There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction. To improve is to change; so to be perfect is to change often.
—Winston Churchill
By now, you’ll have seen that organizations increasingly have to deal with changing circumstances and, therefore, adaptability is necessary in order to survive. Also, you’ll have read that adaptability is not possible without the courage to experiment and fail. In this chapter, you can read how it can help in situations where winning is necessary.
5.1 A Turning Point in the History of the Modern World
As Winston Churchill, on May 10, 1940, took office as prime minister, the once mighty United Kingdom teeters on the edge of the abyss. After a dramatic First World War, its global empire is in decline and the treasury coffers are all but empty. British defences have been severely weakened; military equipment is outdated and organizational structures and strategies are unsuitable for modern warfare. At the same time, a very strong Nazi Germany is advancing decisively across both the European mainland and sea, leaving England completely isolated. Creative solutions are needed, and quickly.
Churchill realizes, immediately, that he has a huge challenge: “The Chiefs of Staff worked as a separate and almost independent body without direction or control by the Prime Minister [. . .]. Moreover, the leaders of the three armed forces had no shared view of the war as a whole. They were, unfortunately, far too influenced by the departmental vision of their individual armed forces.”1 Churchill directly introduces a new way of decision making, which is faster and more flexible: the defence committee. This meets daily and consists of the Deputy Prime Minister, the three Ministers of the Armed Forces, and the three Chiefs of Staff. This allows for a very fast process, where integrated planning is developed, executed, evaluated, and adjusted. In addition, Churchill personally directs a new department, Combined Operations, which coordinates cooperation between the navy, army, and air force at the operational level.
Churchill has no lack of ideas, work ethic, and inspiration (from, among others, Sun Tzu27 and Von Clausewitz28). He employs a whole squadron of secretaries, available 24 hours a day, to record and distribute his dictations and notes. He is in a hurry, and rightly so. He firmly believes that finding the key to the solution of the war crisis is, as much as is possible in practice, in trying out new ideas. That there will also be a lot of not-so-good ideas that lead to failures, he accepts as a calculated risk. If something does not work, the plan will be adjusted immediately or abandoned. For Churchill top speed is, literally and figuratively, vital. He becomes notorious for his memos adorned with red stickers that demand: “ACTION THIS DAY!”
For his new approach, Churchill surrounds himself with numerous top scientists, such as mathematicians, physicists, chemists, biologists, astronomers, and engineers. He instructs them to work closely together to achieve the technological breakthroughs he considers essential to winning the war. Soon, this special research department becomes known, unofficially, as Churchill’s Toyshop (the model for Department Q in the Bond novels of Ian Fleming). Along with many failures, the Toyshop delivers a raft of inventions that play an important role in the Allied victory, such as radar, tanks, amphibious landing craft, quick-build bridges, movable harbors, magnetic ship mines, time bombs, land mines, and portable antitank missiles.
Another creative group, consisting of economists, business administrators, and military strategists, are tasked with developing brand-new combat tactics. One such example is Special Forces: small fighting units, like paratroopers and commandos, who perform rapid interventions and are very maneuverable in the field. Or the Special Operations Executive, responsible for undercover operations. The creation of the Department of Economic Warfare is a powerful innovation. It weakens the enemy by economic sanctions and sabotage of the logistical supply lines for equipment, personnel, fuel, food, and currency.
In addition, Churchill sees the value of information and evaluation to continuously improve the British war effort. To this end, he founds a team with the somewhat strange name Central Statistical Office. Churchill wants complex problems described, as much as possible, in quantitative terms, to facilitate scenario analyses. Moreover, he does not trust the reports from the various defence units, and wants to gather all the statistical material within one common framework. On the other hand, he wants to outwit Germany and so he invests significantly in the British secret intelligence service. For example, he creates a secret team at Bletchley Park, with the aim of cracking German communications encryption which uses the Enigma code-machine. Under the leadership of Alan Turing and with much patience, the project is ultimately successful, and the Allies are able to translate all German communications without their knowledge. Not only does this shorten the war, but the machine-translation engine they develop later becomes the basis of what we now know as the computer.
In short, Churchill transforms the British defence into an organization that works intensively together, is agile and fast, and freely experiments with innovations while analyzing feedback data to continuously improve its approach. This way of working, and of course the alliance that includes the US and Canada, results in a powerful force, and, towards the end of 1944, Germany can no longer resist. This, undoubtedly, was a turning point in modern history.
As a result, Churchill can be considered as one of the first individuals in history to create an “agile” organization. And, therefore, we must forgive him for inventing the “siren suit,” the origin of the now infamous “onesie.”
