If software has eaten the world, then agile has eaten the software world. While initially designed to improve the responsiveness of software development teams, more recently agile has become the default team-based operational model for companies big and small, across industries and sectors, with the promise of a substantial and sustained spike in team productivity and efficiency.
How HR Can Become Agile (and Why It Needs To)
All supporting functions have to take on the mindset.
June 19, 2017
Summary.
While initially designed to improve the responsiveness of software development teams, agile has become the default team-based operational model for companies big and small, with the promise of a sustained spike in team productivity and efficiency. But a growing challenge is emerging: Once your tech teams have begun to master these new ways of working, they often find that the pace of work they desire is hindered by the lack of agility in HR. Agile espouses short cycles, regular reflection, and course correction based on evidence collected during the software production process. Yet HR regularly works in annual (or, at best, quarterly) cycles.
There are two essential activities your HR team can do today to help your organization become more responsive and to help their agile efforts succeed:
Go and see. To understand what qualities are required to support an agile way of working, your HR team needs to go see these teams at work. If they’re not up and running in your organization, visit other companies that are doing it well.
HR retrospectives. Hold regularly cadenced (e.g., biweekly) meetings with HR teams or internal clients to review how things have gone since the last time a retrospective was held. “Retros” can also be held with hiring managers, particularly after a new “HR event” like a hiring, firing, or performance review cycle.