Human Resources and Agile Transformation
INTRODUCTION
The pace of business is accelerating, and competition is constantly on the rise! In such a cut-throat environment, quick adaptation becomes a necessity for survival, and for many companies, this means adopting agility. However, that is not an easy endeavor. An organization has to use every weapon in its arsenal to ensure a successful and comprehensive transformation. While this transformation usually starts with the leadership and technical teams, it cannot be effectively executed without your Human Resources (HR) team. Therefore, it is critical to involve them as early as possible in the Transformation
WHAT IS “AGILE TRANSFORMATION”
The ability of an organization to renew itself, adapt, change quickly, and succeed in a rapidly changing, ambiguous, turbulent environment” as well as “the ability to quickly reconfigure strategy, structure, processes, people, and technology toward value-creating and protecting opportunities. It is achieved by redefining priorities, embracing ongoing changes, adjusting employees’ roles and responsibilities, changing how information is shared, and much more. It is an inside-out change in how an organization operates to face the constant shifts and turns in the business environment.
THE ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCES TEAMS IN AGILE TRANSFORMATION
The Human Resources Team is responsible for organizational changes. First, they must understand the impact of the transformation on the organization’s structure, culture, and overall climate
They need to prepare employees, workflows, and regulations for such a change, set to execute the appropriate actions to handle this change, and manage the workflows throughout the transformation alongside the designated transformation team.
The HR team must show empathy and flexibility during this time, as most people become resistant to change. They need to establish a two-way line of internal communication with people and help them better understand why the organization is moving towards agility and how this will affect their roles and responsibilities. A few ways Human Resources can help with agile transformation include:
1-DEVELOPING A NEW CORPORATE CULTURE:
Developing corporate culture starts from the top down. The leadership team must embrace the agile culture and transcend it downward. HR teams facilitate the adoption of this culture by creating the right policies, goals, and objectives that reflect the agile core values and maintaining transparent, effective, and ongoing communication.
The HR team should also encourage employees to participate in developing the organization’s culture when possible. Their ability to provide input and contribute to the agile cultural transformation helps them realize they are valued, and consecutively speeds up the buy-in.
2-FOCUS ON UTILIZING AND ADVANCING SKILLS, COMPETENCIES AND STRENGTHS
The second thing HR teams can do is focus on employee strengths. When organizations move towards agility, they tend to shift their assets away from non-value-added work. Consequently, it becomes imperative for organizations to use the available talent discerningly and develop those with great potential for success through training and coaching.
As such, companies need savvy leaders who can identify individual skill sets among their workforce members and customize development plans accordingly. They need to identify the gaps in their team skillsets and collaborate with the HR team to build tenacious training and coaching programs.
3-ALIGN NEW SOLUTIONS WITH WORKFLOWS
Aligning new solutions and tools with HR workflows is another way for HR teams to help with agile transformation. Often, organizations decide to acquire and implement digital solutions and tools only to realize that there is a conflict with current HR practices or regulations – including privacy laws or data protection standards. Your HR and technology teams must work collaboratively to closely examine the effects those new tools and solutions have on the workplace and ensure their alignment with the new practices and regulations – if any
4-SUPPORT AND GUIDE LEADERSHIP AS NEEDED
Finally, HR teams can support and guide leadership by providing feedback, mentoring, coaching, and taking steps to remove barriers to success. HR teams need to assist leaders in adopting an agile mindset faster so they can become chaperones of the agile cultural transformation.
That could mean one-on-one meetings with employees or hosting workshops, leading team activities focusing on communication, problem-solving and decision-making, adaptability, planning, and trust-building in an agile environment.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, HR teams are crucial for the success of the agile transformation journey. They play a key role in building a high-performing team, supporting leadership, and facilitating organizational change. They should be involved in the planning and execution phase of the transformation, to help the organization adjust to this new way of thinking efficaciously.
