Shaping Portfolio Agility

“You have to respect the orthodoxy of the culture that you’re operating within, because it will absolutely hold the way in which things are done. And you will know when you come up against that culture—you will feel it.” - Louise Higgins

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In this episode, we’re joined by Louise (Lou) Higgins. Lou joined ANZ in January 2020 as the Chief Financial Officer of Technology and Enablement. She was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Australia in May 2021 and Managing Director of Suncorp Integration in September 2022. In September 2023, she was appointed to lead the Australia Retail Strategic Delivery function in conjunction with her Suncorp Integration responsibilities until February 2024. Lou currently leads the Strategy and Transformation for the Australian retail business.

In this role, Lou partners closely with the Group Executive, Australia Retail, and the Australia Retail leadership team to deliver a significant and complex transformation and prepare the business for the future.

Lou has a diverse set of skills and experience, having worked across multiple industries during her 20+-year career. She commenced her executive career in London before relocating back to Australia to work as an associate director with Macquarie Bank. In 2010, she became the Chief Operating Officer for Nova Entertainment. In January 2017, Lou was appointed Chief Financial and strategy Officer for the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC), where she oversaw the design and implementation of a significant technology transformation of the broadcaster.

Lou also has a diverse Non-Executive Career, having worked for Commercial Radio Australia, Visit Victoria, Qudos Bank, Canteen Australia, OneTwo Finance, and Enero Group Limited.

Our conversation with Lou explores the intricate dynamics of leadership and cultural transformation, set against the backdrop of her recent work leading the strategic Suncorp acquisition.  Her candid insights reveal the importance of empathy, self-awareness, and strategic alignment in driving successful change. 

She reminds us that effective leadership isn’t just about achieving outcomes—it's about how we lead others to those outcomes. 

(00:00) Introduction

(06:15) Why do you think effective partnerships between finance and technology are so rare?

(11:39) What do you mean by the word transformation?

(15:18) How do you hold the tension between transforming the business and keeping it functioning while you do it?

(21:29) What stood out to you when you travelled the world studying banking acquisitions?

(29:49) How do you balance between knowing the whole answer yourself and slowly finding the answer together?

(35:19) What are some of the tools you use to paint the future for your people?

(41:47) How do you encourage the people that work for you?

(46:53) What’s the role of likeability in leadership?

(53:39) How do you navigate the clash of cultures during an integration?

(56:57) How do you deliver hard messages about the need for change as a leader?

(59:03) What’s the one piece of advice you’d give others approaching significant transformations?

“Just as delegation is a skill that can get taught to leaders and often is, the ability to take ownership is a skill that needs to be developed in people, and organizations often do not invest in training that.”  - Evan Leybourn

In this episode, we are joined by Evan Leybourn, the founder and CEO of the Business Agility Institute. Evan has been a thought leader in the realm of Business Agility since 2008, advocating for organizations to rethink how they operate, lead, and govern to become more human-centric and adaptable in the face of constant change.

Evan's journey began with a realization that organizations needed to move beyond traditional agile practices confined to IT and software development. In 2016, he established the Business Agility Institute, aiming to create a global community dedicated to redefining business structures and cultures. The Institute has since become a hub for research, thought leadership, and collaboration among professionals striving to transform their organizations.

During our conversation, Evan delves into the fundamental differences between agile and Business Agility, emphasizing that Business Agility extends beyond methodologies to encompass organizational behaviors and mindsets. He shares insights from recent research studies conducted by the Institute, including "Bridging the Divide" and "The Balancing Act," which explore the challenges organizations face in collaboration, prioritization, and leadership.

Evan discusses the decline in organizational collaboration observed between 2022 and 2023, attributing it to factors like fear-based leadership and siloed structures exacerbated by economic uncertainties. He highlights the importance of moving towards human-centric governance and leadership models to foster organizational resilience and unity.

Through candid reflections, Evan offers valuable advice on breaking down silos, aligning goals, and investing in leadership development. He underscores organizations' need to build the muscles required to respond effectively to change, no matter how unexpected.

In this episode, we cover:

Throughout the episode, Evan emphasizes that change is inevitable and constant. Organizations that proactively develop the capabilities to adapt and respond to change are better positioned to achieve their purpose and succeed in today's dynamic environment.

Cast:

Evan Leybourn

References:

“Often, there’s a real lack of clarity about where we are now. And it can be a very uncomfortable, painful set of truths that people don’t want to face. But to create progress, you need to face uncomfortable truths and understand where you’re starting from." - Natalie Field

In this episode, we’re joined by Natalie Field. Nat recently commenced as CEO of Informed Decisions and has accrued a wealth of portfolio leadership experience over the course of her career. Highlights include serving as the Chief Digital and Data Officer for BUPA Asia Pacific, Chief Technology Officer at Belong, and General Manager of the digital portfolio at Australia Post.

