Meet Richard Sheridan and Andrea Tomasini

We are pleased to announce that the webinar that took place on July 2nd, held by agile42's own Andrea Tomasini and his friend and colleague in leadership, Richard Sheridan from Menlo Innovations, was a great success.

We had people joining the session from all over the world, asking these two thought leaders great questions, and interacting with us in the chat.

The webinar kicked off with Richard giving an introduction into how they have been tackling the "new normal" at Menlo Innovations. Letting everyone in on stories about how they shifted to operating virtually and how they are maintaining social connections in these difficult times.

 

Here you will find the slides from Richard's talk!
https://menloinnovations.citrixdata.com/share/view/s81fd9587b4d4fb4b

 

Andrea then gave an introduction into how agile42 changed their way of working, not only internally, but also with their clients. There was a need to adapt quickly and agile42 managed to steer the ship in the right direction. He also shared how proud agile42 is of their clients, the way in which they pivoted their way of working whilst taking into account the safety of their employees. Andrea's presentation focused on ORGANIC Leadership, and how this framework can help organizations lead in this "new normal".

Below you can see Andrea's notes from the webinar:

 

The focus of the discussion between Richard and Andrea was also about the safety of people in organizations. They stressed that it's important to ensure all employees have what they need to be able to work from home, stay safe and cope in this "new normal". It has not been easy for agile42 and Menlo Innovations, as both Richard and Andrea mentioned, however staying strong together is key.

We had a number of requests to record the webinar, and as usual,  we did :-). If you missed the webinar, or you would like to listen again and share it with your network, you will find the recording below! It is available on YouTube.

 

 

Andrea also discussed the ways of measuring how the organization is performing. Survey fatigue was mentioned plenty of times in the chat. Employees are tired of doing surveys on a regular basis and struggle to see the value. agile42 has created the Organizational Scan, OrgScan for short, which uses the patented SenseMaker® technology. It shows your organizational culture, your main leadership styles and what your organization values by collecting 100% anonymous data from you and your colleagues. Through including micro-narratives and a patented design that cannot be gamed, the OrgScan offers real data, unlike an interview or a questionnaire which is influenced by the personal situation or the mood of the contributor.

If you are interested, please have a look at the Starter Kit, and get in touch! The Starter Kit is a perfect way to get started and experience the value of the OrgScan. The OrgScan is a fun way to describe what you see and feel in the organization, without the feeling of filling in a survey.

 

If you would like to take a look at the books Richard and Andrea have written, you can find the links to these in the original blog post, introducing this webinar.

For more webinars and recordings, please look here!
Hope to see you in the next ones! 

 

Archetypes: mapping organization, culture and leadership

The empirical evidence agile42 has gathered from multiple client engagements, supports the theory that ideal characteristics of a leader are based on archetypes, ideal types of what an organization should look like and their underlying culture. This has led us to observe a very strong relationship between leadership attitude, organizational design, and organizational culture. 

The idea behind ORGANIC agility is that there isn’t any right or wrong leadership behavior, but rather there are behaviors that one can master, and can be appropriately called upon in specific situations within a specific culture: if a leadership behavior doesn’t correspond to the cultural expectations of the people involved, it will very likely cause a negative emotional response, and potentially increase motivational debt.

In this webinar I gave an overview of different archetypes that are expressed under specific conditions and bring leadership behavior, organizational design and organizational culture together. We also explored some methods within the ORGANIC agility framework, that allow you to recognize the archetype to which an organization can be mapped at a given moment in time, and provide guidance for transitioning to a different archetype, while increasing coherence between culture, organizational design and leadership behaviors.

If you missed the live webinar, I have great news for you! Here you can find the recording of the session, available on YouTube. Please have a look at it and feel welcome to share it around with friends and colleagues.

 

 

During the webinar, I mentioned the Archetype Assessment as a part of the ORGANIC agility framework. The archetype assessment is a service we provide either virtually or in-person, and it is an engaging and meaningful activity that reveals what people think about the way leadership achieves results in your organization. It allows groups and leaders to express what combinations (archetypes) they see themselves operating in, what expectations they have of one another, and how they can make changes without alarming and disappointing the people they work with. The aim is to support cohorts going through any sort of change, whether intentional (such as an agile journey) or unintentional (such as a merger). Change creates friction and both leaders, and the people they work with, struggle with knowing in what ways it is useful to change and how they can best reduce resistance and help support growth in themselves and others.

Please have a look at the information, and contact us if you are interested or have questions! 

I mentioned the webinar from our colleague, Lasse Ziegler, in this webinar, about Leadership in complex environments, and I recommend you have a look at that one to get an understanding of the leadership styles mentioned briefly in my webinar. 

You are welcome to  join our ORGANIC agility Foundation valid for Certified Agile Leadership I (CAL1) training to get an introduction to ORGANIC agility and a deep dive into the Leadership framework. The topics touched in the ORGANIC agility webinars are part of this training! 

Here you can also access the slides I used during the webinar. 

 

For more webinars and recordings, please look here!
Hope to see you in the next ones! 

 

brown game pieces on white surface

Certified Agile Leadership (CAL): The making of an Agile Leader

The interest in applying Agile methodologies, especially on a leadership or organizational level, has increased enormously and is only growing if our bulging inboxes and continuous phone appointments are any indication. There are very good reasons for that shift. Market conditions change fast and constantly, and customer demands and expectations are increasing.

These conditions are exactly what the Agile values and principles address: using an approach built on flexibility, responsibility, and transparency, they enable organizations to deliver faster and high-quality results.

Management and Leadership

What challenges does the Management of an organization face? Is there a conflict with classic corporate and management approaches if we focus on flexible, self-organizing teams designing their process through continuous experimentation, feedback, and removing what doesn’t work? And with Agility becoming a trend and a buzzword, what should the response be from senior management? The answer comes from Agile Leadership. This year’s “State of Scrum” report from the Scrum Alliance identified the support from senior management as the crucial point of tension for a successful implementation. However, the sporadic implementation of Agile Tools and Methodologies is insufficient to make a difference. Mindset and culture must change to create true and long-lasting Agility. This growth can lead to greater resilience and, through that, to sustainable business success. We at agile42 see this change as an ORGANIC, rather than mechanical, process. A Leader has a central role in that, starting with him- or herself.

Those who embrace Agile values paint a pretty clear picture of an Agile Leader. They are someone who can deal with uncertainty and flux, someone who is knowledgeable on methods and approaches, and someone who is creative and team-focused. Moreover, they are people who live by the Agile principles. The role of the leader in the Agile team is not to say who does what but to keep an eye on the destination so that everyone is rowing in the same direction and removing the obstacles in their way. They free their team members to do their jobs by providing a safe-to-fail environment, information, and support. Without organizing, they make self-organization possible.

By this point, the Leader probably sounds a bit superhuman: wise, selfless yet self-aware, knowledgeable, and with a clear view of the future. A Leader, however, is not some combination of a genius and a saint. A Leader can be made, starting from the crucial point of having the will to change. Effective frameworks and tools to facilitate this process, such as the Certified Agile Leadership Program (CAL), exist. The process works through a combination of self-development, experience, and education. The latter, providing an outsider’s eye, mentorship, and support, can be very important in understanding the situation and in what directions changes can be made in the Leader and the culture surrounding them.

To get an idea, you can look at what participant Miikka Niemelä wrote about our CAL 1 Training earlier this month in Finland: “The speed of change is faster than ever and more and more is demanded from the leaders. Managing actions and expecting results won’t get you there. Leaders who affect experiences and beliefs are creating a culture that welcomes change. […] This is why Agile Leadership is needed.”