An agile enterprise success

An agile enterprise success in the Vietnam online training industry.

This must be one of the fastest organisational improvements in Vietnam. Mostly over a period of just three months, with the guidance of Teal Unicorn’s Dr. Cherry Vu*, Amber Online Education (previously Amber Academy) have advanced in a series of incremental steps:

• From a conventional business with a bulky management structure to a flat one, managed and paid according to skills, not roles (using the Agile version of the Shu-Ha-Ri model).
• From command-and-control leadership to servant leader: get out of the way, let the workers plan the work and decide how to do it, support with resources, and facilitate the teams to do the best they can.
• From giving top-down orders to making open decisions: everyone owns the problem, finds the solution, and solves it.
• From formal offices to a warm creative collaborative space
• From siloes to operating in agile teams: each team has enough people with all the skills to be able to do the job from start to finish, not handing over and waiting for approval. People flow into work instead of doing it by function.
• To open workflow and system-wide transparent information flow: Everyone knows what’s going on, what they have to do, what value they produce for the organisation, and for the team. Wherever someone is in the world, if they want to know where each project is going, what each team in the company is doing, even what each person is doing, and the progress of the team’s work, they can see it on a single “obeya wall” on Miro.
• To a culture that continuously improves: every day the teams stand for fifteen minutes to exchange information and improve. “How can we be better?” is the question answered every day. Each week, there is an improvement session to discuss:
  1. What are you doing well?
  2. What needs to be improved? How to improve?
  3. What are we doing next?
  4. Who needs to learn more or improve their skills? Who are the coaches?
• To 100% of personnel as direct value creators including the CEO – producing products, marketing, making sales. Everyone is cross-skilled, able to handle multiple tasks.
• To pay according to skills not title or seniority, and pay according to organisational results not individual productivity.  It encourages staff to collaborate not compete, and to improve not wait to get seniority.
• To total transparency of workflow, decision making, and finance. Everybody knows how much money is made and how much people are paid.

In this short time, Amber Academy has drastically changed not only in its operating model, but also the products – training courses – they provide:

• From providing training courses for the mass market to co-creating with customers according to their own needs.
• From traditional content to teaching about agile thinking and these new ways of working and managing.
• From hour-long courses to small modules in the form of creative, attractive mini-game learning. Learners no longer passively sit and watch theory videos for hours, but do interactive activities to better understand the theory. After each 15 minute training unit, students can learn an agile working method (for example kanban, lean coffee, standing up meeting… ) and can apply it to work.

One of Team Teal, Hang Huynh, brought them experience and expertise in  better ways of working to support them through these changes.

Of course it hasn’t been smooth sailing. At Teal Unicorn, we jokingly refer to “England’s Law”: it takes at least three iterations to get any new way to function as well as the old. In other words, the J-Curve. This caused frustration amongst staff as they struggled through a series of changes. They learned a lot, but they also lost some staff. As it turned out, productivity increased enough that work continued with the reduced staff. Teal Unicorn also contributed a consulting COO, Hoa Dao, to help settle things down after all the change, and to help it continue. The CEO, Dr. The-Anh Nguyen, initiated the process, backed it all the way, and is now a good friend of ours and the patron of the company on its ongoing journey.

It took a little time to adjust to Shu-Ha-Ri skills assessment, and transparently pay accordingly. Most people got paid more, but a couple got less, and – encouragingly – others spoke up for them. Staff were quickly reassured, and they adjusted to an honest open financial system.

There’s a lot to be said about this super-agile business. All of the above was achieved because they have:

• A leader who understands and desires to build a Teal organisation, a place of unification of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.
• An executive who can achieve the above.
• Enthusiastic staff – about 40 – who know what they want, and believe in the path they are advancing on. “This is the right way to do it, we never want to go back to the old way.”

Confirming just how successful and advanced Amber are, they were featured by the Corporates Rebels after CR visited our clients in Vietnam.

From the CEO, Dr. The-Anh Nguyen

Meeting Teal Unicorn’s Dr. Cherry Vu and Rob England opened up a whole new perspective for me on operating a business. The new ways of working help me break free from the “busy trap” and recall what motivated me to embark on my business journey.

Are Freedom, Happiness and Prosperity the reasons why you started your business? If so, don’t be afraid to adapt to new ways of working. There are things you need to give up, such as absolute power, but at the same time, your business will become a living organism in which all members are happy because of being motivated to be authentic. 

With the guidance of Teal Unicorn, in just a blink of an eye, we have become better versions of ourselves, happy with all the progress we make and value we create each day.

Our journey has only just begun, and we remain steadfast in the new ways of working because we know this is the right path to take to survive and thrive in a VUCA world.

