Melbourne Business School launches enterprise agility program with Deloitte
A new two-day program from Deloitte and Melbourne Business School will give leaders the tools they need to introduce agile ways of working across an organisation.
The Enterprise Agility Leaders Program is designed to help CEOs and other senior leaders manage the growing need for organisations to move quickly in the face of disruption.
"Agility at an enterprise level is about being able to generate and respond to change in order to survive and thrive in dynamic times. It is a capability that needs to be built into an organisation from its core," says Melbourne Business School Senior Learning Consultant Trina Lewis.
"Being truly adaptable and customer-focused requires the entire organisation to be structured and operate in a certain way – it rarely happens by chance. Many traditional organisations are now experimenting with how to be more agile – some with small steps, others with bold transformations."
The program is a collaboration between Ms Lewis and Deloitte Partner and agility expert Maria Muir, who says the need for enterprise agility is being driven by emerging technologies and consumers demanding more from the companies that serve them.
"This gives rise to innovative and disruptive startups creating unpredictable market dynamics that put pressure on large organisations to become more responsive," says Ms Muir.
According to the 2017 Deloitte Global Human Capital survey, 94 per cent of business leaders think agility and collaboration are critical to their organisation’s success in today’s business world, however only 6 per cent say they are highly agile today.
"The Enterprise Agility Leaders Program gives senior leaders an understanding as to what it means to be agile across the organisation, how to use it to 'future ready' the organisation, and its implications for the role of leaders," says Ms Muir.
As well as theory and practical content, the program will include in-depth case studies of organisations that have successfully implemented transformation strategies – including insights straight from the mouths of those involved.
"Partnering with Deloitte has enabled us to build a unique program that incorporates case studies and insights, both global and local, that have a real-time and practical edge," says Ms Lewis.
"Case studies include looking at the success of BankWest and Vicinity Centres in applying agile principles at scale, and learning enhanced by the in-depth insights on the challenges of implementation from Deloitte."
A successful pilot of the new program was held in December featuring participants from a wide cross section of industries and leadership roles, including participants from NAB, ANZ, Beca Group and government agencies.
Sophie McGregor, Integrated Customer Plan Leader at Energy Australia, said the program gave her a clear understanding of the actions required to embrace agility in the workplace.
"The Enterprise Agility Leaders Program was rewarding in how it offered precise thinking around enterprise agility in terms of what is required of me as a leader," she said.
"It pushed me to think about what I needed to do and change as an individual to get that done. It helped me think about the enterprise ecosystem and what was required across the organisation to adopt agile ways of working."
To learn how to make your organisation agile, find out more about the Enterprise Agility Leaders Program or view our full range of Executive Education courses.