Agile in HR

“In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment.”

— CHARLES DARWIN

Charles Darwin was an early proponent of adaptability. He emphasized on the premise that it was not the physical strength of plants and animals that helped them survive, but their adaptability to new circumstances and changes in their environment. His famous phrase, “survival of the fittest,” refers to a species’ ability to adapt, not to its physical strength. The ability to adapt to a changing world is what allows some species to survive even the most dreadful environmental changes. The same principle applies to organizations, the only difference is that in the business environment, we don’t have to wait two million years for the adaption; rather the time frame is relatively negligible to allow organizations to really adjust, adapt and survive to the volatile changes which take place in the organizational ecosystem.

Choosing to adapt is the crux of the Agile philosophy. Earlier, Agile was confined to software development and the IT Industry. Today, it’s increasingly used by human resources teams in the west but unfortunately, has been untapped by most of the HR Teams across the globe. Agile is a way of moving forward and creating value. It’s a mindset that allows people and groups to meet challenges, learn quickly, and respond to change. Agile is a novel, radical and new way of managing teams, individuals, development and organizations in general.

The Void Created

In the IT, on one hand we had the Waterfall approach in the 1990s, which was a linear and sequential design process. Things were structured, adherence was made to hierarchy and miniscule change in the development cycle had to travel the entire waterfall flow in the same sequential hierarchy whereas Agile, on the other hand, came in with an element of incremental approach. Work is completed in small batches or sprints, and then evaluated and tested. The method is collaborative and allows errors to be fixed or feedback to be taken into consideration as we move forward. This transition from Waterfall to Agile was embraced by organizations however when we look at the HR function, it more or less still struggles with a methodology that is more process oriented, rigid, hierarchical and structured, thereby resonating the Waterfall vibe in an Agile mindset driven organization.

Change or Perish

HR as a function needs to find a new purpose. Managers are taking over more and more HR-related tasks as a consequence of the ineffective Waterfall HR model in organizations and this makes one thing very clear that the old controlling HR role is not working anymore. The function needs to either change and adapt, or wither away.

The goal of an Agile driven organization is to spread management responsibilities and decentralize to the maximum extent possible. To make this happen, team players need to be vested with more responsibilities, get more participative and be inculcated with an ownership mindset. The onus of imbibing this philosophy of ownership and responsibility among the team members, vests with their managers and Team Leads and the onus of imbibing this culture of breeding such leads which foster and nurture ownership driven teams, ultimately vests with the HR and Culture teams, the very driving force of organizations at large, especially the organizations where people competency and not machines is the key capital of the business. To achieve this, the HR function needs to be aligned with the existing business model of the organization and not be aloof from the ground reality.

The below illustration gives a glance of the transition desired from Traditional to Agile HR which, if imbibed by organizations based on their existing business models, will not just make their HR functions more effective but will also lead to increased efficiency, more engaged employees, positive culture and value beyond profits.

Where did the HR lag behind?

The Assembly Line lies at the root of the Industrial Revolution in Europe & US. FW Taylor (an American Mechanical Engineer), pioneered the principles of scientific management and the concept of assembly line in an era where economies of mass scale production and industrial efficacy were already the talk of the business world.

The uniformity in manufacturing & production techniques, led to same approach in terms of management of people as well since in that ecosystem, similar outcome was desired from the human resources. Therefore the Traditional HR was born.

This HR came up with processes, policies, rules and statutory compliances where focus was only and only on a centralized approach towards increasing productivity. This HR was well aligned with the business model of Assembly line altogether and was so effective that it continued for a time so long to have actually found place for itself in curriculum for management students, particularly HR. These graduates when came with the same traditional approach, bred the same to their peers and teams who in turn passed on the same thought to the generations which came after them. In all this time, the organizations, especially IT Industry, kept undergoing change and by the early 2000s, had shifted entirely from the Waterfall to the Agile model and this is where the HR lagged behind.

We are no more in the Industrial Revolution, the capital of the organizations is reliant on intellect and not just machines, ecosystems have become more complexed where the butterfly effect does actually happen and happens more often leaving the entire data driven and process oriented HR Teams in wonderment.

What the HR can do?

In legal parlance, there is a terminology called, “abuse of process” which is defined as “the unjustified or unreasonable use of legal proceedings or process to further a cause of action by an applicant or plaintiff in an action. It is a claim made by the respondent or defendant that the other party is misusing or perverting regularly issued court process (civil or criminal) not justified by the underlying legal action.”

A similar abuse of process happens at many organizations where process is used(abused) as a safeguard or defense against incompetency at workplace. The more structured the organization gets, the more the abuse happens. As a manager/HR/leader, the expectation from them is to foster such a culture where there is zero tolerance to such a practice. This prevention shall also breed competency and talent as a whole.

HR, if it imbibes the change and follow Agile as a mindset, will not just help them be aligned with delivery and organizational mission statement, but will also be effective in curbing the ill effects of process for their own teams as well as for the entire organizational workforce, thereby working as a fluid lubricant for the smooth running of the engine of the organization.

Natansh Dubey ?

References (And Inspirations): 

1. Agile People: Pia Maria Thoren
2. Principles of Scientific Management: Fredrick Taylor 
3. An enquiry into the wealth of Nations: Adam Smith
4. The shape of things to come: An impassioned view: Justice Markandey Katju
5. Neither roses nor thorns: Justice Hans Raj Khanna 
6. Optimize your greatest asset: your people: Gene Pease
7. The Great Indian Novel: Shashi Tharoor
8. HR Disrupted: Its time for something different: Lucy Adams
9. First, Break All the Rules: Marckus Buckingham