Greg opened by reminding us all what a great opportunity it is to lead in times like this! LEadership is now more important than ever.

 

From the discussion, the key lessons gleaned were:

Put money aside to invest in agility. It is an important and valuable investment to make

Be realistic about whether it is the right time to make the shift. There is a lot of executive attention required to support it successfully.

Mistakes are an important part of the journey. Greg shared how Icebreaker set up a new agile governance model and realised 8 weeks in that it wasn’t working and was fundamentally flawed. So they simply dropped it and tried again.

Be careful of change fatigue. There is so much change going on, especially in a COVID world. Be careful how much change you put people through.

Be pragmatic and stay curious! There are no “solutions “here – only the agile mindset of inspecting and adapting. Avoid the “purist” agile trap.

 

There was also a lot of discussion around how everyone’s COVID experience has been different, and it is important we make space for discussing this.

 

The panel then discussed a number of changes that forced their organisations to rapidly adapt – working from home, online shopping and the risk of people suffering degraded mental health from trying to juggle many competing demands, both personal and work-based.

But also – opportunity. Change is the catalyst for future opportunities and if we remain positive then the opportunity arises.

 

Sujith Ramachandra from Radically took visual notes. A full-resolution version is available by clicking on the picture.