First Podcast: How to embed an agile culture in organizations.

Many companies are asking themselves how they can become more agile and how an agile or digital transformation can be successfully tackled. In my role as a senior consultant at the management consultancy Walking the Talk, I was allowed to accompany Astellas Pharma on this journey. So, I was interviewed by Inga H?ltmann on behalf of Astellas Pharma Germany.

Abstract: Many companies make the mistake and start with the introduction of agile tools - that is, the "agile doing", which is often accompanied by resistance and not infrequently ends in failure. Astellas takes a different path and starts with the agile mindset - that is, focusing on "being agile" first and only then to start successively with the introduction of agile tools.

How to successfully follow this path you will find here in the podcast (15 minutes in German). If you do not understand German I put the translated transcript* below.

Thank you for reading my article

Bjorn Johannsmeier

*Transcript:

Astella’s Podcast “Changing Tomorrow”

Episode 9 ?In conversation with Bjoern Johannsmeier: On Agility“

Inga: Welcome to the Changing Tomorrow Podcast from Astellas. My name is Inga H?ltmann and I am moderating this podcast. Shaping the future of healthcare in all its facets - this is exactly where this podcast comes in. Today I have Bjoern Johannsmeier as a guest. He is part of the "Walking the Talk" agency and supports Astellas in embedding an agile culture in the company. Digitization and ever faster change do not stop at the pharmaceutical industry. Astellas has recognized that it has to become more agile as a company in order to be and remain successful in the long term. The most important starting point here: It is first about culture and attitude in the house before agile methods are introduced. That is why part of the pilot program is training employees to become agile influencers. I would now like to speak to Bjoern about this program. I would like to know why we actually need agility, how it can be anchored in organizations and what challenges there are with it. Welcome, Bjoern!

Bjoern: Hello Inga.

Inga: What does ?Changing Tomorrow“ mean for you?

Bjoern: Yes, for me Changing Tomorrow means helping people to recognize that despite all the technological progress, humanness must not be left behind. I also think that due to a lot of remote work and the like, this risk is currently greater than ever and we should really take care of it and what it has also shown is that we have far too much bureaucracy in many organizations, which frustrates people.

Inga: I am very happy that you took the time today to talk to me about agility and I would very much like to start with, to open up the field so that it should happen today, I would first of all like to ask : What is agility anyway?

Bjoern: Thank you very much. One can imagine agility being on one side of a continuum. While on the one side is rigidity, on the opposite side there is agility. Agility could be defined as the ability to adapt quickly to environmental requirements and to orientate oneself and to be able to react flexibly to them, while of course the rigidity in the end represents the frozen state, the stiffness, the excessive bureaucracy accordingly. The question that every company should ask itself is: “Ok, where do I stand with my organization on this continuum and, above all, does this location, which I then determine on this scale, fit the future of my market, my strategy and Do I as often have to move more in one direction, namely in the direction of agility? "

Inga: What specific challenge did Astellas approach you with?

Bjoern: Well, Astellas had already dealt with the topic of agility before the corona pandemic. A lot of companies did this during the pandemic, but that is really, a great strength of Astellas, to think about important topics, i.e. the future, at an early stage, and that is what they did and then came up to us, are even so advanced that the topic of agility is now one of their strategic pillars and the requirement, that Astellas is exposed to, for the pharmaceutical sector is that doctors and patients now want to be more involved, this has increased significantly.

Inga: And in your experience, is it the case in the pharmaceutical industry that you encounter this in a certain way, or is it the case that you say: “No, we just have agile processes, agile standards that change do not differentiate, regardless of the industry in which it is used? "

Bjoern: First of all, my experience is that the pharmaceutical industry was actually a little hesitant when it came to the subject of agility. Or rather because it is a bit slower to get on this bandwagon, maybe also because of the fear, 'Man, our products are so different now'. So from there: Yes, of course there are industry differences. But when it comes to agility, agile mindset and agile behavior, how I get quite different products onto the street, there is a lot of overlap that can be used.

