Developing successful agile innovation methods can drive companies to great new heights. Wanting to avoid digital disruptions and enable better decision-making in the workplace? Then implementing agile innovation methods should be top on your list of to-dos.
Taking an agile approach to project management means taking large tasks and splitting them into smaller tasks, as well as finding ways to be more innovative. So, how do you determine if agile innovation methods are right for your company? Let’s start by taking a closer look at what agile methodology is all about and how it can benefit you and your company.
An agile approach offers the opportunity to recognize and overcome obstacles with speed and efficiency. It rejects the top-down approach and instead incorporates organization among team members for greater autonomy. Moreover, an agile approach frees up management to give more attention to strategy and less to micromanaging employees and projects.
An agile approach is all about working quickly and efficiently to innovate more than the competition. It requires strong leadership that inspires change and experimentation, as well as frequent reviews of any obstacles in order to minimize risk efficiently.
Are Agile Innovation Methods Right for Your Team?
According to Forbes, more than 10,000 businesses and HR leaders representing 140 countries reported that “agility and collaboration” are critical to the success of their organization. If agile innovation methods were implemented, your company would follow in the footsteps of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft.
When developing agile innovation methods for your team, consider the following:
- Are the requirements of the product or project uncertain? — Agile methods work well when the requirements are uncertain. But instead of spending months on end coming up with the requirements that may or may not be what customers desire, using an agile methodology can help the product owner determine the features sooner, allowing for their feedback during the development process.
- Is this a software development project?— Software development projects are suitable for agile methodology and allow certain features to be revealed sooner, as parts of these types of projects can be developed, tested and delivered separately and more seamlessly.
- Are your teams co-located?— If you have team members working remotely and across the country, they would no doubt benefit from working under an agile approach. This means the holding of daily scrum meetings and the ability of all involved employees to talk about barriers and discuss status, as well as input from the product owner.
- Does your team have a willingness to learn from past failures?— Agile provides tools such as prototyping and feedback (both are essential) for a successful and efficient product or project development.
- Could your company use a shift in culture and expectations? — Agile methodology encourages team members to become more independent by taking risks and making decisions. Instead of management dictating orders, the team has the power to flourish without strict guidance.
What It Means for HR to Be Agile
The goal of agile HR is to allow HR professionals to manage volatility better, strengthen the organization, and improve compliance. HR Trend Institute defines agile HR as “a way of working and organizing certain HR functions that facilitate responsiveness and adaptiveness of activities and structures, facilitating the flexibility in matching workforce fluctuations to demand, and the way HR function supports the organization in becoming more responsive and adaptive.”
In other words, agile HR focuses on capacity (or velocity) and customers, rather than control and alignment. Agile management creates speed, innovation and adaptability. In an agile HR environment, the job of HR professionals would be to put into place programs, strategies and systems that nurture decision-making, collaboration and expertise.
HR would be responsible for promoting ongoing relationships with employees across multiple channels, including live chat, email, phone and/or social media. HR would focus on getting employees self-motivated, and success would be measured in terms of innovation levels, employee satisfaction levels, retention and organizational benevolence and trust.
How Cloud Call Centers Can Help
Cloud call centers are more flexible, agile and cost-efficient than traditional models. With advanced omnichannel service capabilities, improved user interfaces and seamless integrations with third-party applications, cloud technology is becoming the future of customer engagement.
A cloud contact center can help simplify the customer experience by providing quick answers to questions, as well as a host of workforce optimization and management solutions. Cloud contact centers can also provide interaction management and self-service capabilities, as well as shared real-time historical reporting.
Taking Your Company to the Next Level
Agile innovation methods help companies transform digitally and make better decisions in the workplace by way of technology like contact center solutions. Using this information, you should be able to make an informed decision about whether agile methods are right for your team. If you decide they are, make sure to find tools that are right for your team’s needs, empowering them to adapt as your company evolves.
