When talking about scaling Agile to the enterprise level there's often lots of talk around team structures, process and technologies but not so much about the supporting people operations. Yesterday evening Fabiola Eyholzer presented her view on Lean/Agile People Operations and it's role in enterprise Agile efforts.
Below is a brief summary of her talk and brings to the forefront the importance of this often overlooked subject. It's time to embrace change in HR.
It was proposed that "People operations is your secret weapon for bringing Agile to an enterprise level". After all, culture evolves around people and corporate values and thus a well aligned HR function is crucial in any enterprise level Agile effort. Although important, it was argued that the role of HR in an Agile context is often overlooked and misunderstood, it was the intention of this presentation to illustrate how an appropriately modelled HR approach cannot only support an Agile effort, but moreover, can actually drive it.
Many people based decisions in organisations, it was argued, are actually the result of hidden forces associated with functions such as finance, legal and management. HR are often responsible for enacting associated policies but the underlying thought behind many of these if often outdated. On the back of this suggestion Fabiola introduced the concept of Agile HR, using a manifesto of values and principles to build an approach for HR which aligns with Lean/Agile principles and concepts. Lean/Agile People Ops, as she coined it.
The core values of Lean/Agile People Ops
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Inspire and engage over manage and retain
- Collaboration over organisation structures
- Responding to individual needs over following a career plan
The Principles of Lean/Agile People Ops
(I didn't note these down, so you'll have to make do with a picture)
Following on from the introduction of the values and principles, Fabiola then introduced some core instruments of practice. These included:
- Agile hiring. Create an experience to assess ability to thrive in an Agile environment. Avoid prolonged performance improvement traps and be brave enough to hire slow and fire fast.
- Turn leaving talents into winning ambassadors. Stay connected, build an alumni.
- Flexible resource planning.
- Talent development. Inspire and boost personal and professional growth in order to boost organisation growth. Build an environment of continuous learning and sharing.
- Compensation. Offer enough to take the topic of money off the table. Make the life of people easier and better. Focus on inspiring and engaging rather than retention through compensation.
- Performance Management. Art of setting meaningful goals that spark the imagination and drive of people. Supporting of team work.
An overview of how such practices link and work together was then provided with an Employee Cycle, illustrating how an Agile HR approach needs to interact effectively with current, former and also potential talents.
Finally a seven step game plan was introduced for getting Agile HR established in the organisation:
- Get the team on board with a shared vision
- Create empowered working groups
- Create solutions iteratively
- Build bridges
- Achieve tangible results to build trust and to reshape culture
- Improve and Innovate
- Communicate, communicate, communicate
To sum up, it was proposed that HR is at a crossroads. To truly support enterprise level Agile, organisations need to be brave enough to adapt their approach to HR. Adopt Agile HR values, principles and practices, help shape and mould the organisational culture and help Agile to thrive.
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