
Is cross-functional collaboration key for your organization to succeed?
If so, welcome to a unique leadership conference where we explore challenges and possibilities in cross-functional collaboration and more “agile” ways of organizing.
It has been said that its easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than to think yourself into a new way of acting – this year you don’t want to miss out when we put that simple rule to the test!
Instead of talking about cross-functional collaboration, organizational learning, uncertainty, fast changes and the need for more agile ways of organizing – let’s experience it, lead it, fail at it and succeed at it! Let’s observe it, interpret it and learn from it!
Join us in an intense and memorable learning experience where you will start a Cake Factory 2.0* and see what unfolds. Together with other managers, researchers, consultants we operate our factories and learn about cross-functional collaboration, managing uncertainty and fast changes, exploring – in the moment – what it means to be agile and adaptive.
Invited researchers, consultants and managers will later help us reflect on our joint experience and use it to deepen our understanding of ourselves and of similar situations we encounter in our regular organizational settings.
Get inspired by the different encounters, conversations, theory and practice sessions, by sharing experiences about searching and trying new more “agile” ways of organizing, leading and learning.
*Cake Factory 2.0 is an elaboration of the original Cake Factory, highlighting issues of cross-functional collaboration and agility.
This year’s theme
The call to LEARN TOGETHER- CHANGE TOGETHER is not a radical one.
It would be more extreme for an organization to proclaim: “NO LEARNING, NO CHANGE - all on our own!”
In the interconnected world of organizations today there are few isolated events, few isolated processes. There may however be feelings of isolation and pockets of fear. We seek control and stability where there is little to have and the uncertainty and the simple speed of things makes it harder (but more important) to learn and collaborate across functions. The disruptive force of the digitalization era and the acceleration of the modern world have both brought with it a heightened state of survival urgency, an existential crisis for entire industries. Obsolete in a heartbeat – if you are not learning, adapting fast enough you will quickly be irrelevant.
This leadership conference is an opportunity to explore challenges and possibilities in cross-functional collaboration and more “agile” ways of organizing. The pull to look for cure-all solutions or recipes to succeed with cross-function collaboration can be strong. Come share your experiences and your lessons learnt from successes and failures alike and let’s LISTEN TOGETHER. LEARN TOGETHER. CHANGE TOGETHER!
Why join
Join us if you are a manager, researcher or internal consultant working with leadership and organizational development looking to gain:
- A new network and learning community
- New inspiration from theory and practice
- An experiential learning experience –reflection and insights to bring into 2018!
Why not take “Learn together – change together!” to heart and bring a learning partner from home!
Who should join?
The invitation to LEARN TOGETHER- CHANGE TOGETHER is extended to all of you who in different ways are trying to get organizations and societies to take the next evolutionary leap into more agile ways of organizing work.
It’s an invitation to MANAGERS, which are dealing with this survival urgency in their everyday life, trying to manage and lead their people, business and themselves.
It’s an invitation to INTERNAL CONSULTANTS and to MiLCONSULTANTS moving between different organizations trying to support, challenge and facilitate change initiatives, new ways of organizing work.
It’s an invitation to RESEARCHERS studying organizations and leadership, wanting to provide relevant insight and knowledge to help understand what’s happening and predict and guide future actions.
Finally, it’s an invitation to INSTITUTIONS trying to support efforts to learn together and change together – let’s meet up in Malmö in January. Bring your fears and your questions; bring your knowledge and insights, just don’t forget your curiosity.
Don’t miss out on an intense and memorable learning experience – register now!
REGISTER

Price: 12 000 SEK, for members in MiL Foundation Forum 6 000 SEK. Price is excluding VAT.
Rules for cancellation: Cancellations before January 3, 2018 no charge. After that full price. Your ticket can be transferred to another participant from your company without cost, just let us know.
