FLEAT by Haufe: Creating the work of the future

This year is flying by and we’re gladly going through the Book Sprints we’ve produced so far in 2019. As we recently facilitated a Book Sprint with IUBH University on New Work in the south of Germany, we remember one very interesting and challenging Book Sprint that happened this year on a related topic, also in Germany. It produced the book FLEAT with Haufe, on the topic of agility and innovation in the corporate world.

We had done a Book Sprint with Haufe in 2018, and we were happy to be contacted again by organizer Michael Bursik for another book in April. The pipeline timeframe for this project, however, was the shortest we’ve ever had! One week to agree, contract and be onsite to start facilitating this book with the authors. Not only that, during the same week we had other 2 facilitators working in California with Cisco, and we were also finishing a report for another client, Hivos. Book Sprint facilitator, Barbara Rühling said about the experience:

Our team has never been this busy before, but managed to put everything together and we made it happen. One Monday I received the call from Haufe and on the next Monday I was in Freiburg facilitating this Book Sprint. The authors were more than ready to jump into the cold water and were fun to work with.

 

Photo credits / Barbara Rühling

The idea for this Book Sprint started when a small team within Haufe generated a new concept to make companies incorporate the agility of startups within the corporate logic. During the Book Sprint they got a better understanding of such concepts and terms, and refined their general model. The book was written to present this model to companies interested in change, concerned about transforming their work frames and adapting to new times and new challenges.

Photo credits / Barbara Rühling

Haufe has an amazing marketing team who worked on the design of the book (more information and how to get the book here and here). The title of a book, however, can take more time to come up than the book itself. Having that in mind, we decided to implement different methods and dynamics on day 1, and by day 3 this issue was solved, with a minimum of time invested. The German name chosen by the authors, “FLEAT – Vom Unternehmen zur agilen Flotte”, refers to a compilation of methods and findings that came together over decades of experience in the field of transformation management.

Among the team of authors was renowned entrepreneur and founder Hermann Arnold, author of “Wir sind Chef – Wie eine unsichtbare Revolution Unternehmen verändert” (“We’re the Boss – How an Invisible Revolution Is Changing Companies”). Arnold’s participation surely reinforced the group and brought valuable contribution to the content of the book.

Hermann Arnold on the right. Photo credits / Barbara Rühling

This Book Sprint project has proven to us some things we already knew: that we work with a highly reliable team onsite and remotely; that our clients are extremely engaged and stimulating, and that it’s never too late to decide on your Book Sprint.