Over the past years,the term diversity has become a buzzword. Organizations and researchers have been embracing diversity because of the perks that come from a diverse workforce. In psychology,people learn of individual differences. In management sciences,people realize that individual differences can benefit organizations if managers hone and utilize each employee’s uniqueness.
People are different in various ways,and organizations need to be able to accommodate and make everyone feel included. With that said,a concept has also gained popularity called ‘neurodiversity.’ Firstly,this article will explain what neurodiversity is and then comment on how companies build neurodiversity workforces in their workplaces.
What is Neurodiversity
In short,neurodiversity is the diversity of the human brain and mind (Autistic UK, 2018). Human beings are different in how they think, and neurodiversity denotes that these natural variations in the human brain lead to differences in how people think and behave.
Neurodiversity was first coined in the late 1990s by sociologist Judy Singer,who argued that neurological variations are differences in people,like gender,sexual orientation,race,and many others.
To truly appreciate neurodiversity,people must understand how it came about. Research denotes that neurodiversity began as a neuro-minority human rights movement (Doyle, 2021).
Neuro-minorities is a term that describes a group of people that differ from the majority of a population regarding brain functioning and behavioral traits due to conditions such as autism.
Within disability rights,this social movement aimed to embrace neurological differences among people and increase the acceptance and inclusion of all people in society (MEd & MD, 2021). To this date,neurological awareness has increased,and research and education on this concept are increasingly becoming important regarding how society addresses these differences.
Albeit the movement encompasses many different neurological variations,the movement is most substantial in the autistic community (Tougaw, 2020). However,other conditions include dyslexia,attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,dyspraxia,dyscalculia,and many others. Some of these conditions range from mild to severe,for instance,autism (Resnick, 2021).
According to research,if a person has autism,they may experience struggles with socializing with other people and social skills. However,on the positive side,people with autism can manifest behavioral traits that include;creativity,attention to detail,and visual learning abilities (Resnick, 2021). The autistic community,over these past years,has tried to shift how society perceives them so that their uniqueness can be valued and seen as valuable to life.
Neurodiversity at Work
At the workplace,these differences mean people work and learn differently. Organizations have been trying to embrace differences for the betterment and elevation of the deprived minority. However,this notion has been positive for companies since diversity can impact an organization’s bottom line.
Research depicts that although awareness about neurodiversity has increased,organizations have not been able to keep pace with this trend. Research suggests that companies have employed only a few people with neurodiversity.
A recent UK study found that only 16 percent of the autistic adult community were employed (Badenoch & Clark, 2021). Most dyslexic people were unemployed. The main reason for this slow growth in the employment of neurodiverse individuals is that companies have not included neurodiversity in their diversity and inclusion practices.
However,the benefits of neurodiversity in organizations are becoming more apparent. Companies are incorporating neurodiversity in recruitment and diversity strategies (Bewley & George, 2016). Incorporating neurodiversity in strategies has created a competitive advantage for organizations due to neurodivergent traits such as creativity,having a different perspective,having specialized skills, and being highly consistent (Bewley & George, 2016).
Below are how companies have been building neurodiverse workforces :
Recruitment and Selection : companies are increasingly employing people with neurodiverse conditions. In application processes, companies ask candidates to declare any neurological conditions that they may have and the type of accommodation they would require. Additionally, companies have been rethinking the recruitment process to attract neurological candidates by highlighting their commitment to diversity and inclusion. Thus, hiring managers have been making the job descriptions clear (Badenoch & Clark, 2021).
Creating neurodiverse teams : companies have been creating neurodiversity – typical teams. Research has recorded 30 % higher productivity in these teams. (Autistic UK, 2018). Companies have found out that diverse thinking enhances innovation and creativity within teams.
Formulation of neurodiversity policies and practices : to increase neurodiversity presence in organizations, HR departments also include neurological conditions in their diversity policies. They are ensuring these policies do not disadvantage people with these conditions.
Onboarding and training of new hires : When it comes to onboarding, the standard of training is being adapted by companies also to suit the needs of individuals with neurological conditions. Companies are designing training materials that are accessible to individuals.
Performance management : Managers have been increasingly learning to give feedback to people with neurological conditions. Thus, being sensitive when giving feedback and building support structures that enhance motivation and self–esteem.
Retention : Companies have been making employees with neurological conditions feel at home, thus making them appreciated. HRs are introducing support structures to aid the working experience for neurodiverse employees, for instance, the opportunity to speak out if there are any concerns or issues. Organizational cultures nowadays are being established as a safe space where employees with neurological conditions can feel comfortable and flourish. Central to this has been the psychological safety in these organizations.
How can Companies make their Workplaces more Neurodiversity–friendly?
To make workplaces neurodiversity-friendly,there is a range of practices that companies can put in place. Such practices include, but are not limited to:
Adjusting employees’ workspaces to accommodate sensory needs such as sound sensitivity, for example, offering sound cancelling headphones
Using a clear and direct communication style that is concise and easily understandable
Conduct workshops for awareness so that other employees can be more understanding and sensitive to diversity differences
Being kind and patient
Conclusion
Diversity is an essential aspect of modern organizations. This report has briefly explained the concept of neurodiversity. It is, however, necessary for organizations to fully embrace people with neurological conditions, as it reflects on the organization’s bottom line.
