Transforming People Development Extended Competency
By Fabiola Eyholzer & SAFe Fellow Michael Stump, Just Leading Solutions, Inc. | A Community Contribution
Why is the Transforming People Development Competency important?
SAFe excels at organizing around value and ensuring high-value delivery with customer-centricity on a large scale. The companies leveraging SAFe are typically large organizations, oftentimes with a proud tradition and strong leadership. SAFe is often applied as only one of multiple operating systems in the organization. Combining the needs of an Agile network structure with an established organizational setup, leadership paradigms, and set of processes is a delicate balancing act. A balancing act that is—at the end of the day—decided by your approach to leadership and culture, culminating in the way you run people development.
This makes a change within people management towards a focus on the development of your people a linchpin for a successful dual-operating system. The Transforming People Development extended competency provides clear guidance on how to develop people in hybrid organizations who want to take their SAFe implementation to a new level.
In this competency, we will introduce you to the crucial role of the People Developer and enrich your knowledge of people management in a SAFe setting. You will explore why it is important, what it entails, and how it connects to the rest of the organization.
This competency is important on two levels. One: ‘People, purpose, and culture’ is a key conversation currently, putting people management at the top of every leadership agenda. Two: No matter how successful your Agile transformation and operations are, if the people processes are misaligned, you will not get the highest possible return on investment - or worse, it might even derail your Agile Release Trains (ARTs).
Which roles would benefit from mastering this competency?
In true Agile fashion, every role is responsible for people and culture; this particular competency is essential for People Managers, People Developers, Agile People Leaders, C-level leadership teams, People and Culture roles (a.k.a. Human Resources), and the LACE. It is also a worthwhile read for members of the ART leadership team (Tactical Square).
