Introducing agile working
Introducing agile working
26 March 2016
Over the last couple of years I've worked with many clients to embrace mobile & cloud technology as well as agile working practices. I’d like to share what I have learned. None of it is rocket science but it can make the difference between success and failure.
Work has included:
✴Providing consultancy to senior management to plan moves to agile and cloud working
✴Working with ICT teams to organise training programmes for staff
✴Training over 100 managers to recognise and manage the leadership and communication challenges of agile working teams
✴Engaging over 200 staff for one client on transition to new structures and a new building
✴Training councillors to use cloud technology & mobile devices
✴Training over 150 staff to use mobile devices and apps when working across a range of services and locations
✴Developing commercial practice with public sector service managers
What have I learnt?
Technology is a huge enabler of agile working but you have to get culture right as well.
Some organisations invest in training and work to shift existing culture. Others go nuclear with a fire & rehire focused on attitudes and behaviours. Whichever way the organisation manages it they need to be clear about expectations and be prepared for some staff to ship-out
It certainly helps to give staff good quality smartphones, tablets and laptops regardless of their status because it sends a message that everyone is valued.
People of all ages get excited about the opportunities agile working and cloud technology bring. It’s very much about mindset not age. I’ve met older people who jump straight in and younger people who are set in their ways.
The technology and infrastructure must live up to the hype. This means systems and applications need beta and user testing to ensure they work effectively before they are rolled out. Staff need proper structured training on both the devices and the systems. And in more rural areas there need to be ways of addressing signal drop out and lack of wifi hotspots for instance allowing data to be saved when offline and synced when signal available.
Bring your own devices can be done. Cloud tech tends to support all platforms. It has lots of advantages such as device familiarity and reduced capital costs. But installation and set up can take longer, trainers need to be skilled across devices and my experience is the ICT folk hate it.
Managers who have traditionally managed office based staff find this frightening. The lack of line of sight to staff for many white collar professionals is anathema. There is also real potential for discrimination based on contact time so managers need to be alert to both direct and indirect discrimination issues.
Managers moving to agile working need to focus on managing by outcomes. It isn’t about hours worked or items processed. It has to be about changing customer behaviour, reducing complaints, increasing service uptake and better value for money.
Organisations really need to work on customer journeys and do so by engaging their users rather than have staff work in isolation on them. The approach staff take to making a benefit claim when none have actually made one might be quite different from a real claimant.
There is some real potential in collaborative cloud tools such as Huddle and Trello to assist working across partnership boundaries.
Risk aversion in the public sector is a real problem. Organsations have to be more open to experimentation and innovation and the risk that some ideas will fail. The data security issues can be addressed as government agencies have shown. Senior managers need to be bold and invest appropriately.
In my experience staff at all levels will embrace this change and adopt new working practices but only if they have been engaged in the transition.
A couple of good resources are: The way we work - a guide to smarter working in government and Making flexible work a success.
If you want to take a look at my training offer have a chat about how I can help your organisation transform do get in touch.
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