The talk is built around my evolution as a leader, especially in my last role as the head of one of Erste Bank’s George Clusters. I took over in 2021, during the pandemic, a Cluster composed of 5 teams and approximately 55 people that grew by beginning of 2023 to 8 teams and around 90 people.

George is built on the agile mindset. But like in many other companies, the degree in which the agile mindset is lived differs from person to person, from area to area. When I took over my Cluster, the teams had a big bias towards their leader, as the old one was more focused on command and control. I had to lead them through a journey of reimagined leadership, where I focused on empowering the teams and the individuals and stepped back to a mentor/ facilitator role. In this part, I will also talk about my personal journey as a leader, with all the challenges that I need to overcome both related to my own mindset and to the perception of the teams towards my role.

Learning objectives:

• How to transform (reimagine) yourself as a leader and instil a healthy mindset to your people
• How to co-create (rethink) a new set-up together with your teams
• How to keep the agile mindset alive and constantly inspect and adapt (revitalise) the organization

I will not talk theory. My aim of this presentation is to share my actual experience with what worked and what did not work. Where we failed and how we moved ahead. I want to be as practical about it as possible and to give the space to the audience to reflect, ask their questions and take perhaps some good ideas home that they can later implement