Business Agility and Organisational Learning

The
capacity
to
learn
is
a
gift;
the
ability
to
learn
is
a
skill;
the
willingness
to
learn
is
a
choice.
Brian
Herbert
Business
Agility
&
Learning
Organisation
LAST
Conference
2015,
Melbourne

Structure
Business
Agility

&
People

Engagement
Structural

Issues/Culture
Learning

Disabilities
in

Organisations
Challenges
Learning

Disciplines

Shoaib
Shaukat
Principal
Consultant
@
AZRA
Leading
Agile
Adoption
@
Citi
Power
Leading
Continuous
Improvement
Program
@
Citi
Power

Sense Respond
Business

Agility
Adapt

Business
Agility
-‐>
Competitive
Advantage

27% Almost
one-‐third
(27%)
of
respondents
say
that
their
organisation
is
at
a

competitive
disadvantage
because
it
is
not
agile
enough.
Source:
Towers
Watson
2012

To
be
successful
we
want

people
to
be
fully
enthusiastic

and
involved
with
the
work!

Source:
Towers
Watson
2012
Nearly
65%
of
the
global
workforce
is
disengaged
with
the

organisation!!

Nearly
90%
of
the
executives

surveyed
by
the
Economist

Intelligence
Unit
believe
that

organisational
agility
is
critical
for

business
success..
Yet
most
companies
admit
they
are
not
flexible

enough
to
compete
successfully!

Source:
Towers
Watson
2012
Excellent
contribution
when
highly
engaged!
Impact
of
under-‐engaged
employees
on
the

performance
of
organisation??

Despite
recognising
it
as
important

consistently

spending
on
people

development
programs
why
organisations
are
failing
to
engage
their

workforce?

We
are
running
21st Century businesses
with
20th Century
workplace
practices
and
programs,
and

19th Century
Mindset!

1880 1900 1930 1940 1990 2000 2010
F.
Taylor
1960 1970 1980
TPS
Developed
TSM
Developed TSM
in
use
TPS
in
use
Taichii
Ohno Deming
Toyota
Production
System
Theory
of
Scientific
Management
One
best
way
of
doing
the
job
“First
Class
Men”
to
do
each
job
Pay
per
piece
Duties
of
Management
Total
Quality

Management
Just
In
Time
Avoidance
of
waste
Jidoka -‐ Automation
Flexible
Production
Customer
Focus
Evolution
of
Systems
and
Practices
Evolution
of
Management
Practices
and
Mental
Models
Cost
Accounting
Performance

Management
TargetsPlanning
Service
levels Economies
of
scale
Lean
System

Thinking
Cycle
times Pull

Peter
Senge’s
7Learning
Disabilities
Source:
Peter
Senge,
The
Fifth
Discipline
p.
17-‐26
Lack
of
big
picture
Passing
on
blame
Reactivity
is
mistaken
as

proactivity
Short
term
goals
Slow
Reaction
Overreliance
on
experience

learning
Skill
incompetence

This image cannot currently be displayed.
1st Disability
I
am
what
my
position
is:

(Lack
of
big
picture)

2nd Disability
The
enemy
is
out
there
-‐ Passing
on
blame

Associated
with
a
state
of
mind
that
is
used
to
be
suspicious
of

the
others
and
on
passing
blames..
[Lack
of
accountability].

3rd Disability
Illusion
of
taking
charge:

Proactive-‐ness
can
really
be
reactiveness
in
disguise.
True
pro-‐
activeness
comes
from
seeing
how
our
own
actions
contribute

to
problems.

4th Disability
-‐ Fixation
on
Events:

Associated
with
focus
and
engagement
in
events
and
details
..

Distracting
the
focus
of
the
organisation
..
The
focus
is
on
the

problem
and
not
on
the
causes
and
consequences..

In
this
disability
the
organisation
is
unable
to
connect
things
to

each
other
focuses
on
short
term
and
neglects
long
term

targets.
4th Disability
-‐ Fixation
on
Events:

5th Disability
-‐ The
parable
of
the
boiled
frog:
Appears
when
an
organisation
overlooks
small
but
constant

changes
..
And
get
used
to
neglect
minor
changes,
which
may

lead
to
aggravation,
threatening
it
overtime.

Can
you
put
a
frog
in
a
pot
and
cook
it
without
causing
it
to
jump

out
of
the
pot?

Can
you
put
a
frog
in
a
pot
and
cook
it
without
causing
it
to
jump

out
of
the
pot?
Scientific
experiments
have
shown
that
if
a
frog
is
placed
in
a
pot
with
water,
and

you
lift
the
temperature
slowly
but
continuously
the
frog
will
get
used
to
the

change
and
will
not
feel
the
danger
until
it
dies.