Twenty years later, someone else was also very successful at creating an “agile” organization, albeit in a completely different context.
The person referred to above is Rinus Michels, to whom are attributed the famous words: “Football is war.” (Bill Shankly put this in perspective by stating: “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”) So, perhaps the step from war to sport is smaller than you think. You can investigate this idea further in the fields of football, baseball, and cycling.
Football
Rinus Michels is widely regarded as the person most responsible for the modern game by breaking with the classic English Kick and Rush tactics. Between 1965 and 1971, as coach of Ajax, he develops what comes to be known as “total football”. This entirely new style of play, starting in a 4-3-3 formation, requires players to be able to change position constantly and take over each other’s tasks as the game situation demands. Also, the players must always be available to receive the ball, in order to keep the passing-tempo high. It results in proactive tactics, aiming to win the ball in the opponent’s half by allowing the opponent no time on the ball. Moreover, possession is maintained as long as possible, then sudden fast attacks are carried out. Therefore, intensive communication is needed between the coach and his captain, and between the captain and the rest of the team, to ensure players change position appropriately as the play changes.
This requires that players have excellent technique, are versatile, very fit, and have a good understanding of the game. This is developed by regular training using common game situations and working on players’ flexibility, strength, speed, and endurance. There are now specialized coaches for every position. Michels also introduces competitive analysis. Before each game, he examines in detail the playing style of the opponents and then adjusts his tactics to negate and overcome them.
Ajax is extremely successful. Under Michels’s leadership, Ajax top the Dutch league four times, win the Dutch Cup three times, and twice reach the European Cup Final. In 1971, Michels leaves to manage FC Barcelona, where his approach, once again, brings success, winning the Spanish league and cup. In the World Cup year of 1974, Michels takes over the Dutch national team for four months, where he brings in total football. His approach takes the team, for the first time in history, to the World Cup Final. In 1986, he returns as national coach to begin qualification for the 1988 European Championships, which the Dutch team goes on to win. This was not a reason, even temporarily, for Michels to be less his sharp and observant self. After the Championships, during a celebratory boat ride through the Amsterdam canals, a football reporter says to him: “I see you got a new watch from the players. That must have been an emotional moment for you. “In his beautiful Amsterdam accent, Michels responds with: “They say it is new, so we’ll just assume it is.”
In 1988, after two very successful years as coach of Ajax, Johan Cruyff leaves for FC Barcelona. As Rinus Michels’s “adept,” he sees that the total football movement is slowly ebbing away and he decides to blow new life into it. In the following eight years, Barcelona win an impressive range of prizes: winning the national championship four times, the European Cup twice, the Super Cup four times, and the Spanish Cup once. Barcelona becomes the home and the “university” of total football, where, when Cruyff leaves, it is refined by Louis van Gaal, Frank Rijkaard, Pep Guardiola, and Luis Enrique into the world’s most successful football system: “tiki-taka.” The distinguishing factor of tiki-taka, besides superb technique of course, is speed of passing and movement.
Baseball
Around 2005, tiki-taka football takes on a new dimension; big clubs like FC Barcelona accelerate and increase their use of “intelligence.” Aided by video motion systems and statistical analyses, games, tactics, players, and training are assessed for effectiveness. In addition, research is applied to the effectiveness of nutrition, the balance between work and rest, and between strength and endurance. All this results from the momentum achieved by the success of the Oakland Athletics baseball team. They are the first sports team in the world to apply the principles of sabermetrics. Attributed to coach Bill James, the approach collects objective data about baseball matches and players by statistically analyzing match activity.
In 1997, when Billy Beane is appointed general manager of the Oakland Athletics, he finds a team with very few prospects. For many years, they have been playing in the lower regions of Major League Baseball (MLB), from which you cannot be relegated. The facilities are outdated, the plays are all of only moderate ability, and the budget is the second lowest of the 30 MLB teams. Beane finds, too, that he has inherited a scouting and technical staff who are using very old-fashioned principles. Beane immediately hires an econometrist, who uses publicly available match statistics and a mathematical algorithm to analyze which players, in which positions, are most effective to win a match. This allows him to let costly and ineffective players go, and transfer-in very effective players, with low transfer fees and low salaries compared with other teams.
This means that the team can compete with top teams like the New York Yankees, who have three times the budget. In 2000, for the first time—in a very long time—the Oakland Athletics get in the divisional playoffs, and do so for four consecutive years. In 2006, they even reach the finals, the national playoffs. In 2002, they were the first team in the history of MLB to win twenty consecutive games.
