Learning the Way

Lesson 1: Define the problem. Then identify the goal.

My tailgate problem and goal were straightforward because I already knew both the destination (somewhere to the north) and obstacles (an overpass and railroad tracks). This allowed me to immediately set out in the right direction. Conversely, in many business situations even the first steps could go in multiple directions. We think we know the answer and quickly jump to solutions only to discover (after much effort and stress) that we didn’t achieve our desired outcome. There were several key actions the Amerisure senior team took to avoid this pitfall, the first of which was to bring in an external agile transformation expert to kick off our journey and be our coach.

Our coach started by conducting a culture survey, so we could more fully understand our current state. They then held a two-day workshop with our senior leadership team to discuss the results and introduce many of the leadership and agility concepts important to our desired state. This aligned the executive leadership team and created a common language we could use with each other to ensure we were communicating well and working in sync.

The senior leadership team then established an internal cross-functional transformation team comprised of executives—the Agile Practice Group (APG)— and I was named the company-wide agile transformation leader. These decisions were critical for internal accountability, effective change management, and ensuring a company-wide approach to transformation. Thus, the APG served as a change team.

With guidance from our coaches, the APG spent significant time talking with leaders and individuals about pain points and what success looked like. We were able to buy time and not jump to solutions by engaging key stakeholders and doing early iterations on ideas. These discussions helped surface some of our biggest challenges, ones that threatened the success of the transformation itself: a strong desire for predictable results and many competing, concurrent priorities.

One tool introduced to us was the Salesforce “V2MOM” model (Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, and Measures), which is a way to capture a strategy and create team alignment. We used the V2MOM framework to organize our thoughts and distill both the challenges and goals into simple-to-understand language. We also responded to the challenges we identified by creating catchy phrases such as “challenge everything,” “ruthless prioritization,” and “stop starting & start finishing” to keep the mood light and encourage our people through our change efforts.

Finally, and crucially, we validated the V2MOM results with a group of employees, including senior leaders. Once we aligned on outcomes and understood key obstacles, we were well-positioned to start making progress with the confidence that we were headed in the right direction.

Lesson 2: Know your ‘BATNA’ and secure early wins.

In negotiations there is a concept called BATNA: the best alternative to a negotiated agreement. This refers to a backup plan, or plan of last resort, if you cannot reach an agreement with your counterparty. Sometimes the BATNA is acceptable and sometimes it’s highly unacceptable, and this guides your decisions through a negotiation. When dealing with uncertainty, it’s important to know the stakes.

For my tailgate, I had an acceptable BATNA via another set of directions— however, the directions I already knew would’ve taken a lot longer than I wanted. Plus, I was confident there was a faster, more direct way. When we made our first stop I still had a chance to turn back towards the known path, but we were feeling positive, and I had a good sense for the next steps, so we kept moving towards the unknown. I also wanted to use the situation as a learning moment for my son as I hope to build up his growth and experimentation mindset.

At Amerisure, the transformation was a riskier undertaking and was without a clear alternative—this was, after all, a strategic capability our company was seeking. There were also a handful of people who were pessimistic about the transformation, saying “We already tried that here,” so they would need to be engaged and encouraged. We may have been optimistic in our outlook, but the APG felt like our goals were highly achievable and that there were many paths available to us as long as we had the will to change, so we were excited for the opportunity.

Given the non-desirable BATNA and our coaching, we knew we needed to quickly create momentum and credibility, so we concentrated on quick wins. First, we hyper-focused on experiments, small wins, and small failures to demonstrate success and prove out that we were overcoming the obstacles of change. Small failures were just as important as wins to demonstrate that we could still learn from “failed” experiments and no one got “in trouble”. The challenge with this approach was that the initial impact of the improvements was small and pace of change was slow, so not everyone saw the value in what we were doing. In response to this obstacle, we used multiple channels to communicate progress to our whole company using plain, jargon-free language, and we set expectations that culture change is a multi-year journey that we would measure along the way. Over time, as more people engaged in the transformation and the new way of working took hold in our culture, we grew to larger and more ambitious changes and experienced more success with innovation.

