Building an Agile Economy - September 2020

Learn agile ways to build your economy. This 3 week online course from the Agile Strategy Lab at the University of North Alabama advances your knowledge and skills to take on the new economy. After this course, you will understand how networks and ecosystems power your economy, you will analyze your ecosystems, and apply agile management practices to activate the changes needed for your area to prosper.

Our approaches to building prosperous economies are deeply grounded in outdated models and frameworks. These approaches emerged after World War II, and they are still ingrained in today's practices. So, for example, we distinguish among workforce development, community development, and economic development largely because federal programs were designed that way.

This course will introduce you to a new way of thinking. In an economy that is increasingly driven by knowledge and networks, we need to approach our work differently. The good news is that many communities have been forging a new path for decades.

This course is "asynchronous" - you can log in any time to access the course materials and participate in discussion. There will also be two optional live "watering holes" via Zoom - think of them as office hours with the instructor; you'll be able to ask any questions and share insights with fellow learners. Each week's material includes an assignment to help you apply the concepts to your own community or region - plan on a total of 2-3 hours each week including the assignments.