Leadership in Turbulent Times
November 11th, 2021
09:00 GMT
Nader TalaiWelcome & kickoff
11:50 GMT
John Coleman“hit delete” how simplifying your organization avoids agility being just a team sport.
14:10 GMT
Dr Steve MaynerThriving in Turbulent Times: Adaptive Leadership and the Scaled Agile Framework.
15:45 GMT
After party
Why attend?
Welcome to a conference around the theme "Leadership in Turbulent Times".
“Support of top management is not sufficient. It is not enough that top management commit themselves for life to quality and productivity. They must know what it is that they are committed to — that is, what they must do. These obligations can not be delegated. Support is not enough: action is required.” W. Edwards Deming
source: https://deming.org/quotes/10196/
Lean-Agile Leadership is a foundational competency for business agility and requires leaders to lead by example. In our first conference, we have gathered an exceptional group of thought leaders and change agents who share their views and approach on the role of leadership in guiding their organisation, department or team to navigate uncertainty.
Speakers
Cash Cows make the Best Burgers
Profit is, for businesses, like oxygen is for humans – we need it to exit, but it’s not the reason you exist. In this talk, Clarke will show you three ways tech leaders can make more money for their businesses by thinking.
Thinking differently - the essential capability of true leaders.
We hide behind comforting lies in so many aspects of our lives, fearful of facing the hard truths, not even trusting ourselves to do so, let alone others. Many businesses die because of self-inflicted wounds, lying to themselves for so long that it becomes their reality. To survive, leaders need to think differently; to thrive, they need to enable their people likewise.
In this session
- The leadership challenge in a VUCA world.
- Why critical thinking is critical!
- A brief history of Red Teaming.
- An overview of the science and psychology behind this revolutionary capability.
- An introduction to the tools and techniques that enable applied critical thinking.
- How to enable critical and contrarian thinking without fear of reprisal.
- The realization that new Ways of Working require a new Way of Thinking.
Alignment is key - SAFe with Atlassian Tools
Agile Leadership is based on values. Transparency throughout all levels is crucial to get everyone aligned with your strategies and allow for constant feedback and learning. Atlassian Jira is a great tool to support agile teams but has its limitations in scaling.
Get to know two very different software that helps large organizations leverage Jira to manage even the most complex SAFe-environments, Atlassian Jira Align and Agile Hive by Seibert Media.
“hit delete” how simplifying your organization avoids agility being just a team sport.
“Let’s explore the unintended consequences of expecting teams to be agile when we haven’t cultivated the right environment. Instead of buying “agility in a box,” what can we do to foster the growth of authentic, sustainable organizational agility?
Part of the answer might be in improving executive agility.
Glacial evolution at the executive level often results in people giving up hope on the dream of organizational agility, even those initially enthusiastic about it. There are agility frameworks tailored for teams, teams of teams, managers, leaders, finance, and people operations.
This talk will focus on executives in tech and non-tech environments and the people supporting them. Let’s look at how deleting specific executive behaviors could avoid the feeling that agility is just about teams. Perhaps we can attain executive agility by deleting unhelpful behaviors one at a time. We don’t have a proven recipe, but maybe we can strive to have fewer “agile-gone-wrong stories” by better understanding the urgency required for these deletions?
In this discussion, we’ll explore:
- The observable executive behaviors that might indicate what to address first.
- Actionable steps towards deleting the above behaviors.
- Being aware of side effects from starting elsewhere. Real-life examples about the impact deleting certain behaviors had on organizational agility.
- Where you can begin to affect change.
Jonathan Clark
Doubt, Uncertainty and Leadership
We have all experienced how volatile, unpredictable, chaotic and ambiguous our world has become. Perhaps you have caught yourself wishing for less doubt and more certainty? It would not be unusual; as humans, we seek certainty, direction, clarity. But how is this even possible these days?
The prescient Douglas Adams memorably saw all this turmoil coming, of course: “We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!” But what if doubt and uncertainty is actually the key to modern leadership? Doubt lies at the heart of self-awareness and humility. Doubt drives curiosity and learning. Doubt helps us seek feedback. Doubt leads us to listen to the detractors and not to ignore them. Doubt helps us questions our biases.
This workshop-like session will explore doubt and uncertainty and how we can use it to be better leaders, using a case study and breakouts.
Thriving in Turbulent Times: Adaptive Leadership and the Scaled Agile Framework
Organizations in every industry across the globe are intensely focused on increasing agility,
adaptability, and innovation. The operating environment for incumbent market leaders is more turbulent than at any time in recent history. Emerging technologies, disruptive start-ups, globalization, social and political unrest, generational shifts, and even the COVID-19 pandemic have all contributed to a context for leaders that is infinitely more challenging than anything most have ever experienced. Many leaders may feel inadequately prepared for this brave new world, and yet it is leaders who have the authority and responsibility to guide their organizations successfully through challenging times.
Thriving in the digital age requires a new way of working, and a new way of leading. Harvard professors, and authors Marty Linsky and Ronald Heifetz describe the skills to guide organizations through turbulent times as “adaptive leadership.” Fortunately, for organizations adopting SAFe, many of the elements of adaptive leadership are built into the values, principles, and practices of the Scaled Agile Framework.
