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Free online courses to improve your leadership skills

Carolyn

Founder at MoocLab
Staff member
Group Manager
The following courses have been selected to help you build on your leadership skills. Although many are part of Learning Pathways offered by the platform delivering the courses, each individual course can still be accessed for free. If you wish to gain a Certificate, you'll need to pay a fee and complete and pass the course.

The courses have been sorted into the following categories:



Foundations of Everyday Leadership
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Part of a 7-course series, the Strategic Leadership and Management Specialization
In this course you will learn about the “head and heart” of everyday leadership, individual decision making, group decision making, and managing motivation. The objectives are to understand why and how leadership skills are so critical to organizational success, and learn the foundations of effective leadership skills.
Free
On demand
Coursera



Applications of Everyday Leadership
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Part of a 7-course series, the Strategic Leadership and Management Specialization
This course covers the following topics: negotiation, feedback and coaching, conflict management, and leading change. The objectives are to learn how to use leadership skills to work more effectively with others, how to use leadership skills to organize others to work more effectively together, and to apply the foundations of effective leadership skills to everyday situations faced by leaders.
Free
On demand
Coursera



Designing the Organization: From Strategy to Organizational Structure
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Part of a 7-course series, the
Strategic Leadership and Management Specialization
In this course you will understand how firms are organized, what factors must be taken into account in making critical design decisions, and what role managers play in making these choices. In order to answer these questions, we will first develop a conceptual process model that links business models, external and internal contingencies, and organizational design. Second, we will focus on the fundamental principles of organization design and what alternative design choices are available for managers. Finally, we will apply these concepts and ideas to organizational situations to develop the critical insights and decision making skills to build effective organizations.
Free
Scheduled
Coursera


Managing the Organization: From Organizational Design to Execution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Part of a 7-course series, the Strategic Leadership and Management Specialization
In this course you will build a practical framework to understand the critical linkages between organization design and the creation of economic value through execution. We will focus on four critical linkages: 1. How organizational growth and life cycle requires design changes to improve execution; 2.How managerial decision making can be improved through better organization design; 3.How the design of human resource practices shape the culture of the organization; and 4.How innovation and change can be facilitated through organization design.
Free
Scheduled
Coursera


Business Strategy
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Part of a 7-course series, the Strategic Leadership and Management Specialization
In this course you will learn how organizations create, capture, and maintain value, and how it is fundamental for sustainable competitive advantage. You will be able to better understand value creation and capture, and learn the tools to analyze both competition and cooperation from a variety of perspectives, including the industry level (e.g., five forces analysis), and the firm level (e.g., business models and strategic positioning).
Free
Scheduled
Coursera


Corporate Strategy
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Part of a 7-course series, the
Strategic Leadership and Management Specialization
In this course you will learn how organizations create, capture, and maintain value, and how it is fundamental for sustainable competitive advantage. You will be able to better understand economic value creation and value appropriation, and learn the tools to analyze both competition and cooperation from a corporate level perspective, (e.g., through vertical integration, diversification, and geographic scope decisions).
Free
Scheduled
Coursera


Building Your Leadership Skills
HEC Paris
Part of a 4-course series, the Inspirational Leadership: Leading with Sense Specialization
When taking this course, you will raise your own self-awareness and gain self-confidence for a better leadership. You will discover a new approach to leadership based on trust and sense. The “Savoir-Relier” leadership, a new approach of leadership, taught to HEC MBA’s student and top executives, enables better team leadership and encourages relationships between people in spite of their differences of opinion.
Free
On demand
Coursera



Giving Sense to Your Leadership Experience
HEC Paris
Part of a 4-course series, the Inspirational Leadership: Leading with Sense Specialization
In this course, second course of the "Inspirational Leadership" Specialization, you will discover the characteristics of charismatic leadership. You’ll personally learn how to embody these traits through the “Savoir-Relier” (art of connecting and leading with sense) methodology, which covers 3Gs: being Genuine, Generous, and Generative. You will then choose which style of leadership best fits you, why and when so you can adapt to more complex and difficult situations with resilience.
Free
On demand
Coursera


