Agile HR: Possibility & Benefits
I was introduced to Agile software development at my new hire orientation at ThoughtWorks (or ‘Immersion’ as they call it). They can be termed easily as ambassadors for Agile software development. Working daily in such an environment and seeing people apply all the practices, I wonder if HR can be ‘Agile’.
What is Agile?
👉 During the early 2000s, few software engineers sat together and published the ‘Manifesto for Agile Software Development’. They created Agile methodology as an approach to add value to and accelerate their projects development lifecycle. This methodology, now, has been adopted by all kinds of different industries and is now one of the most widely recognized project management methodologies around.
In simple words, agile means adding value to the customer by being fast to respond & by being there to take action and help the customer to attain their objectives.
Why Agile with HR?
👉 Agile HR is about adopting structures, perspectives, processes, and tools to become more flexible and quicker in decision-making and accomplish pursuits. Being agile brings in various benefits. Few of the practices that can help the process are:
Bring Unity: Agile teams are united, by a common purpose that brings genuine efforts.
Continuous Feedback: Agile HR is about 360-degree feedback and constant improvement. Taking action on that feedback, continuously, is equally essential.
Timely Delivery: The agile team can deliver work at the right pace by breaking down the complex problem into small elements and solving individual pieces of the puzzle.
Innovation: Agile HR promotes innovation. It helps you design the structures in a way that it breaks complex problems into core elements, and these elements based on priority apply innovative solutions.
Detailed Metrics: Agile HR helps in measuring real parameters. They usually measure outcomes which are real metrics and take continuous action, unlike traditionally, where we take steps based on assumptions.
Effective Communication: Bring an agile mindset on collaboration in which there is clarity about each team member’s role and gives the knowledge about it to others so that they can perform the task collectively.
Attentive and Fuse Input: Agile mindset brings up attention in listening. Whenever any issue arises in the team, people look out for each other and amend changes accordingly.
Apart from the above practices that can bring in a change, several business interests within HR core domains by adopting Agile can be:
Agile Recruitment: Agile HR enables to create a careful way to prioritize the requirements and improved visibility for both recruiters and hiring managers which results in an overall, efficient, iterative recruiting process.
Agile onboarding: The other significant benefit of agile HR is the onboarding of new employees. Here onboarding no longer sits only with HR, but colleagues from a cross-functional onboarding team participate in the process. Recently joined employees henceforth are upheld and connected by cross-practical groups and thus, become comfortable and productive too very soon.
Agile PMS: People use 360-degree feedback mechanisms to get continuous data which becomes a backbone for regular reviews and replaces traditional feedback methods. Managers co-set goals. Employees get support to grow.
Agile R&R: Agile HR helps in motivating people, making them more productive by offering rewards ad recognition from time to time based on real-time performance. It also influences HR to keep track of market rates and set the compensation accordingly to stay competitive for retention.
Agile Learning & Development: Agile HR analyses skill gaps and get the right people into the proper training. Your training spends become more efficient because now we designate training accurately. Employees then learn more reliable and faster. Employees can follow their progress, and they can request training sessions to suit their needs.
We have seen relatable progress of HR from the 20th Century as an executor to a moderator to a business partner. But even now, HR has still had many ways to improve like moving from traditional approaches of recruitment, onboarding, and program coordination to Agile practices in these functions. HR will require new skills and need more IT expertise and in-depth knowledge about teams and hands-on supervision.
To achieve agility in HR, we do not necessarily require to work in an Agile organization. And, you can definitely accomplish the benefits of Agile HR very quickly by applying a few necessary actions in your daily work.
