The Scrum Alliance, as the dominant certification body in Scrum and Agile, has developed a strong leadership program. Certified Agile Leadership (CAL) is an education and practice-based program geared towards developing agile leadership competencies and effectiveness in complex, uncertain, and rapidly changing conditions.

The program includes introductory education (to understand agility, leadership models, tools and techniques for agile leadership) and an advanced path (validated learning, practice and an experience report for leaders). This year, the Scrum Alliance has revamped the program to better address the needs from the market. We wanted to explain the change and provide a little insight as to what we think it means for you.

What’s new?

The original program provided CAL I and CAL II certifications. The new program replaces CAL I with multiple learning options: CAL Essentials, CAL for Teams and CAL for Organizations. The core of the CAL program remains the same. It’s still based on the Agile Manifesto, Scrum, research in leadership effectiveness, and organizational patterns that are effective in complex and rapidly changing environments.  The new learning streams gear the curriculum towards a leader’s personal learning journey.

In our experience, keeping the conversation focused on building and growing teams (CAL-E/T) or restructuring an organization and creating a culture for business agility (CAL-E/O) was an important step. The two domains are quite distinct, and the new structure allows each course to dig deeper, address more specific challenges and use more relevant case studies. The foundations are the same. The Essential program ensures a common appreciation for what leadership means in an agile organization. But the specializations will allow for more vigorous discussions about the real-world application of the principles to building exceptional agile delivery capabilities or optimizing an organization for business agility. We are excited about the changes.

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Do you already have a CAL I certification?

Not to worry for those of you who already have a CAL I certification. You can still work towards a CAL II certification. No changes have been made to the CAL II program. It is still a premier program including advanced education, through a 2-day workshop, hands-on application of validated practice and support from the course cohort and educators over a 6-month period.

At IncrementOne, we are combining the CAL Essentials learning objectives with the CAL-T and CAL-O courses. This gives participants the CAL-E certification when they take either the CAL-T or CAL-O course, allowing participants to qualify for the CAL II pre-requisites.

What is CAL II?

The Certified Agile Leadership II (CAL II) guides leaders in strengthening, applying and sharing their learning through a combination of advanced education and hands-on validated practice. The CAL II goal, areas of focus and audience include:

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To qualify for CAL II accreditation, the pre-requisites and the process are the same: ‍

Pre-requisite:

One of following accreditations (from any education provider): CAL I, CAL-E and T, or CAL-E and O.‍

Process:

Completion of CAL II Advanced Education, and then validated practice including a peer-based workshop.

Advanced Education ‍

additional education on a unique leadership development topic, customized to your learning journey and mentored alongside an approved CAL Educator.

Validated Practice

applying new leadership skills and insights back at work. Sharing and learning with a peer cohort to gain insight on how peers have evolved their own organizations, solved similar challenges and realized new opportunities.

Where to start?

The CAL program can be tailored to your personal learning goals - whether you’re just starting your agile leadership journey, want to learn new leadership frameworks for agility and complexity or wish to advance your organization’s leadership capabilities. Choose from a CAL-E/T, CAL-E/O or the CAL II as follows: