STEPHEN WHITE , CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AT YORKSHIRE BUILDING SOCIETY . HOW TO HAVE AN AGILE ORGANISATION
25 a genuinely positive impact on our customers ’ lives .”
“ Structurally a lot has changed ,” adds Hunter . “ At my level , we went from 45 down to 15 . That ’ s significant : if you talk about an agile way of working , 45 people at director level trying to make a decision is very difficult .” Throughout the organisation , silos have been turned into ‘ tribes ’ and Kanban boards keep everyone on task . “ For a business to become agile , we need a culture that is transparent , challenging and empowers people to take ownership ,” says Sampson . “ We don ’ t want too much structure or hierarchy : we need people to feel they can be innovative and that it ’ s OK to try something and fail on a small scale .”
“ We ’ ve also started to implement a new ‘ culture journey ’,” says Juryta . “ We create cultural ambassadors to help nudge the culture in the right direction . Regulation has driven a tightly controlled organisation which stifled creativity , but we have helped people feel they have a voice and it ’ s OK to speak out . Our CEO Mike Regnier encourages people to ask for forgiveness rather than permission – that ’ s a very powerful statement .”
europe . businesschief . com