Enterprise Agility Forum

This interactive two day workshop is a unique opportunity for leaders to discuss the latest thinking on agile organizations, with McKinsey experts and an exclusive group of peers.

With today’s levels of uncertainty, ambiguity, volatility across the world, it is becoming more and more critical to be agile and quickly respond to change and actually benefit from change. This is why EAF is not only geared towards making transformations successful, but also includes cutting edge perspectives on how to integrate agility into the strategy, structure, processes, people and technology operations of the organization.

This program explores the “What” and the “How” of agile organization transformations. CXO-level executives explore the latest theories and best practices of enterprise agility and are challenged and encouraged by both the faculty and their peers to apply these learnings to their own organization. Teams from different organizations share and learn from one another with the goal of making their operating models more agile. This unique set up ensures attending business leaders will arrive at a concrete action plan for their organization.

What participants say

“I arrived a little confused on how to approach an agile transformation for my business and left with a very clear plan that I am confident will be successful.”

“We’re all challenged with some of the same fundamental issues. And we’re all trying to figure out this space together—even though we’re at different levels of maturity. I’m looking forward to taking back the connections that I made here and keeping the learning going around the success stories and the pitfalls.”

“Two full days of inspiration, fun, challenging solution seeking that will help us take the next step to really improve our operating model and address the issues that has hindered us for a long time to work as we aimed for.”

Program details

This program balances the exploration of the latest research and best practices with exercises and discussions among participants, their teams, and McKinsey’s experts on enterprise agility. The Enterprise Agility Forum explores:

Solving “the what of Agile Transformation” around the five trademarks that agile organizations have in common once they’ve moved from a rigid structure to an adaptive ecosystem, fit for a changing marketplace

1. North star embodied across the organization
2. Network of empowered teams
3. Rapid decision and learning cycles
4. Dynamic people model that ignites passion
5. Next-generation enabling technology

“The How” of Organization Design in 9 Golden Rules that help move us from a 23% average success rate of re-organizations to over 85%

1. Focus first on the longer-term strategic aspirations
2. Take time to survey the scene
3. Be structured about selecting the right blueprint
4. Go beyond lines and boxes
5. Be rigorous about drafting in talent
6. Identify the necessary mind-set shifts, and change those mind-sets
7. Establish metrics that measure short- and long-term success
8. Make sure business leaders communicate
9. Manage the transitional risks

Distinctive features

Interactive set up

During this program participants not only hear about the latest thinking on agile transformations but get to taste it, feel it, and interact with it. The goal of the program is to inspire teams and ensure they spend dedicated time on their own future operating model while being coached by McKinsey experts.

Peer-to-peer learning

CXO-level executives hail from a variety of industries but are all facing similar challenges. Participants come together to share experiences and exchange perspectives—they also interact with the content of the program and immediately apply it to their own situation and discuss their progress with both peers and McKinsey experts.

Foundation of proven re-design process

Our program is based on a proven approach following the “What” (establishing the 5 trademarks of agile organizations) and the “How” (following the 9 golden rules for organization design) that can improve the success rate of an organizational re-design to over 85%. This is the foundation of the program with all the tools and interactive sessions designed to help top executives to move through this process smoothly and arrive at a first design or sharpen their design of their future organization. Our time together is focused on getting this process right, understanding what it takes to be agile, how to build in agility into the organization, and meaningful discussions with peers and McKinsey experts. All leading up to a concrete output at the end of the two days.