Overview
The Agile Team Facilitation course is the first step towards achieving the coveted expert level in ICAgile’s Agile Coaching track (ICP-ATF certification). The course gives you the much-needed skills to design and conduct collaborative meetings while leading teams toward higher maturity levels, more effective results, and self-organization.
This Agile Team Facilitation course focuses not only on skills and techniques but also on the mindset of the facilitator towards becoming an Agile Coach. It includes group facilitation tools and techniques to effectively design meetings and workshops that engage and drive toward agreed-upon outcomes. In this class, you will develop an appreciation for the art of facilitation as key to fostering collaboration and enabling self-organizing teams.
This course provides the essential team facilitation skills needed to lead teams towards greater agility. In addition to reviewing facilitation techniques for Agile practices, participants will also learn how to design and conduct other types of meetings to ensure successful outcomes.
This course has been approved by ICAgile to award students the Certified Professional in Agile Team Facilitation (ICP-ATF) upon successful completion of the course. The ICP-ATF is also a prerequisite to earning the ICAgile Expert in Agile Coaching certification (ICE-AC).
Successfully complete an ICAgile accredited course taught by an ICAgile Authorized Instructor.
ICAgile Authorized Instructors can withhold certifications based on lack of participation or understanding of course learning objectives.
GSA: $1435 USD
21 PDUs
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Full Course Details
Part 1: Welcome, Introductions, and Course Logistics
A Team Facilitator is someone who helps a group identify common objectives and then offers group processes to achieve defined outcomes. A skilled facilitator consciously embodies self-awareness, self-management, and bias management, while conveying openness and enthusiasm. An Agile Team Facilitator (ATF) is about more than just meetings. An ATF facilitates participation, collaboration, engagement, and team growth.
- Introductions and Housekeeping
- Course Objectives and Agenda
- ICAgile Certification Overview
Part 2: Development Path for Agile Coaching
The Agile Team Facilitator is on the development path to becoming an Agile Coach. To be effective, the Agile Coaching path requires that we take our development one step at a time, obtaining competence at each step along the way. We will review the development path and transition from Agile Team Facilitator to Agile Coach.
- Development Path for Agile Team Facilitators
- Competencies of an Agile Coach
- Your Extended Team
- Knowing When to Call on Help
Part 3: The Agile Team Facilitator Mindset
Becoming an Agile Team Facilitator requires a certain mindset to lead and serve the team. Learn the mindset required for the Agile Team Facilitator and gain an understanding of the paradigm shift that must occur to be successful in this collaborative environment. Understand how the Agile Team Facilitator is a role model for the team by exemplifying the Agile principles. Review the strategies required to be a servant leader and models for achieving self-awareness.
- What is an Agile Team Facilitator
- Team Facilitator Guiding Principles
- Agile Team Facilitator Mindset
- Self-Awareness/Self-Management
- Servant Leadership
Part 4: Foundational Facilitation Skills
One of the essential skills for the Agile Team Facilitator is helping teams identify and achieve common objectives. The ATF facilitates the team events to ensure they are productive and move the team forward. This starts with understanding the purpose and expected outcomes of the various team events. A flow must be created to achieve those goals and ensure participation.
- Arc of Facilitation
- Understanding Purpose
- Gather Planning and Design Information
- Designing Meeting Flow for Collaboration
Part 5: Conducting a Facilitated Session
When facilitating a session, the facilitator is the holder of the process and the team holds the content. The facilitator must maintain neutrality to not unduly influence team decisions. They must make sure that the event is organized to encourage collaboration. This includes the physical setup, meeting organization tools, and driving collaborative conversations.
- Maintaining Neutrality
- Using Meeting Organization Tools and Interactive Facilitation Techniques
- Facilitating Collaborative Conversations and Team Decision-Making
- Managing Dysfunctional Behaviors
- Reading the Room and Capturing Information
Part 6: Facilitating Collaborative Meetings
Facilitating typical Agile framework meetings is a requirement for the Agile Team Facilitator. We must plan these events and keep them engaging. To do so, the ATF must understand the purpose and underlying principles and values of the ceremonies. In this section, we will go through the ceremonies for an agile framework and design meetings to facilitate achievement of the desired outcomes. We will specifically design common sessions such as Retrospectives and Daily Stand-Ups. We will also look at the design of other key ceremonies.
- Agile Framework Meetings
- Facilitating Retrospectives and Daily Stand-Ups
- Facilitating Other Agile Meetings
Part 7: Skillfully Facilitating Agile Practices
Teams will move in and out of patterns of behavior. The ATF needs to recognize team patterns and know when a team may need more, or less, intervention. We will look at how our styles need to change based on the team current state of knowledge and self-sufficiency.
- Team Levels of Maturity
- Changing Style Based on Team Phase
- Levels of Team Intervention
Part 8: Active Facilitation
This section is devoted to putting our training into action! The ability to neutrally facilitate a session must be practiced. Attendees will have an opportunity to design and facilitate a team session based on scenarios from agile framework meetings.
- Design an Agile Meeting
- Facilitate an Agile Practice
- Give and Receive Feedback
Part 9: Summary
Summarize key takeaways from the course and pull it all together.
- Review Facilitation Tools
- Review ICAgile Learning Objectives and Video
- Survey Information
This is an intermediate/advanced level workshop. Participants should have completed basic Agile training – such as an ICAgile accredited Agile Fundamentals course, a Certified Scrum Master course, or an equivalent or have completed 6 to 12 months of working with Agile teams. If you are unsure if you meet this prerequisite, you should give us a call and ask.
Anyone who strives to lead teams towards greater efficiency and achieve tangible results will benefit from the essential leadership skills of team facilitation.
Professionals who may benefit include:
- Anyone wanting to improve their team facilitation skills
- Anyone on their path to becoming an Agile Coach
- Team Facilitators
- Scrum Masters
- Agile Project and Program Managers
- Agile Coaches wanting to improve their skills
- Business Analysts
- Value Managers
- Team Leaders
- Product Owners
- Iteration Managers
- Anyone wanting certification in ICAgile Agile Team Facilitation (ICP-ATF)
- Anyone wanting to become an ICAgile Certified Expert in Agile Coaching
- Build your facilitation toolkit with practices and techniques to facilitate team activities
- Design frameworks for effective meetings
- Facilitate meetings for collaboration and team decision making
- Utilize facilitation concepts and techniques
- Active design and facilitation opportunities
- Perform team diagnostics and identify team dysfunctions
- Become a more effective facilitator through self-awareness and self-management
Although there is not an ICAgile official exam, ICAgile allows for their course accreditors to determine appropriate means for retention of the learning outcomes. Depending on your provider, there may be some type of assessment in order to earn certification.
Many providers assess via participation, activity and understanding conveyed via exercises and discussion, withholding certification when appropriate.