Accelerating innovation:
How Marie Curie's agile approach cut innovation delivery times from months to weeks
Innovative fundraising is crucial; we need to find new supporters, new ways to engage the ones we already have and future-proof what we’re doing. But of course, it’s easier said than done!
Recently, we coached Gemma Rawlins and the Innovation Team at Marie Curie to take a more agile approach to their work. Committing themselves to working differently has enabled them to deliver new fundraising ideas faster, collaborate more and better engage their stakeholders, plus it’s boosted team morale.
Here’s a look at their experience and the lessons that can be applied to any team or organisation looking to use agile ways of working to speed up delivery and embed innovative change.
The challenges: overcoming bureaucracy and boosting morale.
When Gemma began her role as Head of Innovation, she inherited a team brimming with potential but stifled by bureaucracy and fluctuating priorities (she refers to this as the internal “treacle”). Some key challenges were:
- Rigid processes: Slow-moving, bureaucratic procedures were stifling rapid innovation.
- Leadership changes: Shifts in senior leadership and organisational strategy created a lack of clear direction.
- Low team morale: The team felt frustrated by the slow progress and absence of tangible outcomes. “We were doing so much but not getting anything done”.
“We were doing so much but not getting anything done.”
Despite these hurdles, Gemma also identified significant opportunities:
- A new strategy: An ambitious, newly approved organisational strategy provided a fresh direction that her team were excited about.
- Support for innovation: There was strong backing across Marie Curie for building innovative fundraising approaches.
- Dedicated team: The team was eager to embrace change and make a difference.
Embracing Agile: a new way of working
Understanding Agile
Agile ways of working, originating from software development, focus on iterative progress, collaboration, and flexibility. For Gemma and the Innovation Team, adopting agile ways of working meant breaking free from the constraints of rigid processes and fostering a more dynamic, adaptive approach to their innovation work.
Gemma was familiar with agile principles from her previous roles but she wanted to build her confidence to fully implement an agile approach within the innovation team. She put herself, and the rest of her team, through Tilt’s Agile in Action course so they could learn together. The course gave them a shared toolkit, language and accountability to give things a go.
A key mindset shift for the team was getting comfortable with not aiming to get everything perfect right away. They had to get used to naming their assumptions and running quick tests to learn if they were correct. As Gemma put it, they had to realise that “if we knew all the answers we wouldn’t all be here trying to figure things out, so trust in the process and use the tools to get you what you need”.
Key steps and strategies
Freeing themselves from the need to do everything perfectly first time gave the team permission to reevaluate and revisit every aspect of their approach to new product development. They found ways to save time throughout the innovation process and shifted to a more optimistic attitude, from “we can’t do it” to “maybe we could try this…”
Gemma remembers one particular “Eureka!” moment during one of the Agile in Action course workshops. She and a colleague Alex messaged each other straight afterwards and agreed to trial reducing the ideation phase of their innovation process (where they generate a range of ideas) from 1 month to 1 week. Gemma recalls: “Alex said to me ‘I think we could probably do this in a week.’ and I said, “Yeah, I think we could too. Let’s just try it.’” With the right preparation, they pulled it off, with fantastic results.
Particular tools that helped make their “give it a go” approach possible, include:
- Creating a Team Charter: This helped establish clear roles, responsibilities, and behaviours in a way that enabled adaptability.
- Implementing a Kanban Board: A visual management tool to collaboratively and transparently track tasks. This enabled the team to quickly respond to new learnings and reprioritise accordingly, whilst also tracking progress towards their longer-term goals.
- Daily Stand-ups: Short, daily meetings to create shared accountability across the team, share key information, address issues, and maintain momentum. These meetings, along with the Kanban Board reduced the amount of time the team spent in other meetings.
- Short Iterations: The team broke projects down into shorter cycles of work which ended with a pause for reflection. This allowed them to measure success and get feedback more regularly then make adjustments accordingly.
Overcoming resistance
Transitioning to more agile ways of working wasn’t without its challenges. There was some initial pressure to show senior stakeholders the type of project documentation they were used to, like a RACI matrix or a GANTT chart.
The team overcame this by making their Team Charter and Kanban Board easily accessible – providing information on structure and progress in a new way – and inviting people to join Daily Stand-ups to see what they were up to.
As the speed of delivery picked up, the results started to speak for themselves. As Gemma noted, “By showcasing quick wins and maintaining open communication, we built trust and gained essential buy-in from stakeholders.”
“By showcasing quick wins and maintaining open communication, we built trust and gained essential buy-in from stakeholders.”
Gemma’s recommendations for an agile approach to innovation
Focus on learning, not ‘getting it right’
Creating a culture where experimentation is encouraged, and failures are seen as learning opportunities is crucial. Gemma emphasises, “My role was to give our team what they needed to feel safe enough to try new things without fear of repercussions.”
Focus on the goal so how you get there can change
Each time the team paused to plan their next chunk of work they defined what “done” looked like for the next key aspects of the project. They articulated the outcome they wanted to achieve rather than how they would get there. This meant that the team could respond quickly to new information and flex to get there.
Visualise your work
Tools like Kanban boards are invaluable for transparency. They help track progress and identify bottlenecks visually and collaboratively. “The Kanban board was a game-changer,” says Gemma. “It made our work visible and manageable.”
Encourage regular communication
Regular stand-up meetings keep everyone on the same page and accountable. They also provide opportunities for quick problem-solving and ensuring workload is shared evenly across the team. The Innovation Team found that they reduced the other meetings needed throughout the day.
Focus on short-term wins
Previous innovation cycles had been lengthy, involving a lot of research up front. An agile approach focused on short iterations – or sprints – allowing the team to deliver tangible outcomes quickly then test their efficacy. This boosted morale and provided opportunities for quick feedback and adjustments.
The impact of Agile on fundraising innovation

Accelerated delivery
Moving to agile ways of working significantly reduced the time it took the team to run a full innovation cycle, enabling the team to deliver projects more quickly and efficiently. Starting with an innovation cycle to develop a new in-memory giving product, Gemma’s team moved from project kick-off to completion in a third of the usual time. “We went from six-month projects to eight-week cycles,” she remarked. “This speed was unprecedented for us!”

Improved collaboration
Taking an agile approach helped to create a more collaborative and motivated team. Inviting members of other teams – like two colleagues from the in-memory team – to join key workshops, began to create advocates for agile ways of working across the fundraising department.

Enhanced stakeholder engagement
The team found that regular updates and transparent processes improved stakeholder confidence and engagement. “Stakeholders appreciated seeing real-time progress,” Gemma said. “It aligned their expectations and reduced misunderstandings.”

Boosted morale
The shift to Agile instilled a sense of possibility and optimism within the team. Focusing on what could be achieved rather than constraints empowered the team and gave them a new sense of motivation.
The results
Marie Curie’s experience with an agile approach offers valuable lessons and inspiration for any organisation looking to boost its innovation efforts and increase its impact. The team are now training other colleagues to use agile principles and tools themselves and Gemma has been invited to help other parts of the organisation adopt agile ways of working.
The transformation of Gemma’s team is probably best illustrated by the fact that “we used to write innovation briefs for other teams then try and get the other team on board. Now, teams are asking to collaborate with us!”. As Gemma says, “Agile has helped us demonstrate our benefits and people are excited to work with us. Now teams brief us in, know it will only take 8 weeks. They know they’re going to learn a lot”.
Find out more about joining our Agile in Action course here.
Or book a call with Eleanor to find out more details about how they did it.