From the COO, Hoa Dao, in 2022

Believing that effective personnel training makes a more sustainable and happier society, Amber Academy builds a new kind of work and management environment in which every member is a boss and has great happiness working in customer service. We seek prosperity by bringing delight to our customers: always striving to deliver the highest value to them, accompany and meet their constantly changing needs with our expertise 

We are a completely flat business, with no management, no rank and completely self-organised. This helps us go further together, contributing more positive benefits to our clients.

In November 2022, one of the Amber team, Maria Nhật Tân, shared on the Facebook Agile Managers Club group:

I have been a submarine in the [Agile Manager Facebook] group for a long time, now I would like to share about a business that I consider successful in applying the Open Management model, agile management thinking.

At the end of February 2020, I participated in the agile manager class from Cherry. Before that, I read the agile manager’s book.

After graduation, the knowledge was only applicable to my family. So I ask Cherry to help me connect with some businesses so that I could practise this knowledge in the practical work at the company.

And I was connected with Amber Online Education. From July 2020 I started working with Amber as a sales partner. At that time I just thought of introducing customers to the company to earn commission and practise some Agile Management. But unexpectedly, the more I immersed into work with Amber, the more I practised the theories I had read in the book, and the knowledge that Cherry taught.

I would like to share the results Amber has achieved so far: 

1. Talking about the people:

– Can you believe any one of Amber’s staff can produce (ideas, content, design, experience journey design… ), go to consult customers, sign contracts with customers, and collect money? And now over 50% of Amber’s staff can do it: responsible for an entire flow for a client or a project. Actually, it’s more than 50%, but there are people at Ha level, there are people at Ri level [we introduced the Shu-Ha-Ri model], so for now I take the 50%.

– Not only can they do the flow, but also multitasking. Today I see you working on a task for corporate client file, tomorrow I see you working for children, the next day I see you doing events for schools. Sometimes two tasks don’t make much difference. But you guys get in quick and get the job done

– In the past one month, we organised 3 workshops, established and launched 1 community, 3 livetalks, 2 intensive practice project sessions and several other activities.

2. Speaking of the system:

Saying Amber has a 100% open system might not be wrong:

– Standup-meeting every day, information is always updated in a timely manner and through the “committees” (must be in double brackets because in Amber there are no committees, only project teams, product teams). Plus on the Kanban display, where it should be turned off is visible. Of course there are problems that can be solved immediately and  there are problems that persist, but not for long. Because everyone sees it there, if one person doesn’t speak up the other speaks up, and if no one speaks up the business owner speaks up if it’s indispensable. Because it’s too obvious and not emotional.

– Every week, I assign a person in charge of updating the account, making cash flow report, report and analysis. Although they are not specialised in financial accounting, but the information that needs to be known, needs to be mentioned, needs to be analysed, they can do it all. And the information is published openly in the internal group of the whole company. So everyone knows the health of the enterprise.

3. Speaking about the customer:

– There are customers who have texted “if Amber doesn’t take this project then we have to hire another unit from India”. There are customers returning multiple times, even when this time the price is much higher than last time. There are clients who have worked together to build an E-learning community.

4. Talk about an improvement:

Of course to have “top” people, a transparent system, a streamlined flow, a loyal customer file coming back and forth on a regular basis, improvement can’t be overlooked. We have the Amber phase that improves every day. Every day there’s a 15 minute improvement session. Things Amber has improved:

– How to display work has been improved to the nth degree. And every day, people and their metrics are harmonised more and more smoothly.

– Eliminate team isolation to work together. Who knows how many times Amber has reset the teams. That’s why everyone is no longer surprised when tomorrow they move to a new team. That’s why everyone’s adaptation ability is extremely high.

– Improve how to improve. There are days when the talk of improvement doesn’t see it as improvement, but a bunch of problems. So let’s find out how improvement is actually effective.

– The biggest improvement and change probably needs to refer to the business owner. The balance between numbers and people. Between the organisation being orange and teal [using Laloux’s colour model]. Stressful and very stressful at times. Sometimes I feel helpless because if it’s too tense it’s not good, but if it’s so democratic it’s good? But then doing  it 1001 ways is also aimed at being a teal organisation – an organisation where people find their passion in work and grow every day. Persisting with your choice, that’s how you get people like now, a system like now, and customers like now. And it keeps growing and growing.

And I, of course, have grown a lot more since entering Amber, and more importantly have practised working smarter. What worked so well in the past is no longer effective now. I feel like I’ve always had a way of thinking while the world has changed so much. Before collaborating with Amber, I didn’t know where to start with the changes. Because so many things need to change, need to be faster, need to work harder… while my strength is limited.

