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Agile @ Spark

A Journey

Our journey starts in 2013 with our poor track record and trajectory…

2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016

“One of the poorest performers in the buoyant

telecoms sector, with underwhelming

earnings growth and capex rising”

– Australian Financial Review (July 2013)

3 year Turnaround programme delivered in 18

months

Unfortunately it didn’t change the fact that Telcos

are under a lot of pressure to change

Share of organisations that started efforts to increase their organisational Agility

Perceived instability of the business environment

….sparking our interest in Agilebut not at the expense of losing our performance muscle

We visited a number of Agile companies

and distilled 4 clear themes

1. Be clear on the “Why”?

• It’s a lot of work …. so be clear on why you want to do it

2. How “Change-able” is your organisation ?

• How much real change has your business been through in recent years ?

• Agile will be x 5

• If not a lot of change, Agile may be too great a shock to the system

3. Burn the boats

• Jump in with both feet

• Half - way increases risk of failure

4. Don’t “lift and shift”

• Do the work – no shortcuts

1. Spark’s WHY Agile?

• Faster to Market

• Embedded

Customer Focus

• Engaged and

Empowered PeopleWaterfall

Agile

2. “Sell” the change story

• Adult-to-adult. Honest. Transparent. Early.

• Face-to-face. Live, 2-way events as backbone

• Top-team driven.

• Real and authentic. Stories. From the front. Real voices

• Video

• Methodical (vs random)

Apr May JunFeb Mar

Squad blogs

Live squad videos

Mar (mid)

Animated video

Apr

Sounding board ws

Feb (mid)

Announce Tribe map &

TL/CL Mar

HR reset package,

Apr

Open homes

Jun (TBD)

Buddy system

Apr

Coffee

chats

Frontrunner

boot camp

Full Tribe map

release

HR model

details

Design to squad Roles open for and

chapter level application

Agile day

Town Hall 1Agile day

Jun

Town hall 2

Mar

Town hall 3

May (mid)

Example timeline

CEO

letter

Frontrunner

TL blogs

HR

Legal

Comms

Centres of Excellence

Regulatory

Agile

Value

Management

Finance

Channel

and Delivery

Units

Product

Tribes

Segment

Tribes

Enabler

Tribes

IT Path-to-

Production

Security

Retail

Business Hubs

Billing

Enablement

IT Applications

Call Center

Call Center

Call Center

Consumer

Business

Wholesale

OmnichannelChannel

Enabler Tribes

Mobile

Network

Evolution

Network &

Infrastructure

Service

Operations

Prof. Services

Delivery

Broadband

Digital Services

Billing

Voice &

Collaboration

Physical

Infrastructure

Field Delivery

Managed Data

IT Services

Sales & Service

North

Sales & Service

South

Data &

Automation Admin

3. Create an Agile Structure

– moving to a very flat structure

3 Layers:

Leadership, Tribe,

Squad

Delayer the structure

118 Squads

Design fully around teams

90 Day

Quarterly

cycle

Radically transform the

backbone

40 Agile Coaches 5000Bootcamp& with new employment agreements

Build coaching capability Change management at scale Top team in drivers seat

3+hours per week together,

every week, from top

team

2Week Operating Rhythm

1,700

to 120 Job Titles

4. Effective QBRPROCESS

Squad

backlog

Quarterly plan

for each Unit

Tribe OKRs

Quarterly priorities

based on strategy

Layers

Incentives

Titles

Market pressures Outputs

Budgeting

4. Tools: we re-set HR (…. and Finance/Comms/Legal)

Market pressures Outputs

…to help speed the place up

Going Agile, we issued new employment

agreements

Key differences:

• “I’m in”

• No Conventional Job descriptions

PREVIOUS“BANDS”

NOW“STAIRCASES”

Business Unit Leadership Positions

+/- 20% of

median

Step One

Step Two

Step Three

Step Four

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1

Step Five

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1

Level 4

Level 5

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1

Level 4

Level 5

Level 4

…. with complete change in remuneration model

to reinforce career / skills development

Pay Ranges Pay Points

Tribe LeadTL Tribe backlog OKRsTribe budget

Chapter LeadPeople

development

Domain

consistencyCapability buildingCL

Product OwnerPOBacklog and

prioritizationGo / No-go

decisionSquad vision

Agile CoachАC Agile maturityResolve

Impediments

Coaching and

mentorship

Design and

deliver

supporting

processes

CoE Lead Functional expertiseCoach and

mentor teams

Centre of

Excellence Lead

5. Clarity - Agile Development & Capabilities Agenda

6. Agile Coach capabilities

Forums

Feedback

Fieldwork

Graduate as Agile Coach Ongoing developmentScreen and recruit "Gated” Development

Agile

expertise

Coaching

skills

Criteria

Delivery

Confidence

and soft skills

Problem solving

& analytics

Good Agile Coaches in NZ are rare:

