Topic
Agile organisations for real
Fit for humans, fit for the future
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Stig Albertsen
Niels Ahrengot
In a world where change is a constant, more and more organisations recognise the power of agility as it impacts the way we strategise, organise and change.
We believe that developing agile organisations for real calls for more than organisational refinements, procedural adjustments or the addition of a few tools. Instead, leaders of the future must revisit the fundamental assumptions and embedded beliefs that organisations are built on, in order to reignite and reconnect with the inherent entrepreneurial DNA.
Many are already experimenting with ways to exploit the same advantages that start-ups benefit from, while aiming for more radical innovation, starting by nurturing an entrepreneurial culture as opposed to reacting to periodical crises.
Most large organisations will need to not only reinvent their business model to be fit for the future, but also rethink their management models in order to become fit for humans. This is an evolutionary development that holds extraordinary potential for unleashing talent, passion and innovation.
Insights
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Explore our thoughts on building truly agile organisations, filmed at Implement Thought Leaders 2019.
What’s the current state of play?
Our recent survey indicates a strong need for less bureaucracy among people of all ages and management levels. But what else can we learn about the challenges facing organisations today?
Below, we have listed a series of questions we often hear when talking to our clients. If some of these resonate more than others, there is a good chance that you would like …
… leaders who multiply the power of others
- Is your organisation a place where leaders embrace autonomy and create space for their employees to grow?
- Is leadership much more about followership than formal power?
- Is your organisation a place where leaders genuinely are there to help and see leadership as a service and not a control and administrative task?
- Are decisions made by involving the right people in an open, collaborative way instead of top-down decision-making
Contact: Henrik Horn Andersen, hha@implement.dk
… a more agile and engaging strategy process
- Are you engaging the entire organisation in a strategic discussion and making sure that your strategy process an ongoing, iterative process?
- Are you building strategic capabilities with all employees (integrative thinking, business acumen, business model understanding) facilitating choice-making across organisational structures?
- Are you practising resource fluidity when opportunities arise and things change?
Contact: Niklas Leifelt, nil@implement.dk
… to be more wired to your customers and suppliers
- Are employees genuinely curious about the objectives and processes of your customers, or are they more focused on internal products and processes?
- Are you involving customers in testing ideas for future products and services?
- Do you have an overview and have you designed an ecosystem of external suppliers, customers and ambassadors around your organisation?
Contact: Christian Milner Nymand, cmj@implement.dk
… an agile project factory
- Do all project members feel responsibility for creating user impact, rather than being focused on milestones and deliverables?
- Does project work flow seamlessly and fast across functional boundaries?
- Is decision authority delegated to where the real insights are?
- Are stage gate meetings/reviews energetic with impact demonstrations and no political positioning/debating?
- Is the best project you ever experienced also the unique one that did not follow the standard project model?
Contact: Michael Ehlers, meh@imlement.dk
… an entrepreneurial culture
- Can anyone do anything they want, as long as they can mobilise support and create fans?
- If you get an idea, do you then know how to bring it to life?
- If it was your own company, what would you do differently?
- Can you buy shares in your company? How many have you bought?
- Do you truly feel that your product will make a difference in the world?
Contact: Henrik Sonnenberg, hso@implement.dk
… detoxed processes and reduced corporate theatre
- Have you assessed your BMI (Bureaucratic Mass Index)?
- Are you spending less time on status reports and compliance and more time on actual work?
- Do you have REAL steering committee meetings instead of playing corporate theatre where the issues that really matter are not handled?
Contact: Niels Teilberg Søndergaard, nso@implement.dk