The neurodiversity community has been for the past decades advocating for their rights. The employment rate of neurodiverse individuals remains low. However, organizations are incorporating neurodiversity as part of their workforces. It remains the job of managers and PeopleOps practitioners to be able to utilize all the different types of diversity that manifest in their organizations
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer – that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” – Steve Jobs
Introduction
When someone hears the term design thinking, they might instantly relate it to art, user interface, or design-related things. But design thinking is not limited only to art or user interface design.
Design thinking is a complex business solution. It is a non-linear approach or process. People live and work in a world of interlocking systems, where many of the problems they face are dynamic, multifaceted, and inherently human.
Currently, many people are facing the BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear & Incomprehensible) & VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex & Ambiguous). After the world crisis with COVID-19, businesses and entrepreneurs understood humans importance and their roles in business growth and development.
So now, businesses are focusing on human-centric techniques rather than following traditional approaches for growth and development. Now, enterprises are adopting creative methods and innovation in their business strategies.
Thinking like a designer can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes, and strategies. This approach, known as design thinking, brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable.
A growth mindset is “the conviction that knowledge and skills can be acquired” (Mindset Works, n.d.). People that have a growth mindset think that by putting in time and effort, they can become smarter, more intellectual, and more talented.
“Be the change you want to see in the world” is a quote by Mahatma Gandhi and a newfound principle to many in the workplace.
In a progressive industrial and technical world, company survival is dependent mainly on forward-thinking leadership and setting the pace for the future to prevent the risk of becoming obsolete.
In July 2021, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson portrayed their ambitious growth mindset and the essence of agility by going to space for the first time to learn more about the universe and find the next best thing to expand their business.
In its simplest terms, a growth mindset means seeing a chance to grow.
A company’s long-term survival is heavily dependent on being open-minded and welcoming innovative thinking. Blackberry was a domineering mobile gadget company in the early 2000s. Still, due to the lack of a growth mindset, it failed to maintain its competing aspects losing all dominant presence.
This article explores the concept of growth mindset, how it applies in the contemporary world, and why it is essential because this is the change we want to see and value in corporate environments.
Fixed and Growth Mindset
An individual with a growth mindset understands that hard work and excellence come from learning through mistakes and gaining feedback from others to help enhance talent, skills, abilities, and personality.
Individuals with a fixed mindset feel that their core characteristics, such as intelligence, talents, and abilities, are unchangeable and rigid over time.
Professor Carol Dweck is a pioneer on growth mindset and shares that it is the most efficient method for helping people raise their self-efficacy, overcome their fear of failure, and believe in their ability to become competent in the future.
People who have a growth mindset have more self-efficacy in achieving their goals, according to research. The Growth Mindset Institute has identified eight basic mental models that will cause people to have a fixed mindset.
These eight mental models are known as fixed mindset triggers because they frequently induce people to have a fixed mentality response. A fixed mindset trigger is a mental pattern that leads to bad habits, including procrastination, resistance, and giving up.
The eight mental models are mindset beliefs, high effort, challenges, setbacks, success of others, comfort zone, feedback, and grit.
A growth mentality is essential for success in today’s competitive corporate world. Companies must adapt to changing circumstances, learn from mistakes, and believe that each employee has more potential for success.
How Growth Mindset Impact Organizations Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic
A growth mindset is one of the Agile PeopleOps Framework™ Manifesto.
Many organizations are dealing with the economic downturn caused by the pandemic (dubbed the “COVID-19 shock”) as the world continues to live in fear. Surviving these unprecedented times will require essential lifestyle changes to combat infections and rethinking how we do business.
The traditional formulas for success no longer apply in the new normal. Instead, adapting and growing in the face of adversity will be the key to triumphantly overcome the COVID-19 shock.
Keeping in mind: With change comes growth.
Let us understand the organizations that adopt a growth mindset.
Microsoft Growth Mindset
According to The Adecco Group, one of the biggest companies in the world, Microsoft, has adopted the “Growth Mindset Culture.”
In 2014, when Mr. Satya Nadella became the CEO of Microsoft, he recognized that the company had become siloed, and the divisions were competing with one another. Bureaucracy and internal politics were impeding innovation and teamwork. He realized that change was the need of the hour for growth and sustainability.
The company’s stock price is now five times higher than when Mr. Nadella took over, and Microsoft’s market capitalization has surpassed one trillion dollars.
Microsoft has become the go-to “equipment”/ software used in various organizations during these “COVID times” as many businesses conduct work-from-home opportunities to which Microsoft so vastly caters.
Amazon Growth Mindset
Amazon was among the earliest online retailers, starting their business almost 14 years ago, offering the ability to buy online (a new concept at the time) in a new market: the internet.
Today the company has multiplied in size and respectfully in business, almost tripling revenue, becoming one of the world’s successful online stores/organizations to date. So how did they do it?
By applying the growth mindset, the company was better able to assess risks and collect data (specifically, how to reach optimal customer satisfaction) to inform the next step, thus, creating an agile operating model.
Amazon embraced strategic planning that boosted revenue and provided employee growth (opportunity for workers/employees to grow by working themselves up the hierarchy levels).
With COVID 19 dominating presence, this business will continue to flourish as its ideals align with how our world has significantly changed. The company is in the center stage today with more and more people buying online than physically wanting or even stepping outside.
Growth Mindset: The Future of Work in Human Capital Management
According to a PwC survey, 66.7% of employees in the human resource workforce are unprepared for the changes ahead. Alarming, indeed!
