“The Agile mindset isn't just gained with learning, but unlearning years of current practice”

Everyone wants to do agile but how often do they get it right? The real learning curve is how to ensure the approach sticks through behaviour and mindset shift in the organization and leadership.

We commonly see organizations limit themselves to agile by focusing on software delivery through techniques such as Scrum or Kanban; failing to recognize the importance of the rest of the organization must fundamentally shift their culture. But how can an individual help their organization through this journey?

In this session, we will show how agile is not something you do, but it’s what you embody through 5 key shifts. You will learn how to successfully implement agile while remaining relevant, responsive, and successful in today’s rapidly evolving business world.

Imagine a truly agile workplace. What operating norms, habits, or behaviours permeate the workplace? What do people say and do that is different? We hear terms like collaboration and self-organization, but do your colleagues truly understand what that looks like in action? Do they know how to change their stance and behavior to make these skills a part of how they work?

What if we could enumerate the behaviours we want to see - the organizational habits? And then, what if we could use nudges to make these behaviours come alive in the workplace? And further, what if you could arm every employee with the tools to apply nudges themselves, as part of a new meta-skill that reinforces continuous improvement and evolution of your organizational norms?

In this workshop, we will walk you through the tools and techniques you can use to start shaping your organization of the future. Whether you are a seasoned executive, or a team member, the tools and techniques are universal and can be applied at all levels.

Agile has been pervasive and proven to be successful for technology product development for more than two decades. Today more organizations are taking agile principles and practices and applying them outside of IT to their business as usual (BAU) activities such as marketing or strategy development. But how easy is this next generational aspect of Business Agility? Can an approach that was rooted in technology product development be successfully applied as an accelerator to achieve overall business efficiency and effectiveness?

In this session, different case studies, including a large Canadian insurance provider, will demonstrate lessons learned from organizations that have taken agile principles and practices to help them drive commercial impacts, build people and their capabilities, adoption of the right mindset and behaviors, and improve performance. Some of the questions that will be addressed:

• What does business agility mean and why does it matter?
• How can Corporate Functions such as HR, Finance, Risk and Marketing, which are often entrenched in traditional ways of working, become agile delivery centers?
• Do agile practitioners need to “stay true” to the principles and practices they originally learned for technology in order to be effective in the business?
• How should agile business teams be optimally structured to align with an enterprise agile COE?
• What can leaders learn from others’ journeys so we can determine whether agile can truly thrive outside IT and be scaled across the organization?

If you are a Business Leader who is considering next steps on enterprise agility, organizational resilience, and a culture of adaptability, attend this session to learn valuable and pragmatic insights as you begin your own agile journey.

COEs, including Agile COEs, are typically formed to a) own the standards, methods and best practices of a specific subject area, and to b) provide support and ensure alignment, quality and consistency during project/program delivery across the organization. In many cases, an Agile COE, for example, can also house Change Managers, Agile Coaches, Scrum Masters, Advisors, and Subject Matter Experts that are deployed across the organization to specific projects/programs to help drive awareness and alignment to core principles and practices. This centralized “hub of experts and knowledge” allows organizations to build capabilities and better deploy them across the business to drive value.

While there are many real, achievable benefits in setting up an Agile COE, the Agile environment creates a unique challenge. Since Agile focuses on mindsets and behaviours, rather than strict processes and procedures, tension can often arise and feel like playing broken telephone because:

1) The COE and LOB may be speaking slightly different languages, as the LOB chooses to apply tailor the best practices and standards set out by the COE to meet their specific business needs, or

2) there may not be enough organizational trust, clear enough governance, and sufficient history between to the COE and LOBs to build and share new processes and procedures

Our learning objectives for the group are to:

· Discuss challenges and benefits of an Agile COE and a LOB partnering to co-deliver Agile, and

· Identify lessons learned on how to implement an Agile COE agile practices outside technology into business operations, and manage the “healthy tension” between a COE and LOB

Agile has historically started within technology whether to build an agile COE or with functional development. Today more organizations are taking agile principles and practices and applying them to their business as usual (BAU) activities such as marketing or strategy development. But how easy is it to transplant agile to BAU? Technology and business often speak different languages. Can something that was rooted in technology actually be the Rosetta Stone for overall operational efficiency and effectiveness?

In this session, different case studies, including a large Canadian insurance provider, will demonstrate lessons learned from organizations that have taken agile practices to help them achieve business agility. Do agile practitioners need to “stay true” to the principles and practices they originally learned for technology in order to be effective in the business? How should teams be optimally structured? What can leaders learn from others’ journeys so we can determine whether agile can truly thrive outside IT and be scaled across the organization? If you’re considering creating and implementing agile teams, register for this session to learn leading practices from others as you being your own agile journey.