Jumping In: How One Agile Leader Is Empowering the Next Generation to Collaborate, Create, and Be Heard

With their high school and college experiences shaped by a global pandemic and economic uncertainty, today's young professionals are stepping into a workforce that feels more complex than ever. Yet what they seek is simple: to be heard, to have purpose, and to make an impact.

Kai Zander is the Director of Learning Solutions at CareerWise USA, a leader in youth apprenticeship programs that support the talent acquisition and development needs of enterprise employers. 

Kai is also a longtime agile champion and believes that employees can and should be empowered to make an impact—and that they can do so with the right mindset and environment. Drawing from her deep roots in both education technology and agile practices, Kai sees agile as a transformative toolkit for communication, collaboration, and self-managed, team-based work.

Discovering agile—and her voice

Kai's agile journey began in 2013 when she joined a software company based in Boulder, Colorado, working in its services and training division. As part of onboarding, all new employees were required to complete the Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®) course. At this company, agile wasn't just a way of doing things; it was deeply embedded in both the culture and day-to-day business practices.

Coming from a completely different industry, the world of software development felt unfamiliar—and at times, intimidating. Kai wasn't sure what to expect from the course or whether it would be overly technical.

Her expectations were quickly upended.

"The first day we played games," she recalls with enthusiasm.

About her job role at the time, Kai said: "I was in an environment where I was working with a lot of software developers, and I was intimidated. It was almost a constant state. I didn't know their world. I came from a background of event planning and working in fashion, and so I had almost gotten used to being uncomfortable, comfortable with being uncomfortable. But in the CSM class, it took it out of software, and it was about iterative improvement, completing projects. And it was something actually I thought I could do, and it was my first little moment of bright light and confidence in what I was doing in this completely unknown world."

What struck Kai most was the interactive, playful nature of agile learning. The course was filled with games, group activities, and hands-on collaboration. It wasn't just about process. It was also about people working together. That shift gave her a crucial boost of confidence in an unfamiliar space, and it sparked a mission to share that same sense of possibility with others.

"What we were doing, I felt, could translate to other parts of my life."

A culture of collaboration

Kai didn't just learn agile. She brought it to life. 

After returning from the scrum master course, inspired by the interactive, game-based learning style, she saw an opportunity to reimagine the workplace. The training had shown her that collaboration and psychological safety weren't just buzzwords; they were conditions that could be intentionally designed. 

Determined to create an environment where people felt safe to speak up and connect, she began redesigning physical spaces to reflect agile values. That meant open layouts for better team interaction, breakout areas to spark casual conversation (and yes, even foosball tables) as tools for team bonding, not distractions. For Kai, every design choice was about fostering the kind of teamwork and trust she had experienced in that agile classroom.

"I really took to it and we then created spaces [at the company], designing our offices."

They began developing spaces where collaboration and team cohesion could really take off. "I wrote my first proposal of why the team needed not one but two foosball tables, because it was about collaborating and communicating. And so it wasn't just for games, but it actually was supporting their development as a team."

"And that ended up being a space where I know the teams really started to build psychological safety, because it really took out the formality of these are only jobs, instead looking at two people as two people aligned in purpose and leaning into structure as well as opportunities for innovation."

She describes embracing these values and concepts naturally. The collaborative, team-based principles resonated deeply with her, and she recalls feeling that they were something everyone should learn because of their unique ability to help people in "finding aligned purposes, cheering each other on through continuous improvement, and welcoming innovation whenever, wherever we can."

Bringing agile to young professionals

One of today's biggest opportunities for many workplaces is re-creating the benefits of in-person collaboration in an increasingly hybrid and distributed world. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kai experienced firsthand how quickly education technology had to pivot to remote work.

"When we talk about quantum entanglement being something that Dr. [Jeff] Sutherland believes in, and then that is taken away, how do we fill that using tech tools?"

Quantum entanglement is the deep connection in great teams that allows them to act in sync without needing constant communication, much like particles instantly affecting each other at a distance.

She explains that the Boulder software company didn't have virtual training options when the pandemic hit, and they had to transform seemingly overnight so that they could foster the same kind of team connection—the aforementioned "entanglement"—without being in the same room. Many of today's young professionals are emerging from that same remote learning environment, where collaboration often took nontraditional forms.

Kai saw an opportunity: this generation could leap into their careers if they were equipped with the right skills in business agility, rather than having to wait on the sidelines. That belief led her to join CareerWise, driven by the idea that people should learn agile principles and other relevant skills early, as they can have a transformative impact on a person's career.

At CareerWise, Kai has helped develop agile-based programs that introduce high school students to agile not as a rigid methodology, but as a mindset; one that builds confidence, encourages collaboration, and makes work more engaging. These learning experiences show that agility is about real-world problem-solving, shared purpose, and even fun.

"At what point do we stop with these sandbox rules of life? Of 'everybody gets to play.' How and why do we enter this siloed, Hunger Games-style of working? In the workforce, we have to take years to undo that."

To Kai, agile is more than a way to manage work. Agile is a way to help people find their voice. And for young professionals, that's especially powerful.

Agile is an "opportunity where there's organic diversity of thought. It is part of the rules of the game that people get to speak in sprint planning and in the retrospective, and we encourage—whether you're an introvert or an extrovert—let's figure out ways for you to talk and contribute your ideas."

Agile helped Kai find her own voice early in her career, and now she's committed to helping others do the same, especially those just entering the workforce.

"They run to TikTok to speak. They want to have a voice, but how to do that in a corporate space is still undefined for them. And so to teach those skills of how they can be impactful—they're ready to go! Here at CareerWise, we do Apprentice Alliance meetings, and all the apprentices come together, and they work, they play games, they have discussion topics, and they all have something to say, and they all want to speak, and they're all waiting to be heard at work."

Through CareerWise, Kai works closely with agile organizations that host apprentices—often 16 to 18 years old—and many of those employers specifically request that apprentices be trained in agile fundamentals. Kai oversees course development for the CareerWise learning management system and curates content to ensure it's accessible, engaging, and tailored to today's learners.

Instead of lengthy lectures, CareerWise supports agile microlearning: short, digestible lessons on core topics like sprint planning and daily standups. The goal is to build fluency—not just familiarity—with agile concepts.

"It's like a game of double-dutch that is already being played. The apprentice can jump in and start playing the game as well, so they don't have to stop and put down the ropes; the apprentices can jump in."

Designing education and training for today's learners

As employers search for employees who are prepared to solve today's complex problems with an adaptable and flexible mindset, professional certifications, microcredentials, and apprenticeships are becoming key ways to upskill. For Kai, these aren't just résumé builders—they're confidence builders.

"Credentials and certifications will be huge," she said, "If you look at many job postings, [college] is optional, and organizations are leaning towards professional certifications more now, and I think that's a trend that will increase over the next few years."

One-size-fits-all doesn't work for modern learners, Kai emphasizes. Today's newest workforce members consume information through TikTok, text threads, and YouTube. Learning needs to meet them where they are.

For organizations that are tailoring professional development to today's learners, Kai suggests: "Embrace 21st century learning," including different modalities like asynchronous and self-paced learning paired with live experiences.

The lasting impact of being heard

Ultimately, for Kai, agility is about something deeper than frameworks or workflows. Agile drives empowerment, giving people the confidence and opportunity to speak their minds.

"I'll never forget the day someone first asked me, 'Kai, what do you think?' And I about fell out of my chair."

Now she's making sure today's newest professionals and employees don't have to wait as long to find their voices. Whether they're in high school or on their first internship, Kai knows they have something to say and is ensuring they have access to the tools to say it.

"It was very empowering for me personally, because I found my voice," she said. "And so for a young person who hasn't even made their first step into the working world to know that they have a voice and they matter—I know what that did for me and my personal life. I wish that for anybody. If you're breathing, you deserve to have that opportunity."

Ready to upskill for today's work of work?

Scrum Alliance offers a wide range of flexible, learner-focused resources, from immersive live courses to virtual training and microcredentials, all designed to help professionals at any stage of their career jump into their next chapter.

Check out CareerWise USA to learn more about their youth apprenticeship programs.