The business world is still recuperating from the COVID-19 pandemic. During these challenging times, People Operations must find solutions to how organizations can positively impact the workplace and the workforce.
On the brighter side, People Operations trends evolve and transform the way we work as technology advances. The role of People Operations professionals is evolving to Strategic Practitioners, Employee Architects, Experience Designers, and Coaches.
People Operations professionals must develop a growth mindset from the practice level down to the academic level to drive a holistic change in organizational strategy, structures, and processes. The essence is to deliver user-centric value and human experience to the employees.
By cultivating a growth mindset, the practitioners can embark on a continuous learning journey to innovate new ways to elevate the human experience within organizations and external stakeholders (including candidates). This, in turn, will enable them to make significant contributions to organizational sustainability and success.
Initially, HR transformation aimed to make HR processes more efficient at a clerical and administrative level. However, in today’s new era, HR is taking a backseat, and People Operations occupies the driver’s seat.
The growth mindset can stimulate People Operations practitioners to envision the big systemic picture of organizations and serve as constructive Change Catalysts.
Stimulating Growth Mindset at Individual and Organization Levels
Growth as a mind-related aspect is often not stimulated enough and gives the illusion that an individual has reached her peak while a lot of change can still occur.
The Growth Mindset theory then becomes operational by encouraging the stimulation of the mind through learning and developing skills that will create advancements for personal and career growth. In organizations, individuals with a Growth Mindset are an asset and valued because they represent the value of hard work and dedication.
Organizations can
Induce learning by sponsoring the latest learning and development seminars that train employees to upskill
Make room for mistakes in the organization to learn through trial and error and allocate time to improve on the mistakes made to avoid repetition in the future.
Foster team collaboration from all departments in the organization as a way for teams to learn from each other
Create a culture of “open communication and feedback” where employees can share their concerns, ideas, and solutions for different areas of improvement.
Challenge employees to get them out of their comfort zones by pushing them towards organizational and personal goals.
A growth mindset can be stimulated at an individual level through introspection, habituating change, focusing on the process, not the result, and seeking learning opportunities.
Organizations benefit from stimulating innovative thinking. It enhances motivation and cognitive growth, fosters positive work relationships, and boosts performance mainly because employees become eager to take risks and pursue more meaningful goals.
In recent years, there has been a movement within the HR industry towards what is known as ‘Agile HR’. This term refers to an approach to HR that is more flexible and responsive to change. It is based on the principles of the Agile Manifesto, which was originally created for software development.
So, what is agile HR? Agile HR is a term that is used to describe the application of agile principles to the HR function. It is about being responsive to change and adapting to the needs of the business. This approach is becoming increasingly popular as organizations strive to be more agile and responsive to the ever-changing business environment.
Agile HR involves moving away from traditional, bureaucratic HR systems and processes and adopting a more flexible, customer-centric approach. This means creating an HR function that is aligned with the company’s business strategy and can adapt quickly to changes in the marketplace. If you are interested in learning more about agile HR, then keep reading!
The question that might cross one’s mind is, “Does agile work in HR?” The simple answer to this question is ‘yes.’
The Agile HR model states that the human resources job is not just limited to implementing controls, standards, compliance, and driving execution. But it is to facilitate, steer, and improve HR and organizational agility.
It’s worth noting that driving agility means steering programs that create adaptability, innovation, collaboration, and speed.
Agile HR is an innovative way of rethinking and redefining the HR function by moving away from the traditional HR operating model.
It focuses on cross-collaborating between and within different functional, project, or program teams (including HR) to deliver user-friendly value and experience to stakeholders (internal and external). Iterative feedback is yet another crucial component in Agile HR.
It simplifies how recruitment and other aspects of the human resources function operate to improve processes and harness agility, thus transforming HR and the organization.
Moreover, Agile HR practitioners have the flexibility and opportunity to contribute to the overall experience of the workforce.
In a nutshell, one can safely conclude that Agile HR is a drift from traditional HR’s rigid rules into a simpler model driven by feedback from everyone involved, from customers to employees to management.
One may wonder why this drift and transformation is happening now anyway? Why are organizations looking to suddenly include Agile in their way of doing things?
It is because of the fast, innovative world we live in and because user-driven or customer-centric models are better suited to be adaptable in the short term.
Agile for HR
Agile for HR (human resources) is a term used to apply the agile methodology, principles, and values to the HR function within an organization. Agile for HR aims to improve the effectiveness of HR processes and make them more responsive to the needs of the business.
In recent years, Agile for HR has been gaining popularity as more organizations have begun to embrace the agile ways of working in Human Resources. There are numerous benefits of practicing agile for HR, like enhanced collaboration and communication between and within HR teams and other functions and increased flexibility in delivering value and experience to customers (candidates, employees, and other stakeholders).
Why Agile is important in HR?
It’s important to realize that agile is the only solution in today’s fast-changing world. The core philosophy of agile is to deliver value to customers.
In HR, candidates, employees, and stakeholders are the customers. Multidisciplinary teams must collaborate to deliver value to the workforce and clients.
However, the transition to agile is not easy, as it requires discipline and perseverance. Agile is about adjusting and modifying. It is a journey.
Joe McCollum, a senior adviser to McKinsey, says, “In agile, you get back control; your voice is listened to, you help shape the work, you help shape the team dynamics. Everybody’s a doer, and you are much closer to the action than the traditional hierarchy.”
