The Alphen methodology for the Organization of the Future

The request

Work on developing the Alphen methodology was competed in late 2018, and a number of team leaders and subject-matter experts have since been trained in it. The Alphen methodology is a result-orientated way of working towards shared goals. It allows measurements and incremental management improvements over short cycles. The philosophy behind the methodology is a combination of Lean, Agile, and Scrum.

In late 2020, the municipality was ready for the next phase, in which the Alphen methodology would be further implemented in the organization. A public procurement was launched to develop a training programme, with the aim of training both team leaders and subject-matter experts in the way of working, so that they would be able to translate shared goals, manage them in short cycles through daily or weekly huddles (cockpits, among others), and conduct a performance dialogue. After completing the training programme, participants must also be able to measure performance over short cycles, and use this to implement incremental improvements.

‘We’d like the training programme to respond to what’s required in practice, and not blindly roll out what was devised 18 months ago. Morgens is a great partner in this respect. Although we’re flexible as a core team, we never lose sight of the ultimate goal.’

Sonja van Heijningen, Team Leader HR Business Operations and Process Optimization & Connecting Implementer of Organizational Development at the municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn.

The approach

Morgens started in March 2021. We soon put together a core team, with Sonja van Heijningen as client, Leonie Wassenburg as subject-matter expert, and Jeske Gunterman and Dennis Went as programme leaders from Morgens. In September, Rick Driesen was added as the second subject-matter expert. Our shared starting point: to avoid blindly rolling out what was devised 18 months ago, but respond to what’s needed in practice. This was also necessary, because in the meantime there had been an organizational change which had led to a new management team being set up.

The training programme consists of a number of modules:

• Outcome-led management, and the implementation of incremental improvements over short cycles by means of cockpits. Here, team leaders and subject-matter experts learn and immediately get to work on formulating their team goals and setting up a steering instrument: the cockpit. These are comparable to the daily and weekly huddles.
• Continuous Improvement: a module in which team leaders and subject-matter experts learn to improve in a structured way through the DMAIC cycle, look at their work differently, and as a result work on a culture of continuous improvement.
  Leadership module: a module especially for team leaders.
• Continuous Improvement, the deepening: a module that goes deeper into continuous improvement. After following these modules, participants can supervise Kaizen events that transcend individual teams.
  The framework of the training programme arose from the public procurement and our Morgens/Lean approach. This was refined on the basis of the Alphen methodology and previous experience. We then started with the first two groups.
• Continuous improvement is also central to our own approach: we evaluated each training session with participants after it was completed, then incorporated the lessons learned into the following training sessions. We also jointly examined what else was needed in the organization to shape the change.

The training programme involves both attending the training sessions and coaching to put the methodology into practice. Each participant incorporated their own case, so that it was appropriate for their own development and the needs of the team.

We recently started involving the Executive Team in the development. Together with a subject-matter expert from the municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn, Morgens is arranging a pathway for the executive team, in which they will experience the Alphen Methodology and set up their own concern cockpit for management at the highest level.

The result

The transition to result-orientated management and iterative improvements over short cycles is already visible in the organization, but at the moment it’s still in its infancy, as working methods don’t change from one day to the next. Participants in the first groups are working on starting up new cockpits or improving existing ones. Following the training programme helped them in this respect.

Teams that initially showed some resistance indicate that working according to the Alphen methodology helps them develop an overview and insight into their work, and that consultations are much more efficient. This insight helps them to reflect on the reasons behind certain outcomes and, ultimately, drive continuous improvement.

We’re proud of the cooperation between Alphen aan den Rijn and Morgens. The way we work together closely enables us to collectively introduce the right elements into the organization. And despite the fact that we’ve only ever met each other once physically and in many cases not at all, there’s an impressive level of mutual trust and we work together as a real team. This shows how much can be done digitally, as long as both sides are willing to make the effort.