Certified Agile Leadership

What is Certified Agile Leadership?

Whether you are an executive, first-level manager, somewhere in the middle, or influence in other ways, agile leadership can benefit your effectiveness in several ways. Most notably, it can enable you to better connect, inspire, align, and influence. Certified agile leadership courses aim to increase effectiveness by helping individuals learn how to be better leaders, regardless of their role or title.

Pete Behrens, founder of Agile Leadership Journey, is a pioneer in the field of agile leadership training and development. Pete developed his leadership training curriculum, based on three decades of research and models, and this certified agile leadership curriculum has been vetted in organizations around the globe. These foundational leadership development and culture-shaping programs became some of the first certified agile leadership courses available and became a model for others.

Now, these Agility in Leadership™ and Agility in Organizations™ certified agile leadership workshops are delivered around the globe by Agile Leadership Journey's Licensed Guides. Our Guides are professional trainers and leadership coaches who are aligned not only in the material we teach but also in the way we teach it. All of our certified agile leadership training workshops are visually facilitated and they are conducted in live, interactive formats, whether online or in person.

While not all leaders are seeking certified agile leadership credentialling, all leaders need to develop themselves, their teams, and their organizations to adapt and excel in the complex and rapidly changing world of work. Developing leadership agility is critical to developing business agility since organizations reflect their leadership. Therefore, our programs are designed for all leaders, at every stage of their leadership journey.

Agile Leadership Certification

There is no single framework or credentialing body for agile leadership. What makes Agile Leadership Journey unique is that we offer a foundational platform aligned to our Leadership Journey Compass™ that provides consistency in curriculum and quality of the learning experience. The curriculum we have developed has been thoroughly vetted and is trusted to improve agile leadership competence and maturity in over 15,000 leaders across the globe, in both for-profit and nonprofit organizations.

Our agile leadership trainings, workshops, and programs are facilitated exclusively by licensed members of our global Guide Community of independent leadership trainers and coaches. Each of these facilitators has been vetted and invited to join our community based on their demonstrated education and personal experience in the following areas:

Organizational leadership
Professional training and/or coaching
Agile transformation, agile processes, and/or agile ways of working
Organizational change

Our licensed trainers and coaches are agile leaders themselves who have demonstrated the ability to inspire, teach, and coach others to become more effective in their leadership and organizations.

a compass with the words leader catalyst habits beliefs aligned values organization value delivery and behaviors

Certified Agile Leadership through Agile Leadership Journey

Upon successful completion of our programs, participants receive validated certificates and/or digital badges from Agile Leadership Journey to recognize their work toward completion of that particular course of study and practice. However, we believe that completion of a course is the beginning of the next phase in a leader’s journey and that our learning and practice as leaders are never done.

To check the validity of an Agile Leadership Journey certificate, visit our Certificate Verification page.

Agile Leadership Journey offers two types of certified agile leadership:

Foundational Workshops
Advanced Development Programs

Certified Agile Leadership Foundational Educational Workshops

There are no prerequisite requirements for our foundational certified agile leadership workshops. These are appropriate for leaders at every level.

To find a foundational workshop in your area or online, please refer to the schedule of upcoming programs offered to the public by our Licensed Guides or contact us for workshops for your team or organization.

Agility in Leadership™ Certified

Our Agility in Leadership™ workshop develops insight and awareness for leaders to discover new ways to think, focus, and behave. Leaders learn the fundamentals of agile leadership and improve their own leadership agility.

The Agility in Leadership™ workshop is a first step in the Agile Leadership Journey™ curriculum. Over this eight to ten-hour interactive learning experience, participants are introduced to the Leadership Agility framework and catalyst practices to improve self-awareness, situational adaptiveness, and effective behaviors.

Upon successful completion, participants will receive the designation “Agility in Leadership™ Certified”.

Agility in Organizations™ Certified

Our Agility in Organizations™ workshop helps leaders align, focus, and accelerate change throughout their organizations. Leaders learn to identify and shape culture toward more iterative, adaptive, and sustainable practices.

The Agility in Organizations™ workshop is a first step in the Agile Leadership Journey™ curriculum and focuses on developing cultural awareness and adaptiveness in the workplace. This workshop introduces participants to organizational culture, the context of business agility, and the Competing Values Framework model. During the interactive eight to ten-hour workshop, leaders learn to identify culture and key levers to shape it to improve alignment and accelerate change toward increased business agility.

Upon successful completion, participants will receive the designation “Agility in Organizations™ Certified”.

Certified Agile Leadership Advanced Development Programs

For those seeking to develop their leadership agility further, our advanced courses incorporate validated practice and advanced education in peer-driven programs. These 12-week Applied Agility in Leadership™ courses are longer in duration by intention, allowing for deeper practice and sustainable shifts in leadership mindsets and behaviors. Individuals are welcome in these programs as are groups of leaders sponsored by their organizations for advanced development as they build momentum internally scaling the Agile Leadership Journey™.

Participants engage in these peer cohort-based programs through weekly 90-minute learning, exploration, and reflection sessions coupled with one-on-one leadership coaching with a Licensed Guide. Monthly masterclasses provide opportunities to explore a wide variety of leadership topics with Agile Leadership Guides and leaders from around the globe.

