Certified Agile Leadership Training with Olaf Lewitz

The Trust Artist, Olaf Lewitz, along with his partner, Christine Neidhardt, are gearing ready for their upcoming TrustTemenos Certified Agile Leadership trainings. Certified Agile Leadership trainings are a new, advanced level of training classes being offered through the Scrum Alliance. In this interview Olaf and I discuss the reason for his TrustTemenos CAL class, how it can help people become better Agile leaders, and the value of Certified Agile Leadership.

Safety is a very hot topic in the Agile space right now. During our conversation about safety, Olaf shared one of the most powerful things I have heard during an interview this year:

“When you talk to people about trust, it rises. When you talk to people about safety, they get scared.”

Every conversation I have with Olaf leaves me more aware and (I hope) a bit smarter than I was when it began. I hope you will get as much value from listening to this as I did from recording the conversation.

And you can find links to Olaf’s upcoming classes and events, as well as his contact info, below the show notes.

Show Notes

• 00:07 Podcast Intro
• 01:27 Begins
• 01:57 An overview of Agile Leadership Training
• 04:48 A skeptical response to the idea of Agile Leadership Training and Olaf’s response
• 07:16 Developing a thinking model to understand what we need and how that drives our actions
• 09:11 The power of metaphor in leadership and Dave’s aversion to boats
• 11:03 Giving people tools to grow their awareness of how they show up
• 11:34 These classes cover advanced leadership topics - not the basics
• 12:16 “If you trust in yourself… you will still get beaten by people”
• 13:05 Skepticism is an important part of any class and any transition
• 13:32 It’s about being intentional and aware
• 15:23 There is a specific type of learning that involves being uncomfortable because what you believe is challenged
• 15:57 Extending the question of leadership beyond work and helping them understand more about their awareness and intention
• 17:00 Olaf shares a story about his first experience working as a boss
• 21:29 The advice Olaf about give his 29 year-old self about being a boss for the firs time
• 22:23 It’s okay to ask for help
• 24:05 A question about safety and what it means to create a safe space
• 25:42 When you talk to people about trust, it rises, when you talk to people about safety, they get scared
• 27:22 What is Certified Agile Leadership Training? What level of knowledge experience do you need to attend?
• 28:08 What will CAL training do for a leader/manager in an Agile organization?
• 29:28 Where to learn more about Olaf’s upcoming classes, where you can see him speak and how to get in touch with him if you have questions.

Links from the Podcast

• Showing Up - the book written by Olaf and Christine https://leanpub.com/showingup
• TrustTemenos Leadership Academy: https://trusttemenos.de
• Upcoming CAL Trainings - https://trusttemenos.de/certified-agile-leadership-cal1/
• Olaf’s session at the 2017 Scrum Gathering San Diego is called: Product Owner: Mapping Dramas and Dreams and it will be held in the Harbor Island 1 room on Monday, April 10 from 1 PM until 2:15 PM For more info on the Scrum Gathering: https://www.scrumalliance.org/sgcal

Contacting Olaf

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olaflewitz/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/OlafLewitz
• Website: http://trustartist.com