Our case studies
We’ve done lots of exciting work but by the nature of what we do, talking about it can be tough! We managed to sneak a few through though, to give you a flavour of what we can do for your business…
Transforming a leadership team
People Efficient holds the belief that how we work is the solution to high-performance, good mental well-being and exceptional leadership. This case study highlights our collaboration with a tech startup, where we spearheaded the transformation of their leadership team using Agile HR principles and methodologies amidst the transition to remote and hybrid work models.
Background: Our client, a rapidly growing tech startup, faced significant hurdles as they adapted to remote and hybrid work setups. The leadership team struggled to acclimate, resulting in productivity setbacks, communication gaps, and disengaged employees.
Challenges:
- Ineffective communication and collaboration within remote and hybrid teams.
- Difficulty in setting and aligning goals across dispersed teams.
- Limited visibility into team progress and performance.
- Low morale and engagement due to feelings of isolation and disconnection.
Approach: Recognising the need for a holistic transformation, we proposed an Agile HR approach to address these challenges and instil a culture of agility, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the organisation.
Implementation:
- OKRs (Objectives and Key Results):
- We facilitated workshops to collaboratively define and cascade OKRs throughout the organisation, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives.
- Through regular reviews and recalibration sessions, we encouraged flexibility and adaptation to evolving priorities and market dynamics.
- Kanban Boards:
- By introducing Kanban boards, we provided teams with a visual framework to manage workflows, prioritise tasks, and identify bottlenecks.
- We guided teams in leveraging Kanban methodologies to optimise their processes, empowering them to make data-driven decisions and streamline operations.
- Retrospectives:
- Conducting retrospectives became a cornerstone of our approach, fostering a culture of reflection, continuous learning, and improvement.
- These sessions served as a platform for teams to candidly discuss challenges, celebrate successes, and collaboratively devise strategies for enhancement.
4. Autonomy and Empowerment:
- We advocated for a shift from hierarchical to trust-based leadership, empowering teams with autonomy to make decisions and take ownership of their work.
- Through leadership coaching and mentoring, we nurtured a culture of experimentation, innovation, and accountability, driving intrinsic motivation and engagement.
5. Rituals and Routines:
- Establishing rituals such as daily stand-ups, weekly check-ins, and monthly reviews provided teams with structure and cadence in their work routines.
- These rituals not only facilitated communication and alignment but also fostered a sense of camaraderie and belonging among remote and hybrid teams.
Outcomes:
- Improved Communication and Collaboration:
- Enhanced communication tools and processes facilitated seamless collaboration across remote and hybrid teams, breaking down silos and fostering cross-functional synergy.
- Increased alignment and clarity of goals led to improved coordination, productivity, and overall team effectiveness.
- Increased Accountability and Engagement:
- Clear objectives and transparent metrics promoted a culture of accountability and ownership, driving higher levels of engagement and commitment among teams.
- Empowered teams demonstrated a greater sense of ownership and initiative, resulting in enhanced performance and outcomes.
- Continuous Improvement and Adaptation:
- Regular retrospectives served as a catalyst for continuous improvement, enabling teams to identify areas for enhancement, experiment with new approaches, and adapt to changing circumstances.
- Embracing a mindset of agility and resilience, the organisation became more adept at navigating uncertainties and seizing opportunities in the dynamic market landscape.
- Measurable Progress and Impact:
- Key metrics such as team velocity, cycle time, and customer satisfaction scores provided tangible evidence of progress and impact, guiding data-driven decision-making and resource allocation.
- The organisation witnessed tangible improvements in productivity, employee satisfaction, and business outcomes, reaffirming the effectiveness of the Agile HR transformation.
Conclusion:
Through our collaborative efforts, the organisation successfully transformed its leadership team, equipping them with the mindset, tools, and practices needed to thrive in remote and hybrid work environments. By embracing Agile HR principles and methodologies, the organisation achieved significant improvements in communication, engagement, and performance, ultimately driving business success and fostering organisational resilience.
Conclusions
Building efficiencies
A client that had rapidly grown from 150 to 230 employees was suffering from extreme burn out in both the people team and the leadership team.
When the business was established effective procedures were in place that worked well. However, the rapid growth meant that what had once worked e.g. Excel spreadsheets to capture time and attendance, and payroll calculations, or emails to communicate queries, request leave or get approvals were no longer suitable.
It caused confusion at all levels and left the HR team drowning in paperwork and procedures, so much so that they didn’t have time to do something differently.
In addition, the senior team were focused on fighting these fires by managing people to the current procedures they couldn’t see the advantage of taking a different approach to enable them to focus on the business.
We conducted an audit to show where the processes were showing risk, and held focus groups with both HR and the leadership team to understand where they wanted their energies to be focused (and where they were wasting it!).
Using Agile project management methods, we focused on the outcome that everyone wanted – easy input for the employees, and easy compliance checking for the HR team. We tested a Human Resources Information System (HRIS) with a pilot group and fed back the results before fully integrating.
The HR team is now able to focus on aligning the people strategy with the business strategy to be a strategic partner in growing the business.
Breaking free!
A client of 250 employees had nearly 70 policies. Every time an employee did something wrong, a policy was added or an existing policy was tightened. Whilst it made the business super-compliant, it caused three major issues:
1) The onboarding of new employees became long and drawn out as there were lots of touch points to go through all the things they MUST NOT DO. This was coupled with a large stack of papers that they had to sign to prove that they knew they MUST NOT DO these things.
2)The leadership team tended to roll eyes when enforcing policies and state ‘it’s HR, not me!’, which de-valued the point of the policies in the first place. This caused a them/us problem with HR and the company.
3) It created a culture of clipped wings and parent-child management from both HR and the business leaders.
This business had a high turnover, in particular in the first 6 months.
We took a cross-section of the employees from all levels and created a project team to look at the EVP. We used Agile methodologies to plan, be accountable, be transparent and most importantly drive that change effectively. This included creating an onboarding about culture and values, individualising the onboarding in a cost/time-effective way, and publishing guidelines that explain the impact when particular actions are followed (or they aren’t) rather than pages of policies. As a welcome side-effect, the use of Agile methodologies has now been adopted for all project work to grow the business.