Course Outline
Agile Foundations & Leadership Mindset
Session 1: Why Agile Matters (90 min)
- The modern business landscape: volatility, complexity, and the imperative for innovation
- Understanding Agile: principles, mindset, and empirical process control
- Realizing business value: accelerating time-to-market, enhancing quality, focusing on customer centricity, and reducing risk
- Workshop: Mapping your organization’s current challenges to Agile value drivers
Session 2: Challenges of an Agile Leader (90 min)
- Comparing traditional and Agile leadership models: command-and-control versus enablement and service
- Common transformation pitfalls: siloed adoption, misaligned metrics, and resistance to change
- Navigating uncertainty: decision-making under complexity and the limitations of predictive planning
- Case Study: Analyzing leadership breakdowns in real-world Agile transitions
Session 3: Complexity & Empiricism in Leadership (90 min)
- Understanding complexity theory for organizational leadership
- Empiricism in practice: transparency, inspection, and adaptation as leadership tools
- Shifting from planning to probing: safe-to-fail experiments and iterative delivery
- Simulation: Leading a complex product discovery scenario using empirical decision loops
Session 4: Leaders Grow Agility: Enabling & Scaling Teams (120 min)
- The leader’s role in clearing impediments, fostering autonomy, and aligning incentives
- Promoting psychological safety, trust, and coaching versus managing
- Introducing Scrum and Agile frameworks as tools for organizational enablement
- Group Exercise: Designing an empowerment strategy for a multi-disciplinary team
Developing People, Measuring Agility & Scaling
Session 5: Developing People for Sustainable Agility (90 min)
- Coaching frameworks for Agile leaders: GROW, ORID, and situational leadership
- Building T-shaped, cross-functional capabilities and fostering continuous learning cultures
- Recognizing and rewarding Agile behaviors versus traditional output metrics
- Workshop: Creating individual development plans for Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and team members
Session 6: Measuring & Guiding Agile Product Delivery (90 min)
- Metrics that matter: outcome-based versus output-based measurement
- Health indicators: velocity, predictability, quality, flow efficiency, and team well-being
- Feedback loops: reviews, retrospectives, and product metrics dashboards
- Exercise: Designing a lightweight Agile measurement system for your organization
Session 7: Scaling Agility Across Teams (90 min)
- Aligning multiple teams to a shared product vision and strategic objectives
- Coordination patterns: Agile Release Trains, Nexus, and enterprise backlog alignment
- Avoiding scaling anti-patterns: over-engineering, bureaucracy, and loss of empowerment
- Case Study: Structuring cross-team alignment without losing Agile agility
Session 8: Capstone, Certification & Next Steps (120 min)
- Capstone Simulation: Lead a mini-agile transformation initiative (diagnose, plan, measure, scale)
- Reflection, peer coaching, and personalized action planning
- PAL I certification pathway, retake policy, and Scrum.org learning resources for government
- Open Q&A and leadership commitment pledge
Requirements
Audience
- The Professional Agile Leadership Essentials course is designed for government managers and leaders, including Product Owners and Scrum Masters, who seek to enhance their organization’s capacity to respond to market opportunities, competitive pressures, or innovative initiatives. This course equips participants with the skills necessary to foster agile practices that align with public sector workflows, governance, and accountability.
Testimonials (4)
Jim's real life experience was evident and the fact that he is still working with teams keeps him current with the problems encountered. The activities were interesting and we appreciated the frequency of breaks. Delivery of the course was confident and good humoured too.
Leanne - Welsh Revenue Authority
Course - Professional Scrum Master I | PSM I (accredited training course with Scrum.org exam and certification)
I enjoyed Craig's enthusiasm and open-mindeness . He brought good vibes explaining a complex topic and I gained value for my current job from this training.
Alexei Starostine - EY GLOBAL SERVICES (POLAND) SP Z O O
Course - Professional Scrum Product Owner I | PSPO I (accredited training course with Scrum.org exam and certification)
I liked the break outs and the chance to work with my peers taking the course. I also liked the small group we had although I understand this is not the norm
David - Home Office
Course - Professional Scrum Product Owner II
Paul was a fantastic trainer. I enjoyed his style of teaching and delivery pace