• Agile Coach

Adrie Dolman on empirical data, the pull effect and true leadership

In the 1990s, Adrie was busy with a number of start-ups in database marketing. When he talks about that period – which he also sees as the beginning of his love for empirical data – you see a twinkle in the Veluwe native’s eyes. “We used this data then to develop propositions and communications with target groups. And the learning loop Inspect & Adapt was already my way of learning and improving back then,” Adrie reveals, the man who is thus among the early adopters of Agile working in the Netherlands.

Adrie was not the first. For before the early adopters are the innovators. And coincidentally, a few years later, Adrie met one such innovator in the personification of Cesario Ramos. A collaboration develops, which Adrie looks back on with pride: “Together we brought the Innovation Games to the Netherlands. Those games were used by Agile innovation teams to generate their first data and start learning loops.” A successful collaboration. Until one day the phone rings: FBTO. Whether Adrie wanted to reorganize the marketing department into a digital marketing department. “Instead of writing a reorganization plan, I did this entirely in self-organization with the people who worked in that department,” Adrie explains. Therefore, the reorganization is going much faster than they are used to there. This leads to both surprise and satisfaction throughout the Achmea organization, of which FBTO is a part. The follow-up job at sister company Centraal Beheer is therefore already ready.

“Empirical data always wins over any opinion, which is what makes Agile working so strong and valuable.”

To push or to pull

Adrie, who has been training for more than 30 years, is still passionate about organizational issues. In his career, therefore, he has not taken the least organizations under his wing. A few names: ABN AMRO, Interpolis, ING, Delta Lloyd, Naturalis, FrieslandCampina and Municipality of Amsterdam. “I look at an organization as a holistic system and that’s also how I peel it off with management. That gives a lot of insight that they can work with to grow the company in self-organization to the next level,” says Dolman.

Adrie has also been tackling these types of organizational issues with Scrum Academy and its experienced trainers for many years. Why Scrum Academy and Adrie Dolman are such a good match: “With most parties offering organizational development, I see a revenue model with the customer as the means, that’s right in my allergy.” Adrie sees it working the other way around at Scrum Academy. He wants to be valuable to clients, because then there is a pull effect in the market and you are no longer comparable to competitors.

“When you surprisingly deliver more value than what you cost, you end up earning yourself a better living.”

Leadership à la Adrie

A subject Adrie could devote hours to. Especially about how his vision of leadership has changed over the years. The critical thinking anno 2023? “Many leaders are still stuck in the old paradigm and think they should know everything and start leading others. But you are primarily a leader if someone really wants to follow you without dependence. If people follow you because they have to follow you, but intrinsically don’t want to, then you only have a future as a foreman in a factory. Leaders today manage the system, not the people.”

That may sound a bit pompous, or high-minded to say the least, which suits the incisive Dolman. But when he talks about what he finds important to give participants in training besides Agile working, he does not hesitate to share a human life lesson: “Stay yourself, stick to your meaning and make sure you are valuable. Then you will have a beautiful life!”