Inga: What is it that defines an agile mindset or an agile attitude? How would you describe it

Bjoern: Exactly, let's first define: What is a mindset anyway? Ultimately, a mindset is the logic that makes me tick, in the broadest sense. So in the end it is the logic of thought and action. So now I can have a, I'll say a very fixed mindset or I can just have an agile mindset, which is characterized by openness, which also questions itself and when new insights or experiences or requirements come from the environment, I react flexibly to it, which of course has a real advantage in a change processes. When it comes to the concrete agile mindset, every mindset, regardless of whether it is a fairly fixed mindset or whether it is really a flexible, agile mindset, certain basic attitudes, certain basic values guide the action and our thinking process. One is innovation through trial and error, through experimentation. The other is the very clear customer focus in everything I do, from the very beginning in the development of a product until afterwards in aftercare, in marketing and so that one really imagines the doctor in front of you in your doing - in the case of pharmaceutical industry as well as the patient constantly in the foreground, - say - at the top of my mind. Then it's the collaboration on a whole new level, so that it's not just about your own colleagues in your own department, but really networked collaboration with all the areas involved and then what happens with this collaboration very closely related is also ultimately self-organization or self-control. That you, let me say, really grab the colleagues who are now involved in the topic and even if they come from different departments or are in different regions and really exchange ideas with them intensively and then discuss the next steps without having to obtain the OK from the boss. Because the subject is on the table and needs to be resolved. This is it, this self-control that takes on a very, very prominent factor accordingly.

Inga: When we look at this agile mindset, we see that on the one hand it is a whole bundle of features and at the same time it is something that is deeply anchored in people and then influences all decisions, that man meets. How he meets colleagues, how he meets his work. The question is, where does that come from, can you learn that?

Bjoern: Well, you can't really learn it. Above all, it cannot be taught, and certainly not prescribed. So what you can do is, you can develop it. I think that's the step. And well, what one could perhaps learn is actually self-reflection. Questioning yourself and, above all, I should say questioning very rigid, hierarchical or bureaucratic processes and ultimately also saying no, I can actually learn that. That in the end I question the structures that are there, because there are structures that have formed at some point, they were certainly also very useful ten or fifteen years ago, but meanwhile other demands have been made on the company, like that that I have to position myself differently now.

Inga: You just said you can't prescribe it, such a mindset. I think that's a very important point and then I'd like to ask a question: How can you bring agility into a company when you say we want to work more agile, we want to work more flexibly, we want to be more innovative. How can we then actually bring agility into the company, how does that work?

Bjoern: If there is, or I'll say if you want to orientate yourself on steps, which is the most important thing, the first thing to do is to clarify the why. Why do I want agility at all? And there is the example of what we had at the beginning with the continuum, a very good one. If it turns out that the requirements of the future will no longer allow us to be so rigid, so stiff with our organization and the strategic decision is to become significantly more agile, otherwise the survival of the company maybe at risk, then of course I have a strong why. And then it would have to be deduced for each individual, why does it make sense for him or her accordingly. This is a very, very important very first step. And the next step is really to make sure that you win people who are enthusiastic about it relatively quickly. So really, to work with people who, I say, are innovators early on, who are open to new things and who bring them closer to the topic of agile mindset. Just like we do with the influencers at Astellas, for example, that we have relied exclusively on voluntariness and of course we have discussed a little bit of theory with them, but above all not only. We proceeded experimentally and we then quickly derived it into practice. That is a very important topic. So the next step, when I have a group of such volunteers, those who are approaching the topic, is to give that group a voice. That they are heard in the company. And that, the next step is really that you don't see the whole change as a sprint, but when it comes to the introduction, especially at the organizational level, where it's about helping to shape the culture, it's really more of a marathon. Because if you think, ok, now I've reached a milestone, check it out, now we don't need to pursue this any more, then the old culture catches up with you faster than you would have liked.

Inga: In your experience, that means how long does such a process take? So until you really don't fall back so easily into old patterns, until you maybe have a routine in it too. What is your experience when you say marathon, so you can be at a point in a few months, or do you say, no, it takes much, much longer.

