AgileSHIFT – spreading agile and best practice ideas

As the organizations we’re working with are fundamentally aiming to improve their capability, it is interesting to note that 68% of training undertaken at PM-Partners is now agile in flavour.

What’s more encouraging is that this means conversations are now happening at a higher level in leadership teams about introducing the concept of enterprise agility at an organisation-wide scale.

Enterprise agility today

Organizations are facing increasingly disruptive environments, where they need to respond to emerging customer demands through innovative capabilities, culture change and adopting technology such as cloud computing and digital services. The need to adapt in order to survive and thrive relies on having people who can be genuinely customer-centric, while the demands of the customer are constantly changing.

With this in mind, we look to Axelos’ AgileSHIFT® certification. It has become a primer for altering mindsets in organizations and a way to break down silos and remove barriers to change.

The knowledge gained from undertaking the AgileSHIFT course helps individuals understand that it’s no longer possible to rely on fixed project timeframes. Instead, they need the expertise to work in shorter timeframes, while working together in cross-functional teams. It is also important that these individuals feel they can challenge the status quo and have the ability to influence change.

Refreshingly for those who are new to the concept of agile, AgileSHIFT avoids a lot of the jargon and sometimes challenging theory associated with Agile methods. This allows people to become easily accustomed to these new ideas in a way that is accessible.

This flexible design also gives them more confidence when learning new concepts and tools and applying them to their everyday work environments – while allowing them to see the value of using agile approaches in BAU as well as projects.

AgileSHIFT in Australia

Since its introduction in Australia, AgileSHIFT has undoubtedly been a compelling topic to engage individuals at all levels.

As an example, PM-Partners had ten senior executives from a range of large organizations attend a pilot scheme for a “taster” of AgileSHIFT. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, with several of these executives wanting to continue the conversation around the adoption of enterprise-wide agility.

AgileSHIFT is now part of the MBA course at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia. At Deakin alone, over 100 students have recently completed the course. This has demonstrated the value of working in collaboration with higher education institutions, and of supporting their university ranking.

A new audience for best practice

By its very nature, AgileSHIFT has opened avenues for conversation, encouraged thinking in an agile way and brought best practice concepts to a much broader audience, involving people from a range of different disciplines. What’s more, it is equipping the next generation with key concepts of business agility and how to adopt an agile mindset to help them take the next step into the contemporary business world.