Case Study
Partnering with BT Group to adopt agile and lead change in a large HR Operating Model shift
BT Group was redesigning how HR worked across one of the UK’s largest organisations. This was not a cosmetic agile exercise. The ambition was to create a more unified, product-led and portfolio-driven HR function — with clearer ownership, sharper prioritisation and the capability for hundreds of HR professionals to work differently in practice.
Agile HR Community partnered with BT Group as the specialist Agile HR advisor and capability-building partner. We supported the agile elements of the operating model: value flow, portfolio prioritisation, product ownership, agile leadership, agile coaching and large-scale upskilling.
Agile HR Community partnered with BT Group as the specialist Agile HR advisor and capability-building partner. We supported the agile elements of the operating model: value flow, portfolio prioritisation, product ownership, agile leadership, agile coaching and large-scale upskilling.
- Client: Global FTSE 100 telecommunications group
- Challenge: A major HR operating model transformation, moving from fragmented, business-unit-led HR delivery towards a more unified, agile, product-led and portfolio-driven model.
- Work: Agile HR operating model advisory, portfolio management design, leadership support, product ownership upskilling, agile coaching, CoE capability building and train-the-trainer enablement.
- Outcome: BT Group HR built the foundations for agile portfolio flow, stronger product ownership, better visibility of work and capacity, and internal capability to keep scaling Agile HR ways of working.
CLIENT CONTEXT
The challenge: modernising HR while reducing cost
BT Group was undertaking one of the most significant HR operating model shifts in its recent history.
HR needed to modernise how work was owned, prioritised and delivered, while also operating within a wider transformation context that included significant cost pressure and a multi-million pound reduction target across HR.
Before the shift, HR work was spread across multiple business units. Each area had its own HR priorities, product activity, CoE work and local delivery patterns. That proximity to the business had value. But at enterprise scale, it also created a familiar HR challenge: duplicated effort, unclear ownership, competing demand and limited visibility of where capacity was going.
BT Group needed a better balance between what should stay close to the business and what should be owned centrally. Technical and vocational training needed to remain close to specific business needs. Leadership development, culture, performance, talent, reward, inclusion and employee experience needed stronger product ownership and more consistent delivery across the Group.
The internal BT Group transformation team led the change. Agile HR Community’s role was deliberately different. We were brought in as the specialist Agile HR brains, challenger and upskilling partner — helping BT Group make the agile parts of the operating model practical, contextual and usable.
A major part of the work was HR portfolio management. BT Group did not just need a new structure. It needed a better way to see the work, bring demand into one place, make trade-offs, prioritise against strategic value and manage capacity with more discipline.
Because that is where HR transformation becomes real: not in the org chart, but in the moment leaders can see the work, challenge duplication, understand capacity and make sharper decisions about what matters most.
HR needed to modernise how work was owned, prioritised and delivered, while also operating within a wider transformation context that included significant cost pressure and a multi-million pound reduction target across HR.
Before the shift, HR work was spread across multiple business units. Each area had its own HR priorities, product activity, CoE work and local delivery patterns. That proximity to the business had value. But at enterprise scale, it also created a familiar HR challenge: duplicated effort, unclear ownership, competing demand and limited visibility of where capacity was going.
BT Group needed a better balance between what should stay close to the business and what should be owned centrally. Technical and vocational training needed to remain close to specific business needs. Leadership development, culture, performance, talent, reward, inclusion and employee experience needed stronger product ownership and more consistent delivery across the Group.
The internal BT Group transformation team led the change. Agile HR Community’s role was deliberately different. We were brought in as the specialist Agile HR brains, challenger and upskilling partner — helping BT Group make the agile parts of the operating model practical, contextual and usable.
A major part of the work was HR portfolio management. BT Group did not just need a new structure. It needed a better way to see the work, bring demand into one place, make trade-offs, prioritise against strategic value and manage capacity with more discipline.
Because that is where HR transformation becomes real: not in the org chart, but in the moment leaders can see the work, challenge duplication, understand capacity and make sharper decisions about what matters most.
HR transformation becomes real not in the org chart - but in the moment leaders can see the work, challenge duplication, understand capacity and make sharper decisions about what matters most.
OUTCOMES
Measurable outcomes
Agile HR Community helped BT Group translate agile HR from operating model intent into the everyday mechanics of work: how teams prioritise, how products are owned, how capacity is allocated, how leaders make decisions and how HR professionals design around real user needs.
562
HR professionals were upskilled in agile mindset, design thinking and Agile HR ways of working, helping them operate with more confidence in the new HR model.
150
Certified Agile HR practitioners, building capability to lead CoEs, products and services with stronger user centricity and clearer value thinking.
43
Product owners were trained in professional product ownership, creating a shared language and approach for leading HR products and prioritising product-level decisions.
11
Internal trainers were developed through a train-the-trainer model, giving BT Group the ability to scale agile mindset and design thinking internally.
75
Senior HR leaders were upskilled in agile leadership and what it takes to lead a more adaptive, product-led and portfolio-driven HR function.
Quarterly HR
A quarterly HR portfolio prioritisation process was established, giving HR leadership a more transparent, evidence-based view of work, capacity and priorities across the function.
Capability outcomes
- BT Group HR gained a clearer cross-functional view of what work was happening, where capacity was being spent and where duplication existed.
- Leadership conversations began shifting from silo-led priorities towards enterprise-level value delivery, capacity allocation and strategic trade-offs.
- Centres of Expertise began working in a more agile model, with pooled capability, clearer product ownership and greater end-to-end responsibility for HR products and services.
- Product owners gained a common approach for working with technical product owners, using people analytics, applying user insight and making better product decisions.
- The inclusion and wellbeing CoE was supported to embed inclusion into the flow of work, rather than treating it as a separate programme sitting outside the design of HR products and services.
- The portfolio process was not “perfected” overnight. That would not be credible. But the foundations were built, the process was started, and BT Group HR now has a practical mechanism to keep maturing over time.
TAKE HOMES
What others can learn from this
01
A new HR operating model will not work if the work still flows the old way.
Many HR transformations change the structure, rename teams and publish a new model. Then the work quietly continues through old habits: local priorities, stakeholder pressure, duplicated initiatives and overloaded teams.
BT Group’s work shows why agile has to be built into the mechanics of the operating model: how work enters the system, how it is prioritised, who owns the product, where capacity goes and how leaders make trade-offs.
That is where the model either becomes real — or stays a diagram.
BT Group’s work shows why agile has to be built into the mechanics of the operating model: how work enters the system, how it is prioritised, who owns the product, where capacity goes and how leaders make trade-offs.
That is where the model either becomes real — or stays a diagram.
02
Portfolio visibility changes the leadership conversation.
The problem is not that HR lacks work. The problem is that too much of the work is invisible, duplicated, locally optimised or prioritised through urgency rather than value.
A proper HR portfolio process gives leaders a different conversation: one based on transparency, capacity, evidence and strategic contribution.
It is not always comfortable. Good. It should not be.
If HR wants to become more strategic, it needs to stop managing work through noise and start managing it through value.
A proper HR portfolio process gives leaders a different conversation: one based on transparency, capacity, evidence and strategic contribution.
It is not always comfortable. Good. It should not be.
If HR wants to become more strategic, it needs to stop managing work through noise and start managing it through value.
Facing the same shift?
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