Arie Van Bennekum is one of the original signatories of the Agile Manifesto. So, he’s got significant experience and credibility in the agile space. He’s also the founder of a company called Wemanity, based primarily in the Netherlands, but spread across several European countries. 

Arie recent shared on InfoQ about two models or approaches that’s he has invented and used in Wemanity’s journey that I thought might be interesting to share.

https://www.infoq.com/articles/future-ready-organization

The Integrated AgileTM Transformational Model

Arie and his Wemanity team have created the following 6–step approach to introducing agile approaches and changing organizational culture. It’s intended to be a round-trip, iterative approach to incremental organizational and cultural change.

The 6–steps include:

  1. First Contact – discuss the challenge together with the client; establish need.

  2. Assessment & Foundations – identify the agile baseline and create a transformation backlog.

  3. Synchronize – team training and creation of team space.

  4. Follow – team rituals, feedback and create internal CoP’s.

  5. Lead – individual feedback and tools introduction.

  6. Hand over – initial wave to teams and internal coaches; prepare for the next wave.

While I don’t have a fancy name for my process, I resonate incredibly well with this model and flow in my own coaching experience. In other words, I’ve found these steps to be a sound approach with my own clients in the real world.

Another Model – Coaching Teams

The other interesting thing that comes out of the article is Wemanity’s approach in the skill sets of the coaches they bring to bear with their clients.

Arie emphasized a mix of 40% agile expertise and 60% behavioral scientist expertise in their coaching teams.

I like the balance he places across skills sets. The other thing he mentions is pulling together “teams” of coaches to create balance across the various levels, skill sets, and perspectives. It nicely aligns with my thoughts on pair-coaching.

Wrapping Up

While there certainly is no “one way” to introduce agile mindset and culture into an organization, I thought this was a nice approach.

I’d also encourage you to look around the Wemanity website, as I think Arie has pulled together a really interesting agile company.

Stay agile my friends,

Bob.

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