Agile companies
Digitization, ever new customer demands and a changed market environment not only require maximum flexibility at high speed from product and IT developers, the entire company must become agile. This applies to SMEs as well as transnational corporations, even if the transition to agile working is easier in smaller companies. However, especially for manufacturers of sophisticated products, well-established processes that are interlocked with the organizational structure stand in the way of agility.
Characteristics of a company characterized by agility are the successful integration of young and new colleagues as well as open communication across hierarchical levels that promotes creativity and brings problems to light before they escalate. Agile employees do not perceive change as a threat, but as the normal case and an opportunity.
Becoming an agile company is a fundamental decision. It is not enough for individual teams to do the pioneering work. First and foremost, managers must commit to the upcoming cultural change and set an example. In addition, it is important to choose a process model that fits with the company’s own values, projects, employees and structures. While Kanban or Scrum, for example, tend to be applied at the level of the teams and their management, PuLSE can also be used to make middle and upper management more agile.
Agility in the automotive industry
The automotive industry is in the midst of upheaval. New competitors are acting partly as partners and partly as rivals, the supplier market is concentrating, and demand is declining. In order to hold their own in this environment, manufacturers must become more agile. We support the transition to agile methods not only in software development, but also in core departments such as purchasing, production, sales, controlling or human resources.
How to make the switch
With these five stages, our experts also make your company more agile:
- Measurement of the maturity level of the organization
- Workshop with management to determine the targeted maturity level
- Lighthouse projects including coaching
- Establishment of a competence center for agile working
- Agilization of further projects and teams
This cultural change will only succeed if the workforce supports it. That’s why we involve your employees right from the start. Particularly interested employees can assist the coaches as tandem partners to later coach their colleagues themselves or act as Scrum Masters and drive agilization beyond the project.