Register: Tone Lennesiö, tone.lennesio@milinstitute.se, +46 8 406 63 31
THE PROGRAM
Day one
08:30
REGISTRATION
09:00
WELCOME & CHECK-IN
– Lena Bergström and Johanna Steen
09:45
WHY EXPLORE THE CHALLENGES OF CROSS- FUNCTIONAL COLLABORATION & “AGILITY”- INTERVENTIONS?
– Magnus Larsson
11:15
BREAK
11:30
LISTEN TOGETHER. LEARN TOGETHER.
– Exploring current challenges in cross- functional collaboration and more “agile” ways of organizing from the perspective of the Manager, Consultant and the Researcher
12:30
LUNCH
13:30
CAKE FACTORY 2.0
– Organizational experiment – experiential learning. We start, lead and operate Cake Factories and explore challenges and possibilities in cross-functional collaboration – in the moment!
15:45
BREAK
16:15
REFLECTION on CAKE FACTORY 2.0
– Sharing observations and reflection on experiences from the experiment
18:30
END OF THE DAY
19:30
CONFERENCE DINNER
Day two
08:00
SOCIAL DREAMING MATRIX
– Morning session where we share the dreams we dreamt over night and look for clues to further our joint exploration with Johanna Steen and Charlotte Henschel
09:00
BREAK
09:15
BRIDGING THE GAP – research, practice and application
– Invited co-hosts share their experiences of the challenges of cross- functional collaboration and implementing more “agile” ways of organizing. Highlighting the perspective of the manager, the consultant and the researcher. With Ulrik Brandi, Bente Elkjær, Anna Jonsson and Johanna Steen.
12:30
LUNCH
13:15
LEARN TOGETHER. CHANGE TOGETHER
– Closing session where we summarize our days together and look for future explorations
14:00
END OF CONFERENCE
The conference will be held in English to allow for international participants. Swedish will be spoken as well.
For more information regarding the program please contact: johanna.steen@milinstitute.se
CONFERENCE HOSTS
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Johanna Steen, Head of MiL Foundation Forum Johanna is the driving force behind MiL Foundation Forum’s ambition to create and host spaces for shared reflection and learning between academia and practice, between the different stand points, knowledge bases and vocabularies of managers, researchers and consultants.
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Magnus Larsson,
Associate Professor, Copenhagen Business School Magnus possesses the rare gift of making the complex seem simple without simplifying. With a background as a certified psychologist, today he spends most of his days as a researcher at Copenhagen Business School, where he studies leadership, leadership development and managers’ identity processes and some days doing consultancy work for MiL Institute.
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Ulrik Brandi, Associate Professor in Organizational Learning at Aarhus University Ulrik’s research is on organizational learning and change in the workplace. He studies how organizations and its members develop their practice and how they share knowledge with each other, and also what impedes these learning processes.
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Bente Elkjaer, Professor in Organizational Learning at Aarhus University Bente Elkjaer holds a chair (2002-) within learning theory with special focus upon learning in organizations and working life at the Department of Education, Aarhus University and member of the research program on Learning, Innovation and Sustainability in Organizations (LISO). Bente Elkjaer researches in the 'crossroads' between educational and organizational research and is engaged in how enterprises and people 'produce' knowledge and how knowledge can be shared through organizing of work and management as well as through learning.
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Jonas Janebrant, Vice President MiL Institute Jonas is responsible for MiL Institute’s customized Leadership Programs and tailor made long-range interventions targeting both business and and leadership development. He is passionate about how to develop a corporate culture and mindset that support learning and cross-functional collaboration.
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Anna Jonsson, Associate Professor at Lund University, School of Economics and Management, and research at Score. Anna Jonsson’s research focus primarily on knowledge sharing and learning in organizations and in society. Currently she is running two research projects, one with focus learning and internationalization and one on knowledge production and collaboration between academia and other societal actors. For more information, please visit Knowing In Practice.
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WHEN
January 25th, starts at 9:00 - January 26th, ends at 14:00
WHERE
Studio Meetingpoint, Nordenskiöldsgatan 24, Malmö
WHERE TO STAY