Agile Practices for
Organizational Excellence and Sustainability

Course Introduction

As the world changes at a dizzying pace, organizations must swiftly navigate and be highly adaptive by creatively manipulating these changes as an opportunity to transform and radically improve, rather than simply getting through. Strategizing, developing organizations and solving problems innovatively in an agile way is a key part of business agility. However, organization agility is not a straightforward achievement. Agile businesses also need an agile strategy including an agile approach to their market.

This Agile Practices for Organizational Excellence and Sustainability training course is designed to help organizations become more adaptive, creative and resilient. Delegates will explore and master the elements required to make any organization truly agile. This Oxford Management Centre 10-day training course is a two-part training course that focuses precisely on developing agile practices towards organizational excellence and sustainability.  

The training course is split into two modules. Each module is structured and can be taken as a stand-alone training course; however, delegates will maximize their benefits by taking Module 1 and 2 back-to-back as a two-weeks training course.

Objectives

At the end of this Agile Practices for Organizational Excellence and Sustainability training course, you will learn to:

• Assess organizational strategic contexts and their impacts on strategies and growth
• Apply contemporary organizational development strategies to enhance relevancy
• Create and implement an agile organization by developing agile teams and engaging key stakeholders
• Apply Design Thinking to creatively solve complex, cross-functional problems in teams
• Grasp the advantages of design thinking applications to develop the culture of innovative, user-centric problem-solving approaches

Training Methodology

The highly interactive and engaging 10-day course on Agile Practices for Organizational Excellence and Sustainability will utilize a variety of adult learning techniques to ensure maximum understanding, comprehension and retention of the information presented.  This will include highly interactive group and individual activities, targeted case studies, relevant practical exercises, and videos. This will be facilitated learning through direct input, discussion, and encouragement to test and critically appraise theories, models and concepts.

Organisational Impact

By attending this Oxford Management Centre training course and applying the principles involved, your organization will benefit from:

• Future-oriented, forward thinking and agile leaders
• Gaining more strategically OD focused personnel for organizational growth
• Creating pro-active strategies and tactical plans
• Creative and innovative employees with effective and efficient problem-solving and decision-making skills
• Having a high-performance organization with a high-trust culture of openness, integrity and certainty
• Stronger working relationships, greater collaboration and discretionary effort

Personal Impact

By attending this Agile Practices for Organizational Excellence and Sustainability training course and applying the principles involved, you will benefit by:

• Gain knowledge of strategic organizational development and skills desirable in today’s modern rapid environment
• Acquisition of new business and leadership skills, both strategic and tactical to increase the overall productivity of your team or department
• Enhanced business confidence and acumen for organizational and personal growth
• Improved creativity and innovation in your thought process
• Acceleration of your own personal and career development
• Enhanced focus on more important strategic and operational matters

Who Should Attend?

This highly interactive 10-day course on Agile Practices for Organizational Excellence and Sustainability is suitable to a wide range of strategy, business, and leadership professionals but will greatly benefit:

• Strategy and Business Directors
• Business Leaders
• Senior Managers involved in Business Development
• Managers in the Business and Strategy functions
• Personnel in the technical/engineering disciplines

Course Outline

MODULE I - Agile Business Strategy and Organizational Development for Sustainable Growth

DAY 1

Organization Business Strategy for an Agile World

• Key Strategy and models and concepts
• Defining Agile Strategy: its roots in Kaizen
• The importance of Tactical and Operational Planning
• Disruptive Markets: lessons to learn
• Creating the ‘hazy’ vision in uncertain times
• Developing an Agile Strategy

DAY 2

Agile Organizational Development (OD) Strategy

• Defining Organizational Development (OD)
• The importance of OD in organizational success
• Workforce planning: ensuring capability
• Talent and Succession Planning: the lifeblood for success
• Road Maps for Creating the Agile Organization

DAY 3

Building the Organization Team Structure

• Understanding Team dynamics
• Factors in creating Agile Teams
• Team roles: profile assessment
• Operating with a virtual / remote team
• Team performance measures: self-motivating teams
• Developing a team culture

DAY 4

Tactical Operations: Quick, Rapid Decision-Making

• Responsive tactical reviews and SCRUM
• Conditions needed for daily briefings
• Conducting Agile meetings
• Rapid decision-making tools and techniques
• Asking the right questions for multiple operational goals
• Ensuring actions are implemented

DAY 5

Communicating the Agile Plan

• Lessons learnt from history: Agile implementation
• Principles of Business Communication
• Overcoming blockers and resistance
• Developing a Communication Plan
• Engaging Key stakeholders and delivering your message
• Summary work and Next Steps

MODULE II - Agile Creativity: Mastering the Art of Design Thinking and Creativity

DAY 6

Design Thinking and its Importance in Workplace Solutions

• Understanding Design Thinking and its Strategic Implications
• The 5 Primary Stages of Design Thinking
• The Key 10 Principles of Good Design
• Traditional Linear Problem-solving Techniques
• The Solution Focused Approached to Problem Solving
• Bigger Picture Consequences: Systems Thinking and Application

DAY 7

Developing Agile Creativity and An Innovative Mind

• Defining a Problem
• How your brain solves problems?
• Creative Problem-solving Techniques
• The Power of Visualization: Dreaming the Dream
• Developing an Innovative and Creative Mindset
• Group Thinking Strategies and Control
• Change and Agile Organizational Thinking
  

DAY 8

Human Centric Behavioral Skills for Agile Creative Design Thinking

• Human Centric Interpersonal Skills Needed in Design Thinking
• Powerful Questioning Techniques to Build Empathetic Understanding
• Structuring Empathetic Fact-finding Interviews
• Creating Powerful Problem Statements to Define the Problem
• Structured Brainstorming Solutions using SCAMPER

DAY 9

Practical Applications of Design Thinking and Creative Innovations

• Empathize
• Define
• Ideate
• Prototype
• Test

DAY 10

Decision Making and Organizational Implementation

• Practical vs. Ideal Solution: Factors and Considerations
• Using Rapid Decision-making Process
• Mitigating Decision-making Errors
• Changing Mindsets to Adopt Design Thinking Strategies
• Communicating the Decision – Gaining buy-in
• Next Steps