In today’s business world, no collaborative practice is proving to be more powerful or effective than Agile. Agile is a collaboration methodology that allows teams of any size to move faster, adapt to changing circumstances, and better serve their customers.
For HR, the shift to Agile and team-based work has had profound effects on everything from performance management to career planning. And because the shift to teams has happened organically in many organizations, it can leave us feeling like the tools and practices we’ve honed over the years no longer work.
One of the big challenges about Agile for HR teams is that we have to do two big things at once. We have to provide guidance and leadership to employees as they make the shift while at the very same time, we have to transform our own processes to become more Agile.
But creating a new process—or revamping an old one—can seem daunting at first. Asking the right questions can kick start your effort. Here is a list of things to think about as you begin to revamp processes, taken from our People as Competitive Advantage Program. Our next session of the Program starts on March 4.
Network Questions
- Who needs to be involved and at what stages?
- What can you include that will encourage them (rather than force them) to participate?
- Do you have the right balance of people within HR and outside of it?
- Do you need senior leadership support or a sponsor? If so, who?
Goal Questions
- What is the goal of the process?
- What gets in the way of that goal?
- What does success look and feel like?
- How can you present the goal so it is easy for people to grasp?
Focus Questions
- What are the most essential pieces of the process?
- What are the non-negotiable elements of the process that need to be streamlined across all geographies and businesses?
- Under what circumstances will it be okay to deviate from the process?
- What controls (if any) will need to be placed on customization by region?
Task Questions
- What are the creative, high-value elements that only “humans” can do?
- What are the low value-add elements that can (and should) be done by technologies?
- How will we assign the high- and low-value tasks and how will they be managed?
- What are the key sources of data? Where will we get them/share them?
Process Questions
- How will we communicate the changes and the reasons behind them?
- How do we involve all of the stakeholders and balance differing opinions?
- How can we manage and resolve conflict or disagreement?
- How will we gather feedback and what will we do with it?
- How will we make sure we continuously test and improve the process?
For a more in-depth look at how to handle organizational transformation through an HR lens, join the Josh Bersin Academy today.