The non-profit organization Data4Life has made it its mission to make health data “researchable.” In this context, researchable means: making it comprehensively, digitally, and securely available for research in order to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases. Originally founded at the Hasso Plattner Institute, colleagues at the tech company Data4Life work across three locations in Europe and Asia to turn this vision into reality. Data4Life focuses on two main areas: public health and personalized medicine.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for digital health offerings surged. While Data4Life grew significantly in terms of personnel, the organizational structures couldn’t keep pace. At the same time, the changing conditions exposed the emergency situations in the local healthcare system: decades of neglect now need to be addressed in record time. Anyone who wants to be strategically effective in this race must be able to work responsively and flexibly.

The Loop Approach is a transformation framework developed by TheDive that supports teams and organizations on their journey toward self-organization. Instead of a “one size fits all” approach, the Loop Approach adapts to the needs of each individual team and remains open-ended and agile despite process clarity. This makes the approach particularly relevant for transformation initiatives in times of crisis—like the COVID-19 pandemic in this case—because it helps teams and organizations become adaptable and responsive within rapidly changing environmental conditions.

The goal of Loop transformation consulting is to find an individual, self-organized operating system together with an organization’s teams. Over the course of three modules, we teach the tools and methods that an organization needs to enable sustainable change in the so-called “classic” Loop.

As early as 2020, Data4Life approached TheDive with the mandate to prepare their multinational team for the upcoming turning point. The organization’s goal was to establish personnel structures with clear responsibilities to translate the demanding dynamics of the industry environment into decisions appropriately. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, this was a balancing act—especially for a non-profit organization.

We chose a two-track approach: in parallel to the “classic” Loop for teams, two employees also completed Loop Fellow training in the Loop Academy. This training helps individuals learn the methods and processes of the Loop Approach to support teams and organizations in transformation processes. In this way, Data4Life was able to continue developing along its own needs even after completing the Loop journey.

From September 2020 to January 2021, a cross-functional Data4Life team went through the three modules and seven virtues of the Loop Approach. Normally, existing teams go through a Loop journey. However, this cross-functional team was created specifically for this purpose and consisted of various relevant stakeholders across the organization. They were meant to carry what they learned into the wider organization afterward.

The journey focused on three central questions:

• How does the Loop Approach align with Data4Life’s extremely broad range of topics?
• How can we bring interdisciplinary teams like Marketing and Tech—or Compliance and Medical—together?
• And: which methods and practices from the approach work in which teams?

• One particular challenge was that Data4Life primarily worked with frequently changing, time-limited project teams that operated under different dynamics due to their practical orientation. In most cases, these were software teams already working with established approaches such as Scrum. As a result, the start of the Loop journey was rocky and feedback was mixed. At that time, Data4Life asked itself: Does Loop work in our project-based teams?

Shortly after the first module of the Loop journey ended, the Chief of Staff team—led by Michael Haizmann—began Loop Fellow training in the Loop Academy together with a colleague from the product team. Together, they developed a deeper understanding of the Loop Approach methods and their interactions. This is where the synergy effects of the dual approach began to unfold. The aspiring Loop Fellows were able to identify which Loop content was particularly relevant for Data4Life and supported the team process in conveying it, while TheDive facilitators repeatedly aligned the Loop journey with the needs of the teams.

In this context, tension-based work proved to be especially beneficial for employees: knowing that all ideas and comments are addressed at the right time and in the right place creates calm and certainty—especially in a fast-paced work environment.

The knowledge of Spiral Dynamics also helped Data4Life teams develop awareness of the different modes of collaboration. The daily check-ins at the beginning of meetings were credited with having an “incredible impact,” particularly during the COVID period.

Two and a half years after completing the Loop journey, more and more teams at Data4Life are working with the Loop Approach. According to Michael Haizmann, this is reflected above all in team satisfaction. He observes an increase in trust and team cohesion, psychological safety, and—an important factor for an impact-driven organization—more enjoyment in the work. In internal employee experience surveys, teams working with Loop also rank noticeably higher on average. For Haizmann, this is primarily a reflection of a new perspective on work: “When we consciously talk about structures, we can solve problems differently.”

So what structures are needed to remain fast and flexible even in times of crisis? Looking at the developments at Data4Life, one could say: the most important thing is clarity about the structures we surround ourselves with and how they influence our work and team processes. Once you become aware of the organizational operating system, you can begin to develop clear processes and structures aligned with your own needs. And how those structures look in detail in the end is as unique as the organization itself.

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Teams looped

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Standardized Loop workshop templates

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Projects with renowned partners in which Loop content was used