Agile Talent Management — Four Shifts in HR Responsibilities

When an organization is going agile, it requires different ways of talent management to facilitate its transformation. It needs to recruit people who are used to coping with changes; define jobs to emphasize versatility; provide a performance management framework that encourages behavior in line with agile values and principles; and develop leadership that boosts adaptation and innovation. No organization can become agile without HR collaboration that comes down to four fundamental changes in HR responsibilities.

1. RECRUITMENT

- Culture-Add vs. Culture-Fit: When we recruit people, we tend to prefer those who fit into our existing culture because we like working with like-minded people. But it can be a mistake to do so in an agile environment, since agility needs people who are more a culture-add than a culture-fit, and we need to hire people who can help our organization to shift its culture progressively to be more agile.

- Agile-Friendly Profile: When it comes to candidates’ profiles, we look for agile-friendly ones that are based more on values and attitudes than on technical skills. That means, we need people with great versatility and flexibility rather than people with a highly linear career path. A candidate with an agile-friendly profile typically has worked with various types of…