Quest for flexibility
Are you looking for inspiration on the path to agility? Invite people from an organization that has been on this journey for a while. What obstacles have they overcome? What ballast have they thrown overboard? How did they approach it? What’s their next challenge? Companies like Bol.com, Coolblue, or Buurtzorg are often mentioned as examples. A lesser-known example is the municipality of Hollands Kroon. You can also seek organizations within the same industry that are a few steps ahead in some areas but perhaps not in others. By exchanging knowledge and experience in different areas, both organizations can learn from each other.
A fun workshop is the “quest for flexibility”:
- Compare the quest for agility to an adventurous expedition where participants must overcome various challenges.
- Discussion: Form teams of four or five people from both organizations. Let the teams discuss what agility means to them. Have them write down key insights on Post-it® Notes and stick them on a shared “agility wall.”
- Brainstorming session “challenges”: Let the teams write down challenges that prevent the organization from becoming more responsive.
- Cluster the challenges that belong together and visualize them on a roadmap. Think of a poster with a path towards the horizon.
- Let each team choose two challenges that it did not come up with. Have the teams think of strategies and principles to help the organization overcome these challenges and become more responsive.
- Finally, let the teams share these strategies with each other. Agree on where to start.