Developing a Growth Mindset™ Course

A green badge that says applied agility in leadership growth mindset

Developing a Growth Mindset™ vertically develops leaders for increased awareness, balance, adaptivity, and empowerment.

This course expands an individual’s leadership competencies by improving self-awareness, situational adaptiveness, social connectedness, and strategic orientation. Participants will set a personal growth goal and meet weekly with their cohort of peers. They explore the stages of leadership agility introduced in the Agility in Leadership™ workshop - expert, achiever, and catalyst - and how each stage and mindset shapes their impact as a leader. They discover how to shape relationships, learn the value of alignment, and the vital importance of strategic thinking. Finally, they learn to embrace a true catalyst mindset, one that requires courage, choice, and reflection.

The prerequisite for this course is the Agility in Leadership™ workshop and participants will receive a certificate upon successful course completion.

Developing Catalyst Behaviors™ Course

Agile leadership journey applied agility in leadership catalyst behaviors

Developing Catalyst Behaviors™ develops capabilities to operate across leadership levels and the organization through improved presence, power, and communication.

This course invites leaders to explore their leadership power and presence, learning to situationally adjust both to improve their effectiveness at work. They learn to communicate, collaborate, and make decisions better through the Catalyst Conversations™ technique, including how to foster alignment and improve their influence, especially when dealing with differences, conflict, and feedback. Finally, participants learn how to inventory and rebalance their focus to improve their leadership effectiveness and grow others in the organization.

The prerequisite for this course is Developing a Growth Mindset™ and participants will receive a certificate upon successful course completion.

Applied Agility in Leadership™ Certified

The Applied Agility in Leadership™ program is the culmination of a period of at least nine months committed to personal leadership development.

To be eligible, the two courses, Developing a Growth Mindset™ and Developing Catalyst Behaviors™, must be successfully completed coupled with their validated practice and work toward the participant’s personal leadership growth goal.

Those who are eligible for certification will have demonstrated expansion of their leadership competencies through vertical development - including improved awareness, balance, adaptivity, performance, and engagement in highly complex, rapidly changing environments. Additionally, they will have completed their personal leadership change story and a final closing session.

Upon completion of the program, participants will receive the designation “Applied Agility in Leadership™ Certified”.

Agile Leadership Journey Alumni Community Access

Alumni of this program are invited into the Agile Leadership Journey community for ongoing continuing education and peer support. This is a distinguishing feature of our advanced practice program in that the monthly one-hour Global Masterclasses we offer to course participants are also available on an ongoing basis to alumni of our program at no additional cost. We believe that leadership is a journey best traveled together.

Who are Certified Agile Leadership Courses for?

Leaders who attend certified agile leadership courses vary in many ways including their professional backgrounds, work experience, and the organizational cultures they work within. What draws them together, however, is a shared interest in developing themselves as leaders, plus a desire to promote agile values and ways of working within their organizations.

The certified agile leadership courses offered by Agile Leadership Journey Guides focus on developing agility as a leadership competency. Our programs are not exclusive to those in organizations that define themselves as “Agile” or that are undergoing an agile transformation. Rather, these courses are targeted for leaders at any level, in any industry, and regardless of role or title, including:

Managers
Organizational leaders
Decision makers
Executives
Aspiring leaders
Project managers
Team leads
Influencers
Agile team members
Trainers, coaches, and consultants

Additionally, certified agile leadership courses are for organizations seeking to upskill and retool their leaders to be better prepared to lead now and into the future. Contact us for information about certified agile leadership for your team or organization as well as options for a more customized approach.

Two men are talking to each other in a room.

Is Certified Agile Leadership the right path for every leader and every organization?

Not necessarily. We partner with leadership teams and organizations to customize learning experiences that align teams, accelerate progress toward performance and change goals, and help you develop more adaptive leaders.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT FOR ORGANIZATIONS

Certified Agile Leadership Essentials (CAL-E)

Our Agility in Leadership workshop aligns with the Scrum Alliance® Certified Agile Leadership Essentials (CAL-E) learning objectives. This course develops insight and awareness for leaders to discover new ways to think, focus, and behave. Leaders learn the fundamentals of agile leadership and improve their own leadership agility.

LEARN MORE

Certified Agile Leadership - Organizations (CAL-O)

Our Agility in Organizations workshop aligns with the Scrum Alliance® Certified Agile Leadership for Organizations (CAL-O) learning objectives. This course helps leaders align, focus, and accelerate change throughout their organizations. Leaders learn to identify and shape culture toward more iterative, adaptive, and sustainable practices.

LEARN MORE

Certified Agile Leadership II (CAL-II)

Our Applied Agility in Leadership program aligns with the Scrum Alliance® Certified Agile Leadership II (CAL-II) learning objectives. This advanced leadership development and practice program improves leadership awareness, creativity, agility, and effectiveness. The program includes professional 1:1 coaching, validated practice, and peer-driven cohorts.

