Cultures the Next Big Thing?33:45

The Future of Work: 
Are High-Agency Cultures the Next Big Thing?

Rudi Bauer & Emily Firth

Beyond Authority: Why Great Leaders Never Stop Growing34:42

Beyond Authority: Why Great Leaders Never Stop Growing

Rudi Bauer & Adriaan Kolff

From Words to Action: Advancing Inclusion Through Leadership26:18

From Words to Action: Advancing Inclusion Through Leadership

Rudi Bauer & Kobi Ampoma

Leading Through Stagility: Human Capital Trends That Redefine Work39:40

Leading Through Stagility: Human Capital Trends That Redefine Work

Rudi Bauer, Cathrin Christ & Birte Reitmann

Softness at Work: Weakness or the Ultimate Leadership Asset?37:26

Softness at Work: Weakness or the Ultimate Leadership Asset?

Rudi Bauer & Kate Silber

From learning to earning

Jobs that call for the skills explored in this talk.

Agile Coach

Agile Coach

Agile Heroes GmbH
Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Scrum
Agile Methodologies