What teams really need for agile work to succeed

Try out, fail, learn, rethink – in many companies it belongs to their strategy to be intentionally open for all of the changes that come with the fast-paced, digital world. Concepts like “agile work” and an “agile mindset” are common practice within management circles. And for the foundational people? All this sounds rather abstract. The team building experts from BITOU have carried out to date over 3000 team trainings and team events that orientate themselves specifically an agile work. Many of our regular customers report that the process has proven to have had lasting effects in practice.

This is how the BITOU team events are built for agile work

1. Warm up

We create a pleasant work atmosphere and activate the team.

2. Input for agile work

All team members should be able to contribute, independent of prior knowledge.

3. Active phase (activation/impulse):

Trying something out yourself has a proven higher learning effect. In comparison to a pure theory, 90 percent of everything experienced stays in your memory. Depending an the time frame, framework conditions and the individual situation of your team, we offer different, suitable team event formats revolving around agile work. These make where the team stands today impressionably perceptible.

4. Reflection and analysis:

Based an the experiences, we will develop an “agile compass” for your team, which will guide your next steps an your way to agile working.

The speciality

We work based an the neuro-psychological approach of the internal emotional fields, therefore picking up an the motivations for behavioural patterns of your colleagues: some are looking for adventure and change (stimulation), others want competition and to be ahead (dominance), and some are more concerned about interpersonal connections or their own work space (balance). The knowledge of how your team works, will become a valuable accompaniment through the agile process.

This is what team training can look like – examples from our work

A south German medium-sized company already introduced agile work a few years ago – but the results were not as they had hoped and deflated many colleagues. In the active phase of the BITOU training, it became clear that all the agile methods were available and implemented, but the company goal and the common vision was clear to only a minority of employees. The “agile compass” makes sure the company goals today are carved out, clearer and are generally understood better internally and externally.
The management team of an international company had difficulties to implement agile methods in the circle of leadership. Methods and theories were familiar to everyone, despite this, it was still difficult for everyone to work with them in an agile manner. At the BITOU team training, it became clear. In the experience part Adventure Everest, it was shown that the values of the managers in some areas were not congruent. The “agile compass” lead the managers into a one day discussion of values – and then back to a very successful agile style of work.
A company with around 300 employees was at the beginning of working in an agile manner. After the first input, the teams applied their knowledge in the active and experience part called “Chain Reaction”. The “agile compass” lead to the decision on which parts of the company should work in an agile manner. In further workshops these areas were trained in agile methods.