[Cigref report] Agile at scale: Implementing agility on a company-wide scale

21 décembre 2018 | Cigref in english

The world has changed. Globalisation is progressing rapidly whilst digital technologies revolutionise all company activities. More and more disruptions appear at an ever increasing rate, then disappear just as quickly. In this context, companies must take on challenges that vary greatly depending on their business sector. Typical approaches to management are reaching their limits. This context, combined with a high level of uncertainty, is pushing businesses and public administrations towards agile organisations that put clients at the heart of their development.

These agile organisations help them respond to market challenges: survive when faced with new competitors, identify new reservoirs of performance, bringing ever more value to clients and, finally, attract and keep talent. Agility is a way to improve performance by better using production capacity within a company.

Cigref report

This Cigref report is intended for all employees in businesses and public administrations. Its goal is to offer the keys to implementing and/or developing agility at a company-wide scale through feedback from around thirty companies that participated in this working group.

Agility driven at a company-wide scale shakes up our working habits, our company culture and creates a state of mind that fosters the digital transformation. By focusing on people, it encourages creativity and « happiness at work ». It implies a change of mindset in all employees as well as new stance for the community of managers who become « servant leaders ». The latter encourage skills to develop and focus on the vision, the « what » and the « why » and delegate the « how » to their teams. For its part, the team accepts collective responsibility. There is no more « command and control » or micromanagement; both are replaced by an environment that encourages employees to self-motivate. Agility offers employees greater autonomy even though they are still subject to rules. These rules ensure consistency and alignment among teams.

Agility is spread throughout the company by:
• Developing the right mindset,
• Mobilising early adopters,
• Training and coaching,
• Having a cross-functional leadership team,
• Communication,
• Emerging diffusion with sponsorship from executives,
• Implementing agility everywhere at the same time,
• Adapting the organisation,
• Changing the manager’s stance into one of a « servant leader »,
• Measuring progress towards agility at a company-wide scale,
• A structured approach to achieve a systemic, company-wide transformation.

This Cigref report was initially published in French under the title “ Agile at scale : Mise en oeuvre de l’agilité à l’échelle de l’entreprise« 

Pilotage de l’entreprise par la donnée : extraire la valeur de la donnée à l’échelle de l’entreprise

Dans cette ère du numérique, la donnée est souvent présentée comme l'or noir du 21ème siècle, constituant une richesse inestimable pour l'humanité. Cependant, contrairement au pétrole, dont la valeur est largement reconnue, les données demeurent en grande partie...

Auditer la gouvernance du numérique : les évolutions majeures du Guide d’audit de la gouvernance du numérique

Les organisations constatent aujourd’hui, qu’avec l'accélération des évolutions technologiques, la softwarisation des produits et des chaînes de production, et la numérisation de l’ensemble des processus des organisations, la contribution du numérique à la...

Cigref publishes its third version of the trusted cloud reference document

Cigref's "trusted cloud" referential expresses the generic trust needs of Cigref members as users of cloud services. It summarizes Cigref's work carried out since 2019 by the "trusted cloud" working group, led by Vincent Niebel, CIO of the EDF Group. This version,...