Diversity can seem like a difficult concept to incorporate into the culture of a business. Leaders often view diversity initiatives as important but see them as secondary to the day-to-day operations of a successful business. You may ask yourself, where and how do I start? In this course, we’ll look at many strategies that can help jumpstart diversity and inclusion initiatives. Through these initiatives, we can build stronger relationships that improve the overall business environment and how it functions. These relationships can drive stability, sustainability, and profitability for years to come.

In this course on Diversity and Inclusion for a Better Business, we’ll discuss the benefits of building a culture of diversity and equity. We'll review essential concepts, such as the Six C’s of inclusive leadership, and learn how to apply them in practice. We’ll also learn about unconscious biases that can affect decision-making and how to identify and overcome them.

Learning Objectives
Understand and appreciate how diversity is a benefit to business operations
Identify how to create a more inclusive workplace by implementing diversity-based communication and collaboration strategies
Recognize how to make better decisions by identifying and challenging unconscious biases in the workplace

Skills You Will Learn
Diversity and Inclusion
Bias Awareness
Decision-making

As a leader, people of many different backgrounds will look to you for guidance and security in the workplace. The individual identities within a workplace can include individuals from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, individuals with different gender and sexual identities, and individuals with different disabilities. One of the goals of a leader is to create a safe and inclusive environment for all employees. When creating an inclusive environment, it’s important to be aware of who you're creating it for and what their individual needs are. Recognizing individuality and implementing inclusion practices benefit everyone and improve your business’s culture.

In this course on Leadership for Identity Diversity, you will learn about obstacles that diverse populations face and how you can respect and prioritize their needs and experiences at work. We’ll discuss strategies and techniques that you can use to help improve relationships with all employees, as well as create a comfortable environment for everyone.

Learning Objectives
Understand the challenges of unique identity groups and how to accommodate them in the workplace
Recognize how to improve workplace relationships by using different inclusion practices
Identify how you can support equality in the workplace by being a driving force for positivity and acceptance

Skills You Will Learn
Diversity and Inclusion
Employee Satisfaction

Improving diversity in the workplace requires strategic planning and mindful consideration from everyone involved because inclusion in the workplace is a team effort. When a leader is a participant in change rather than a director, the culture is able to transform with them. Strategies such as improved communication, modeling positivity and adaptability, and building relationships can help make the transition smoother. Effectively changing the culture of a business requires commitment and determination, which is why it’s important to know of leadership strategies that you can use to help you build and maintain a sustainable culture of diversity and equity.

In this course on Applying Yourself to Diverse and Inclusive Leadership, you’ll learn how to increase the effectiveness of your diversity and inclusion initiatives. Through self-awareness, you can model your commitment to change and encourage others to follow your example. You’ll learn strategies for overcoming bias and giving and receiving feedback.

Learning Objectives
Understand how to increase self-awareness by working through your personal biases
Develop effective feedback techniques by creating an accepting work environment
Create more diverse and productive teams by understanding how to apply diversity and inclusion initiatives

Skills You Will Learn
Feedback Strategies
Hiring for Diversity
Leading Diverse Teams

Financial knowledge is vital to an executive’s role in a business, but the systems within a business can be extremely complex. Without a strong foundation of financial analytics, it can be difficult to interpret, report, or even understand a business’s financial standing. A lack of understanding can impede your ability to make educated decisions. By understanding where the data comes from and how accounting operates, you can manage your business with greater efficiency and interpret business systems more accurately.

In this Finance and Accounting Basics for Nonfinancial Executives course, you will learn the basics of financial and accounting decisions, as well as the important assumptions and constraints within financial statements. You’ll also learn the ins and outs of the accounting equation, including its relation to transactions and the income statement. You’ll discover how FinTech is used in business markets, the challenges it may create, and how it can lead to better business solutions.

Learning Objectives
Understand financial accounting
Examine the accounting equation
Explore FinTech challenges and benefits
Discover accounting assumptions and constraints

Skills You Will Learn
Accounting equation
FinTech opportunities
Financial accounting
Corporate finance

Financial statements are a critical part of attracting investors. Financial reports like income statements are the hard proof of how your business is doing. Properly interpreting these statements can provide a stronger understanding of your business’s performance. This can also assist your company when acquiring new investments and making strategic business decisions. Your reliable and precise numbers may encourage shareholders and investors to feel more confident when working with you.

In this Financial Statements and Reporting for Nonfinancial Executives course, you’ll learn about the balance sheet, the income statement, and the statement of cash flows. You’ll also learn how to use financial statements like, comprehensive income and shareholders’ equity. Knowing how to analyze these statements can help you better understand how your company’s assets are supporting the business, how equity changes over time, and how the overall business is performing.

Learning Objectives
Understand financial statements
Examine the balance sheet
Explore how investments can work for you
Discover what assets represent

Skills You Will Learn
Balance sheets
Shareholders’ equity
Comparative analysis

With constant market fluctuation and an unpredictable supply chain, sometimes it can be difficult to project where your business will be tomorrow. That’s where financial forecasting comes in. The data you have today can be used in various ratios and equations to create helpful financial estimates for your business. You can also use different aspects of financial and managerial accounting to better present your finances to potential and existing stakeholders. Streamlined financial reporting, planning, and analysis techniques can improve your business’s competitive strategy.

