Agile Leadership: Introduction to Change

Agile was born out of necessity driven by a changing business environment. But what triggered this change exactly? This week, you will define change and transformation, and examine change intensity levels and the reasons behind change acceleration.

Because change management plays a critical role in helping us successfully transform organizations from traditional to agile, you will be introduced to a brief history and the reasons behind the creation of change management theories.

Agile leadership is a fairly new concept, and it is typically used in contrast to traditional leadership.

This week, you will continue to build the foundational vocabulary for this Specialization by defining a traditional and agile leader and identifying their key characteristics. Are you wondering which one is better? You will be able to answer this question by the end of this week (the answer might surprise you). You will complete the week by analyzing yourself as a leader to understand where you fall on the agility scale. You will be using this assessment in Course 2 to benchmark your personal transformation.

In this module, we will transition into the realm of the team. In order to transform your team, you need to understand the difference between a traditional and agile one. You will learn the definitions and key characteristics of both. You will also be introduced to the role and responsibility of a leader in leading an agile team. You will conclude the week by assessing your team’s level of agility. Similarly to your own assessment, you will be using your team’s baseline assessment to design an agile transformation plan later in the specialization.