Certified Agile Leadership 1: Lead change, not just Agile teams

Many organizations say they want Agile.

But what they often really mean is: “We want teams to be faster, while leadership, budgeting, decision-making, structure, and culture stay exactly the same.”

That is where Agile gets stuck.

Certified Agile Leadership 1 is designed for leaders who understand that agility is not only a team practice. It is a leadership capability. It requires a different way of thinking about power, influence, complexity, culture, responsibility, and organizational change.

This 2-day workshop with Zuzana “Zuzi” Šochová will help participants explore what it really means to lead in an Agile organization, especially when the environment is complex, uncertain, and changing faster than traditional management systems can handle.

This is not a workshop about telling teams to “be more Agile.” It is about becoming the kind of leader who can create the conditions where agility is actually possible.

The real leadership challenge

Agile transformations rarely fail because teams do not understand stand-ups, sprints, or retrospectives.

They fail because the system around the teams does not change.

Decisions are still slow. Priorities are still unclear. Managers still control too much. Teams are asked to be autonomous, but not trusted with real ownership. Leaders ask for innovation, but punish mistakes. Organizations want adaptability, but keep structures designed for predictability.

CAL 1 helps leaders look at that gap honestly.

The central question of this workshop is simple:

What needs to change in the way you lead if you want your organization to become more adaptive, resilient, and effective?

About the workshop

Certified Agile Leadership 1 is a Scrum Alliance certification course for people who want to influence their organization’s journey toward greater resilience, adaptability, and success.

The workshop focuses on Agile leadership mindset, modern management, organizational culture, leadership behaviors, and the role leaders play in enabling teams and organizations to deliver better outcomes.

Participants will explore how Agile leaders think, act, and influence change. The workshop combines teaching, discussion, simulations, peer learning, reflection, and practical exercises. It is designed as an interactive learning experience, not a passive lecture.

You will work with real leadership questions, such as:

• How do I lead when I cannot control everything?

• How do I create alignment without micromanagement?

• How do I support autonomy without creating chaos?

• How do I influence culture, structure, and behavior?

• How do I help teams take ownership?

• How do I become a better catalyst for organizational change?

About Zuzana “Zuzi” Šochová

Zuzana “Zuzi” Šochová is an experienced Agile coach, trainer, Certified Scrum Trainer, and Certified Team Coach with more than 20 years of experience in the IT industry. She started working with Agile and Scrum in 2005 and has since helped many companies and teams around the world with Agile transformation and implementation.

Zuzi has trained thousands of Scrum Masters, Product Owners, leaders, and Agile practitioners. She is also a regular international conference speaker, founder of the Czech Agile Association, founder of Agile Prague Conference, and author of The Great ScrumMaster: #ScrumMasterWay and The Agile Leader: Leveraging the Power of Influence.

Her work focuses strongly on Agile leadership, organizational culture, enterprise agility, and the shift leaders need to make when organizations move from traditional management toward more adaptive ways of working.

What you will explore

In this workshop, you will explore:

• What Agile leadership really means beyond frameworks and terminology

• How leadership needs to change in complex and fast-changing environments

• How to create conditions for empowered, accountable teams

• How to work with organizational culture and structure

• How leadership style affects agility, ownership, and collaboration

• How to influence change without relying only on positional authority

• How to build more resilient and adaptive organizations

• How to support continuous improvement at team and organizational level

• How to lead with clarity, trust, and purpose in uncertainty

Who should attend?

This workshop is designed for people who have influence over how work gets done in an organization.

It is especially relevant for:

• Executives and senior managers

• Middle managers and team leaders

• Leaders responsible for Agile transformation

• HR, change, and organizational development professionals

• Agile coaches and experienced Scrum Masters

• Product Owners and Product Managers

• Leaders working with Agile teams

• Anyone who wants to better understand their role in creating an Agile organization

You do not need to be a Scrum expert to attend. The workshop is especially valuable for people who want to understand agility from a leadership and organizational perspective.

Certification

After successfully completing the full workshop, participants receive the Certified Agile Leader 1 (CAL 1) certification from Scrum Alliance.

CAL 1 is a recognized Scrum Alliance leadership certification. The official Scrum Alliance path describes CAL 1 as a course for people who want to support organizational resilience and success through collaboration, empowerment, adaptability, and continuous improvement.

Why this workshop matters

Many organizations invest heavily in Agile teams, Scrum Masters, Product Owners, tools, and frameworks.

But if leadership does not change, Agile remains trapped inside the team level.

The result is predictable: teams use Agile language, but the organization still behaves in traditional ways.

CAL 1 helps leaders understand their part in that system. It gives participants the language, models, and practical awareness needed to lead change more intentionally.

Because Agile leadership is not about being softer. It is about creating clarity, ownership, adaptability, and trust in environments where old command-and-control habits no longer work.

Key takeaway

You will leave with a clearer understanding of your role as a leader in an Agile organization, what may be limiting agility today, and what you can start changing in yourself, your teams, and your organization.