A Cornwall communications agency has launched an online coaching academy to bring Agile ways of working to non-software teams.
The Agile Communications Academy offers on-demand digital and hybrid learning opportunities for PR, communications and marketing professionals to embrace Agile, with courses also applicable to other business disciplines.
The first course to be released is Agility for PRoductivity, an on-demand course where delegates can learn at their own pace how to apply Agile ways of working to boost their productivity, performance and personal effectiveness.
Founder Rachel Foster has been delivering Agile coaching for the PR and communications industry for eight years. She was prompted to develop the Agile Communications Academy by recent statistics from membership organisations around burnout and poor mental health.
According to the CIPR and PRCA, 91% of PR professionals experienced poor mental health at some point in the past year. 58% of those cited workload stress as a significant contributing factor to their mental health struggles.
Agility for PRoductivity is available at an introductory rate of £99 until the end of October 2024.
The Agile Communications Academy will next be developing more in-depth Agile coaching programmes for team managers and leaders – set to launch in Autumn 2024.
The Agile Communications Academy has received £17,200 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, through the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Growth Hub Grants Programme.
The Growth Hub Grants Programme is part of the Good Growth Programme, which is delivering the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in Cornwall and Isles of Scilly.
“It’s been a long-held ambition of mine to bring Agile ways of working to many more professionals in non-software teams, and especially in my industry. It’s a sector that’s plagued by “always on” culture, heavy workloads and blurred boundaries. My belief is that Agile can help us.
I started adopting Agile methodologies 12 years ago, and become a qualified Agile coach in 2020. This first course is aimed at comms professionals who are struggling with capacity, extensive workloads and headspace. I’m super proud of the resources we have created for the course, and the feedback so far from users has been overwhelmingly positive.”
Rachel Foster, founder of The Agile Communications Agency