Developing agile talent is a business agenda
Boosting agility at all three levels – organizational, team and individual – is essential for businesses, teams or individuals to succeed. Developing agility is a commercial and business agenda as much as it’s a people agenda.
- Shareholders want businesses that can respond to market pressures purposefully
- Customers want products and services that meet their changing needs
- Employees want to work for successful, sustainable and progressive organizations.
Agility is a ‘sweet spot’ that matters to everyone.
The people function has a key role in ensuring organizations have the agile talent they need - and developing agile talent is central.
You only attract new talent if you have a compelling reputation for development. You only build strong succession if people are equipped and ready. You only retain talent if people have the chance to grow and use their skills. You only future-proof talent if you respond fully and quickly to emerging challenges.
Too agile?
The evidence for developing agile talent is compelling, but can developing agile talent also be a risk? Do you want all your talent to be agile?
In the world of agile software development, some have expressed concern that Agile is “too often an excuse to avoid careful planning and preparation” (HBR, 2021). Others worry that the short cycles of scrum teamwork can risk teams becoming too tactical or losing sight of the bigger picture. Interestingly, some organizations are shifting to a more hybrid approach – “combining elements of certainty while allowing for cycles of iteration is a good balance of tradition and modern” (Thomas McGrath, Aspira).
In the talent development context, the risk of being too tactical is also a familiar one – with leaders tempted to introduce the ‘latest shiny thing’ hoping it has an impact, but without any real evidence or data to back it up. Similarly, planning is often done but frequently not used. How many times have businesses spent time and money developing succession plans which look great, only to be ignored when a senior vacancy arises.
Many organizations use external talent to increase their agility - with greater reliance on contractors or gig economy workers. Deciding whether to buy, borrow, build and keep capabilities is a critical choice for any manager and organisation.
Strategic talent choices are potentially even more relevant in this context:
- ‘Generalist or specialist’
- ‘Technical or managerial’
- ‘Breadth or depth’
In reality, organizations usually need both ends of these spectra, so getting the right blend of talent with the right skills and capabilities is key.
Any business investment comes with risks to manage, and talent development is no different. The trick is to:
- Build in enough responsive agility – read the market and revisit plans regularly
- Build in proactive agility – define a compelling talent and career proposition to attract and retain the talent your need internally and externally
- Make the most of your data – ask challenging questions about it and use it to inform investment decisions
- Develop an agile career framework to help individuals and managers navigate career choices and change direction more deliberately and easily
If agility is so critical to business success, what do you need to do to shift how you develop agile talent within your organization?