But Amber showed me there are more ways to work smarter: let’s start with small actions, make changes today, and make continuous improvements. Then the result is as you have read above.

Here is more on the methods Amber have been using:

• In theory, you can refer:https://amber.edu.vn/smartworkingkit/
• For practice, you can join the Facebook community  Cộng đồng Thực hành Linh hoạt https://www.facebook.com/groups/3247170678937793/?ref=share

Permission to share with everyone. And looking forward to connecting with all brothers and sisters who are practising “Agile Management”.

From a long-time employee – Liên – in December 2022

Working at Amber since the beginning of 2019, I have had more than 3 years of working with and accompanying the team of brothers. The working environment is very different from other companies that I have worked or known of. My feelings when coming to the company were usually positive, happy and excited, of course sometimes I also had pressure and fatigue when running continuous deadlines of different projects, but overall, I still love and cherish this environment and work hard day in and day out.

THE CHANGE IS HUGE
Amber is a business that does not follow the direction of maintaining stability and stereotypes, we are always encouraged by Mr. The Anh towards new ideas and improving the way of working. Especially in 2022, we had a huge change – restructured the organization and operated the company in a different way. We call it open management and agile thinking. This change is a big challenge for me and other colleagues, but also an opportunity for us to build a happier work environment, run more smoothly and achieve better results.

PROUD RESULTS
What I find the most amazing is that everyone is more proactive in their work and ready to support each other, not afraid to take on new tasks for the common result. Results don’t come immediately, but I recognize small acts of common good from the people I work with every day. For example, in the first meeting of the day, an emerging job comes up and someone will volunteer to receive it; or when there is a problem in the project, they do not wait for the product owner to step up and handle it. in the past, everyone would wait for the PM if a project raises a problem and solves it or directs it, now anyone on the project team will candidly raise and take responsibility for solving. I was also very happy to have my colleagues send me a thank-you note at the first meeting of the day [a regular practice] when I actively supported the joint work the day before.

STILL MANY CHALLENGES TO SUCCESS
Besides the results that I find positive, there are still many areas that we need to improve. We often still do not bring a good experience to our customers and are not committed to our goals. We need to be more straightforward and communicate better, and work smarter to get the job done.

TAKEAWAYS
Going through the ups and downs of the past year, I’m grateful that my colleagues and I have been so persistent and confident in what we’re doing. I’m also proud of myself for working together as a team to do what’s best for everyone and for my customers. Hopefully 2023 we will have more improvements and many achievements to be proud of.

And from a new employee at the same time:

1. How do you describe working at Amber in one sentence?
One sentence that I often joke with people inside and outside of Amber is that when working at Amber I feel “too fast, too dangerous”. Just taking a day off creates too much information to update. And even my associates have sometimes volunteered to move to another group to accommodate the change of work.
The figures show that it is too fast: In 2 days, R&D and packaging completed three new products and brought them to market. In a month we can organize 5 online events such as workshops ad webinars… And many other business metrics.
And it will be dangerous if each individual cannot adapt to the dizzying change, it will be difficult to survive in Amber. We change not because we have no direction, but because the requirements of the market change. For example, one of our digitization services has been discontinued and we have decided not to market it. So the production team had to disband and flow into other activities. But when the market signal shows that customers are willing to buy this service at a higher level and are willing to pay more for better quality? Very good. So in just a few days the digital production team is back.

2. What is the best thing about working here?
There is a chance to try new things. It is not easy for an organization to constantly let everyone experiment with new ways of doing things, new products, new ideas. I’m not working for a company, I’m building a career for myself. This is the best thing about working at Amber

3. What do you find difficult?
I read Cherry’s book, took Cherry’s class before entering Amber. And when I joined Amber, I also continued to study Cherry’s programs. And like many other members of the company, we aspire to a “teal” organization – where each person is free to be himself, to do what he is passionate about, to be dedicated and to enjoy the results of his work, happiness and prosperity. But, no road is strewn with roses and the process of “tealization” is no exception. So, after a while, those who see their certain growth and the strong transformation of the company are very enthusiastic, work very well and will be even better even if the “teal” is still far away. Others feel that everyone is going so fast, the company is going too fast, they don’t see any teal, but they just feel too pressured because they have to change, change the way they do things and the way they think. And they felt they weren’t suitable…so we broke up again.
Perhaps this is the most difficult thing, which is the uneven development, leading to a clear gap between thinking and skills.

