Session Title

A New Career Path for HR and Leaders: The Agile People Coach

Abstract

Agile People Coaches see organizations as social systems, not machines. They recognize that people and relationships build organizations, and if their motivation is high enough, they will find ways to innovate and provide value together. We still need structures, but just enough to provide cohesion, as opposed to restriction. We need to foster great business cultures to guide behaviors and incentivize people to do things that will help them perform in a common direction. In this scenario, the future career path for leaders and HR professionals is to adopt an Agile People Coach's competencies – a role that aims to create the right conditions for individuals, teams, and the whole organization to grow and develop and change as needed to survive.

"We spend a lot of time helping leaders learn what to do; we don’t spend enough time helping leaders learn what to stop."
–Peter Drucker

Bio

Agile People Coach, Inspiration Director, Keynote Speaker & Author.

She was perhaps the first person in the world to link the terms “Agile” and “HR”. Now it’s becoming clear that Pia-Maria Thorén is the pioneer of a fast-growing global movement – Agile People.

Pia-Maria Thorén is a true multi-talent – she describes herself as a person in the middle of HR, IT, finance, and management.

As Inspiration Director for her company, Pia-Maria is a key influencer in Agile HR, Leadership and Motivation, a popular guest at conferences, and participates in numerous interviews on podcasts and blogs. In a personal, informal way – Scandinavian style – she makes it very clear that leadership needs to change.

She talks about a new leadership role, The Agile People Coach – An alternative career for HR and Managers in the Future of Work. The world is getting more complex, and there are few competitive advantages still remaining for companies who want to survive and flourish. It requires a totally different Leadership style that let people make mistakes and learn from them. It requires different principles for HR and cross-functional business teams on all levels. The old structures with top-down hierarchies, annual budgets linked to fixed performance targets and rewards will not support the speed and personal motivation that needs to permeate future workplaces.

She is the author of Agile People – A Radical Approach for HR and Managers (That Leads to Motivated Employees) and Agile People Principles – Your Call to Action for the Future of Work.