The event is very popular and, according to David Bänziger, founding member of the conference board and AgileLeadershipDay, sold out!
Adrian Zwingli opened the event and welcomed the 800 participants. He began by stating that the world is changing. According to market capitalization, the new economy overtook the old economy in 2016. The era of solely focusing on efficiency improvements is over
The speakers introduce themselves and their presentation topics. This has become a tradition at SwissQ events, giving participants a quick overview of the topics and presenters. Many renowned speakers are present.
Let's move on to the first keynote by Steve Denning. Adrian greets Steve as the "Yoda of agile".
From Operational Agility to Strategic Agility by Steve Denning (Forbes)
- Steve Denning explains, using 12 examples, how Amazon or Apple "disrupt" the market.
- The Agile Manifesto was a turning point from his point of view, and “Agile is now a huge global movement.”
- But the most important point remains: "Agile is a mindset".
This isn't very helpful to us now and isn't really new. Mr. Denning recommends broadening our horizons to include "non-customers" so we don't end up in the red oceans.
Through "innovation extensions," we can reach the blue oceans. That's exactly where we want to be! To achieve this, we need an "innovation playbook." Denning recommends the NABC method (Need, Approach, Benefit, and Competition).
The talk wasn't very modern and was presented with outdated slides, but it was a concentrated collection of knowledge. "Yoda" thus lives up to its reputation – Denning conveys what would otherwise be covered in an entire CAS (Certificate of Advanced Studies) course at a university.
Afterwards, I will attend the lecture by Martin Scholl (CEO of ZKB) in the «Main Hall».
Revolution or Evolution? How abolishing Management by Objectives leads to better performance by Martin Scholl (Zurich Cantonal Bank)
Mr. Scholl opens his speech with an invitation to paradise. The suspense is set.
Everything remains different
In 1977, opening an account with "Hermes Baby" took 3 minutes. Today, the customer experience is gone, and we need agile methods and many business engineers to win it back.
Mr. Scholl is abandoning target agreements and Management by Objectives (MbO) and has significantly promoted this idea. MbO was abolished at the end of 2016 without a new system being in place. This decision was deliberate.
Why? How? With what?
ZKB believes that employees need more autonomy. Setting goals for 12 months that are outdated after 3 months makes no sense.
Employees should understand the bank and are at its core. How? Short meetings, development discussions, development planning, instant feedback, performance indicators, and team barometers are the newly available tools. How and when these are used is entirely up to the team and the employees themselves.
“Employees are responsible for their own development” – Scholl “…and this already applies to their training.”
Interim status
Looking back (after a year), it was very surprising how positively the public reacted.
The employee satisfaction index at ZKB has reached its best value in almost 20 years, partly due to the abolition of MbO.
outlook
Employees with high commitment deliver better service quality – and ultimately better results.
Management by Objectives (MbO) has had its good periods, but it falls short in today's world. However, it's important to remember – having no goals doesn't mean being aimless! A very good and insightful closing remark by Mr. Scholl.
Dual Transformation – How do I reposition my core business while creating new growth areas? Bernard Kümmerli (Innosight)
New growth areas require new people; there's a lot of uncertainty and not much data. Innosight has analyzed the situation and identified the 10 best dual-purpose transformers. Amazon is number 1, Netflix number 2.
“Amazon, they’re crazy,” Kümmerli said about Amazon and how they constantly reinvent themselves
Cash is needed from A (the core business being disrupted) so that B (the new business area) has the necessary initial funding. In Nespresso's case, B took 30 years because the technology had already existed for that long. This means it may require perseverance. Furthermore, it requires courage (ideally from the CEO). It requires focus and curiosity (experiments help). Finally, it requires conviction so that the dual transformation succeeds and new projects can be supported in parallel.
The 6 levels of digital strategy at Bossard Stefan Michel (Chairman of the Board Bossard)
Professor Dr. Michel, in a very humorous manner, begins by mentioning that he once wrote a book about online banking 20 years ago (I've forgotten the title). A colleague of Michel's then replies, "Hey, I bought your book at Orell Füssli!" ... "...aha, that was you.".
Dr. Michel is proud to be the head of a screw company…
I am the head of a screw company… “…aha wow…! so exciting…” Prof. Dr. Michel
But the company Bossard does this so well and efficiently (with protected patents) that they are, among others, a supplier to Tesla .
Dr. Michel demonstrates how a Bossard screw set works via IoT.
Key takeaways from Mr. Michel's presentation:
- Define 3-6 strategic priorities, no more!
- These are the "must-win battles"!
- Strategic decisions have to hurt
- It must be clear what should no longer be done and who is responsible for implementing what.
Professor Dr. Michel's keynote address was the personal highlight of the conference for me. Professor Michel embodies the "Agile Leader" philosophy with both heart and mind.
There were 20 other talks that I either missed or don't think are worth mentioning here.
All in all, the re.formation and agile leadership day was a great success and I am already looking forward to next year.