4. What is most different from your last job?
At my old job, I felt like I hadn’t fully lived a single day. I always go and work in a circle, looking back and forth is also the way I have done it. And I think that I don’t work enough, don’t have enough patience… so I just “plowed” day after day. I forgot why I started it. Going home every day tired and always just working and working.
At Amber, every day is a full day. First, we have sessions. Each session has outputs, so that day’s work is done for that day. There are days when it is not completed but we know what work, which task has taken a lot of time for me and the whole team. Secondly, everyone respects each other’s working time, so they are not called for unscheduled meetings. Third, it is okay to suggest any idea, but when choosing to do it, it may turn out it is not a great choice. We asked each other a lot of silly questions, but there were no answers. And we also have many methods and criteria to analyze that idea. We therefore know that there are many possible scenarios and which one is not guaranteed. Just agree to do it a certain way.
And after a while working at Amber, my way of thinking changed not only in work, but that mindset applied to everything in life.

5. What surprised you about Amber?
Why do people “dare” to take the initiative? This is what really surprised me. I’m the one taking the initiative, but in most of the companies I’ve worked for, people push each other’s responsibilities and tasks. In Amber, everyone is always proactive. Even if someone has free time, they actively speak up so that other teams can send them to do the work. It’s not silence to “hide”.

6. Do you feel you can contribute to changes? Do you feel included?
Amber is exactly where I belong at the moment. I live and work as the same person. That makes me feel very clearly the following benefits:
About health: I have enough time to eat well and get a good night’s sleep.
Mentally: because there are too many “flows” to be opened and stimulated in one day, the spirit is also better. Of course, there are happy days, sad days, tired days, and stressful days, but because of mental health, all of these are recognized and have enough insight to solve.
About thinking, or rather “enlightenment”:  Knowledge learned requires a lot of practice to turn it into thinking. So working at Amber helps my knowledge quickly turn into thinking and instinct in people. And from that foundation, with the opening and coaching from Mr. The Anh, I opened up new thoughts again and continued like that.
And it is also these things that give me the motivation to inspire new people about a new way of thinking, a new way of working.

7. What do you tell your friends about your job?
If you really want to change, want to find new ways of working to adapt to the changes of the VUCA era, come to Amber. Amber is not a place that can teach you everything but an environment, a condition, a foundation for you to develop yourself and your career.

From an ex-manager – Pham Lam Tung – Partners Development Director

1. How do you describe the changes at Amber in one sentence?
From a company with a cumbersome management model, we have transformed into an agile company where every member really feels like a part of the organization and has the right to decide on all issues.

2. What is the best outcome?
All information is displayed transparently, so that employees can actively participate in the jobs and projects that are right for them, without the need for anyone to assign work.

3. What challenges still have to be worked on?
Shu Ha Ri’s skill matrix has not been fully and timely updated (because in the last year our products changed really fast, so the skill requirements of personnel also changed to meet the ).
Sales and communication activities after 1 year of spending a lot of time on improving the system should be promoted again.
The fluctuations and instability of the wider market.

4. What was the effect of not having managers?
Information and work flow faster, not congested in some individuals.
Employees are more excited and proactive, feel their voice and role in the organization.
The managers of the past now act more as guides and advisors, through which they help many employees develop quickly, and create conditions for employees to accomplish goals.

5. What surprised you about the changes?
Although spending more than half a year on system transformation and the staff is reduced to about ¼, the business results of the whole year are still similar to the previous year with the number of employees 4 times higher than now.

6. How has your life changed at work and at home?
I don’t spend too much time on meetings and reports as before, overload and overtime are also significantly reduced. Thanks to that, I have more time to spend with my family and develop myself. I also apply Open Management thinking in my life, tools like Kanban, Review, Retro… can be applied to my daily life and it helps me to manage myself better.

7. How have you contributed to the changes? Do you feel involved?
Participating in the construction of Obeya, Shu Ha Ri, Kanban of the sales department
Participate in new product hackathons, apply Agile thinking to stay connected with customers throughout the journey of building, perfecting and selling products.
Training and Coaching for other members during the transition.
Directly participating in Agile Teams and completing projects together, in the process, I and my teammates continuously improve through Review, Retro, Planning activities…

8. What will you tell a friend who is a manager in another company?
I will invite her to visit and work for a day at Amber, I believe there is no word more authentic and effective than coming to experience it in person – the same way I go to gemba projects in person every day.

From the CEO, Dr. The-Anh Nguyen

Why did you decided to apply Open Management thinking to the company?

