Agile HR: what is it?
Talking to HR professionals from several segments of the market, I realize that many teams face the same problems and share the need to modernize, deliver more value and digitalize their processes, many times extremely dependent on manual work. And in order to make it happen, one thing is certain: the HR urgently needs to understand what Agile is and how it can guide the organization transformation that becomes more and more necessary. People Management Professionals need to understand not only how to take this mindset to the company, but also how to apply it in their own way of work.
But when we talk about Agile HR, we are not talking about a recipe. It would be much easier, wouldn’t it? We follow the step by step and that’s it. Everything transformed. But Agile is not prescriptive, it is situational. So, run away from the 10 steps and the 7 tips. The world changes, the context changes, the scenario changes and our way of acting and respond to these changes also needs to change. Much more than a recipe, framework or tool, Agile is MINDSET!
It has been a long time that the HR strategies are built with complex and heavy topics. Hardly ever 100% executable. What we see every day is a people department that can’t support the companies’ transformation, that cares (in part) for people (let’s say the truth: we do what is already known and more comfortable for us) and helps the leaders to hunt the guilty ones. No wonder it is seen as a sheriff. “Look, there comes the HR…” It’s time to turn the table. If we do not change, we will continue lose relevance. Either we change, or die.
In order to make it different more and more organizations are adopting the Agile model of work. Specifically in HR, Agile helps to break complex topics into pieces, which delivers value and is connected with people’s needs. We are talking about prioritizing based on value, alignment and autonomy, decision making set on data and honest, clear and empathic communication.
When we talk about Agile HR, we talk about Agile for HR and HR for Agile. How can we transform, build and deliver our people products connected to agile mindset? It is not possible to deliver “Traditional HR” in a company that is living and breathing this new way of thinking. I have to confess, we are all learning how to do it. No, there isn’t any company case in the world, as people ask me in my workshops and talks. All of us together walking the same way. Thinking, creating, testing, making mistakes, correcting them and mainly learning. It’s important to highlight: “Agile HR isn’t only about the delivery, but about the journey we go through.”
As a starting point, we should look through the Employee Experience. How is it in your company today? How does the employee notice this experience? Do you know? It is necessary to create a way that attracts, engages and helps the employee to be successful in his job. On this journey, we, HR professionals, should project practices centered on the human being which can be often revisited, revitalized, deconstructed or eliminated according to user feedback. Everything completely different from the processes and projects that we built based on best practices or administration manuals. Have you noticed that we build HR processes and projects that never die? It’s necessary to think and follow the life circle of each one.
We can work in an incremental way, which means, to aggregate value through small changes, which are tested, validated and improved. But actually, you will only discover what value is when you put the user in the center, for the employee and with the employee. Adapting context and scenario changes. A complete change for the HR that loves to deliver complete and perfect actions, processes and projects. However, when the HR provides them, they aren’t what the employee needed or the world (context or necessity) has changed.
To conclude: forget the tools. Agile isn’t post-it, Scrum or Kanban. Agile is a mindset. So, Agile HR is to abandon the traditional and the best practices. The focus is to deliver value for the people, with the people, showing our vulnerability and the power to build something together. Only when we can apply this mindset, understanding the real necessities of our clients, we will realize that we don’t know everything and we need others (areas, leaders and partners).
Do you want a successful recipe? Get to know the Agile HR Manifest. Train your team so that they know and develop their competences which are connected with the agile mindset. Talk about value delivery and why we want to make this change. They will be capable to make it different. The results will come, little by little, step by step. Believe it!