In the old traditional model, hierarchies cause people to not be in control of their work, and this acts as a barrier to change. The old model doesn’t encourage fluidity – a must in today’s VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) and BANI (brittle, anxious, non-linear, and incomprehensible) business world.
Agile is pro-fluidity, and it requires the HR processes to be perfectly tuned such that people make decisions and act quickly. This is an antithesis to the people processes that move people hierarchically through the traditional structure, thus delaying the decision-making process and actions in delivering value.
Hence, “people processes across a flatter organizational structure, with reduced silos, require a different HR approach.” (McCollum J, 2021)
Comparing and contrasting traditional HR and Agile HR is vital to understanding why agile is important in HR.
Traditional HR versus Agile HR
Transactional (or traditional) HR processes involve routine employee life-cycle management and general administration. The structure is hierarchical, and the work style is pre-defined.
Traditional HR always takes a top-down approach, and the roles are standard and siloed. Traditional HR is grounded more in a reactive stance towards employees, reactive to employee requests and disciplinary issues.
In contrast, Agile HR takes more of a ‘proactive’ and holistic approach. The purpose is to deliver value to stakeholders and maximize their experience journey. Agile HR prioritizes collaboration and co-creation, feedback, and innovation.
The below visual provides an overview of traditional HR versus Agile HR.
What is the modern name for HR?
If Agile HR is the way forward for the coming years, it is crucial to elevate HR to something more holistic and value-centered. Enter People Operations (or PeopleOps).
People Operations, as a function and industry, doesn’t consider employees as resources but values them as an organization’s competitive advantage.
It invests in the development, engagement, and enrichment of employees. People Operations considers the employee life cycle an integrated unified journey instead of a siloed one.
Enter Agile PeopleOps that can be interchanged with Agile HR in the rest of the sections in the article.
Benefits of Agile HR (Agile PeopleOps)
Agile HR (People Operations) is the new paradigm for current and next-gen HR. It requires a few shifts in the mindset, as illustrated in the Agile HR (People Operations) Manifesto.
When practiced, the Manifesto will yield the benefits (or value realization) at the individual, team, and organizational levels, as depicted in the visual below.
What is the modern name for HR?
The Agile Manifesto for HR (PeopleOps) takes a global perspective and uncovers better ways of developing an engaging and enriched people experience by practicing and helping others practice it.
Team of teams over traditional hierarchies: Companies must bid goodbye to hierarchical-based organizations and welcome opportunities to create a synergistic network of teams, enabling organizations to adapt and innovate quickly in a VUCA and BANI world.
Growth mindset over fixed mindset: A growth mindset sees failure as a motivating springboard for advancement and mastery. Organizational members, including the top echelon, leaders, and HR, must embrace a mindset that helps them embark on learning agility.
Coaching culture over command-and-control: Leaders and managers must be the drivers for building an intentional coaching culture by enabling team members and teams to realize their potential.
Transcultural competence over cultural competence: To navigate the cultural dilemmas and differences in various socio-cultural settings, members must develop transcultural competence – the ability to recognize, respect, reconcile and realize the cultural dilemmas.
The Agile HR (PeopleOps) Manifesto attempts to break through the Agile manifesto barriers and calls for intentional change. It demands leaders and People Operations practitioners to embrace challenges, improve mastery, be more transparent, and coach one another through feedforward and feedback.
Implementing the Manifesto and the Agile HR methodology – Agile PeopleOps Framework – has multiple benefits.
Increased cross-functional collaboration and co-creation
Prioritization and transparency
Streamlined and value-driven PeopleOps processes
Regular check-ins and iterative feedback
Regular cadences and continuous improvements
Enhanced human experience (HX)
Agile Human Resources Approach
HR leaders and teams need to create an integrated HR-Business solution by focusing on individual competence and organizational work processes, workplace culture, and climate.
Agile HR doesn’t limit HR roles to administrative capacities; instead, they should develop T-shaped capabilities – having a deep knowledge of any given HR function with the capabilities to work across different disciplines.
Leadership teams should let go of control, provide more autonomy to teams, and build an environment of psychological safety to encourage individuals to experiment and learn from failures. Leaders and HR professionals need to nurture human experience and harness coaching culture. It is in fact the job of authority figures to make sure their employees and subordinates are happy and satisfied with all things relating to the workplace and its duties.
According to an article by Ashley Brooks, “Ensuring employee satisfaction is an important part of many HR roles. Most companies don’t want to be known for having an unpleasant work environment that employees can’t stand.” Unhappy employees don’t put any organization in the best of positions for one; customers lose faith in your service or product. Such a reputation affects recruitment as most employees might stir clear of such work environments.
Authority figures need to move away from micro-managing tactics and look toward getting results rather than dictating how employees get to resolutions. The Agile HR approach encourages communication and trust between organization members.
Scrum Alliance and business Agility Institute state that, agile coaches’ biggest challenge in doing their jobs is leadership acting as a barrier to agility through resistance and a lack of understanding of the agile methodology. This information reinforces the importance of having authority figures not only on board with an agile transition but spearheading the process. People in positions of authority have so much influence in such situations; their taking the time to understand agile and its requirements makes the shift swift and effective.
The Agile methodology in HR also makes a clear demarcation between employee fun and well-being, once no organization or employer cared for such things in workers. Research has shown that overworked and unhappy employees make for bad business.
