Training Objectives
This Professional Agile Leadership - Essentials training course is designed to leave delegates more confident in five key areas:
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- Why agile matters to organizations
- How to develop people
- Measuring the performance and competitive advantage of agility
- The role leaders play in growing agility
- How to overcome the challenges faced by agile leaders
Audience, Pre-requisites and Assumed Knowledge
The Professional Agile Leadership - Essentials training course is intended for senior leaders, department heads, senior managers, and anyone in a leadership role supporting agile teams. Knowledge of the Scrum framework and experience in an IT delivery environment is beneficial.
When delivered as a private class, the course may be pitched at an appropriate level. For example, experienced teams can quickly re-establish the basics and then spend more time considering the detail of their approach.
Approach
We are a friendly team of practitioners and we like to provide a personal level of support, before, during, and after the class:
- Pre-course reading is designed to expose questions so that they can be explored in class.
- Contact details allow delegates to ask questions to the trainer before and after the class.
- Access to a comprehensive set of guidance after the course so that delegates apply what has been learned.
- Digital course effectiveness surveys with results sent out to delegates and sponsors straight after the class.
Course Content
Why Agile Matters
Agile is not the only way to manage work - traditional, plan-driven approaches have long-established practices and benefits. As a leader, you need to convince yourself of the best approach for your context. In this section, you will have the opportunity to identify and develop some key themes and challenges faced by your organization, decide whether agile techniques can help, and then lead others to buy in to it.
Developing People
Learn how to create an environment where people can thrive, and develop confidence in your decision-making in an agile environment. Specific topics in this section include:
- Understanding levels of team maturity, and how to adapt your leadership style to the situation
- Levels of delegation and how they should change as a team matures
- Leading people in a way that they take ownership
- Case studies and pitfalls to watch out for
- How to respond to requests or disagreements from scrum masters and product owners on how decisions should be made
- The impact that leadership style has on long-term team maturity
Measuring Agility
Measurement is a powerful tool: if you measure something, it is likely to improve, especially if it is done so prominently or in a way that is incentivized. It's critical therefore to measure the right things and to use the information in the right way. In this section, we'll review the evidence-based management approach as a way of focusing the mind on the real competitive advantage you want to achieve for your organization.
Leaders Grow Agility
This section takes a comprehensive look at the potential of agile leaders to cause long-lasting change in their departments and organizations. This will include:
- Servant leadership in practice
- Knowing how and when to intervene
- Hiring effectively to build high-performing teams
- The leaders role in the scrum principles and values
- Causing organizational impediments to be removed
Challenges of an Agile Leader
An agile leader relies heavily on the roles within the scrum team - the developers, product owners, and scrum masters that make things happen. There are many challenges the leader might face in creating an environment to enable them to succeed and reach high performance. This final section allows delegates to explore real examples arising from the shift from traditional to agile; fears of losing control of risk and rigor; how people respond to change; and more.
Professional Agile Leadership Essentials - Outcomes
By the end of the class, agile leaders will have new insights into their current challenges, and an actionable set of tools and techniques to put into practice. Participating in the exercises is intended to stimulate attendees to develop their own leadership style based on organizational objectives. Once these objectives are established, leaders will come to realize that the most effective way to deliver them is by establishing happy, motivated, high-performing teams.
Remote Training
We can offer Professional Agile Leadership Essentials is a private Live Virtual Classroom for distributed teams. For more information on what we can do for you and your organization, please enquire.