The average lifespan of a company listed in the S&P 500 index has decreased by more than 50 years in the last century, from 67 years in the 1920s to just 15 years today. Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, Dropbox, Spotify, and WhatsApp did not exist in 2003.

• In this context, companies need to rethink their ways of working to become more customer-oriented, faster at executing their strategies, and more flexible in order to cope with three main business challenges: profitable growth, innovation, and digitalization.

• Most large organizations have developed and promoted an organizational structure that is pyramidal, has multiple management layers, concentrates authority on the top, relies on rules and processes, and is made up of several units representing the different businesses and geographies where the company operates. This type of structure increases the distance between the company and the customer.

• Digital-born companies are not constrained by a hierarchical structure and have developed a clear and strong orientation towards the customer. That said, changing the hierarchical structure is difficult in the short-term, given its weight and inertia. At the same time, a hierarchical structure does not respond to the demands of speed and adaptability of today’s business world. Our solution to this dilemma is a Dual Organization following John Kotter’s philosophy.

• In a Dual Organization, a network (or liquid) organization is created and operates in concert with the hierarchical organization. The network organization is made up of small multidisciplinary teams that operate in short cycles and have customer obsession, tolerance to mistakes, and an intrapreneurship mindset. The final objective of a Dual Organization is to re-connect the company with the customer.

• Agile is one possible method to implement the dynamics of the network organization. Agile can be, and is usually, implemented together with other New Ways of Working, such as Design Thinking, Lean Start-up, and Workspace Transformation.

• Implementing Agile and New Ways of Working successfully leads to an impressive business acceleration. It unlocks value hidden in the organization, by fostering a customer-centric mindset, breaking organizational silos, and encouraging experimentation. Improved business results are delivered along with both higher levels of customer satisfaction and employee engagement.

• In our experience, an Agile transformation takes 18 to 24 months depending on the context. The scope can be the entire organization or a relevant business unit. Although there is no one-size-fits-all approach, the transformation usually starts with diagnostics and alignment, and expands through a scaling model that synchronizes the pace of implementing the methodology to the pace of the associated mindset shifts.

• We support the implementation of Agile and New Ways of Working with a dynamic, adaptative, and systemic approach across various disciplines: coaching and mentoring, leadership facilitation, project management, and business consulting.

• Formal Agile training is a critical complementary element to the overall systemic support. We provide various types of Agile trainings, based on the target audience and the objective.

From setting the ground for a successful implementation, to launching in a controlled environment, to finally expanding and consolidating Agile and New Ways of Working across the entire organization.

Getting Started in Agile

• Agile Organizational Diagnostic.

• Design of the desired Agile culture.

• Alignment of the Executive Team around an Agile vision.

Launching Agile

• Pilot of the Agile Methodology.

• Agile Leadership Development.

Expanding and Scaling Up Agile

• Scaling up Agile to the entire organization.

• Agile Trainings.

New Ways of Working

• Design Thinking.

• Lean Start-up.

• Workspace Transformation.

An Agile organization demands a significant change in mindsets and behaviors. Therefore, to make it happen, it requires dynamic, adaptative, and systemic support across various disciplines:

Coaching and Mentoring
Continuous support to mindset and behaviour changes, both at team and individual level. Our Agile Coaches give feedback to the team about observed behaviors, help people to prepare for difficult conversations, and support team decision making with thought-provoking questions. At times, they also shadow key meetings as a way to gather evidence to provide thorough feedback.

Leadership Facilitation
Experiential and profound support to leaders, with a strong orientation towards mindset shifts. Delivered through leadership workshops that combine plenary sessions, small team discussions, and individual introspection.

Project Management
Systematic and rigorous follow-up of project milestones, overall status reporting, and coordination of teams and meetings. We also measure the implementation of desired mindsets and behaviors through a set of pre-defined KPIs that are tracked by surveys completed in real-time by participants using an app.

Business Consulting
Support to define the project’s objectives, scope, and approach. Continuous feedback to teams on the content they produce, the business impact of their initiatives, and the quality of their communications, helping them to maximize their effectiveness.

We offer the systemic support described above through our multidisciplinary team of strategy consultants, organizational psychologists, leadership facilitators, and senior executive coaches.