Agile’s focus on being human-centric and employee well-being has highlighted this difference. Fun and well-being at first glance seem like terms that are working towards the same goal but in reality, these things aren’t mutually exclusive. Companies like WeWork which went the ‘fun’ route as a form of engagement and improved work environment failed due to this lack of mutual exclusivity.
While We Work employees had leisure items on location like football tables, ping pong tables, and even alcohol at work their well-being was still criminally lacking. Many employees complained about how stressful it was to be forced to have fun all the time by an employer who demanded long hours from employees.
Fun is short-lived yet well-being is lasting. “A fun work environment provides only short-term rewards for employees. This doesn’t lead to lasting happy employees or work engagement,” says Survey Monkey. Well-being curbs issues like burnout, and stress and increases emotional resilience in employees.
The Agile HR approach is heavily implicit in technology, as the world evolves being tech-literate has become a vital skill. According to Deloitte’s 2017 Global Human Capital Trends, “as organizations become more digital, they face a growing imperative to redesign themselves to move faster, adapt more quickly, facilitate rapid learning, and embrace the dynamic career demands of their people.” Agile HR is preparing organizations and their workforce for these unavoidable changes in business and striving to make sure organizations stay ahead of the curve of progress.
Agile HR also approaches the subject of compensation in its fast-paced and evolving manner. Traditional HR works on an annual timeline for raises, market and performance evaluations, and feedback. Agile HR is in a constant state of assessing all these things which makes for better employee engagement and satisfaction and protects organizations. According to an article on the LucidChart website, “Regularly assessing your pay structures, benefits, and compensation packages can help organizations identify and reduce pay gaps, protect against wage discrimination lawsuits, and personalize compensation plans to attract and retain employee effectively.”
Traditional Hierarchies to Network of Teams
Many companies are undergoing a shift from traditional hierarchies to a network of team models. Organizations are making the educated decision to shift from authoritative traditional hierarchical systems that rule with an iron fist. With a network of teams, there is more of a collaborative approach to things that involves strategies that anticipates possible issues.
According to the Deloitte report 2017, 32% believe they are transitioning to design their organization to be more adaptable and team-centric. As per Deloitte, the top Human Capital Trend of 2018 is the rise of the ‘Symphonic C-suite’. 51% of the survey respondents rated C-suite Collaboration as very important.
The C-suite executives need to step out from their functional silos and work collaboratively across functions and departments to address organizational challenges and serve as role models for their respective functional or departmental networks of teams.
The Agile approach mandates HR be accountable and agile in functional areas, collaborate with organizational leaders to create a culture of engagement and co-creation, and ensure that this culture proceeds from the top to the operational level.
Rather than operating through a chain of bureaucracy with rigid mandates that can hinder progress in cases, having a network of teams opens the floor to a more adaptable way of working. This flexible route or work helps employees to conjure more effective tactics for projects and
Agile/Lean Methodologies
Scrum and Kanban are the most common agile and lean methods used by HR teams. Scrum is a framework to manage work. It has well-defined roles, and time-boxed ceremonies and its three pillars are transparency, inspection, and adaptation. Scrum breaks down long processes in service delivery or product delivery in line with its three pillars. Scrum’s ceremonies and meetings as a whole provide teams with an opportunity to collaborate, go over items together, and resolve problems swiftly.
Kanban is a lean methodology that fosters workflow visualization and helps manage the ‘flow’ of work. Members use physical Kanban boards or digital boards like Trello, ClickUp Restya, and others to visualize the workflow. According to research conducted by Kanban University, “76% of respondents reported that Kanban was ‘effective’ or ‘more effective than other methods/frameworks they have used.”
HR practitioners use lean methods to visualize HR workflows (like recruitment, onboarding, team training, quarterly goals, and others) and have disciplined cadences to foster constructive and meaningful conversations.
For example, a Recruitment Specialist can use a Kanban tool (like Trello) to chart out the new hires’ onboarding process workflow. The board can have lists/columns like pre-onboarding, during onboarding, and post-onboarding.
For each list, the Specialist can create cards to describe the activities (like pre-onboarding may entail the team sending out forms to the new hire to sign up, setting up a training schedule, and getting his ID and badge ready).
During Scrum cadences, the cross-functional team of onboarding specialists, IT/operations team, recruiter, and other stakeholders can refer to the Trello board and have constructive conversations to celebrate wins and ideate as a team on how to reduce delays and optimize the workflow.
Human Experience
Organization members aren’t mere resources but are human beings who are instrumental in leveraging the organization’s competitive advantage. Research shows that an engaged and committed team can help organizations succeed and thrive.
The APF approach creates principles with a human-centered mindset and a rich agile methodology in HR. According to research done by Survey Monkey, “Happier employees are more engaged. And engaged employees show increased productivity as well as a far lower rate of absenteeism.”
The Agile HR mindset requires leaders and HR teams to use design thinking principles and techniques (like empathy mapping, brainwriting & brainstorming, storyboarding, and journey mapping) to understand their customer’s needs, motivations, and expectations to design better people-centered solutions.
To elevate the human experience, the HR teams must design a journey map to include personalized touchpoints, validate the map with new hires, incorporate the feedback, and experiment on a small scale to evaluate if the process fosters a positive candidate experience.
