Minnesota Agile Community

Have you wondered, what can we do to thrive in this world of competing priorities, sustainability challenges, climate crisis, layoffs, financial instability, and more? Or how can we help our teams and corporations during these critical yet extraordinary times?

Newsflash: Agility is well-suited for this complex world of wicked problems. Lyssa Adkins says, “Agility was made for the planetary challenges we are facing today.” (But you probably know this already).

So, you might be thinking, where do we start?

Great Question, In this workshop Joanne will:

1. Share the great stories of what Agilists are doing, including what Joanne is currently doing.
2. Explore resiliency, thriving, and how nature's lessons can help us (as well as laughter), and
3. Provide steps to make an impact.

Read more about Joanne's journey with agility and wicked global problems....

Joanne has also been puzzled by these questions and began searching for the answers more than three years ago! She has interviewed more than 30 Agilists worldwide and asked them how they are using agility to make an impact on planetary challenges. As a keynote panelist, Joanne shared what she has learned and her current views on the relationship between Agile and Planetary Challenges. What she discovered is that there is a common theme across all these Agilists. Regardless of where they are in the world or the magnitude of the wicked problems they are working on, the key is to start with where you are at; take small steps; collaborate with others; and persevere.

Starting with where you are, stems from our internal passions. For example, working in the Middle East to reduce marginalization, helping introduce sustainability into companies, choosing planet over profit, helping with rural governments, working with under-resourced high school students applying to college, and so many more. However, starting can be a challenge for some. You may or may not know what your passion is. You may not have the time to do this. There may be many other reasons why folks do not start. Yet, I assume everyone somehow wants to make a difference (small or big). For some, it is about connecting to others with a common purpose, others need to have this to exist as part of what they do at work, and for others, it might be as simple as having the money and time. There are also others, who seamlessly go-go-go. I wish that were me, and yet others perceive me as a “go-go-go” person. What I see is folks who can persevere.

How do you become resilient and thrive at doing this work? Resiliency and persistence are required to work on wicked problems, as they can last for years, decades, and lifetimes. Heck, imagine if you were building Stonehenge, the Pyramids, or the Barcelona Cathedral. Most of the people who worked on these great structures never got to see them finished, and yet they persevered to get them to the finish line.

We are the generation who is here, at this moment, to make a difference in climate and planetary challenges. If not us, who else?

You may be worried you cannot bring this to your work, but the good news is that more corporations and companies are starting to engage in these planetary challenges with initiatives such as net zero or ESG. The good news is that Agilists are starting companies to help with ESG. If you research companies working on ESG and sustainability, agility is mentioned repeatedly. This is a fantastic opportunity for all of us to be involved.

The time is now, so join us in October to learn about the exceptional stories of what Agilists are doing all over the globe, including what Joanne is doing. Explore resiliency, thriving, and how nature's lessons can help us (as well as laughter), and learn about the steps you can use to make an impact.