Leading Organizations
HEC Paris
Part of a 4-course series, the
Inspirational Leadership: Leading with Sense Specialization
This course is the last course of the a Specialization on Leadership called “Inspirational Leadership: Leading with Sense”, so you may want to take the courses “Building Your Leadership Skills” and “Giving Sense to your Leadership Experience” prior of taking this course. In this course you’ll get the opportunity to apply the skills learned in the first two courses of the “Inspirational Leadership: Leading with Sense” as an individual to a group setting. The group could not only be an organization such as a company or a team in a company, but also a private group such as your family or an association.
Free
On demand
Coursera


Introduction to the Nonprofit Sector, Nonprofit Organizations, Nonprofit Leadership and Governance
The State University of New York
Part of a 4-course series, the Improving Leadership & Governance in Nonprofit Organizations Specialization
This course introduces you to the nonprofit sector, nonprofit organizations, and the concepts of leadership and governance. While this course has been developed with North American culture in mind, we do appreciate that in other parts of the world the nature of the nonprofit sector, nonprofit organizations, nonprofit leadership and governance may not be the same. Nevertheless, it is our hope that much of the course content will still be of value to those in other parts of the world.
Free
On demand
Coursera


The Roles and Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards of Directors within the Governance Process
The State University of New York
Part of a 4-course series, the
Improving Leadership & Governance in Nonprofit Organizations Specialization
This course provides a more in-depth look at the roles and responsibilities of boards of directors in the governance of nonprofit organizations. While the course has been developed with North American culture in mind, we do appreciate that in other parts of the world, the nature of the roles and responsibilities of boards of directors may not be the same. Nevertheless,it is our hope that much of the course content will still be of value to those in other parts of the world.
Free
On demand
Coursera


The Factors that Influence the Effectiveness of Boards and the Governance Process
The State University of New York
Part of a 4-course series, the
Improving Leadership & Governance in Nonprofit Organizations Specialization
The third course in this Specialization introduces you to the factors that influence how effective boards of directors will be in carrying out their roles and responsibilities and hence the impact they have in shaping the success of the organization they govern. While this course has been developed with North American culture in mind, we do appreciate that, in other parts of the world, the nature of the factors that influence the effectiveness of nonprofit boards of directors may vary. Nevertheless,it is our hope that much of the course content will still be of value to those in other parts of the world.
Free
On demand
Coursera


Project Management: The Basics for Success
University of California, Irvine
Part of a 10-course series, the Career Success Specialization
This course combines the essential elements of Project Management and Team Leadership into one course. Through class engagement and reflection, you will acquire further understanding of the responsibilities of leadership and become better prepared to apply this knowledge to the project environment.
Free
On demand
Coursera


Inspiring and Motivating Individuals
University of Michigan
Part of a 5-course series, the
Leading People and Teams Specialization
In this course, you will learn how to create a shared vision for your team and effectively communicate it to your teammates. You will also learn how to set effective goals and expectations in a way that best enables your team to attain the shared vision. Finally, you will understand the most important needs and drivers of performance across cultures, and will learn to align rewards with desired behaviors so that your teammates are motivated to attain the team’s objectives.
Free
On demand
Coursera


Managing Talent
University of Michigan
Part of a 5-course series, the Leading People and Teams Specialization
In this course, you will learn best practices for selecting, recruiting, and onboarding talent. You will also learn about the key approaches to measuring performance and evaluating your employees. In addition, you will learn how to develop and coach your talent so that they can realize their full potential at work. Altogether, you will gain a thorough understanding of the complete cycle of managing talent and creating a robust talent pipeline for your team and organization.
Free
On demand
Coursera


Influencing People
University of Michigan
Part of a 5-course series, the Leading People and Teams Specialization
This course will improve your ability to influence people in situations where you cannot use formal authority. You will learn about effective ways to build, develop, and sustain a power base in your organization. You will also learn influence tactics that enable you to be more persuasive and influential in working with your superiors, peers, and even subordinates. In addition, you will learn how to build and maintain high-quality relationships to further maximize your informal power and ability to influence others. Importantly, you will distinguish between influence and manipulation and learn how to protect yourself from the unwanted influence of others.
Free
on demand
Coursera


