Agile Leadership - Online Program

Any organization of the 21^st century needs to thrive in an environment characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity, diversity and dynamics.

In other words: any organizations needs to go agile rather sooner than later.

In this course, you acquire the needed skills to co-create an agile company, be it in an expert or managerial function.

What exactly will you be able to do?

• You can help your organization to find out how agile they are. Often, organizations use agile values and practices without being aware of it.
• You can analyze your team or your organization in terms of “agile readiness”. This is the first step to capitalize on the treasure of turning implicit to explicit knowledge. Only then can it be leveraged to thrive in a fast changing marketplace.
• You can be part of a team that drives the agile transition of your organization. Members of such teams know how strategy, structure and culture have to change in order for a company to go more agile. The course provides you with that knowledge and develops your ability of systemic thinking.
• You discover and develop your personal leadership style as an agile leader as you will get numerous impulses to raise self-awareness, e.g. question your expectations towards leadership and hone your communication skills.
• You will discover how broad agile leadership is and how many of its tools and techniques are also very useful in private life, e.g. to make family life more harmonious.

This course opens new horizons for you. Not only will you be challenged by questioning old beliefs, but you will be able to ‘decipher’ and ‘demystify’ the agile wave and skillfully ride on it with new impulses for your personal and career advancement. 

Structure of the program

This online program allows you to learn, experience, and try out the new input in your own pace. The 1-month learning journey is divided into four parts, each with 1-week duration. Each week you will be supplied with food for thought, to be consumed and digested within that week at your own pace.  Every program part can be worked on individually and takes approximately 6.5 hours to work on. Through instructional videos and study materials as well as a selection of podcasts and TED talks, participants learn how to develop an agile mindset and how to make their teams fit for agile working methods.

Within these 4 weeks, we offer 2 Live Sessions (via Zoom, attendance is optional):

1. In week 1, Prof. Kathrin Köster gives an inspiring input about VUCADD Leadership.
2. In the last week you have the opportunity to present a mini-pilot project. How would you try to implement more Agile processes/structures or an Agile mindset in your department or company? Get input from Prof. Kathrin Köster and interact with the other participants: ask each other questions, share experiences and talk about the challenges you have faced..

In addition, after these 4 weeks, you will have the opportunity to join in our “Transfer session” with Dr. Julia Schönbrunn who is an expert in the field of Agile Leadership, Organizational Development and collaboration in networks. After having gone through all the material in the course, the main goal of the transfer session is to discuss how to implement the agile tools learned in the course in your everyday office life -> hence the name “Transfer session”.

Please note that the program was designed so that participants can go through all the content and complete the mandatory tasks in 4 weeks. However, the participants will have access to the learning platform and all the materials for 6 months.

Fostering co-creation by providing impetus and opportunities for interaction

The “Got it?” feature gives participants a change to test what they have learned so far. Pieces of textual input known as “shifts” provide them with valuable impetus for reflecting on their current ways of thinking and working, and help them deepen their insight and understanding. In “spotlight videos”, Kathrin Köster explains, among other things, what agility is and what it is not. Under the heading “Connected”, participants can raise job-related issues and ask colleagues, friends and family members for their input on them. So-called “anchors” give participants and teams that take part in the program as a group an opportunity to openly exchange views and opinions with one another.

Faculty