Out of Office: A Toolkit for an Agile Future

The Research Survey

• 13 organisations in public and private sectors

• 1219 team members: 55% female and 45% male• 330 managers: 37% women 63% men• Investigated relationship between working patterns, engagement and trust

Focus groups• 80 people across 4 organisations

Managers see the benefits of agile working

Managers views on agility

Levels of trust are high in teams

But a credibility gap for leaders

Career penalties for agile workers

Agile working: what works well

Reorganising work

Shifting focus from jobs to tasks• Structured and systematic approach to managing work • Clarity about the systems and processes required to

complete a task

• Clarity about how tasks contribute to achieving business objectives

Promotes empowered working and focus on outcomes

Agile working: what works well

Shifting focus from individuals to teams

• More transparency about work

• Reducing reliance on one individual 24/7

• Shifting focus from “star performers” to team contribution

Rethinking the role of the manager

Managers need to manage not command and control

• Setting objectives

• Monitoring workflow and setting milestones

• Performance measurement

• Communication and knowledge sharing

► Regular team meetings and knowledge sharing► Individual communication► Informal knowledge sharing► Physical meetings

Areas for action

Make the business case and position agile working

as good working practice

• Need to move agility from an employee benefit to a business solution

• Shift from publicising role models for agile working to

focusing on team performance.

Show strong leadership

• more visible in changing their own ways of working

• more open and honest about the flexibility which they already enjoy

• more focus on outcomes rather than inputs or “face-time” as a way of measuring performance through their organisations

• more challenging of practices and individuals who do not support agile working; this challenge needs to start in their top team

• Guidance► Clear HR guidance and consultancy► Management training

• Practical examples► Best practice► Coaching and mentoring from “agile” managers

• Challenge► Assumption that all jobs can be agile to shift burden of

responsibility► Robust mechanism for challenge

Support and challenge managers

• Encourage “structured and empowered” management model► Setting objectives, monitoring workflow, judging outcomes ,

communication and knowledge sharing

• Shift focus from individual to team► consider working practices in the context of the whole team

• Reflect the agile model for management in performance assessment

► Management competencies► 360 assessment⁰

Technology

• Technology for formal and informal knowledge sharing

• Invest in infrastructure but don't forget its only a tool!

Support agile workers

• Guidance for new agile workers beyond application process

• Sharing best practice, buddying/mentoring

► Setting boundaries► Effective communication► Career management

> Develop a business case for using their skills in an agile work pattern

> Challenge the perception that jobs and particularly management cannot be done in an agile way.

> Seek out best practice elsewhere in their organisation.

Support agile workers to:

• regularly discuss their career development with their manager

• to use technology to participate in development opportunities more easily

• maintain their profile through electronic media

• make the most of the physical time in the office to network with key contacts.

Visibility

Leaders • Have they bought into new ways of working?• How can you support and challenge them to change behaviour?

Managers• Have they bought into new ways of working?• How can you support and challenge them to change behaviour?

Agile workers• How can they be supported to make their working patterns

effective?• What support do they need for career management?

Sharing best practice: workshop questions