In this presentation, Dr. Steve Mayner, SAFe Fellow, and expert on leadership and organizational change will provide an overview of Linsky and Heifetz’s model, and how SAFe specifically enables leaders to build the competencies that will help their enterprises succeed in the digital age.
Beyond Budgeting - Business agility in practice
In this session I will cover the problems with traditional management, including budgeting.
- The Beyond Budgeting principles and companies on the journey
- Equinor’s “Ambition to Action” model
- Redefining performance dynamic and relative with a holistic performance evaluation
- Dynamic forecasting and resource allocation and no traditional budgets
- From calendar-driven to event-driven; a more self-regulating management model
- Implementation experiences and advice
About Event organizer
Value Glide enables organisations who want to thrive in the digital age with their Scaled Agile Framework®, SAFe® adoption.
We accelerate your digitisation journey with Value Stream Aligned Teams and align the strategy with execution through Lean Portfolio Management with Agile Release Trains, who will frequently deliver reliable, innovative solutions that customers desire.
We are a Gold SPCT Scaled Agile Partner specialising in guiding organisations through their Scaled Agile Framework®, SAFe® journey.
Impact of our engagements
- Reduced Time to Market by 30% to 75%
- Increased Quality by 40% to 80%
- Increased Delivery Rate by 20% to 50%
Event Speakers
Marcus Dimbleby
A former military officer and red teamer, Marcus retired from the Royal Air Force in 2013. In the RAF, he did multiple joint tours with the Royal Marines, Royal Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, with whom he deployed to Iraq in 2003; he was also a member of the Special Forces Air Cell. In his final tour, he worked closely with the Cabinet Office and SO15 to create and execute the air security plan for the 2012 London Olympics. After leaving the RAF, Marcus moved into business, initially working for a global consultancy, before moving on to lead major business transformations in the financial sector, focusing on engaging leadership to deal with the complexity of today’s business environment, and enabling people to reclaim the role of thinker.
Bjarte Bogsnes
Chair, Beyond Budgeting RoundtableBjarte Bogsnes has a long international career, both in Finance and HR. He is a pioneer in the Beyond Budgeting movement, and has been heading up the implementation of Beyond Budgeting at Equinor (formerly Statoil), Scandinavia’s largest company. He led a similar initiative in Borealis in the mid-nineties, one of the companies that inspired the Beyond Budgeting model. Equinor realized that traditional leadership and management practices no longer work in today’s competence organizations operating in business environments more complex, dynamic and unpredictable than ever. The company implemented innovative alternatives to traditional management, like abolishing traditional budgets and calendar-based management in favour of more decentralized, agile and human processes. Bjarte is Chairman of the Beyond Budgeting Roundtable (BBRT). He is a popular international business speaker and is the winner of a Harvard Business Review/McKinsey Management Innovation award. Bjarte is also author of "Implementing Beyond Budgeting - Unlocking the Performance Potential", where he writes about his almost twenty-five years long Beyond Budgeting journey. Bjarte has now taken early retirement from Equinor, but will continue his Beyond Budgeting work through Bogsnes Advisory (bogsnesadvisory.com).
Dr Steve Mayner
SAFe Fellow and Principal consultantDr. Steve Mayner is an executive coach and Lean-Agile evangelist with a passion for cultivating transformational leaders and high-performing teams. His 33+ year career in business includes roles as Vice President in multiple Fortune 500 companies, as well as Chief Technology Officer for a Health IT startup company. He also retired in 2003 as a commissioned officer in the reserve component of the U.S. Air Force with just under 21 years of service. In his current role as a SAFe® Fellow for Scaled Agile, Inc., Steve contributes to the ongoing development of the Framework and courseware with specializations in government, leadership, learning culture, and organizational change. In addition to the SAFe Summits, he has been a regular presenter at the DevOps Enterprise Summit, PMI, and various government and industry conferences.
Jonathan Clark
Independent advisor on Strategy & InnovationJonathan Clark is an independent advisor on Strategy & Innovation, providing advice in one-to-one coaching sessions, innovation leadership trainings, group workshops or in much larger events. Prior to starting his own company in 2010 Jonathan worked at Elsevier, an international science publisher, for 20 years in various positions in publishing, marketing, product management, technology and e-business. He is also a Guest Lecturer and External Examiner for a Masters programme in business innovation at the Breda University of Applied Sciences. When he is not teaching or designing, producing and running workshops, Jonathan works as the Managing Agent for the DOI Foundation, a not-for-profit membership organisation that takes care of the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) System.
Peter Weingärtner
PSM, SPCPeter Weingärtner (PSM, SPC) joined Seibert Media in 2018, working as a Sales Consultant ever since. Previously in marketing and publishing, Peter brings a diverse skillset to the table. He provides support for agile work with software, especially the Scaled Agile Framework for Lean Enterprises with Atlassian Tools, specifically Agile Hive and Jira Align. Peter is equipped to provide his expertise in Software Communication and Collaboration.