If you ask managers, business owners and HR professionals in Humboldt County what keeps them up at night, their answers will most assuredly highlight the challenge of talent management, having the right people in the right positions. The emphasis on “talent and culture” is sweeping through business today, and is especially relevant in our community. Now more than ever, organizations experience pressure to engage, not just customers, but employees, in order to retain loyal business relationships.
“Agile” methodology, born in software development, is an approach to continuous improvement where change is an iterative collaboration of self-organized, cross-functional teams. The agile approach modifies traditional organizational rules and planning into feedback-driven action that simplifies and expedites change.
A full agile transformation is no small undertaking, but the beauty of agile principles is that they are highly adaptable. While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all way to “be agile,” here are a few simple seed-thoughts to prompt further exploration of “agility” within the lens of talent and culture:
• Timely, multidirectional feedback – Feedback works best when there is more of it, more often, from more people. Have you heard the buzz around “radical candor” recently? Employees (including leaders!) develop best when they understand how they are perceived by others. The practices of near-immediate feedback and ongoing dialogue help organizations stay open and flexible to “course-corrections” along the way.
• Cross-functional teams – As rapid change prompts businesses to move faster than they sometimes can, work often evolves into multiple projects, one right after another. To eliminate some growing pains, aim to form teams that include people with varying expertise. Ideally these teams are small and mighty, steady and self-directed.
• Frequent reflection – Holding “retrospectives” (a.k.a. “lessons learned” in project management) offers valuable after-action insight for the purpose of continuing improvement, all while embracing first-hand knowledge that team members hold. Collect the information, and most importantly, do something with it!
• Coaching instead of monitoring – It can be hard to trust employees or delegate tasks in a command-and-control environment. Good coaches share power with their teams, helping them to transform, self-manage and maintain accountability. Developing the coaching skills of leaders isn’t necessarily expensive or time-consuming. It can be as simple as encouraging employees to connect with colleagues in similar positions to share ideas and challenges over lunch or coffee. For meetings that complement a culture of coaching, substitute daily “huddles” in as a replacement for longer standing meetings when you can, using the time to check-in on key topics, status reports and tasks.
It can be intimidating to chase after new ideas because there are already so many things demanding our time. I encourage business leaders to start with small, subtle adjustments that can have a big impact when compounded over time. Identify someone on the team who is passionate about learning and growth, and have them work as your champion to bring new information to groups for reflection. A great, easy place to start can be the TED Talks YouTube channel or free and/or purchased content from MindTools online. Focus on topics that address the areas of highest concern and remember that there will always be a reward waiting when you aim to improve!
Jolene Thrash is the director of human resources for Humboldt Senior Resource Center. She is a certified human resources professional with a Master of Professional Studies in organization development and change. Jolene can be contacted via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/jthrash/.