Outside of posting the syllabus for the various classes (which are linked on the list of classes in the package in the Menu of Services), I thought it would be valuable for me to share my own personal thoughts on why these individual classes are worthwhile, and what you will be able to do differently or better as a result of investing your time and money to become an ITIL 4 certified Strategic Leader:

ITIL 4 Foundation

WHY this class is worthwhile

ITIL 4 Foundation introduces a brand new framework and concepts to reflect modern ways of working while providing guidance on how an IT organization can both position itself as a high performing organization and improve its products, services, and underpinning practices and capabilities.  The class introduces the Service Value System, which is a systems thinking framework that is foundational for showing how an organization can visualize the end to end delivery for current state products and services, as well as utilize the guidance as a means to improve.  This class is also the foundational basis of more advanced learning in the ITIL 4 Intermediate modules, and is referred back to a considerable amount as you learn more about how to apply the initial concepts.

WHAT you will learn

Foundational elements including the nature of value co-creation, outcomes, costs, and risks (VOCR).  Guiding Principles that foster improvements in behavior and ultimately organizational culture.  A high level framework to identify and create value streams utilizing the Service Value Chain operating model.  An introduction to ITIL 4 Practices that are utilized to create, deliver, and support products and services across the value chain.  And finally, the aspects of looking at IT and its customers in the context of service provider and service consumer, and how to foster improved experiences that lead to better achievement of your bottom line strategic objectives.

HOW this class will help you be a better IT Professional and Leader

Taking ITIL 4 Foundation will allow you to go back into your organization and make immediate and significant improvements.  Just introducing the concepts of VOCR, value co-creation, service offerings, value streams, guiding principles, and the continual improvement model into your initiatives can make a significant difference between success and failure.  You will have the ability to introduce and facilitate the integration of these items into your organization and it will make an immediate and long lasting difference in your organizational effectiveness and successful achievement of your initiatives.

ITIL 4 Strategist – Direct Plan and Improve

WHY this class is worthwhile

This class provides fantastic guidance around the topics of governance, organizational alignment, and continual improvement.  Many organizations are focused on improving speed and time to market/time to value, but are not effective in doing so because of a lack of governance and/or a lack of organizational alignment. Well thought out and implemented governance is a requirement to attaining organization agility and true velocity (speed with direction).

WHAT you will learn

You will learn about the critical role of good governance in an organization, how to best determine where it is appropriate to have policies vs guidelines, and how to best ensure alignment of the organization around these areas to enable the successful achievement of the organization’s strategic initiatives and objectives.  This class also goes into a deep dive of the ITIL 4 Continual Improvement Model, which is extremely beneficial across strategic, tactical, and operational realms to maintain the viability of the organization and its products and services.

HOW this class will help you be a better IT Professional and Leader

You will be able to ensure a “just enough” approach around the policies and guidelines being developed and/or modified for the organization, either as one who is helping create them or providing feedback to ensure they are effective in meeting the needs of your organization and customers.  The utilization of the continual improvement model allows for ongoing realignment of the work being done across the service value system. Incorporating the continual improvement model not only allows for improvements to processes and tactics, but also ensures your products and services remain relevant when dealing with ever increasing rate of change of customer requirements and business conditions/environments.

ITIL 4 Leader – Digital and IT Strategy

WHY this class is worthwhile

Digital and IT Strategy is not a typical IT focused ITIL class, but is really a leadership class that describes what it takes to transition to and be successful as a digital organization.  Digital Transformation is the current buzzword in many industries, but how many organizations and leaders are truly prepared to meet the challenges of the next decade, or even the next couple of years?  The knowledge gained from this class will enable leaders to set up their teams, organizations, and ultimately their company to not just survive but differentiate their ability to successfully execute their strategic initiatives in a digital world.

WHAT you will learn

This class provides the foundational context, definitions, guidance, and considerations to deal with digital disruption, and develop a strategic position based on analysis of the factors involved and what needs to be done to execute the digital strategy successfully.  DITS is a very experiential class, based on a scenario and group exercises that walk the learners through the framework and approach (which is organized around a strategic view of the Continual Improvement Model).  Deeper levels of analysis and understanding emerge as the class progresses, and the knowledge gained sets the stage for teams to unify and align around a well-developed and focused digital strategy to move forward into the future.  

HOW this class will help you be a better IT Professional and Leader

This class in particular is targeted to senior leaders (and those aspiring to be one), and will help organizations to develop strategic thinking, analysis, and execution as a true capability to be a digital organization.  Your ability to assess, understand, and provide feedback based on the confidence, perspective and knowledge gained from this class will make a significant difference in the future direction of your organization as you work with leadership peers to architect, develop, and execute a cohesive strategy.

In conclusion, the learnings and insight to be gained by attending the combination of these three classes has the opportunity to make a significant difference in the ability for leaders to have a direct and meaningful impact in the success of their organization and its ability to define and execute its strategy. I am obviously very excited about their potential, and encourage my audience to seriously consider investing in taking advantage of the special package pricing and plan to attend the three classes this spring. For more information and details on the package and pricing options, please see our Menu of Services page to learn more and express interest in attending.

As organizations everywhere are adopting more agile ways, change management and its signature CAB has become increasingly problematic. Agile development teams are delivering dozens or hundreds of releases every day and traditional change management simply can’t keep pace. The industry is at a critical point where traditional CAB-based change management needs to grow up fast, or get out of the way. Our special guest presenter, Greg Sanker, will cover change management in the value stream, and include steps you can take right now to move toward high-velocity change management.

If you would like to go back and watch the recording of the meeting and see Greg’s presentation, the YouTube video can be found here: https://youtu.be/onilOUZsa2U

IT is the “X Factor” in Successful Experience Initiatives

Too often, organizations focus on the Customer Experience without having a comprehensive, all-company-encompassing strategy. Instead, business leaders run Customer Experience Initiatives which consist of company goals geared toward the customer experience. Human Resource departments run Employee Experience initiatives that focus on employee satisfaction survey results and IT continues to improve services and operations on a project-by project basis. This approach creates siloed efforts with limited success.

IT’s role in Employee and Customer Experience initiatives is NOT “To provide technology solutions!” Success is not limited to changing technology solutions; it’s a matter of changing the entire, end-to-end experience. When companies take a holistic approach and include IT as a strategic partner in experience initiatives, they are far more successful.

Attend this session to learn how IT can be the “X factor” in ending the siloed approach and increasing success.

The recording of Rae Ann’s presentation can be found here: https://youtu.be/Y2hSEe5bvPk

David Cannon, a highly respected and recognized industry thought leader, and one of the lead authors and editors for the newly released ITIL 4 – Digital and IT Strategy publication, will present an overview of this exciting leading edge material.

The ITIL Leader – Digital and IT Strategy module covers the following topics:
– The role of strategy in a digitally enabled organization
– The capabilities needed to compete in a Digital world
– How to evaluate new technology and its potential for competitive differentiation
– A way of thinking about innovation so that organizations can prepare successive waves of disruptive technology

After David’s presentation, there will be time for Q&A for both the Digital and IT Strategy material as well as anything else related to the ITIL 4 Managing Professional and Strategic Leader learning and certification tracks.

The zoom meeting was recorded, and the video of David’s presentation can be found here: https://youtu.be/k0YY57GQXSo

Here is a picture of me with Stuart and David from the last day of my trip attending the ITIL Strategic Leader session:

To learn more about this class, please review my Menu of Services page (linked at the top of the site) and feel free to fill in my contact form below for more information or to express your interest in bringing in this class into your organization.