We had to build our own…..and quickly

Promoters

49%

Passive

37%

Detractors

14%

7. Transparency and measurement

1:1 Regularity = 93%

1:1 Effectiveness = 78%

Pre-Agile

32 eNPS

Agile

41 eNPS

Operational

metrics

Value

drivers

NPS

Journey

metrics

Squad

productivity

Agile

maturity

Financial

metrics

People

indicators

VoE

OKRs/

KPIs

Squad

quality

Margins: 25% to 30%

Dividends: 16cps to 25cps

Market Cap: x 2

iNPS – Sales and Service: -20 to +50

Inbound Calls: 40% reduction

Culture 14th Percentile to eNPS +41 (+9)

It’s been quite the journey since 2013 .…

BEHAVIOURAL SHIFTS WILL SUPPORT THE CULTURE WE NEED IN AGILE

MoreLess

‘Owning it’ Doing what is right

Feeling safe to have a go and

experiment

Cautious Playing it safe; it’s always acceptable to escalate

Believing failure is to be avoided under all

circumstances

Value every voice Actively seeking diverse perspectives

Taking responsibility to speak up

Loudest voice wins Only listening to big personalities or leaders

Feeling cautious to speak up

Empower and coach Trusting others to get things done

Using guidelines and questions to help

others solve problems

Manage and direct Telling others how to get things done

Relying on rules to organise team work

Team success Looking to make others shine

Being deliberately open and transparent

Being generous with time for others

My tasks Prioritising own deliverables over broader team

needs

Passing ‘to’ a player not ‘for’ a player

Agile means

a big

change in

culture.

“If we had to do it again ….?”

1. Total Commitment …. starts at the top and don’t stop

2. “Go Agile to be Agile”…

3. Keep HR / Finance / Comms involved

4. Don’t miss the opportunity to re-set

• Job titles, Compensation / career models, L and D

5. Things that will really help

• IT foundations need to be ready• ‘Change-able’

• Design-thinking

• One-on-ones / Feedback

3

Top 10 learnings

6. Don’t make it about costs

7. Be clear on the role and capabilities of the agile

coach role

8. Create a Sounding Board

9. Storytelling and “Knitting”

10. Get experts to help

What got us here won’t get us there…

1

5

TODAY

Standards will drive step-change

3

• Variability exists across the business – naturally given we took some risks as we flipped

• Clinical, Consulting type ‘speak’ will not inspire. Standards need to be aspirational too

1

2

3

4

5

Building Highly Functioning Tribes

Driving Performance, Pace and Productivity

A leader driving an inclusive achieving culture

Building Vision, Purpose and Clarity

Contribution Model

HOW:

Gold Standards unite

Communities of Shared

Practice

Feedback is a multiplier in the mature

agile culture

• Even MORE 2 way dialogue

• Feedback in the moment

• Always a precursor to development

3

VoE - we’ve been thinking about…

3• How agile ‘able’ is the Tool/Platform?

• Strong feedback loops

• ‘in the moment’ and ‘operating at pace’.

• Adaptability – ours to own?

• Fluidity - Reporting and Insights?

• Survey Simplicity and Frequency

• Too often, Too Many?

• Over cooked?

• Leader Engagement and Ownership

• Freedom and accountability to communicate directly

• Anonymity vs Transparency?

• Feedback Loop

• Do we consistently pass the Red Face Test of hearing and applying?

Bringing the future workforce faster to NZ…

Learning and Development Agenda

Experimenting with Communities of Practice

Product OwnerSquad vision

Tribe Lead/COE LeadTribe/Unit vision

Chapter LeadQuality standards

• 90 Day Programmes

• Survey Assessment

• Short Format Workshops

• Blended Learning Offers

• Self direction - learning curiosity

• 180 Day Programme

• Feedback / Assessment

• Agile Learning Methodology

• Emotional Agility

Bringing the future workforce faster to NZ…

Agile Progression and Pathways – flat and fast

Agile

Pipeline

Entry Level Talent

vs

Side-Loading

Bench Strength

&

Progression

Core Capabilities

&

Future Skill Shifts

• Flat =Challenging

• Accessible learning for all

• Agile = behavioural fish

bowl

• Leading with Ambiguity

• Coaching

• Connection/Influence

• Commercial Skills

• Story Telling

• Coaching

• The Future of Work &

Job Design

30

• Feedback against “what great looks” like is our cornerstone.

• Format and Timing is key in a world of fluidity, pace & unknowns

• Be clear on who does what best for learning offers – leader? HRP?

Coach?

• Keep the backlog tight, deliver it, then dip back in

• Build our own– accessible by all, for all.

• Cultivating Communities will differentiate: pace, scale, and magic

• Integrate - consistent weaving of the culture we’re driving

We believe L & D – neatly woven, will deliver the

productivity and culture kicker...