• We wanted everyone to have the mindset of mastery. Many people with the mindset of mastery will create something great together.
• We wanted everyone to have more fun at work. First of all, I am happier when I go to work because the burden is now shared by everyone, I also have less work. And everyone is happier because they can do what they like, live well, and follow their passion.
• We wanted to have a company that treats each other like a family. When we have work, we fight, do our best, sometimes we play together, we do sports together. I don’t like people going to work only to do the hours to finish the job.
• We wanted to have a set of thinking, knowledge, skills, and model for everyone to apply. Before that, I also empowered people, also went far to let people self-govern, also experimented with many new things, also studied how to coach people. But somehow, my thinking and behavior didn’t match. I didn’t know what the integration model was yet. Not all thoughts and ideas were united into humanity and completeness. I knew we needed failure to succeed, but didn’t know what a small failure is, didn’t know what “doily” is [learnings from our simulation game Doily Studio]. I knew Kanban but didn’t know how to use Kanban to form Obeya. In the past, I also looked at many tools, but I did it without having methodical thinking. New ideas but still on the basis of old thinking, old knowledge, old system.

What have been the results?

From the time I started studying with Cherry, then converted it and applied it to the whole company, up to now 1.5 years later, the results and value obtained are:

• From 100 people down to 15 people, while the quantity and quality of work increased, not decreased.
• Create a lot of new products in a short time.
• Moving towards a truly masterful team. No one manages anyone, no one has to think for anyone.
• Reduced waste.
  • The whole company can see it. Waste from redundant people or people working inactively, working without creating value. Waste from repeated corrections. Now Amber has eliminated most of the waste. We only do what really works, what creates value. In the past, trying to do many projects was not effective. It is not that the projects themselves had no potential, but the skills hadn’t grown, we thought so many things had to be done. Now we know how to lean back to only do things that create real value.
  •  I could not see all the inadequacies. Although at that time, I could see that someone was free to sit and play, but whether this person was waiting for another, I couldn’t say. Now there is an Obeya. Obeya’s purpose is to open up the work so that not only the leader sees but everyone sees. I put everything on Obeya every day: who is free, how many hours are available, and what work is current. Everyone actively flows in to do it. Whatever is being piled up, I can see it. So one is to improve, the other is to cut it out.

What went wrong  or was a risk?

Many people left. On the surface, this seems to be a bad factor, but it is not necessarily a bad thing. Even in the old model, no matter how well I treated staff, some would leave every year. It’s not that they don’t like it, but it’s nothing new. And years before that, people did not consider work related to “learning design” as a profession. After graduating, they just apply to companies and then work. The difficulty is that we may be doing well, but an entire society, an adult generation with hierarchical, linear, and passive thinking… will still not be able to touch each other, there will still be people leaving.

How do you feel?

My feeling is always right and always good – feeling this path is right and good. There are times when I’m stressed and down a bit because I haven’t made a product, haven’t built a sustainable money-making business model. However, I have never felt disappointed or had negative thoughts about this path.

I am consistent with the right values, based on understanding. To be consistent, one must unite. I merge the knowledge in Cherry’s books, merge with my philosophical spirit, my worldview, and my feelings about everything. I agree between work and life. In my life following the direction of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance”, this Open Management path is no different from the life path I am taking.

There are times when I have not done well. There will be one or the other that is not okay, then deal with it. Some will follow, and some will not. I’m sad because somewhere they haven’t received all the good things that I want to give them. That’s just sad. But I do not fret or be negative, even though it costs a lot.

What about the future? What are you trying next?

I don’t know what the future holds. And if you ask “what is your North Star?” That is to live better every day – this is the only purpose I live for.

The crossover in work and daily life is for us to practice our “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” path. I believe that if my spiritual life and my roots are better, then material things will also come. What we do to make ourselves happy, if we live with passion, live honestly, be patient, we will achieve results together. And if we live better every day with Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, it’s not only good for us but also good for our parents and children.

When I can change myself and the people around me also change, it goes beyond the money factor. Whether the future succeeds or fails, let it be. Wherever the wind blows, I go there. At this point, I’m also a bit tired because I’m still looking for a way for the team to have expenses and money for everyone. Still struggling at daily tasks. But it’s not too heavy. Those things never bring me down.

Was it successful?

In short: I can’t say if it was successful or not yet. The purpose of applying Open Management, these ideas, models and skills is to make a sustainable business model where everyone has a good income and is happy, then that is the final result. I don’t commit to everyone what the results will be, but if I have faith, just do well what I have learned from Open Management and improve every day, the money results will come.

My company is at a turning point. But the most visible result is no more waste, and achieving a mindset for all to truly master. Walking the path across the room is lonely. But believe, with many people with the same passion, the same thinking and the same capacity improvement, there is no reason not to do something.

Find out more about Amber Academy at amber.edu.vn

* This article is intended for foreign readers, so I’ve used Western alphabet and name order: firstname-lastname.