It is not easy to overcome the rigidity inherent in adopting agile HR practices. Achieving an agile, responsive manufacturing enterprise starts by building a workforce strategy and organizational structure. Prioritizing internal customers, our employees, is key.
ENNOVI, for example, plays a key role in the automotive sector, especially as the industry rapidly moves towards electrification. In order to keep up with this exciting transformation, suppliers must adapt to OEM’s changing needs when developing hybrid and electrical vehicles. They also need to maintain high product quality to ensure safety. Organizational evolution is essential to keep up with these changes. The employees and the organizational structure are key areas to developing an agile and responsive business.
It is necessary to improve the traditional HR methods to meet individual needs. It is important to rethink the organization structure, remove hierarchical barriers and bring together traditionally separated teams. We create a dynamic organization by empowering frontline staff and encouraging adaptability.
Addressing invisible, psychological and systemic barriers in manufacturing
The main obstacle is overcoming the resistance to change, and stepping outside of comfort zones. This challenge can be addressed by a fundamental change management process, which involves preparing and guiding the team through transformation. The team must be made aware of the importance and urgency of change and its impact on them personally. Also, it is important to highlight and commend team role models. It is important to ensure that the team understands the scope of the transformation, feels confident about the changes and has the necessary skills.
The right tools are essential for success.
Rethinking Hierarchical Structures
A truly agile organization would require a team of mature professionals who are proactive and accountable and excel in communication across functional and regional boundaries.
Encourage collaboration in order to attract talented individuals who will assume senior leadership roles and share collective responsibility. Each participant can take the lead and learn about each other’s perspectives and strengths. This practice cultivates talent, but it also empowers people, gives visibility to senior managers, and improves trust and collaboration between team members. Manufacturing companies will need to take a long time to transition into an agile organization.
It is beneficial to take steps.
How can we encourage micro-innovations in the manufacturing floor?
Manufacturing is not a new sector to micro-innovations. Our continuous improvement processes are well-established at all our sites. We encourage every employee to come up with and implement new ideas. This practice is ingrained into our daily operations. In order to maintain momentum, we acknowledge and reward positive contribution. ENNOVI is committed to five core values: Globale, Speed, Innovations, Best Talent and Sustainability. We recognize individuals or teams who embody these core values at our quarterly global town halls, Innovation being the focal point. The CEO personally acknowledges the awardees.
We strive to continuously improve and foster an innovative culture.
Measuring the intangible qualities of teams
It can be difficult to evaluate the progress of an agile transformation, because certain qualitative characteristics are not easily quantifiable. Begin by identifying a set of metrics that are aligned with the desired goals and outcomes for your organization. Clarifying these metrics is also important to ensure that the team understands them. Agile metrics include Net Promoter Score and Velocity.
As it is based upon historical data, the accuracy of velocity predictions tends to increase with each iteration. Understanding the average team velocity helps to accurately gauge sprint velocity. However, a team’s velocity should only be used for assessing the individual team, since comparing teams can be misleading. Anonymous surveys are another way to measure agile success. Simple internal surveys are an alternative to external consultants if you do not want to hire them.
This allows members of the team to express their feelings, and perceive unity. Team morale can be a key performance indicator. When there is unhappiness in the team, it’s a good opportunity to listen and inquire. Sentiment surveys are a great way to take action and improve projects.