Agile HR understands the value of a human-centric approach to things, in any organization where people are involved their satisfaction and happiness matter. This also involves looking at trends and social matters that affect one’s human capital. While in the past employees tended to prioritize their work, research from Survey Monkey indicates that millennials and Gen-Xs are more likely to prioritize both, happiness at work and home compared to baby boomers.
The human capital of today is not looking to sacrifice one for the other when it comes to career and private life. This is an important shift organizations must adapt and factor into their structures as the human experience is constantly changing. Ignoring this would negatively affect any organization’s bottom line.
Coaching Culture
According to research, coaching culture (one of the APF manifestos) is highly correlated with an organization’s performance and employee engagement & enrichment.
To build this culture, managers need to be intentional facilitators and coaches. HRs need to provide deep-dive knowledge and support to the managers and collaborate with them as partners & co-creators to create a coaching culture.
HR teams must evaluate success in terms of employee satisfaction & engagement levels, innovation and co-creation levels, organizational trust, and integrity.
Today business is not solely about maximizing shareholders’ profits, but it’s more about providing better opportunities for more stakeholder involvement and maximizing the shareholders’ value.
Long-term business success mandates HR professionals and leaders to be people-centric. They need to put their people first and create value for internal customers (employees), external customers, and end-users, thus building a great place to work.
Frequently Ask Questions
What is Agile HR Management
Agile HR management is a new approach to HR that focuses on speed, flexibility, and collaboration. The goal of agile HR management is to create a more responsive and adaptive HR function that can quickly adapt to changes in the business environment.
What is Agile in HR
The term “agile” has become increasingly popular in recent years, especially in the business world. Agile methodology is a type of project management that is designed to be adaptable and responsive to change. In human resources (HR), agile is a term that is used to describe the management of people in a way that is flexible and adaptable. HR professionals who work in an agile environment are constantly looking for ways to improve the process and make it more efficient.
What is Agile HR Certifications?
Agile HR Certification is a program that provides certification to Human Resources (HR) professionals who want to verify their expertise and embrace agile values, practices, and ways of working. The certification is provided by the Agile HR Consortium, which is a group of leading HR agility practitioners, researchers, and coaches.
Conclusion:
Agile/PeopleOps certification certainly plays a key role in building one’s own People Operations or Human Capital Management career. If you plan to expand your job role or broaden your portfolio, this is the best time to do Agile PeopleOps Certification. Are you eager to adopt a learning agility journey and strengthen your professional career? If yes, connect with us, and our team will extend the necessary guidance and support. You can subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date with our new and upcoming posts.
Organizations must embrace paradigms of vision, the uncertainty of vision, the uncertainty of understanding, complexity, and agility to attain sustainability and a competitive advantage in these unusual times. – transforming traditional HR to Agile PeopleOps practices, thus giving an agile plus human experience edge in today’s disruptive business world.
Agile PeopleOps established a cohesive and dynamic approach that takes People Operations (traditionally referred to as Human Resources / HR) to the next level – changing traditional HR to Agile PeopleOps practices, offering an agile plus human experience edge in today’s disruptive business world.
This is admirable when the C-Suite, Leadership Teams, and People Operations (HR) practitioners use the Agility PeopleOps Framework TM (APF TM) to develop adaptability and human-centric approaches.
Growth mindset (the zeal to continuously learn & improve to achieve mastery)
Everything revolves around one’s mindset. Whether it’s about achieving job success, establishing your own business, completing a difficult exercise, or being a parent, having the correct mentality might be the difference between success and failure.
Carol S. Dweck, a world-renowned Stanford University psychologist, identified the significance of attitude after decades of research. In her book, she discusses the contrasts between a fixed and development mindset, demonstrating how we think about our skills and abilities influence our success in practically every aspect of life. Studies suggest that when we embrace the potential of a development mindset, it may be critical for job success.
A fixed mentality holds that our intelligence, character, and creative potential are fixed. In essence, you are given a hand in life and must accept it. Believing that your characteristics are fixed promotes a need to prove oneself over and over. Career stagnation can be caused by a stuck attitude. A growth mindset, on the other hand, is founded on the belief that your inherent traits are those you can cultivate via your efforts. It is presumptuous to believe that everyone can change and improve as a result of experience and practice. Failure, with a development mindset, is viewed as a stepping stone to progress rather than a hindrance.
Creating a growth mentality
Mindset is formed by our own set of powerful beliefs. A growth mindset implies that beliefs may be altered when they no longer help us reach our objectives. Here are five techniques to get control of your mental attitude and cultivate a development mindset
Accept failure.
Fostering a development mindset entails viewing failure as a beneficial rather than a negative experience. Everyone has setbacks. The trick is to learn from each one and make better decisions as a result. People who are extraordinarily successful usually fail their way to the top. Before earning his big break, Steven Spielberg was rejected from film school three times. Even Oprah Winfrey was sacked from her job as a news co-anchor at a Baltimore television station before going on to launch a popular daytime talk program. According to reports, a producer informed her she was “unfit for television news.” “I had no clue what I was in for or that this was going to be the greatest developing phase of my adult life,” Oprah later stated.
A world in transition
With technology and business models developing at such a quick pace, adopting a growth mindset is critical to job success. Workers will need to constantly learn new skills in order to stay competitive as automation technologies, such as artificial intelligence, become more common. According to a McKinsey research, up to 375 million people globally would be required to shift jobs or gain new skills by 2030. According to research, your thinking determines your success. What counts is not how excellent you are, but how good you want to be.
