Agile Leadership: Introduction to Change

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/agile-leadership-introduction-to-change

Introduction

## Course Review: Agile Leadership: Introduction to Change **Overview:** In today's fast-paced business world, the ability to navigate change effectively is crucial for success. "Agile Leadership: Introduction to Change," offered on Coursera, is a foundational course within the Agile Leadership Specialization that equips individuals with the essential concepts and tools to develop as agile leaders. This course is particularly well-suited for professionals seeking to lead teams and organizations toward more adaptive, responsive, and innovative practices in the wake of continual change. ### Course Content Breakdown: 1. **Introduction to Change:** In the first week, learners dive into the core topic of change itself. You will explore what change means in a business context and the factors that lead to its acceleration. By examining the history of change management theories, you will gain a deep understanding of how businesses can effectively transition from traditional methods to more agile approaches. This foundational knowledge sets the stage for a deeper exploration of agile leadership. 2. **Agile Leader:** The second week centers around the characteristics of agile leadership compared to traditional leadership styles. This module encourages participants to reflect on their own leadership styles and positions them on an agility scale. Understanding where you stand in your leadership capabilities opens the door for personal growth and transformation throughout the course and beyond. This level of self-awareness is invaluable for anyone looking to lead effectively in today's agile world. 3. **Agile Team:** In the third module, the focus shifts to teams. Here, you will delineate between traditional and agile team structures and their respective characteristics. Understanding these differences is crucial for any leader aspiring to guide their team through transformation. The assessments provided will allow you to evaluate your team's level of agility, an exercise that will prove beneficial as you design your team’s agile transformation plan. 4. **Agile Organization:** Finally, the fourth module expands the discussion to an organizational level, exploring what it means for an organization to be agile. Participants will learn to assess an organization's agility, integrating insights from the previous modules to create a comprehensive understanding of agility within a broader scope. By the end of this course, you will be armed with a solid foundational knowledge that will undoubtedly aid in your future endeavors in agile leadership. ### Strengths of the Course: - **Comprehensive Content:** The course is structured to build knowledge incrementally, which helps learners grasp complex concepts without feeling overwhelmed. - **Practical Assessments:** The course incorporates practical assessments that allow you to evaluate your own leadership style, your team’s agility, and your organization’s readiness for change. These assessments are not just theoretical; they provide tangible starting points for real-life application. - **Expert-Led Instruction:** Given the course is part of a larger specialization, the instruction reflects current best practices in agile leadership, presented by experienced professionals in the field. ### Recommendations: This course comes highly recommended for leaders at all levels, whether you are entering a leadership role for the first time or seeking to enhance your existing leadership skills. Also ideal for project managers, team leaders, and organizational change agents, the course prepares you to implement agile methodologies effectively within your team and organization. If you’re looking to thrive in a rapidly changing business environment and equip yourself with the tools to foster agility, “Agile Leadership: Introduction to Change” is a course you won’t want to miss. You’ll emerge with not only theoretical knowledge but also practical strategies that can make a real difference in your leadership journey. ### Conclusion: In summary, "Agile Leadership: Introduction to Change" on Coursera is a foundational course that lays the groundwork for developing effective agile leadership capabilities. With its well-structured content and practical approach, this course is an excellent investment for anyone looking to navigate and lead transformational change in today's dynamic workplace. Don't hesitate - enroll today and take the next step on your journey toward agile leadership!

Syllabus

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.

In the last module of this course, we will expand the concepts of traditional and agile to an organizational level. You will learn the definitions and key characteristics of a traditional and agile organization. At the end of the module, you will analyze an organization for its agility. By the end of the last module, you will have a strong foundational knowledge of concepts for the continued journey of Agile Leadership. You will use the three completed assessments when building a comprehensive roadmap for agile transformation as a part of the Capstone course.