Innovation Inc: Why this management style may be the key to help solve systemic racism in the workplace

Corporate America is facing dual crises right now.

The coronavirus pandemic is creating significant economic uncertainty and forcing companies to overhaul operations almost overnight to adapt to rapidly changing customer demands.

On top of that, the historic civil rights movement under way following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer is prompting a tough examination of systemic racism within the workplace, leading to new initiatives at top firms like Adidas and Facebook aimed at improving bleak diversity numbers.

The solution could be to lean further into the ongoing disruption and embrace the agile method to address both problems simultaneously.

For years, top corporations like Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, Apple, and others have relied on the management style to cut down production times and improve employee happiness. And the use of small, independent, cross-functional teams known as "scrums" has already proven to be a recipe for success during the pandemic.

Fidelity, for example, witnessed a 147% increase in employee productivity after the move to remote work — a surge one of its chief information officers linked to the pivot to agile. And State Farm was able to launch a new, Alexa-enabled application for seniors during the crisis after relying on scrums to build it over the past year.

Business Insider talked to two of the nation's leading experts on the method to learn why it also can help address systemic racism in the workplace and how businesses that haven't made the switch can start immediately.

For those looking to go even deeper, the chief technology officer of 1-800-Contacts also outlined the resources used to guide its own agile transformation — one that took production times down to just two days.

Below are a few other stories you may have missed during the chaotic news cycle of the past two weeks.

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