Human-centric approach (thinking from the lens of candidates & employees, and fusing both empathy & rationality) </h4 >
HCD is a method of thinking that puts the people you’re aiming to serve, as well as other key stakeholders, at the center of the design, innovation, and implementation processes. Our HCD strategy is iterative, quantifiable, and results-driven. Understanding the relationships among stakeholders across the ecosystem is the focus of this study.
GETTING TO KNOW PEOPLE WHEREVER THEY ARE
Meeting people where they are, is the greatest approach to understanding them. We recommend getting off of your desk and immersing yourself in the lived experiences and context of individuals you want to understand and involve in the design process, whether that is at a factory, on a farm, or in someone’s house.
HOLISTICALLY UNDERSTANDING NEEDS
People are at the heart of social influence, and people are ever-changing. Their social, economic, and cultural environments impact their experiences, opinions, and behaviors. Understanding people on a more nuanced level leads to stronger and more meaningful design, regardless of what we’re working on together.
FACILITATION FOR CREATIVE WORK
Methods that are creative and collaborative assist in engaging stakeholders and users, mapping out new potential areas, and aligning around new agendas, ideas, and strategies.
Transcultural competence (the ability to address cultural differences and dilemmas by moving away from ethnocentrism and believing in the genius of ‘and’)
Many professions struggle to function well among diverse cultures, and as the world evolves, it’s become evident that engaging with other cultures, both local and foreign, necessitates proficiency in both identifying and transcending cultural boundaries.
The following four stages are given for detecting and addressing cultural dilemmas: Recognizing, accepting, resolving, and understanding cultural differences
Human Effectiveness Indicators (Measures to assess the effectiveness of performance of individuals / teams)
Employees who are happy and engaged.
If the great majority of your employees are engaged, it is a strong sign that your human resources department is effective. While a variety of variables impact employee satisfaction, efforts such as team-building activities play an important part in creating a positive work experience.
Managers who communicate well.
One way to know if your department is effective is if managers frequently seek their advice. When managers are upfront with their representative, it makes resolving workplace obstacles simpler, allowing tiny concerns to be mitigated before they become major issues.
Workplace Characteristics of an Effective Employee
Dependability
Above all, a practitioner must be trustworthy. Professionals are expected to be trustworthy and follow through on assignments, which goes hand in hand with responsiveness. Being a “go to” person in times of need and keeping your promises builds a reputation for dependability.
Visibility
Staying locked up in your office and only being seen when there is an issue is a simple way to undermine your success as an HR professional. Being visible is essential for success and may help you create relationships with the individuals you support. (Having a presence can also help HR workers lose their “grim reaper” reputation.)
Responsiveness
Nobody enjoys asking for something and then having to wait what seems like an eternity for an answer. Requests to HR are frequently time sensitive, such as those pertaining to salary or FMLA. A successful human resources professional aims to respond in a timely manner.
Communication Abilities
From emails to workers to coaching meetings with managers, must be able to successfully transmit information to others. They must also be able to clarify concepts and effectively explain difficult facts.
APF™ methodology is a critical enabler for the C-suite, leaders, and practitioners to take a stepwise approach to build agile organizations and drive agility in people operations and business.
The PeopleOps Scrum Master (PSM), aka HR Manager is an individual with diverse stances (for example, facilitator, servant leader, coach, change agent) as shown in the image.
Different contexts and situations call for different stances, and the PeopleOps Scrum Master needs to know when and how to apply them.
This post explicates a real-time situation and the stances of PeopleOps Scrum Master that a Head HR fulfilled, and serves as an inspiration for today’s HR Manager who is keen to foster agility and human experience at the workplace.
Situation Overview
The Head HR was associated with a company that specializes in ready to move workspaces and interiors segment.
Prior to her joining, the company’s HR department had minimal systems, processes and procedures in place for several years.
The industry trends and the changing role of HR deemed the company’s management to redefine their HR function.
The Head HR was recruited and was accountable for organizational development and change management.
Post joining, one of the change initiatives the Head HR proposed was to conduct an ‘external audit’.
To initiate the same, she examined the employees’ files and was shocked that
Hard copy files of some employees were missing
Important documents like mark sheets and experience letters of some employees were missing
Few files were torn and disorganized
Most of the files didn’t have increment letters, and rewards & incentives documents
The HR team (Head HR & Recruiter operating from headquarters, and HR Executive operating from a different state) had only 20 days left to organize all the 135 employees’ files.
The Recruiter was overloaded with fulfillment of priority requisitions for about 10 days and the HR Executive had other priorities to be fulfilled.
Action Plan
The Head HR prepared the following action plan:
Get all the files from different offices to the headquarters (within 5 days from the date the process begins)
Organize logistics for the HR Executive to come down to the headquarters. Ensure the processes in the location are not impacted in the absence of HR Executive (10 days from the date the process begins)
For the files with missing documents, ensure the employees’ give the documents to Head HR within 7 days
For the files with missing hard copy documents, search for soft copies in company’s repository. If unavailable, take the help of employees to create new files
Prepare new set of files for those that were torn and disorganized
Partner with finance team and employees to get all the increment letters, and add them to the files
The Head HR as a PeopleOps Scrum Master
Change Agent and Servant Leader
The PeopleOps Scrum Master (aka Head HR) very well understood that her team had other priorities to fulfill before they could join hands with her in this priority project. She very well elicited Agile PeopleOps Framework™ values like respect, commitment and adaptability.