Nat is a customer-centric leader with 20 years of global experience in innovation, customer, product, digital, data, and technology. A catalyst for change, she has worked across multiple industries, including health, telecommunications, and services. She has a proven track record of leveraging digital, data, and technology to increase the impact of existing business models and unlock new growth opportunities.

She is recognized for her ability to work across organizational silos to create an ambitious vision and bring that vision to life in a way that creates customer and commercial growth while focusing on operational excellence.

Her passion for leadership and accessing excellence in others is combined with a fierce determination to exceed expectations.

During our conversation, Nat delves into the realities of leading large portfolios and navigating executive roles. She shares hard-won lessons about balancing quick wins with long-term vision, building outstanding leadership teams, tapping into their strengths, and using metrics to drive strategic outcomes. Through candid reflections, Nat offers valuable advice on creating clarity, building resilient teams, and managing the delicate balance between purpose and progress. Her approach to leadership is shaped by a clear focus on empathy, transparency, and aligning people with purpose.

In this episode, we cover:

References:

"Real strategy deployment empowers teams to act on strategic intent with ownership and clarity." - Karl Scotland

We’re joined by Strategy Deployment expert Karl Scotland in this episode. 

Karl helps businesses become Learning Organisations through outcome-oriented, continuous transformation, engaging everyone, everywhere.

Over the last 20+ years, he has been an advocate of Lean and Agile approaches to achieve this, working with companies including the BBC, Yahoo!, EMC Consulting, Rally Software, Cisco, SDL, Legal & General, Allegis, HSBC, Bank of America, Vocalink, Sky, and Irwin Mitchel.

During this time, he has been an early adopter of XP and Scrum, a contributor to Agendashift, and a pioneer of using Kanban Systems and Strategy Deployment for product development. He is a founding member of both the Lean Systems Society and Limited WIP Society, active in the Lean and Agile community, and a regular conference speaker. As a result, he was awarded the honorary Brickell Key Community Contribution Award at the 2013 Lean Kanban North America conference.

Our conversation explores Karl’s journey with Strategy Deployment, particularly how he learned and applied it during his time at Rally Software. He explains how models like the X-Matrix help to align aspirations, strategies, and tactics by visualizing and connect strategic decisions to tangible actions. Karl emphasizes that strategy deployment is a continuous, evolving process that requires ongoing feedback and adaptation rather than a static plan. He shares how using Strategy Deployment at Rally fostered collaboration, benefited from customer involvement in strategic planning, and enabled the organization to make more informed decisions about what to prioritize and what to stop doing.

Karl also introduces us to the “TASTE” model he has developed as a framing model for understanding the state of a group’s strategy deployment:

In this episode, we cover:

Cast:

Karl Scotland

Eric Willeke

Mark Richards

References:

"So on any given day, I'm just managing those planes and flight patterns and trying to make sense and create that sequencing of road maps.  Or at least highlight, hey, you're not going to achieve that, because this strategy over here in this portfolio isn't even thinking that way” - Christine Babowicz

When we decided to start inviting guests to join us, we were passionate about finding people with real lived experience to share their hard-won insights and wisdom.  We were very grateful when Christine Babowicz agreed to join us as our second guest, and she certainly brought plenty of wisdom.

Christine currently serves as Head of Global Execution Excellence at MetLife. She joined MetLife almost nine years ago after spending time at Intel and Adesa.  Initially serving in a PMO capacity, she became involved in the launch of MetLife’s Global Lean-Agile CoE 6 years ago. It quickly became a pull-based global agility and ways of working transformation.

Her role has recently expanded into partnering with Enterprise Strategy and 16 portfolios across MetLife to bring their AI strategy to life, focused on creating differentiated experiences for their associates and customers.

Over the years, she's spoken at various Agile Conferences and SAFe Summits, and her topics show her passion for leadership empathy during times of change. She was also a founding member of Raleigh-Durham Women in Agile. Recently, her leadership style and transformation efforts have earned her the Triangle’s Business Journal 40under40 award. 

Our conversation takes us through her journey as a change leader over the past six years. Christine shares the challenges of forming an Agile PMO amidst established practices and how her background in lean thinking shaped her approach. We discuss the importance of translating between old and new methodologies, building empathy and trust with stakeholders, and focusing on the problems portfolio leaders face rather than the solutions the textbook provides.  She also shares the value of grounding conversations across portfolio boundaries in the organizational mission and a deep understanding of business processes.

As a leader, she highlights the privilege of these transformative roles and the importance of staying humble and prepared when navigating such complex landscapes.

In this episode, we cover:

Cast:

Christine Babowicz

Eric Willeke

Mark Richards

“The right collective organization tends to have fewer blind spots, because, by definition, a team is a transactional memory system of sufficient predictive power that we can know how to work together” - Luke Hohmann

When we decided to start inviting interesting guests to join our portfolio conversations, Luke Hohmann was an obvious first choice.  

