Companies want to become more agile

68% of companies have already addressed the issue of agility, according to a survey conductedby Lischke Consulting. The responses from over 70 participants, mainly from the mechanical and plant engineering, automotive and process industries, show an above-average need for action in their own companies in order to remain competitive in the future . The participants expect their competitors to be more agile than average in five years' time. The need for action is therefore great. "The companies see great potential for optimization in agility. However, it is unclear to them where they stand and how they can manage the implementation," says Olaf Keßel, describing the current status.

The path to agility

"The transformation to an agile company requires more than just the introduction of new project methods such as Scrum or Kanban. It's about a completelynew, agile mindset comprising corporate strategy, customer orientation, employee orientation, process organization, leadership, HR and corporate culture," says the Head of the Agility Competence Centre, describing the challenge for companies . He describes a systematicIST analysisof the company's status quo as the key entry point: "We use an agile maturity assessment to determine the stage of agility the company is at and the path that still needs to be taken to become an agile company." With the help of the assessment , anoverview of the entire organization is created from the individual maturity levels of the functional areas.The result serves as a basis for defining achievable goals and the next steps.

The next step is to establish a new organizational structure. Training for managers and employees is particularly important here. This ranges from learning basic agile procedures to training for special roles such as Scrum Master or Product Owner.

" Serving customer needs quickly is the core of customer orientation. The associated processes, structuresand strategiesare optimized in a targeted manner," says Olaf Keßel. The aim is to develop an agile target image and align the strategy with the customer . Examples of this include short planning cycles through iterations and increments as well ascross-functional teams instead of "silos" or "pyramids" . " Employee orientation is about living the agile culture . It's not about putting a table football in the office, but about transparency, dialog, trust and a constructive error culture," adds the competence center manager. Accordingly, employee-centered leadership is the catalyst for agile transformation. This calls for innovative HR toolsas well as the transfer of responsibility and cross-team communication.

From pilot project to daily practice

The consultant from Lischke Consulting advises introducing agile working methods step by step and involving employees right from the start. "It's about trying out the new methods, learning from mistakes and constantly improving," recommends Olaf Keßelz, starting witha pilot project.

The challenges and obstacles should not be underestimated. It is about a fundamental mindset change, especially in management. Power must be taken away from bosses. They would have to learn to let the employees decide. This requires a high degree of trust in the employees' abilities. A vision rather than a rigid goal would be set. The path is then left to the employees, who work independently. This promotes self-drive and above-average motivation.

The methods and principles of agility are consistent with the approach of the lean philosophy and can be combined well. In both philosophies, the focus is on people, the team and the continuous improvement of processes. "The transformation process is a learning process. Mistakes are used as opportunities for improvement. The pilot project can then continue to work at a higher level," says Olaf Keßel, describing the learning process. For small companies, the pilot project can become a permanent process model. For medium-sized and larger companies, the aim is to scale these project experiences for the entire company. The consultant points out the particular challenges of mechanical and plant engineering: "Such transformations are only successful if they are closely aligned with the industry-specific value chains and are also sustainable."