Public speaking
If you’re looking for a guest speaker or panellist for an event or podcast on the subject of creating a lasting change, I’d love to hear from you.
I’m an impassioned speaker on a number of topics around change, leadership and transformation, including:
Organisation as a Platform
Navigating the unknowns
Measuring what really matters
… and many more. I’m available to speak in the UK and internationally, virtually and in person.
Rate cards are available on request - let’s chat!
“Anna conveys awareness and insight, with authenticity and empathy in her speaking.”
“Anna has been looking at the intersection of organisational effectiveness and helping people to flourish in a work environment—taking "people and interactions over processes and tools" to a whole new level—which she is calling Organisation as a Platform. I think this idea has enormous potential, and I see it playing out in her interactions with client teams.”
Daniel Terhorst-North, Principal Consultant at Dan North & Associates
Putting people first: Organisation as a Platform
Organisations change all the time, but are they really making the fundamental change needed? Or is it more of old wine in new bottles?
Imagine an organisation shaped in a way where every person can truly be who they are and lead from a place of personal power and purpose. Imagine an organisation where employees and customers align around the needs of the world.
With people at the centre, the shape of organisations has the potential to evolve into platforms: platforms for positive change, for growth, for good in the world.
In this session, Anna will present a new way of looking at the evolving role organisations play in our world. She will share her vision of the future of organisations as platforms, and evidence where this change is already happening. After defining the characteristics of this new era of organisation, she will share practical ways to begin your organisation’s journey towards a better future of work.
Let’s start a conversation on how this next stage of organisational evolution is a win-win-win for us all.
Navigating the unknowns
We work and live in a world, where:
predicting the future is an impossible task and we relentlessly try,
everything around us is constantly changing and we crave stability,
there is never enough information to make a plan and we keep planning,
decision-making requires considering more factors that can fit in our heads and we are forced to make and unmake decisions every single day.
A technical term for this kind of environment is VUCA: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. A more sophisticated way of saying, “Hey, it’s crazy out there!”
In this session, you will understand the different types of 'unknowns' you experience at work and in life. Together we will explore what is causing it for you and what impact it has on you and your work.
The first step is to look the VUCA enemy in the eyes and say "I see you now". You can not change the VUCA world. But with the right attitudes, behaviours, tools and techniques you can not only learn to live in it but face up to the challenge and start to harness its potential.
Agility at scale: A meeting of mindsets
The shift from industrial thinking to digital product thinking is profound. Tools and structures designed to support one often work directly against the other. Great industrial leadership does not transfer to great digital product leadership. So we tend to think of them as being in conflict.
Agile-in-the-small - a single team with a single product - is all about digital product thinking. Agile-in-the-large is a very different thing. In this talk, Daniel and Anna show how combining industrial and digital thinking is the key to achieving autonomy with alignment, and they offer pragmatic advice and useful tools for achieving agility at scale.
Some previous events
"Passionate speaker"
"Anna's storytelling is rare in the industry"
"Hands-on experience helped in relating to the learning"
"Great interactive delivery mechanism, really liked it"
"Engaging, fun and much needed informative session
"Highest rated session. We've had 9.3/10"
"Passionate speaker" "Anna's storytelling is rare in the industry" "Hands-on experience helped in relating to the learning" "Great interactive delivery mechanism, really liked it" "Engaging, fun and much needed informative session "Highest rated session. We've had 9.3/10"
Previous appearances
2022
Agile India, September 2022, India, Putting people first: Organisation as a Platform, (slides, video)
GOTO Aarhus, June 2022, Aarhus, Denmark, Organisation as a Platform, (slides)
CRAFT, June 2022, Budapest, Hungary, Organisation as a Platform, (slides, video)
2021
GOTO Copenhagen, November 2021, Copenhagen, Agility At Scale: A Meeting of Mindsets, with Daniel Terhorst-North, (video)
YOW! Conference, September 2021, Australia, Keynote, Agility At Scale: A Meeting of Mindsets, with Daniel Terhorst-North, (slides, video)
GOTOpia Chicago, April 2021, Copenhagen, Agility At Scale: A Meeting of Mindsets, with Daniel Terhorst-North, (video)
2020
Seacon: Global Conference, November 2020, London, SWARMING III Achieving Agility at Scale with Daniel Terhorst North, (slides, video)
2019
Agile Business Conference, September 2019, Panel Discussion - ‘Business Agility Against the Odds', (video)
2018
Agile Business Conference, October 2018, London, Digital product delivery model at John Lewis: Our Journey to Business Agility with Christine, (slides)
2015
PMI Global Congress, April 2015, London, Networking in the Digital Age with Jon Clay
PMI LIM Conference, April 2015, London, Speed Networking, (video)
“Anna never ceases to inspire me on how to bring the human side to any narrative.”
“Anna has an amazing ability to bring fresh perspectives and frame any message in a way that resonates with everyone. This has been super helpful in our efforts to redesign the organisation and build an open culture that fosters innovation.”
Pabitra Padhy, Head of Products at JioHealth
Speaker bio
Anna Urbaniak is a business consultant, coach and change leader on a mission to alter the way that we see change. With over 15 years of experience, she supports ambitious organisations to improve their mindset, culture and performance, empowering them to reframe change as an opportunity for incredible growth and lasting transformation.
Full speaker bio and headshots are available for promotional purposes at the link below.
Previous speaking events