Luke is a four time author, three time founder, SAFe® Fellow, keynote speaker, and internationally recognized expert in Agile Software Development. His passion is sustainably profitable businesses, because it is only through sustainable profits that a business can thrive.

As Chief Innovation Officer of Applied Frameworks he works with executives to fulfill their mission of helping our customers create sustainably profitable businesses. His most recent book, Software Profit Streams™: Designing Sustainably Profitable Businesses , is co-authored with Jason Tanner and shares key insights from their experience helping businesses succeed. 

He co-founded Every Voice Engaged, a nonpartisan 501c3 nonprofit  that helps citizens, governments, and nonprofits collaboratively solve unsolvable problems. He founded Conteneo, creator of Weave, the Strategy Engine, and Knowsy, later acquired by Scaled Agile Inc.

Our conversation blends deep insights with practical advice. Luke shares stories from his extensive experience, discussing how to start a Lean Portfolio Management journey by understanding and improving existing practices rather than introducing entirely new ones. He emphasizes the importance of having the right people at the portfolio table, including often-overlooked roles like finance and HR, to ensure a balanced and holistic approach. 

Luke also delves into the cognitive challenges leaders face in balancing long-term strategy with immediate operational demands, offering strategies to navigate these complexities. He highlights the significance of recognizing when something should no longer be a portfolio concern, advocating for a focus on reducing unnecessary burdens to maintain agility. Throughout, Luke interweaves his Profit Stream™ thinking, showing how profitability can be integrated into portfolio management, especially in traditional settings. He concludes with a compelling argument for why embracing these practices leads to a more sustainable and successful organization.

In this episode, we cover:

Cast:

Luke Hohmann

Eric Willeke

Mark Richards

"The journey to get there isn’t easy. The outcomes, when it works, are pretty amazing and unbelievable, but you’ll find a whole new set of problems you never imagined could go wrong"

Eric Willeke

With the initial arc complete, this episode adopts a new perspective triggered by our conversations at the SAFe Summit in Berlin. We step into the shoes of portfolio members, embarking on a lean journey. The conversation begins by exploring how their first steps into lean portfolio management will look different from your first steps into agility.  As the episode unfolds, we delve into the changes you might anticipate, from shifting boundaries and constraints to evolving events and workflow. We also explore how the relationship with senior stakeholders will transform, requiring greater ownership, self-discipline, and proactivity. The conversation highlights the importance of patience and empathy for yourself and those leading the portfolio as everyone navigates this uncharted territory. As with any significant change, there will be moments of discomfort and uncertainty, but the potential for growth and increased collaboration is immense.

In this episode, we cover: 

• (00:00) Introduction

 Cast:

Eric Willeke

Mark Richards

"You get a mad underspend in Q1; then you spend Q2 and Q3 trying to catch up on the questions about your Q1 underspend. This is variation waste, and causes massive issues in terms of the ability of the system to absorb the work" - Mark Richards

In this episode, we turn our attention to the application of lean to Portfolio Operations and Governance. Eric focuses on improving flow, while Mark wants to reduce waste. We start by looking at aggregating and analyzing patterns from portfolio members. Discussing moving from PMO to VMO is a prelude to exploring the lean evolution of portfolio events and governance.

We cover:

• (00:00) Intro

Cast:

Eric Willeke

Mark Richards

Book References:

Lean Product and Process Development – Allen Ward

From PMO to VMO – Augustine

"In most cases, the portfolio itself is under a fog of war. You can't actually see what's going on unless you take your telescope and really zoom in on an area" - Eric Willeke

This episode concludes the initial six-part arc laying the foundations of lean portfolio management. The first five episodes were devoted to building a clear picture of your portfolio ecosystem. Picture in hand, we explore the insights it might yield and the ensuing interventions they should trigger. The conversation dwells primarily on strategic insights, exploring the concept of 'acting this fiscal year' with operational interventions and preparing to activate strategic interventions next fiscal year.

In this episode, we cover:

• (00:40) Episode Intro

Cast:

Eric Willeke

Mark Richards

"It's common for people to say they have a platform strategy that doesn't necessarily resemble a platform strategy so much as a center of dependency hell" - Mark Richards

In Episode 3, we explored the influence of Moore's Zone to Win model on understanding the portfolio ecosystem. Episode 4 explored the role of purpose, context, and structure in modeling the ecosystem you have and starting to look at it through Lean eyes. In this episode, we combine these ideas with the portfolio examples defined in the SAFe Portfolio article Eric contributed to last year. This sets the stage for exploring leveraging the examples to make sense of the portfolio ecosystem you have today and begin to think about the one you'd like to have tomorrow.

In this episode, we cover:

• (00:39) Episode Intro

Cast:

Eric Willeke

Mark Richards

Book References:

• Zone to Win – Geoffrey Moore

Other References:

• SAFe Portfolio Article