6th Disability
Delusion
of
learning
from

experience
Associated
with
dependency
on

previous

experiences
and
personal
intelligence
to

deal
with
situations..
we
develop

experience
through
trial
and
error
but
do

you
reckon
that
past
experiences
will
yield

same
results
in
different
times,
places
and

people?

7th Disability
Myth
of
Management
Team
Associated
with
management’s

desire
to
appear
as
a
cohesive

group
that
is
pulling
in
the
same

direction.

Do
you
see
the
challenge
coming?

Forces
of
Change
New
Disruptive

Technologies
Government
and

Legislative

changes
Continuous

Improvements
Social
Media
Rising
Customer

Expectations
Global

Competitiveness

The
law
of
learning is
the
same
in
all
parts
of
life.
The
starting
point
need
to
be:
the
establishment
of
a
workplace
culture
that
addresses

organisational
learning
disabilitiesand
supports
positive
energy,
and
thus
positive
learning.

Key
Challenges
In
this
triad
of
People,
Process

and
Technology;
process

optimisation
and
technology

deployment is
given
a
lot

more
importance
and

organisations
are
largely

driven
by
this.

Key
Challenges
Learning
starts
with
people.

Diligence
Obedience
Passion
Creativity
Initiative
Intellect
Human
Capabilities
(Source:
Gary
Hamel
– Future
of
Management,
2007)
Commodities

&
Engagement

Learning
Disciplines
for
Business
Agility
people
who
are
passionate,
creative
and
take

initiative
to
make
an
impact.
allow
people
to
define
purpose
and
have
the

independence
to
work
around
what
they
enjoy.
enable
continuous
learning
and
discovery
by

allowing
people
to
align
their
purpose
with

customer
needs.
organisational
support
programs
for
people
to

unlock
their
potential
(e.g.
job
tailoring).

Organisational

Learning
Personal

Mastery
System

Thinking
Mental

Models
Shared

Vision
Team

Learning

Learning
Disciplines
for
Business
Agility
We
are
linear
thinkers
in
a
non-‐linear
world.

Here
lies
our
limitation
as
a
System
Thinker.
Real
world
is
a
complex
interdependency
of

people,
processes,
technologies
and

environments.
Continuously
expand
the
horizon
of
learning
by

brining
various
teams
to
collaborate
on
customer

needs.
Blur
functional
boundaries.
Opening
value
stream
analysis
to
enable
wider

learning.
Organisational

Learning
Personal

Mastery
System

Thinking
Mental

Models
Shared

Vision
Team

Learning

Learning
Disciplines
for
Business
Agility
They
are
deeply
ingrained
assumptions,

generalisations,
experiences
or
images
that

influence how
we
understand
the
world
and
how

we
take
actions.
Promote
critical
thinking,
constructive
criticism

and
debate as
part
of
the
dialog
process
that

allows
the
teams
to
look
at
their
work

objectively
and
align
with
purpose.
Experimentation
&
recovering
from
failure.
Cross
functional
collaboration
on
work
activities

allows
people
to
see
big
picture
and
adjust
their

mental
models
gradually.
Organisational

Learning
Personal

Mastery
System

Thinking
Mental

Models
Shared

Vision
Team

Learning

Learning
Disciplines
for
Business
Agility
Shared
vision
-‐>
organised
pursuit
of

success
• Values
and
behaviours
• Helps
engage
business
units
and

functions.
• Linking
streams
of
work
to
business

strategy.
• Rethink
functional
boundaries
and

organisational
structure.

Organisational

Learning
Personal

Mastery
System

Thinking
Mental

Models
Shared

Vision
Team

Learning

Learning
Disciplines
for
Business
Agility
Successful
teams
understand
their
limits
and

opportunities.
• Individuals
learn
more
in
groups
and
when

there
is
a
culture
of
knowledge
sharing
and

trust.
• Enable
dialogue,
the
capacity
of
team

members
to
suspend
personal
assumptions

and
enter
into
a
genuine
thinking
together

mode.
• Promote
trust,
team
work
and
collaboration.
• Individual
KPI/Targets
-‐>
Team
Purpose
• Career
paths
consistent
with
cultural

objectives.
Organisational

Learning
Personal

Mastery
System

Thinking
Mental

Models
Shared

Vision
Team

Learning

Scrum
XP
LeanVisual
Management
Continuous
Delivery
Kanban
Agile
toolset
is
a
mean
to
advance
business
agility.
MVP Spotify
Holacracy Others

Sense Respond
Business

Agility
Adapt
Recap
Learning
starts
with
People
Change
starts
with
few
people.

Business Agility and Organisational Learning

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Business Agility and Organisational Learning