Agile people management is a way of leading and developing teams that adapts to changing needs, fosters collaboration, and delivers value. It is based on the principles and practices of agile software development, which emphasizes iterative, incremental, and customer-focused work. But how can you implement agile people management in your organization? Here are some tips to get you started.
Before you can adopt agile people management, you need to understand your current situation and challenges. How are your teams structured, organized, and motivated? What are the goals, expectations, and feedback mechanisms for your people? How flexible and responsive are your processes and policies? How do you measure and reward performance and outcomes? Conduct a self-assessment or a survey to identify the gaps and opportunities for improvement.
Implementing agile people management involves adopting principles and practices that promote flexibility, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the workforce. I can provide insights into how organizations can implement agile people management strategies: Embrace a Growth Mindset Cross-Functional Teams Agile Performance Management Employee Empowerment Iterative Approach Clear Communication Agile Learning and Development Agile HR Practices Emphasize Collaboration Tools Embrace Change Celebrate Success and Learn from Failures Continuous Improvement
People management is the process of leading, motivating, and developing a team of employees to achieve organizational goals. It involves planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the human resources of an organization. People management skills are essential for managers at all levels, as they influence the performance, productivity, and satisfaction of the workforce. Some of the key aspects of people management are: - Leadership: Leadership is the ability to inspire and guide others towards a common vision or goal. Managers need to demonstrate leadership qualities such as integrity, confidence, courage, and empathy. Leadership skills include setting direction, delegating tasks, empowering employees, and fostering collaboration. -
Agile people management requires a clear and shared vision and values that guide your actions and decisions. What is the purpose and mission of your organization and your teams? What are the core values and principles that you want to uphold and promote? How do you want to communicate and collaborate with your stakeholders and customers? How do you want to support and empower your people? Define your vision and values and communicate them clearly and consistently.
Skip Prichard said, "Servant leaders give up power and deputize others to lead." As an agile people manager, you’ll have to be able to foster the conditions for your team to achieve incremental wins along the way to success through individualized leadership. This level of empowerment must be modelled and encouraged from the onset. On top of that, agile people managers have to be cognizant that their job is not deadlines and mere documentation; it’s defining and shaping the culture to operate in an agile manner. This will be done through collaborative goal and vision setting by you and your team. A specific example is simplifying a process that is central and important to the team.
Agile people management also requires a flexible and adaptive structure and roles that enable your teams to work effectively and autonomously. How can you organize your teams around customer needs, value streams, or projects? How can you define clear and meaningful roles and responsibilities for your people? How can you balance autonomy and accountability? How can you foster cross-functional and self-organizing teams? Align your structure and roles to your vision and values and to the nature of your work.
Agile people management also involves adopting agile practices and tools that help you plan, execute, and improve your work. How can you use agile frameworks such as Scrum, Kanban, or Lean to manage your projects and workflows? How can you use agile tools such as backlog, sprint, or board to track and visualize your progress and issues? How can you use agile ceremonies such as stand-up, review, or retrospective to coordinate, share, and learn from your work? Adopt agile practices and tools that suit your context and goals and that enable continuous feedback and improvement.
Agile people management also depends on developing an agile mindset and culture that embraces change, learning, and collaboration. How can you foster a growth mindset that encourages experimentation, innovation, and feedback? How can you create a learning culture that supports continuous development, coaching, and mentoring? How can you build a collaborative culture that values diversity, inclusion, and trust? Develop an agile mindset and culture that drives engagement, performance, and satisfaction.
Well…that’s a tough one. Inertia will always have the upper hand when considering short term solutions (quick -wins , low-hanging fruit and other ppt-quotes used as arguments against critical thinking ). I believe that a good starting point is to make sure everyone has access to data/information/knowledge, indiscriminately. And ask each one what they think, with no “punishment” if you do not agree. No “but”s, no condescension and no “expert” opinions. Fight god-syndrome wherever you find it (even inside) and encourage critical thinking at all costs. A good definition of critical-thinking might come in handy - Sam Harris has a nice one. Also I find important to emphasize that Agile is about failing fast and make sure you learn from it
I feel as though one of the toughest things to openly say is, “I was wrong.” There is a lot of shame that is woven into the making of mistakes in our society, especially so in highly technical sectors. This shame doesn’t serve us when we are trying to learn and foster a safe learning environment for employees because shame doesn’t allow us to see mistakes for what they are: they’re a lack of information. This is also why they are powerful learning moments. In fostering a learning culture that supports growth and continuous development, we have to look at mistakes as opportunities to grow, to address them with the seriousness they deserve, and approach them with curiosity when determining the root cause and forming the correction needed.
Agile people management is not a one-time event, but a continuous journey. How can you evaluate and adjust your agile people management practices and outcomes? How can you collect and analyze data and feedback from your people, customers, and stakeholders? How can you identify and prioritize areas for improvement or change? How can you celebrate and share your successes and learnings? Evaluate and adjust your agile people management regularly and systematically to ensure relevance, effectiveness, and value.