She didn’t wait for them to complete their work. Instead, as a catalyst for change and with a true intention ‘to serve’, the PeopleOps Scrum Master set aside 2 hours every day to work herself on the project.
For employees who were busy at the construction site and could not fill the necessary forms, the PeopleOps Scrum Master elicited stewardship behavior to address the impediment. On their behalf, she filled the forms by taking the details over phone. The PeopleOps Scrum Master shared the soft copy of the duly filled form to the employees through e-mail and WhatsApp. She asked the employees to make necessary corrections, sign the documents and send it to her in a day’s time. She ensured that this activity was completed before her team could join her in the project.
Facilitator and Mentor
The HR team (HR Executive and Recruiter) joined the project after 10 days. Both didn’t have any prior experience in employees file management. As a mentor, the PeopleOps Scrum Master explicated the importance of file documentation and management to the team. She provided the necessary guidance on how the process should be followed, including soft copies preparation and saving them in employees’ database. As a facilitator, the PeopleOps Scrum Master promoted collaboration and enabled the team to achieve their project objectives.
Outcomes
The entire project of employees file documentation was completed as per the schedule (20 days). An internal audit was conducted by both finance and quality teams, followed by the external audit. There were zero errors in the entire process.
The HR team (PeopleOps Scrum Master, HR Executive and Recruiter) received accolades, a team reward of INR 5000, and a half-day off from the company’s Managing Director. The team spent the reward amount toward team lunch and sweets for all employees.
Conclusion:
The PeopleOps Scrum Master, aka HR Manager applied multiple stances based on the context and situation, and helped the project to be successful. The team learnt that where there is a will to accomplish objectives and tasks, there is a way to fulfill them without hampering the daily activities.
If you’ve ever seen a Transformers movie, you’re well aware that one of the bots transforms, even if it’s in smooth (if not longer) action. The pieces and features melt away to reveal something new, but there are similar parts involved. Any change happens when organizations change.
In Part 1 of this two-part post, we discussed measuring specific metrics at each stage of a product’s lifecycle. We introduced the One Metric That Matters (OMTM) framework that helps identify a single measurement to gauge a product’s success in a given stage of development, cutting noise from the signal. Useful, right?
So how can we take this approach to enterprise transformation, especially in the HR space where metrics are everywhere but don’t always exemplify the success of a team of people? If leveraging the Agile PeopleOps Framework, there is a charter that captures the change to be made. We recommend using this approach to identify OMTM metrics and specify them in stages. For starters, let’s revisit Steve Glaveski’s table, with People Team-transformation additions:
Taking these metrics, and documenting and tracking your use of the charter, will help your APF change stay the course. It’s a great coaching tool for leadership (example: “What can we do better here?”), but it’s also a great live document for the people you’re working directly with (it tracks progress). Can do). A great way to do it). A great way to track and track your progress). Helps to show.)
If you’re reading this, there is a high likelihood that you are familiar with Agile methodologies in software development.
You know about Scrum, Kanban, SAFe. You’re familiar with why these methods work, and the value they deliver not only to organizations, but teams leveraging them.
You recognize the value inherent in iterative development, and collaborative environments.
Agile has taken the business world by storm: Adoption on Engineering teams continues to accelerate (12th State of Agile Report).
And the values and principles behind the Agile Manifesto are evolving to meet the needs of other business functions.
Agile in HR isn’t particularly new – plenty has been written to date about why HR would benefit from such a framework.
And yet, there hasn’t been a very good answer as to how Agile values can be tactically brought into an HR organization.
Enter the Agile PeopleOps Framework (APF). APF enables HR teams to intentionally adopt a more Agile mindset.
It shifts from a worldview of VUCA to one of flexibility, responsiveness, and transparency.
APF borrows heavily from the structure of the Agile Manifesto to bring a refreshed list of values and priorities, directly in line with the HR business function.
A Tale of Two Manifesto
Mirroring the structure of a Scrum Team (and at scale, a program team), APF focuses on human capital strategy, and intentional talent acquisition.
It is a full-service framework, accounting for COPs, KPIs (now called Human Effectivity Indicators – or HEIs), and end-to-end value delivery (from Talent Acquisition, to long-term employee.)
Roles and processes are similar to Scrum, and the underlying feel of adoption is not unlike that of software development.
If your organization has adopted Agile methodologies within its Engineering Teams, consider APF as part of your organization’s journey.
There is, of course, a lot to unpack here. Values, principles, roles, and processes differ slightly from that of their traditional Agile counterparts.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll discuss some of these changes in greater depth. We’ll detail how the APF Agile HR Manifesto differs from that of the Agile Manifesto.
We’ll discuss where we believe Agile (as a mindset) is heading, and why we think Agile is here to stay, albeit in various forms.
Also peek into the processes that drive APF – diving into the customizations of Scrum and Kanban that were made in response to different environments and goals.
Finally, we’ll look ahead and talk about what it means to be culturally agile, and how to get there.
A fair warning: this is Systems Thinking-type stuff. Get ready to think big!
We’re excited to introduce APF, and we think you’ll begin to find value from Day 1 of adoption.
Our PeopleOps Coaches offer 1:1 coaching, and other services to help you get started on your journey (or to help accelerate!)