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Scrum Alliance® Certified Agile Leader® Program

Some individuals may additionally be seeking credentialing through Scrum Alliance® so the information that follows will provide some history and background on that program as it has evolved. A number of our Guides currently offer both Agile Leadership Journey certifications and credentialling through Scrum Alliance® for the same workshops that they lead so reach out to us if this is important to you.

In 2016, Pete led the original development of the Scrum Alliance® Certified Agile Leader® (CAL) program. By this time, his own agile leadership training curriculum was successfully being deployed around the world for both private companies and via public workshops.

Since Pete’s initial work in developing the Scrum Alliance® Certified Agile Leader® program, it has gone through several iterations. This video shares insights from Pete and other members of the original design team on the need for and the focus of the program:

At that time, the Scrum Alliance® Certified Agile Leader® program was designed to comprise two components in order to develop agile leadership competence and maturity: education and practice. At the time, those courses were called Certified Agile Leadership I (CAL-I) and Certified Agile Leadership II (CAL-II).

Later, the foundational Certified Agile Leadership I was refactored into three separate courses, each requiring approximately a full day of education:

CAL Essentials (CAL-E)
CAL for Organizations (CAL-O)
CAL for Teams (CAL-T)

These courses were able to be taken individually or combined, depending on the instructor and the specific workshop being offered. Completing at least two of the three foundational education courses met the educational requirements for leaders to move on to the more advanced CAL II course, which focused on practice.

In 2024, the Scrum Alliance® announced an updated and refactored Certified Agile Leader® program track, consisting of Certified Agile Leader 1 (CAL 1™) and Certified Agile Leader 2 (CAL 2™). In a communication to current CAL credential holders on March 5, 2024, Scrum Alliance indicated that CAL 1™ will condense the learning objectives from CAL-E, CAL-T, and CAL-O along with additional learning objectives on leadership models and frameworks that are designed to support a leader’s growth and impact.

Additionally, Scrum Alliance® shared that CAL 1™ will be the prerequisite for CAL 2™, which has also been completely revamped. Notably, their messaging indicates that the new CAL 2™ course eliminates the advanced education, validated practice, and peer workshop components and will simply be an advanced 16-hour workshop.

Agile Leadership Journey supported the initial approach to developing leaders and it aligns with how we continue to work with leaders and leadership teams today. The additional learning objectives on leadership models and frameworks that are being added to the new CAL 1™ were already part of the Agile Leadership Journey™ curriculum. Workshops are helpful to develop initial awareness and introduce concepts, however, real shifts in leadership mindset and behaviors take place when leaders commit themselves to the hard work of deliberate practice. While validated practice, one-on-one coaching, and the peer cohort components have been eliminated in the refactored Scrum Alliance® Certified Agile Leader 2, they will remain in Agile Leadership Journey's advanced development programs.

How might the Scrum Alliance® Certified Agile Leader® program changes impact me?

For most of the leaders and organizations whose leaders go through our leadership development programs around the globe, there is no impact since they are not necessarily seeking credentialling through Scrum Alliance®.

For those who were enrolled in any of the workshops or programs offered by Agile Leadership Journey or our Guides that offered CAL credentialing at the time the changes were announced by Scrum Alliance®, don’t worry. You will still be eligible for the applicable Scrum Alliance® credential (though your certificates and badges from Scrum Alliance® will align with their new naming conventions).

For those who are seeking Scrum Alliance® credentialling, our foundational workshops meet the core Scrum Alliance® Certified Agile Leader® learning objectives and requirements. Further, our trainers are approved by Scrum Alliance® to use Agile Leadership Journey’s foundational Agility in Leadership™ and Agility in Organizations™ workshops to satisfy the learning objectives for this “new” course. Trainers may either opt to satisfy the leading agile teams-oriented learning objectives through asynchronous learning materials or additional live facilitation.

To earn Scrum Alliance® credentials for completing our programs, the individual Guide who is facilitating the CAL course must also be an approved trainer through the Scrum Alliance®. If Scrum Alliance® credentialing and badging is a priority, participants need to verify this detail in advance through the trainer’s registration pages for individual course listings for public workshops or by consulting with the trainer. All of our trainers who were approved CAL Educators at the time of the 2024 program refactor, have been approved by Scrum Alliance® as trainers for the revamped CAL 1™ course.

Note: In order to also receive certification of workshop completion through Agile Leadership Journey, a full 8-10 hours of live interactive learning must be successfully completed for each of our foundational workshops - Agility in Leadership™ and Agility in Organizations™. Our core curriculum is not being condensed or diluted to align with the changes at Scrum Alliance® as we believe this is the minimum amount of time required to bring initial awareness and inspiration to leaders in a workshop format.

Real shifts in leadership mindsets and behaviors happen over time through dedicated practice and feedback, with ample time to experiment, inspect, and adapt. Therefore, going forward, our advanced Applied Agility in Leadership™ (in total a six to nine month program) will not align with the limited CAL 2™ 16-hour workshop.

If you have any questions about the Scrum Alliance Certified Agile Leader® track or the programs we offer here at Agile Leadership Journey, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We know it can be confusing.