Alumni Meet Up from the training Agile Organizations & Future HR

Looking back at 10 editions of the open course, 10 incompany tracks and several international programs in the past 3 years of the ‘Agile Organizations & Future HR’-program, it was about time to organize a get together for the alumni of this program. Why? To (Re)connect, Share, Explore and Celebrate (10 years @DRHRBP!).

So last week, we met at the HR IMPACT LAB in Eindhoven and had a blast! As most of you were still in vacation (thank you for all your enthusiastic reactions) we were with a small group and zoomed in on several themes (Open Space-style > Bring Your Own Topic):

I. Does 'agile’ need to start with Leadership or can you start within teams and spread the fire from there? 

II. How do you make sure that ‘Experimenting’ will not be seen as a ‘once-off’ event, but will truly become part of the way of working and thinking?

III. How do you cope (work around?) restrictive frameworks (Labour law, collective labour agreements, inspection etc.) when working with agile teams (and agile HR tooling)?

IV. How do you avoid ‘bias’ when focusing on Diversity & Inclusion?

V. What to do with Performance Management (and Reward) when working with Agile Teams?

Read some highlights of the almuni discussions here >>>

I. Does the ‘agile movement’ need to start with Leadership or can you start within teams and spread the fire from there? 

>> Spark Leadership with inspiration & awareness sessions, but do not spend too much time on ‘convincing’ them across the board if you see a lot of ‘resisters’ of ‘passives’ around this topic. Instead focus on a small coalition of supporters, work from within teams, share & make first successes visible and spread agile to an enterprise level from within that movement (go where the energy is). Leadership will eventually be convinced/sparked by ‘showing/experiencing’ (not telling) what agile can mean for the organization!

II. How do you make sure that ‘Experimenting’ will not be seen as a ‘once-off’ event, but will truly become part of the way of working and thinking?

>> Tie your experiments to the Shared Purpose: why is this important and how does it relate/add value to our purpose/relevance/products/services/customers etc. Work Out Loud (make steps/outcomes visible, invite stakeholders for a showcase/review, share on socials with pictures, video’s, vlogs, lunch & learn sessions with cool handouts etc.) in such a way that people are triggered and want to be part of this. Make sure these updates on experiments are a recurring event, so people see that is part of the Way Of Working and not ‘someone’s hobby’!

III. How do you cope (work around?) restrictive frameworks (Labour law, collective labour agreements, inspection etc.) when working with agile teams (and agile HR tooling)?

>> We slowly see that inspection; unions etc. are embracing the concept of co-creation more and more: setting up agreements and developing ‘rules & regulations’ WITH the stakeholders. In the same setting it is important to create much more room for own translation within the framework of the overall purpose/meaning/WHY/relevance & (dynamic) guiding principles, instead of the rigid and standardized systemic world of policies, rules and regulations. They are important to, but only if the (moral) compass of the shared purpose (why do we do the things we do), the guiding principles (how we do things) and the people to people (heart-to-heart) interaction proves insufficient. So be brave and start with the trust and heart-to-heart interactions first!  

IV. How do you avoid ‘labeling & bias’ when focusing on Diversity & Inclusion?

>> Often people do not even realize that they are biased and labeling people. We all do it. Training can help to make people aware of this subconscious behavior. Make diversity & inclusion an integral part of the organization in e.g. recruitment processes (resume/application without name, age, gender etc.), organization wide training on bias, integral part of the onboarding program. Recruit people who actively promote diversity, encourage working in multidisciplinary and divers teams, make diversity & inclusion an important value and support team members to start activities around this theme.    

V. What to do with Performance Management (and Reward) when working with Agile Teams?

>> Huge topic! So let’s start by splitting it in smaller objectives: why do we currently do performance management? (check also this great blog by Tom Haak on this): development, direction, recognition and pay. In our meet up we focused on development and pay.

With regards to pay: make sure that salary is not a discussion/disengagement factor: pay should be enough/fairly: do not pay under market with the promise that ‘the rest or more’ can be earned by reaching targets. Instead reward the team with a bonus (= EXTRA pay) if special targets/outcomes/performance are met.

Let’s stop plotting people in (nine) grids! In an agile environment one person can under perform in team A and be a top performer in team B, depending on context, personalities, coaching etc. So let’s focus on a better fit between ‘offer’ and ‘demand’.

Focus on learning, development and vitality with continuous feedback loops from within and outside the team, make people the owner of their own performance & development. Agree on meaningful and relevant shared (team) goals. Celebrate successes!

And then our time was up! We will be back with a date for the next alumni-meet up (2-3 months from now), as we all loved it and would like to take more deep dives into Agile HR-topics! Check your e-mail inbox for the invite.

Also want to take part of one of the training programs? Check these dates for autumn/winter 2019:

·      27 Sept & 4 Oct 2019, Utrecht (Dutch)

·      22 & 29 Nov 2019, Eindhoven (Dutch)

·      11, 12 & 13 Dec 2019, Amsterdam (English)