THE AGILE ENGINEER

ALUMNUS IN FOCUS

“The world is constantly changing, so you have to be able to deal with change as an organisation and as an individual. This became very clear during the corona pandemic. Those who don’t change fast enough will disappear from the scene,” says Jef Cumps, co-founder of iLean and seasoned change facilitator and trainer. Agility and self-management are his tools to stay in the running.

Engineer, entrepreneur, coach, trainer, inspirational speaker, writer. Jef is, can and does it all. His career is a textbook example of the versatility of the master’s in Engineering Technology of KU Leuven.

Jef graduated in 2001 as Electronics-ICT engineer from the then University College Group T in Leuven. He immediately started working as an IT programmer at the software company Cronos, a classic starting job for an electronics engineer. During the six years he spent in this position, he attracted attention from large and small customers as an all-round professional who combined technical know-how with the ability to get the best out of people and teams. From programmer pur sang (hard skills), he evolved to management consultancy and then to coaching and training of professional competencies (soft skills). During this period, he immersed himself in NLP (Neurolinguistic programming), personal coaching, Agile, Lean and Sociocracy. In 2007, he co-founded iLean, a consultancy firm specialised in the combination of Agile and Sociocracy principles and techniques.

Jef Cumps

© Joren De Weerdt

High performing

What do Agile and Sociocracy stand for? Jef explains: “Agile focuses on how product development teams can work really efficiently and create added value for the customer. In essence it comes down to enabling small, self-organising teams to continuously deliver value and continuously improve. Sociocracy is all about governance and how to run an organisation based on equivalence, collective intelligence and continuous learning. It shows you how to pull self-determination to the organisational level, creating flexible structures and leveraging decentralized power”.

The trump card of iLean is the combination of bringing in powerful processes and focusing on effective collaboration. According to Jef, it is “the most powerful way to grow resilient and high-performing teams and organisations. That’s why I will always combine both views”.

Autonomy

iLean has around 20 employees, of whom a lot have an engineering or ICT background. However, they certainly do not work exclusively for electronics or high-tech companies. Their clients include governments, hospitals, and social profit organisations. “It doesn’t really matter what sector the customer is in”, says Jef. “We activate the self-management capacity of employees and teams with a view to creating maximum cooperation and satisfaction among stakeholders inside and outside the organisation”.

One of iLean’s satisfied customers is KU Leuven, more specifically the central IT department, an organisation with 300 employees. In just a few years, it has been transformed from a hierarchical structure to an agile organisation in which individuals and teams work together in different ways, depending on the task or context. “Using Sociocracy 3.0 we have encouraged collaboration between teams so that decisions can be taken where the most expertise is,” continues Jef. “We also introduced people coaches who operate across teams. When the department had to operate remotely from one day to the next during the lock-down last year, everything went smoothly. It was a test that agile and sociocracy work effectively even in difficult circumstances”.

Novella

Jef put his broad knowledge and rich experience to book in ‘ Sociocracy 3.0 - The Novel’, which was published in 2018. It tells the story of the company HRS that threatens to become a victim of its own success. Kris, the new CEO, is faced with the difficult task of getting the organisation afloat. Using Sociocracy 3.0 techniques, he manages to make the company successful again. “What presents itself as a novella is actually meant as a practical guide towards resilient, innovative and humane organisations”, says Jef. The book has received much acclaim from the public and the press, both at home and abroad. Urs Bolten, Managing Director of Blum International Consulting speaks of ‘an important contribution to try new leadership approaches’ and ‘a well-written, highly readable and easily understandable book’.

Drive and continuous learning Jef is currently one of the most experienced Sociocracy 3.0 coaches and trainers worldwide. His career path from a programmer of machines to people coach does not take away that Jef still feels like an engineer, but one with a vision and a mission. He has an eye for the person behind the technology and wants to make the world of work more human and more efficient. This drive makes him a role model for current and future engineers.

Next to a positive drive, a continuous learning attitude is essential to survive and thrive. That is why Jef very recently decided to leave iLean as a founder and manager. Since he wants to spend more time training and facilitating teams and organisations, he is leaving the governance and growth of the company in the hands of Kris Philippaerts, a fellow Group T alumnus and iLean’s co-founder. This way, Jef is enabling new growth opportunities for the company, as allowing himself to contribute more to the world of work.

Yves Persoons