I’ve been teaching a Scrum Alliance, Certified Agile Leadership (CAL-I) class since 2017. In that time, I’ve evolved quite a bit in my goals, intentions, and approaches within the class.
Initially, it was all in-person and largely a training event. Sure, I tried to share my experiences and the feedback was great. But I don’t believe folks left with much more than knowledge. And often I’m guessing, 6-months later, much of that knowledge had faded into the chaos of real-world agile execution.
Over time I’ve transitioned from wanting the class to be a learning event to more of a holistic experience. An immersed learning experience that I hoped would have—
More lasting impact on attendees;
Not easily be forgotten;
Causing ongoing reflection, experimentation, and discovery;
Improved ideas for new ways of leading.
Then, when Covid-19 hit and I pivoted the class to virtual delivery, I was even more intent on creating an experience for attendees. As much to retain their level of engagement as for the learning and retention.
So, what have I learned or focused on?
1. Modeling the classes’ key lessons—Over the years I’ve found that modeling, my modeling the behaviors and skills that I think are crucial for agile leaders, is one of the most effective ways of teaching them. I’m not telling attendees what to do. Instead, I’m showing them what to do and how to do it thru the lens of my own behavior. For example, I do a fair amount of role-playing when answering questions. And I try to demonstrate vulnerability, truth-telling, radical candor, safety, respect, curiosity, etc. while doing so.
2. Fostering opportunities for group interaction—One of the things I’ve learned is that attendees can potentially learn as much from each other as they can from me. And I believe it’s safer and stickier learning because it’s peer-based and more rooted in the real world. In my virtual classes, I leverage Zoom Breakout Rooms as much as possible to facilitate interactions. Even if it causes me to lose “face time” with the class and have to compress my agenda ;-)
3. Creating parallel learning threads—I try to create a few parallel learning paths. That includes learning in the class, pre-work, and homework, various group breakouts, Trello board interactions, chat interactions, lean coffee sessions at the end of each day. I’m encouraging multi-threaded learning that hopefully is richer and stickier for attendees. Of course, not all students engage as much as they could, but the opportunity is there for everyone.
4. Encouraging storytelling/sharing—We actually have a module in the class that focuses on storytelling as a valuable technique for effective leadership communication. And we practice it a bit too. I also try to share as many stories as I can (again modeling). I want everyone to leave the class with a better understanding of and appreciation for storytelling. And, of course, with a few stories that will stick with them for a while.
5. Connection—One of the requirements for the CAL class is having your camera on the entire time. Sure, you can step away or take a break, but when you’re engaged with the class, I want to see you and interact with you. And I want everyone else to see you as well. The reason for this is largely so we can all make a connection with each other. I also want to be able to read facial expressions and body language from the group to ensure my ideas are landing.
6. Creating personal reflection space—I believe that most of us spend too little time on personal reflection. Taking an inside-out view if you will. In the workshop, I try to create space/opportunities for personal reflection. I emphasize journaling as a great way to do it. I also open/close sessions with more introspective questions (and sharing) trying to strengthen this habit within attendees.
7. Challenge / disrupt ideas; I don’t want all 10’s—I don’t know how to say this well, but I want to be a bit of a status quo disruptor in the class. I want to challenge staid tactics and strategies. I want to argue a bit with folks or agree to disagree. Of course, in a respectful way. But I don’t want to tell people what they want to hear to improve my “scores”. I want to explore with them what I believe they need to hear. Then it’s up to each attendee to reflect on these learnings.
8. High-energy—I try very hard to personally bring high-energy and passion to each class. To bring my whole self to the class. I also intentionally put on the meta-skills of playfulness and curiosity in each session to influence the class ecosystem to be lite and fun. I’ve found that how I “show up” matters a great deal to the overall experience.
9. Humane hours—I’ve taken virtual courses that were scheduled for four, six, even eight straight hours over the course of a few days. I found them to be exhaustive bordering on inhumane. Some of them wouldn’t even take a break for hours on end and made you feel as if it was a bother to break. My CAL class will never succumb to this. The maximum I will run a class is 3-hours. That’s why the 2-day class is spread across 5-days. And we break for 10-minutes every hour. I’ve found this to be the optimum scheduling recipe to ensure attendee engagement and learning.
10. Follow-up, 1:1 coaching session—I offer a 1-hour, 1:1 coaching session as part of each CAL class. I normally charge ~$250/coaching hour, so this is a serious perk for attendees. It’s an opportunity for me to get provide insights and coaching advice on an individual basis that is tailored to the individual’s agile context. This is part of my parallel threads learning focus.
As you can see, creating an experience is an intentional thing and not all that easy. But from my perspective and, based on the feedback I receive from attendees, it’s definitely worth the effort.
Wrapping Up
I often receive feedback from attendees saying that the class wasn’t what they expected. That it was focused less on telling them what to do or teaching them and more on them experiencing ideas and thinking for themselves about aspects of agile leadership and how they might want to shift, change, or adapt.
I always think to myself—Exactly!
My hope is that everyone walks away from the CAL class thinking less that it was a class and more that they just went through an enriching and meaningful experience. An experience that (I envision and hope) will change the way they view and approach leadership in agile contexts. An experience that will stick with them for a very long time.
I must give a nod to Daniel Mezick whose class on how to teach more effectively virtually has had a fundamental impact on how I approach virtual teaching and creating a learning experience.
Finally, I hope to see you in an upcoming CAL class.
Stay agile my friends,
Bob.