Leading Teams
University of Michigan
Part of a 5-course series, the Leading People and Teams Specialization
In this course, you will learn how to build your team, improve teamwork and collaboration, and sustain team performance through continuous learning and improvement. Specifically, you will learn best practices for composing a team and aligning individual and team goals. You will also learn how to establish roles, build structures, and manage decision making so that your team excels. This course will also help you manage critical team processes such as conflict resolution and building trust that have a profound impact on your team’s performance. You will discuss some of the best ways to harness the productive potential of teams while mitigating the risks and traps of teamwork.
Free
On demand
Coursera


Managing Employee Performance
University of Minnesota
Part of a 5-course series, the Human Resource Management: HR for People Managers Specialization
Once you have hired good employees, the next step that successful people managers take is to develop the full potential of their employees. Performance management is a process that helps managers achieve the goal of getting the best from their employees. In this third course in the Human Resources for People Managers specialization, we will discuss the skills and key processes you will need to develop your employees to attain department and organizational goals. These skills will include setting clear expectations, providing positive and corrective feedback, and delivering an effective performance appraisal.
Free
Starts April 2016
Coursera


Inclusive Leadership Training: Becoming a Successful Leader

CatalystX
This course is part of the Inclusive Leadership Training XSeries
What separates a successful leader from a mediocre one? In this course, you will learn what successful 21st-century leaders look like and how you can adopt their inclusive leadership style. Using research and best practices, as well as stories from great leaders and everyday people, you will practice empowerment, accountability, courage, and humility—key leadership skills linked to inclusive, successful teams. Throughout the course, you will meet people like yourself, who want to be the best leaders they possibly can by incorporating inclusive leadership into their everyday lives. With short quizzes and compelling case studies, you will refine your skills each section. Most importantly, you will apply your new leadership skills through exciting real-life exercises. At the end of the course, you will create a Personal Leadership Plan that will help you continue to develop your skills, knowledge, and awareness in your quest to become a successful, inclusive leader.
Free
Scheduled
edX


Inclusive Leadership Training: Get Beyond Work-Life Balance

CatalystX
This course is part of the Inclusive Leadership Training XSeries
Join Catalyst experts to learn the importance of inclusive leadership in creating flexible—and productive—work environments. Through research and real-world examples from a variety of situations, you will learn strategies for managing workplace flexibility, and you will learn how you have the power as an individual, a team member, or a leader to make positive change. You will understand the value of a flexible work environment and see what sets successful flexible workers and managers apart. With short quizzes, compelling case studies, and engaging videos, you will build your knowledge each section and share your experience with other learners on topics such as communication, technology, myth busting, challenges, and solutions. Throughout the course you develop a Personal Work-Life Plan to help apply the strategies taught and effectively manage your own work and life responsibilities or that of others.
Free
Starts April 1, 2016
edX


Inclusive Leadership Training: Leading with Effective Communication

CatalystX
This course is part of the Inclusive Leadership Training XSeries
This course will show you how the most effective communication utilizes the inclusive leadership mindset of Empowerment, Accountability, Courage, and Humility and guide you on how to use that mindset yourself. Through research and real-world examples, you will learn strategies to enhance your communication skills and approach. Topics will include understanding dialogue processes, debunking everyday communication myths, testing assumptions, listening, expressing yourself authentically, and communicating across differences. With short quizzes, compelling case studies, and engaging videos, you will develop knowledge each week and share your experience with other learners.
Free
Scheduled
edX


HR101x: Introduction to People Management

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore
Learn to be a better manager by developing leadership and communication skills designed to turn first time managers into great team leaders. The objective of this business and management course is to smoothen the transition for newly appointed people managers, motivate and guide people who are aspiring to become one and to think back and reflect for seasoned managers. The course will provide learners with an enhanced understanding of the role of people management in organizational context.
Free
Scheduled
edX


Managing the Company of the Future

University of London International Programmes
The aim of the course is to provide you with a comprehensive framework for understanding both the traditional principles of management inside companies today as well as the alternative principles that are becoming increasingly important. It provides both theoretical and practical perspectives on the nature of management in today’s organisations.
Free
On demand
Coursera