Lesson 3: Be humble. Be courageous.

You have probably noticed I use a lot of “we” language in this transformation story. This is intentional. It isn’t a question of my leadership; rather it’s a matter of knowing my leadership alone was not enough. Changes like this don’t happen without good coaching, a great team working on the transformation, and other leaders leading the transformation in their areas.

As mentioned, the APG was assembled to create focus and provide visible senior leadership support for the change. Some of the executives had experience working with agile teams and some were novices, but this didn’t matter; what mattered is that they were ready to work for the change and had the credibility to do so. Thus, the APG served as a change team, and as a method of developing the executives on the team who were new to agility. The APG also knew the company in ways I did not—I had been with the company less than six months, so it was crucial that I listen and take turns following them through our journey. While I created the transformation roadmap and established priorities, the APG consistently provided the necessary input, guidance, and actions to lead successful outcomes.

Just as critical as setting vision and strategy, I had to be a leader worth following. In my tailgate journey, when I was unsure about the next move out on the golf course, my son stopped and contemplated whether to keep following me. At Amerisure I’m sure other leaders did the same as we started the transformation. There are many adjectives one could use other than “humble”, such as “empathetic” or “curious”, but at the heart of it I believe it comes back to caring about your team and knowing that all of us are smarter than one of us. So have the courage to be the one to lead the way into risky, unknown territory and be humble enough to listen to your team.

Lesson 4: Can’t stop. Won’t stop.

Some transformations take years to complete, and this requires organizational and leadership resilience to accompany demonstrated progress. We established a four-year transformation roadmap and set expectations that it takes seven years to fundamentally change culture. The first four years would require hands-on, intentional, focused leadership and change agents to deliver the biggest changes. The final phase in the roadmap included a transition to a continuous improvement model of growth where the foundational changes would continue to mature, but not without a defined leader.

There will also be curveballs and setbacks in your journey, and we were no exception. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic struck in year two of our transformation and our company needed a new roadmap. Rather than stop the transformation altogether, I realized this was an opportunity to demonstrate how business agility can help during uncertain times. We changed our plans for 2020 and focused on tools and methods to help our people with the sudden transition to remote working. The fundamentals of making work visible, building high performing teams, collaboration, and overcoming obstacles translated quite well. While this did extend our original timeline, it also represented our ability to change plans while remaining committed to our outcomes.



Finally, we transitioned people on and off the APG as part of our ongoing change approach and to maintain momentum. The APG was a hands-on way of developing agile leadership, and we asked our “alums” to take what they learned to their teams and extend the reach of our transformation. Onboarding new APG members consisted of two main steps: a) bringing them up to speed with our strategy and approach and b) asking for their “outsider” perspective of our transformation. This fresh perspective helped keep our plan relevant and provided insights to our effectiveness.

We are now back to our pre-pandemic planned outcomes and have made great progress. With the early wins and credibility we secured, we gained buy-in for the larger changes necessary in the most advanced phase of our transformation. Not all of the how part of the initial plan went exactly as hoped, but we remained focused on what we wanted to achieve and this won the day. Since beginning our transformation, our people are working differently—collaborating differently, using new language, and applying new tools and methods to approach business problems—and their engagement in these areas has increased. That’s been great to see! We have also won numerous industry awards and gained recognition for our innovation program and its outcomes. Most exciting, Amerisure launched two new businesses, and we have done so with capabilities and imagination inspired by our transformation journey.

Where Next?

Today’s environment requires strong teams, and success requires a new type of leadership: people who can scan the environment, navigate, learn quickly, and bring out the best in teams. Ultimately, leading through the fog requires you to constantly learn; to repeat the “plan-act-react” cycle in a controlled way. Having the right leadership and team in place enabled us to work our way through our uncertainty.

As for the tailgate, it was a blast! But it wasn’t my final destination—the game was, of course. Happily, the home team won, and my sons and I went home with fond memories of both the win and the walk we enjoyed together. At Michigan, where we (obnoxiously) sing about being the leaders and best, I learned how to learn. This is the gift that keeps on giving.