Soon almost all MLB teams have adopted this approach, forcing Beane to be creative and expand his approach to other success factors. In 2012, this gets the Oakland Athletics into the playoffs again, and, in 2013, they repeat their 2006 performance, still with one of the lowest budgets in the sport. This success story is so remarkable that it is enshrined in a book that becomes very influential in baseball, Money ball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis, published in 2003. In 2011, it is made into a film.
But it’s not just in baseball that something special happened; cycling also appears to be developing in a very interesting way.
Road Bicycle Racing
Which country do you think, in the last decade, has been the most successful in cycling? Most likely you’ll think of France, Belgium, or Spain. Or perhaps Germany, Italy, or the United States. However, it is none of these countries, even though all have made a huge impression on this sport in the past. The honor goes to a (then) dark horse in the sport: Britain. Let’s see how this happened.
It’s 2003. In the sports-mad UK, much of the population is frustrated, as the country still only plays a marginal role in many of the sports it invented, such as soccer, rugby, golf, cricket, tennis, hockey, and polo. British cycling could only hold fast to the Olympian concept that “The most important thing is not winning . . . but taking part”. In this sport, the country has never been taken seriously. For a Brit, cycling is simply not second nature. Whenever someone dares to create an ambitious plan to bring British cycling to a higher level, it is invariably dismissed as a joke.
Yet, in 2003, someone appears on the scene who does not have these preconceptions. He answers to the name of Dave Brailsford. In 1997, while working as a sales manager at a bicycle importer, he gets into the British Cycling Federation, initially in an advisory role. Because he has a clear vision to improve athletic performance, six years later, he is made the performance director. And from that moment on, a small miracle unfolds.
His approach is as simple as it is effective. Brailsford believes in a philosophy he calls Marginal Gains. This is not just an idea; it is based on a sound mathematical concept: exponential growth. He approaches the sport of cycling as a process. He assumes that if he can realize incremental improvements of as little as 1 percent, in individual processes, they’ll accumulate into a significant overall improvement. He needs the maximum number of opportunities for improvement, so he takes a holistic perspective. He not only looks at major factors such as diet, training, and equipment, but also secondary factors, which are overlooked by almost everyone else.
Here are just some of the “small” things he investigated:
- By analyzing the mechanics’ area in the team truck, he discovered that dust was accumulating on the floor, which undermines bike maintenance. So, he orders the floor painted stark white, so that any contaminants stand out immediately.
- He makes sure that the riders are informed about hygiene and makes them use antibacterial hand gel to reduce infection. He also runs tests with different massage gels to find the most effective formulation.
- Each rider tries different pillows to find which gives him the best night’s sleep. He uses the pillow at home, but it also travels with him to training camps and hotels.
- He researches the relationship between the intensity of cooldown and speed of recovery. One popular measure he takes is to make the team bus more comfortable, promoting faster recovery.
- During wind tunnel experiments, he notes that the race bikes are not as aerodynamic as they could be. Therefore, he oversees adjustments to the frame, wheels, pedals, and handlebars.
In short, he leaves nothing to chance and is looking always and everywhere for things to improve. He unravels all the processes down to their smallest components and searches for latent problems and incorrect assumptions. In addition, he sees faults and weaknesses not as a threat, but as an opportunity to make adjustments and to realize marginal gains. Because the changes are mostly small, usually they can be achieved quickly, bringing almost immediate results as a consequence.
Was any of this worth it? The results, under Brailsford’s leadership, speak for themselves. In 2004, Britain won two cycling gold medals at the Olympic Games, the best British performance since 1908. In 2008, 2012, and 2016, Britain dominates and wins the most cycling medals of all countries: 38 in total. Of these, 22 are gold, 36 percent of the possible gold medals. In that same period, British cyclists won 83 world championships. Based on his success, in 2010 Brailsford is asked to become manager of a newly established British professional cycling team, Team Sky. No British team has ever won the Tour de France and the aim is to achieve this within five years. It happens much faster than that. Led by Brailsford, first Bradley Wiggins and then Chris Froome take the yellow jersey in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, and in 2017. In 2009, Brailsford is honored for his contribution to British sport, receiving the CBE from Queen Elizabeth; in 2013 he was knighted.
The Winner of Tomorrow
Examples from warfare and sport show how agility can help you when winning is necessary. And so to ensure that your organization is the winner in tomorrow’s market. In the next chapter, you can read how agility-thinking has emerged, so you can better understand the procedures explained in the following chapters and their relevance to the agility of your organization.
In this chapter, you learned the following:
• Agility is a crucial success factor for those who want to win. Practical examples from warfare and professional sports (football, baseball, and cycling) confirm this.
• To make yours a winning organization, it could be useful to apply insight from warfare and professional sports.
Reference
1. Best G. (2014). Churchill. Media peat.