Bjoern: Well, my experience is that if the management goes along with it, then you can really see the first positive changes in nine to twelve months. And then it is really important to have the stamina to stay on the ball and to continue the changes that have already taken place. So, I always like to speak of, of certain milestones that one would like to achieve and a first milestone that has been coined, this term is called 'Tipping Point', it was introduced by Malcolm Gladwell and actually ask when does a change, or a change initiative get a tailwind. Doesn't mean that I don't have to do anything anymore, but I feel, 'Wow, now it's going much, more easy.' And this tipping point, depending on which study you look at and, very importantly, depending on which people I win as early as possible for my change, is between 25 and 35 percent of the workforce of an organization that I want to reach, who find the whole thing valuable, who get involved, who bring it into practice.

Inga: I would like to take a look at the agility process in particular at Astellas, which you are also accompanying. You are currently in this pilot, where you train agile influencers, yes, who should then help to form this critical mass of 25 to 35% of people, so to speak, so that you can bring in the first ambassadors in the organization. Maybe you can tell again how you set up this pilot and what roles these agile influencers then take on in the organization.

Bjoern: Exactly, first of all, the nice thing about the influencers at Astellas is that they are really very diverse. Diverse means a wide variety of functions, i.e. areas within the company, but also various hierarchical levels. So we have some senior executives in there, including middle executives and employees. That’s the composition, it’s very, very good and, and very, very diverse and, as I said, we from the beginning opted for voluntariness. What we have done is really the topic of agility, agile mindset, we brought the agile basic attitudes closer to our colleagues and we also got involved interactively, so we did interactive exercises on the different attitudes and then, above all, went into the exchange, How does it show up now, how could one possibly do it differently and so on. And then we very, very quickly put into practice that everyone thought for themselves or sometimes in small teams, 'Ok, what could I try, how could I work more agile?' Either in my own area or in my team or even with colleagues from other areas with such an example, there was then a weekly meeting - we also called it stand-up - where different departments came together and current problems were discussed and have developed solutions for this.

Inga: I find it very, very exciting, what can other companies learn from Astellas, what is your impression?

Bjoern: Above all, Astellas had done one thing right that, in my opinion, many companies do less optimally. They have really started with the mindset before methods of agility were widely introduced. Unfortunately, many companies do exactly the opposite, that they just take some agile method and bring that into the organization. The main problem with this is that if people still have the old mindset, then the introduction of such methods is actually doomed to failure. So, and then there is often rowing backwards and if you then want to reintroduce the method later, it is burned already. That is why it makes much more sense, as Astellas did, to really first deal with the mindset and then gradually follow up with the tools, because then the agile tools hit much more fertile ground than when I try doing it the other way round .

Inga: We are already in the middle of what I would like to ask you at the end. Maybe we can pull the focus a little more and look again fundamentally at your work that you do at Astellas, but of course also in other organizations. What tips do you generally give Astellas as well as other companies in order to successfully anchor such an agile culture, i.e. mindset and methods, in the organization.

Bjoern: First of all, to start with the why. Why are we doing this at all? Because if there is no need recognized, I will never get the required support in the organization. The second point is very clear, getting the leadership team on board. Because without that I probably have strong resistance from very influential people and then the goodwill of many employees is often not sufficient. Then very clearly: The focus on the agile mindset, i.e. really being agile as a demarcation from agile behavior only according to methods, which of course also belongs to it, but should come more or less a step later from the order and very importantly sustainability, So instead of thinking of a sprint you should better think of a marathon, because this culture change and anchoring in the culture is really dealing with sustainability.

Inga: That was Bjoern Johannsmeier from the “Walking the Talk” agency and I spoke to him today about agility. So what is it anyway, why do we need it and, above all, we looked at the internal influencer process that "Walking the Talk" does with Astellas, which is about anchoring agility at Astellas in the company. We talked about the importance of an agile mindset and that the agile mindset precedes agile methods. We talked about why it is so important to work out the why in the course of this process and we looked at what it actually needs. So how to get the executives on board, for example. And above all, how you can then anchor such processes really sustainably in an organization. Thank you so much Bj?rn Johannsmeier.

Bjoern: My pleasure.