Leadership in 21st Century Organizations

Copenhagen Business School
Meet Jim Barton, the new CEO of Santa Monica Aerospace. Jim's job won't be easy: the company's hemorrhaging cash, struggling to regain investors' trust after an accounting scandal, and striving to transform its culture to become a more global competitor. In this course, you’ll travel with Jim as he takes on leadership challenges ranging from strategy execution, to inspiring people, to maintaining an ethical approach. Experts agree that twentieth-century leadership practices are inadequate for the stormy twenty-first-century present. This provocative course equips you with the insights you'll need to rise with the occasion of a rapidly shifting business landscape.
Free
On demand
Coursera
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International Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Università Bocconi
In this course – together with a team of Bocconi expert faculty and Bocconi alumni – we’ll explore the theory and practice of international and intercultural leadership and organizational behavior. Social science research has revealed systematic ways in which our behavior differs across cultural contexts – enabling us to more effectively work across borders. Insights from psychology, neuroscience, sociology and anthropology, from communication studies and from management scholarship allow us to understand what shapes individual and group decision making, what enhances or weakens team performance, and how we can build and use our social networks. And the shared practical experience of international leaders allows us to identify concrete steps to enhancing intercultural leadership competence, and to be cognizant of common leadership challenges.
Free
On demand
Coursera



Leadership: Identity, Influence and Power (LEAD)

Macquarie Graduate School of Management
This course examines recent research to uncover the practical actions anyone can take to be a successful leader. Leadership; Identity, Influence and Power, examine the recent research in social psychology and business to provide you with the practical guidelines and actions that will help you develop and sustain your leadership.
Free
Scheduled
Open2Study


Adaptive Leadership: Mobilizing for Change

Cambridge Leadership Associates
Adaptive Leadership is for anyone who wants to become more effective at leading a team or their organization through real change. Adaptive Leadership is a practical leadership framework developed by Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky at the Harvard Kennedy School. Adaptive Leadership is designed to help individuals and organizations through ...
Free
TBA
+Acumen


Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

Macquarie Graduate School of Management
This course provides you with an introduction to negotiation and conflict resolution from both an academic perspective and also from a practical or ‘skills’ based perspective. There are discussion boards which give you an opportunity to delve deeper into the issues with other people taking the course and also assessment items for you to undertake to help you recall key points along the way and to reinforce the learning. You will also receive some practical tips – negotiation ‘do’s and don’ts’, so you can continue to build on your skills in negotiation and conflict resolution after the course is complete.
Free
Scheduled
Open2Study


Decision Making in a Complex and Uncertain World

University of Greningen
Leaders must be able to act in a complex world and under uncertainty. This course is a first step to develop yourself into one of the future’s key decision makers or to enhance your decision-making skills. First, this course will address what complexity is and will define uncertainty. Next, we ...
Free
TBA
FutureLearn




High Performance Collaboration: Leadership, Teamwork, and Negotiation

Northwestern University
Part of a 6-course series, the Organizational Leadership Specialization
Are leaders born or made? Learn the essential skills to develop and expand your leadership repertoire, design teams for collaboration, and craft win-win negotiation strategies. High Performance Collaboration: Leadership, Teamwork, and Negotiation focuses on leadership, teamwork, and negotiation. Students will engage in self-assessments to analyze their leadership style, develop team charters to optimize their groups, and develop a game plan for effective negotiation.
Free
On demand
Coursera


Leadership Communication for Maximum Impact: Storytelling

Northwestern University
Part of a 6-course series, the Organizational Leadership Specialization

Storytelling is an essential part of leadership. Effective leaders communicate to inspire talent to excel; to partner with investors and communities; to engage with customers and clients and to grow their impact in the world as part of a global community. Cultivating an authentic, trustworthy and compelling narrative is vital to a leader’s success. This course helps leaders find their own story through personal branding; develop storytelling success with all constituencies; initiate an effective voice for crisis; interact well through social and third party media; and communicate a vision for innovation.
Free
On demand
Coursera


Leadership Through Social Influence

Northwestern University[/URL]
Part of a 6-course series, the Organizational Leadership Specialization

