Organizational Transformation

Transformations start with the leadership of the organization. There is an event, a trigger, where the leadership in the organization determines that the business needs to transform in order to be successful. The cause of the trigger is either:

The organization finds itself in a situation where change is forced upon them. Perhaps the business environment has shifted in a direction which is not supported by your products. Perhaps your competitors have released a solution that effects the market for your products. Irrespective there is a need for the organization to change and change quickly.
The organization decides that they need to become more effective. Perhaps there are internal signs that there are problems such as customers or other business stakeholders becoming frustrated with your offering. Perhaps the leadership just knows that the organization is too complacent. Irrespective leadership decides that something needs to be done to improve.

In either situation a case is made for change, and a decision is made to bring in some outside, experienced help. As the transformation coach my first step is to work collaboratively with you as leadership to determine the required business outcomes of the transformation and develop the plan, the roadmap, to achieve those outcomes.

At the organizational level, a transformation engagement is made up of a mix of Coaching, Training, and Workshops. Further, there are a couple of typical patterns that organizations use to start a transformation:

Filter:

Engagement	Outcomes	SAFe?¹⁾
Lean-Agile Readiness Assessment	The Readiness Assessment seeks to identify potential impediments to smooth Agile adoption by looking at your people, your processes and the technologies you use. This evaluation is done through direct interviews with both executive, management, and key personnel as well as surveys, and analysis of current artifacts, and other tools. The result is a report of current status and impediments, recommendations, and the collected raw survey data.	Yes
Lean-Agile Transformation Startup	Working with Executives, Managers, Teams and Customers, the Transformation Startup is aimed at establishing the roadmap for the transformation. Training is provided to ensure people understand the Lean-Agile values and principles to assure full participation in the planning. A specific plan, a roadmap for implementation, is developed for a specified set of organizations or projects. The Lean-Agile Readiness Assessment is often included in this approach.	Yes
Lean-Agile Executive Overview	In order to have a successful transformation to Business Agility, we need to align executive stakeholders on the organizational problems to be solved, develop their understanding of what it means to be a Lean-Agile Enterprise, help them assess where they are on that journey, and guide them on the next steps to better understanding SAFe. During this session we will work through a set of workshop slides and exercises to: 1) Discuss current challenges with executives, 2) Introduce the 7 core competencies of a Lean-Agile Enterprise, 3) Self-assess current symptoms being experienced, and 4) Define next steps.	Yes
Lean-Agile Quick-start	Sometimes you want to try some of the Lean-Agile ideas, perhaps as part of the Transformation Startup or perhaps just as a pilot to determine the effect the Lean-Agile approach will have on your organization. The Quick-start trains and supports a couple of teams in basic Lean-Agile philosophy and core practices. The result is that the Team(s) immediately work using the new approach which provides the organization with a chance to learn from their experience and decide what to do next.
Lean-Agile Organization Retrospective	If you already have an Lean-Agile implementation in place, you will see parts of your organization (be that at the team, product, project, management, or wider organizational level) where you think more improvement is possible. Through a process of observation and focussed activities we will collaborate to determine a specific set of plans focussed on improvement areas.

¹⁾

“SAFe?” means that there is a SAFe version of this approach that can be applied.