Agile - The new HR Mantra!

Dr. Anju Kumar

Professor-HR
ISME

Introduction

With change in technology, fluidity and volatility in the global economy, organization failure
and success will hinge on how “agile” businesses will be. According to the Agile Alliance, Agile
is “the ability to create and respond to change in order to succeed in an uncertain and
turbulent environment.” The VUCA world of business demands that businesses be nimble and
responsive as unexpected changes in the landscape are recurrent. Volatility, Uncertainty,
Complexity and Ambiguity embodies today’s global markets. New products and services are
being created at a dizzying speed. Inflexible plans and rigid hierarchies may work when the
world moves slowly and predictably, but in a vortex, they block innovation, waste time, and
prevent organizations from taking advantage of new opportunities.

What is Agile HR

Agile HR takes its antecedence from agile software development, a continuous iterative,
collaborative process which makes incremental changes on a continuous basis. When applied
to HR, agile principles change the focus from imposing controls and standards to empowering
collaboration and innovation. In adopting agile HR, an organization needs to make available
the same functions in terms of hiring, professional development, and performance
management, incorporating the changes in culture and style of working of organizations.
Reorganizing HR as an agile discipline can help HR create a more robust organization, with the
agility and openness that’s required to navigate through the realities of the VUCA vortex.

Emergence - Agile HR

Josh Bersin in 2012, at the annual HR conference by Deloitte had proposed on how HR can
add value towards building an agile workplace. According to him, HR could contribute
significantly towards making the organization Agile. Agile principles tend towards, supporting
continuous learning, continuous talent acquisition and processes which are transparent and
facilitate organizations to attract, develop and engage talent in the twenty first century.
Salient Feature- Agile HR
Table 1 showing Traditional HR VS Agile HR
Sl Traditional HR
No
1 Remedial approach to learning
An employee who under performs in a current
role or needs to prepare for a new role is
assigned training to achieve a specific
performance level.
2 “Recruiting” mind-set
As jobs become available, the search for
candidates begins. Once the best candidate is
identified, the talent acquisition process is
complete
3 Opaque talent processes
Talent management is owned by HR, and the
processes by which talent is acquired,
evaluated, and developed are proprietary and
inaccessible
4 Siloed objectives
Jobs are discrete elements in a complex
system. Job requirements are related to
specific workplace tasks.
5 Implementing systems
Agile HR
Continuous learning environment
Employees are given myriad
opportunities to learn and stretch
themselves independent of a
specific, job-related goal
Continuous talent acquisition
Organizations invest in their
employer brand and cultivate
ongoing relationships with talent
across multiple channels
Transparent access to talent
information
Talent management is facilitated by
HR, which empowers employees to
take ownership of their own
development. Employees
understand and are active
participants in talent acquisition,
evaluation, and development
processes.
Unified mission and values
All jobs directly support the mission
and values of the organization, and
all employees understand how their
on-the-job performance supports
these elements of the organizational
culture.
Piloting small initiatives
 Large-scale systems are carefully researched,
resourced, and deployed over the course of
many months or even years.
6 HR as “system of record”
Small-scale initiatives are piloted
within a specific team, job family, or
business unit. Feedback is gathered
early and often to determine
whether the initiative should be
expanded or scrapped.
HR as “system of engagement”

The HR function is focused on record-keeping The HR function is focused on

and defensibility. Employee files and records of
HR activities and outcomes track progress and
note issues. HR success is measured in the
completeness of documentation.
Source: www.hrsg.ca
engaging employees to enhance
self-motivation and encourage
collaboration. HR success is
measured in terms of retention,
employee satisfaction levels,
innovation levels, and organizational
goodwill and trust.

Integration - Agile HR

Most HR processes work in an annual or at the best quarterly cycles. While agile adopts short
cycles. Regular feedback and reflection, subsequent course correction based on evidence
collected are the key aspects of Agile. Integrating Agile into HR processes is the challenge.
There is limited published knowledge as to how to do this.

The three key areas where Agile will affect HR are, new career paths and possibilities, updated
job descriptions to attract top talent and revamped training and development processes.

ING, a global financial institution of Dutch origin, is a good example of an organization which
adopted Agile HR.ING which was a pioneer in adopting agile, realised that having the right
people to practice and refine new processes was important. To prove this, ING made every
employee at its headquarters (nearly 3,500 people) re-interview for their job. It was shocking
to note that 40% of the employees ended up in new positions or separated from ING. This
was not because of a lack of skill sets (their skillsets were very much relevant) but a lack of
the right mind-set, one that could embrace the uncertainty of a software-based organization
while seeking out new, better ways to deliver that service. Here the HR team played a very
important role in understanding, and determining the agile mind-set; which staff members
possessed it, the employees who could be trained in the agile mind-set and who had to be let
go. The HR team, to further understand what makes Agile cultures nimble, responsive, tech
centric and attractive to top talent, visited and did a case study on digital companies like
Spotify, Netflix and Zappos.
Conclusion

Agile cannot be evaded anymore. The VUCA model is here to stay, and so is Agile. CEO’s are
turning towards HR leaders to create an agile workforce, to capitalize on new opportunities
and to take on deep rooted challenges. Bold internal policy transformations, a new approach
to hiring, and paradigm shifts in company culture could become part of the transitioning to
Agile. The growing need for Agile HR is evident. Improving time to market, continuous
learning, responsiveness, and collaboration are the other advantages of adopting Agile HR.
Agile is now the new mantra of HR!

References

https://www.hrtechnologist.com/articles/core-hr-2/be-agile-or-fail-the-top-challenge-for-
hr-teams-in-2018/

https://hrtrendinstitute.com/2015/02/14/7-aspects-of-agile-hr/

https://hbr.org/2017/06/how-hr-can-become-agile-and-why-it-needs-to