The focus of an agile transformation must be on achieving clearly defined business goals. Increasing economic performance sets the direction here. A transformation requires small steps, constant reflection and adaptation.
Using a real customer example, we share our combined experiences from the successful implementation of an agile project to the development of a virtual organization and a revolutionary business model. We report on the initial situation and challenges, our approach and measures as well as the results and findings of our journey. In this way, we want to make our contribution to the development of learning and stable organizations and provide impetus for transformation. We wish all readers the greatest possible gain in knowledge for their transformation work.
The sales division of an international energy group faced the following situation at the beginning of 2014: only a massive reduction in complexity in the process and system landscape and a return to standard solutions could ensure the company’s long-term competitiveness. A pronounced silo mentality as well as large and risky releases at the end of the project lead to a low ability to react to changing customer needs and market requirements. Departments and IT live very formal processes. After the first joint workshop, an employee asks: “Am I allowed to talk directly to the business department from now on?”
We are initiating a restructuring project for private and business customers and implementing an agile approach to overcome the challenges mentioned above quickly and step by step. It is the first major agile project in the Group – of course there is uncertainty. Project manager Timo Dietrich (innogy) protects the project and trusts his team, while the traditional corporate world is served “externally”. We are piloting the agile approach in a sub-project and establishing four cross-functional scrum teams consisting of specialist departments, IT and external service providers along the end-to-end processes. The teams work in 3-week sprints and demonstrate fully tested functions at the end of each sprint. After just under 6 months, there is a real go-live: new customer acquisition is now running in the new process and system landscape.
We are introducing targeted scaling mechanisms to ensure a common focus and lean decision-making processes:
The mechanisms introduced serve to fulfill a clearly defined purpose, which is constantly reviewed and adjusted if necessary. Continuous learning and further development are deeply rooted principles of our project approach.
Business impact: process and IT cost reduction of EUR 20.4 million/year
In December 2015, we successfully completed the project on time, on quality and on budget.
In addition to the increased potential, a cultural and organizational change is clearly visible. At the end of the project, it is hard to imagine returning to the “old world”. The impressions are too positive and successful. The cooperative partnership, the culture, the performance and the efficiency of the project must be continued and the close integration between the specialist departments and IT must be manifested. In order to minimize frictional losses and permanently improve the “time to market” for the business, we support the establishment of a virtual organization within the company that is strictly based on agile principles (Fig. 1: Virtual organization).
In 2016, 13 Scrum teams are working in parallel on the continuous development and operation of the established process and system landscape. The virtual organization is made up of 3 different areas. Our vision is to develop an “employee organization full of enthusiasts”.
There is a big difference between working towards a fixed project goal in a Scrum project and permanently integrating agility into everyday working life. We initially underestimate how great the uncertainty really is in parts of the organization.
„Agile leadership must be exemplified! The actual change process can only be successfully shaped together: When employees and management pull together!"
Individual employees and managers feel left alone in the situation. A lack of sustainability in the establishment of agile behavior and working methods leads to communication problems, inefficient processes and ultimately extra work. We analyse the situation together with the operational teams and managers and develop a model to enable healthy growth and regain the sustainable strength of the organization.
Based on the purpose of the organization’s existence, clear performance targets of the transformation project are defined, supported by strategic fields of action in the implementation. A strategic field of action describes the expected ways of working within the organization. A way of working consists of skills and behaviours, as well as the practised application of practices and methods (“good practices”) by individuals, teams and the entire organization (Fig. 2).
The organizational maturity level of the organization is based on the performance targets in the four dimensions of management, employees, customers and finances. The performance targets have a close cause-and-effect relationship:
The three strategic fields of action make it possible to achieve the performance targets:
Strengthening new leadership skills and resolving effectiveness brakes in a targeted manner, e.g. by establishing modern leadership approaches such as servant leadership, introducing elements of systemic coaching and defining clear guidelines and scope for action.
Improve customer focus and service quality by using lean tools such as Voice of the Customer (VOC), customer arena for systematically increasing customer satisfaction and conducting value stream analyses for process optimization.
Promote entrepreneurial attitude, communication skills and self-organization, e.g. through team-specific coaching to promote cooperation and the active promotion of personal development through the introduction of clear competence matrices and development paths.
Continuous maturity measurements of performance targets and areas of action are a basic prerequisite for sustainable transformation. The permanent review of the current status establishes a continuous improvement process based on the “Inspect & Adapt” principle.
The market launch can take place after just 4 months, allowing real customer feedback to be incorporated into further development at a very early stage. After the initial go-live, four agile teams independently organize sales, customer service and the further development and operation of processes and IT platforms along the customer journey.
12 months later, 100,000 customers have already been successfully signed up. In addition, highly motivated employees identify with the business model and act in a self-organized and entrepreneurial manner – supported by flat hierarchies.
Our experience shows that a sustainable transformation requires small steps, constant reflection and adaptation and must always be based on clearly defined business goals in order to be successful.
Arrange a personal consultation now and let our experts advise you. We will be happy to give you an insight into current projects and talk about your specific ideas and needs.
Our core competency lies in the combination of agile methods and stable solutions for challenging management, organisational and transformation tasks. With this experience-based advantage and our very special cohesion, we achieve effective results and sustainable changes.