In this Talent Tales episode, talent.imperative Founder Nicole Dessain had the honor to interview Maike Kueper, an Agile Culture Development Coach at Dr. Oetker.
Maike’s superpower is curating evidence-based HR approaches which in her mind provide a better way of designing HR programs and processes rather than using a “we’ve always done it this way” approach. An example she shares is how there is research that supports the fact that if performance management only focuses on using extrinsic motivators it can discourage those employees who are mainly motivated intrinsically.
Maike has a humanities background which affords her with a unique point of view around culture and organizational development in her role as Agile coach.
Maike’s focus is on fostering a human-centered and agile mindset at Dr. Oetker rather than just following rigid methods. One way that manifests is in a relentless focus on defining the problem space well before jumping to solutions and iterating small experiments.
Maike also does not lead with the term “design thinking” or “scrum” when entering in a conversation with the business. It is all about identifying their problem and then picking from our toolbox behind the scenes the best set of methods that can help address the challenge.
Maike and the Culture Development team at Dr. Oetker identified eight design principles that are fundamental to how they work and engage with the organization.
A big part of where Maike and her team apply human-centered methods is in the context of team development and team effectiveness. The first step is to diagnose the challenges the team faces and then iterate around small solutions for how the team can become more effective or prioritize better, e.g. by using Kanban boards. Project success is measured based on a team self-evaluation before and after the project is launched.
A key to success in implementing the approach has been by co-creating the change with the users and subscribing to an opt-in model where the business first identifies a problem and then requests services from the Culture Development team.
Want to learn more about Maike’s “is it safe enough to try” hack? Watch the entire interview on YouTube or listen to the Podcast.