"New Work" is on #1 for HR: An opportunity for the Agility Movement

In the past, recruiting & talent management was primarily a priority for HR managers, while agile practitioners increasingly focused on change management and the further development of working methods and corporate culture. According to current figures from the trade magazine “Personalführung,” this could now change.

HR and agile were parallel worlds in the past

“HR and Agile colleagues* still don’t pull together in most companies.”

From our daily experience with HR and Agile experts we have come to this conclusion time and again. Especially because with Echometer, we are developing a tool that combines agile collaboration and classic personnel development. But why is this so?

One reason for the separation between HR and Agile in the past was that HR’s main focus was often on recruiting, talent management or employer branding. Change management and team development, on the other hand, was often left - if possible - to the Agilists (Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches). The potential for cooperation between HR and Agilists remained untapped.

The study - New Work at HR in 1st place

Given this background, we were very pleased to read that since Corona, work organization and new work are now also at the top of the priority list for HR:

Of course - “New Work” is not the same as Agile. But agile ways of working have a large intersection with New Work, for example when it comes to self-organization of teams and flat hierarchies. The change therefore makes it necessary for Agilists and HR to work together.

Why is this an opportunity for HR AND Agilists?

We are convinced that agile people can achieve much more in terms of a transformation to an agile, employee-centered way of working. Because:

1. Agilists are usually very good at estimating which agile methods can also be used in other fields (Kanban, retrospectives, dailies, etc.) and thus provide important impulses for New Work. Furthermore, Scrum Master and Agile Coaches usually know the needs of the teams very well. The exchange between agile people and HR is therefore a great opportunity for HR to better understand their own teams.
2. HR has a trustful and long-standing exchange with both the management and the works councils. Especially when agilists want to develop the company as a whole, cooperation with HR is an important lever.

Outlook - HR goes agile in 2021

If HR and agilists unite their forces in the present time, the change in working methods, which is currently becoming increasingly necessary, can be driven forward sustainably.

The goals overlap anyway: self-organisation strengthen the teams, Hierarchies break down executives too Coaches develop - to name just a few.

How are your experiences regarding the cooperation between agilists and HR? Write it to us as a comment on our LinkedIn post here.

We look forward to your experiences with the HR + Agile interface!

Background to Echometer

And what does Echometer have to do with it?

View Echometer case studies

With its software for team retrospectives & team health checks, Echometer links the subject areas Agile Collaboration and HR Analytics.

As a tool for (remote) team development, Echometer is used by HR departments as well as Scrum Masters or Agile coaches.