How a People and Culture Team Drove an Agile Transformation

We know agile values and principles have revolutionised the way software projects are delivered. Now we’re discovering the same agile mindsets, methods and tools can be adapted to successfully transform the way businesses operate; helping them respond to the changing needs of customers, deliver value faster and leaner, and building a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.

This presentation provides an overview of the application of agile practices at Vicinity Centre (ASX:VSX) across all functions and levels of the business. Co-presented by Damian Zahra, General Manager People and Culture at Vicinity and Eduardo Nofuentes, Founder of The Agile Eleven, we follow Vicinity’s journey through three waves of agile adoption;

• Initially implementing agile methods at the team level
• Broadening out to adopt agile enterprise-wide and
• The continuing journey towards true business agility

Agile was introduced to Vicinity at a time when the company was experiencing a major merger and the presentation addresses how agile approaches provided a powerful agent for driving cultural and organisational change, improving staff engagement, improving collaboration and contributing to the successful integration of two large enterprises in a short twelve-month timeframe.

Damian Zahra

GM of People and Culture @ Vicinity Centres

Damian is the GM of People and Culture at Vicinity Centres, one of Australia’s leading retail property groups. Damian has overall responsibility for the people and culture strategy, with a particular focus on organisational capability, leadership development and culture transformation. With global HR management experience across several industries, Damian is passionate about leading business transformation in the face of industry disruption.

Eduardo Nofuentes

Founder / Enterprise Agile Coach @ The Agile Eleven

Eduardo is an Agile Enterprise Coach and founder of The Agile Eleven – a leading business consultancy that uses agile and lean mindsets, practices and tools to improve the way teams and organisations of all sizes and industries work. The Agile Eleven have been leaders in implementing agile thinking beyond the software arena, working extensively across all business areas, from executive teams to people & culture, sales & marketing to operations, finance & accounting to IT; and with clients across Australia, North America and Asia. With a career that expands over 20 years across a number of customer centric leadership roles, Eduardo has worked with many large and fast growing digital organisations around the world.

The Agile Eleven now draws and benefits from that experience to help design and implement agile and adaptive organisations that create ongoing value for their customers, while preparing people for the workplace of the future.