This course will provide learners with a systematic general framework for analyzing persuasive influence situations. Learners will be able to identify different challenges faced by persuaders and to fashion appropriate strategies for addressing those challenges. The broad goal is to provide learners with not only an extensive persuasion tool kit, but also with an understanding of how different tools are useful in different situations. Specifically, the course will address four broad topics: strategies for influencing people’s personal attitudes; strategies for affecting social factors influencing behavior; strategies for affecting people’s perceived ability to undertake the desired behavior; and strategies for inducing people to act on their existing intentions.
Free
On demand
Coursera


Leadership Through Marketing

Northwestern University
Part of a 6-course series, the
Organizational Leadership Specialization
The success of every organization depends on attracting and retaining customers. Although the marketing concepts for doing so are well established, digital technology has empowered customers, while producing massive amounts of data, revolutionizing the processes through which organizations attract and retain customers. In this course, students will learn how to identify new opportunities to create value for empowered consumers, develop strategies that yield an advantage over rivals, and develop the data science skills to lead more effectively, allocate resources, and to confront this very challenging environment with confidence.
Free
On demand
Coursera



Leadership Through Design Innovation

Northwestern University
Part of a 6-course series, the
Organizational Leadership Specialization
Today’s workplace calls for a new style of leadership to embolden and accelerate innovation. Design offers a novel way of discovering opportunities and bringing new approaches to life in ways that benefit all stakeholders. Learn how to engage with end users, effectively frame problems, identify potential solutions, and build prototypes to test assumptions and learn what works (and doesn’t). Then dive into a range of ways large and small to bring design innovation into your organization.
Free
On demand
Coursera


Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence

Case Western Reserve University
Part of a 5-course series, the Inspired Leadership Specialization

Emotional intelligence, hope, mindfulness, and compassion help a person reverse the damage of chronic stress and build great leadership relationships. The Positive and Negative Emotional Attractors inspire sustained, desired change and learning at many levels.
Free
On demand
Coursera



Women in Leadership: Inspiring Positive Change!

Case Western Reserve University
Part of a 5-course series, the Inspired Leadership Specialization
This course aims to inspire and empower women and men across the world to engage in purposeful career development and take on leadership for important causes---to lead change with more conviction and confidence---and improve our workplaces and communities for all. By offering more complex understandings of issues related to professional women and work, the course will help you increase self-knowledge about your own values and vision, as well as enhance your capabilities as a leader, manager, and team contributor. We will examine the opportunities, challenges, trade-offs, and organizational dynamics experienced by women in work organizations, as well as reflect on and practice effective individual behaviors.
Free
On demand
Coursera


Conversations that Inspire: Coaching Learning, Leadership and Change

Case Western Reserve University
Part of a 5-course series, the
Inspired Leadership Specialization
Coaching can inspire and motivate people to learn, change and be effective leaders, among other roles in life. Although most attempts are “coaching for compliance” (coaching someone to your wishes or expectations), decades of behavioral and neuroscience research show us that “coaching with compassion” (coaching someone to their dreams and desires) is more effective.
Free
Scheduled
Coursera


Leading Positive Change through Appreciative Inquiry

Case Western Reserve University
Part of a 5-course series, the
Inspired Leadership Specialization
Appreciative Inquiry is a collaborative and constructive inquiry process that searches for everything that gives life to organizations, communities, and larger human systems when they are most alive, effective, creative and healthy in their interconnected ecology of relationships. To appreciate, quite simply, means to value and to recognize that which has value—it is a way of knowing and valuing the best in life. In the language of Positive Organizational Scholarship it means a research focus—a positive bias—seeking fresh understanding of dynamics described by words like excellence, thriving, abundance, resilience, or exceptional and life-giving.
Free
Scheduled
Coursera


Managing as a Coach

University of California, Davis
Part of a 5-course series, the Coaching Skills for Managers Specialization
Leadership and management responsibilities have changed, particularly in the last decade. In this course, you will gain an understanding of why coaching has become an essential skill for managers, and learn to differentiate between coaching, managing, mentoring, leading and training so that you know when each role will be most effective.
Free
On demand
Coursera


 
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