In this Financial Planning and Analysis for Nonfinancial Executives course, you’ll learn how costing, pricing, and budgeting can be used when creating estimates and projections. You’ll also learn about variance analysis and financial performance management, as well as how financial and managerial accounting work together. You’ll use important financial ratios and forecasting techniques that lead to improved business analysis and performance.

Learning Objectives
Understand financial forecasting
Interpret financial ratios
Explore the budgeting process
Examine financial performance management

Skills You Will Learn
Financial planning
Variance analysis
Financial accounting
Managerial accounting

Investments always involve a bit of risk, but you can lower that risk by analyzing your company’s current and future value. There are many options when it comes to funding a business or a project. Funding can be acquired through both debt and equity, as well as working capital. Learning the inner workings of project and relative valuation can help improve your investment decision-making skills and understand which projects will bring the best results.

In this Valuation for Nonfinancial Executives course, you’ll learn how to use relative valuation, project valuation, and other valuation models. These are important in considering funding and investments, particularly when calculating the cost of capital. Project valuation is an especially important part of determining the future expected cash flow of your company. You’ll learn how these techniques can help you expand your business most effectively and ensure a positive return.

Learning Objectives
Interpret relative valuation models
Understand short-term and long-term capital
Reduce investment risk
Determine the value of a company
Calculate a project’s NPV

Skills You Will Learn
Expanding business operations
Relative valuation
Project valuation
Price-to-earnings ratio

The modern business landscape is noticeably globalized. People from many countries and cultures work together, whether in-person or remotely. You might work in an environment like this yourself, or you likely will in the future. That’s why it’s critical for you, as a leader, to have the necessary skills to navigate cultural differences within your company. Otherwise, you might not know how best to leverage your employees’ skills. So how can you do this? How can you become a cross-cultural leader?

This course provides an in-depth exploration of the strategies and fundamentals of cross-cultural leadership. You will learn to work with different cultures, understand what constitutes cross-cultural leadership, and build your own cross-cultural competence. You’ll also learn to develop your ability to build cross-cultural competence while accommodating differences in strategic planning. With this knowledge, you will better understand how to lead teams effectively across diverse backgrounds.

Learning Objectives
Understand how to work with different cultures in a single environment
Describe what constitutes cross-cultural leadership
Learn strategies for building cross-cultural competence
Develop an awareness of the impact of cultural differences in strategic planning
Identify and accommodate biases and other cultural distinctions in workplace decisions

Skills You Will Learn
Cross-cultural leadership
Leadership styles
Accommodating cultural differences

If you want to be a cross-cultural leader, then it’s critical that you create an inclusive, respectful work environment that allows employees to work at their best. You’ll have to become comfortable with other people’s perspectives to do that. You’ll also create opportunities for cross-cultural collaboration and develop products and business solutions by focusing on others’ preferences and habits. Now, you might be thinking: How do I get to that point? How can I create a culturally inclusive environment?

This course will help you understand the importance of gaining knowledge of other cultures when leading a diverse team. You’ll also learn how to host a culturally inclusive interview, allowing you to create a workforce that represents your organization’s values. These lessons will share how you can gain awareness of knowledge of other cultures, learn through practice, and deepen your relationships with your multicultural coworkers.

Learning Objectives
Identify the importance of gaining knowledge of other cultures when leading a diverse group
Learn how to create an inclusive and respectful work environment that encourages collaboration among people from different backgrounds
Examine the benefits of reflecting on personal limitations and biases
Recognize the need for an inclusive interview process
Examine how to build trust between individuals from different backgrounds

Skills You Will Learn
Global workplace
Inclusive interviewing
Self-awareness

How to become an effective cross-cultural leader may not be immediately apparent to you. You’ll need a few specific skills to get to the point where you can navigate across cultures effectively, efficiently, and comfortably. The best leaders make a habit of self-reflection, staying observant of their leadership style and how it impacts those around them. So how can you develop those skills? What do you need to do to become an excellent cross-cultural leader?

This course will help you gain and develop the skills and understanding needed to lead effectively across cultures. We'll discuss the importance of recognizing and meeting certain cultural expectations for leadership, like being a hierarchical or egalitarian leader. We’ll also discuss how you can manifest authenticity within your relationships with your employees, demonstrating your respect for them. You will assess your leadership style and identify what makes it effective. At the end of this course, you’ll learn how to respect local cultural expressions and communicate clearly with people.

Learning Objectives
Understand the importance of expectations when leading across cultures
Recognize hierarchical and egalitarian forms of leadership
Gain an understanding of individualistic and collectivist cultural norms
Foster respectful local cultural expression

Skills You Will Learn
Organizational structure
Authentic relationships
Leadership style

It’s possible that you’ll find yourself leading a team through a rapid and challenging organizational change. This type of organizational environment is referred to as VUCA. VUCA means volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous.

Leaders who encounter VUCA environments need to make decisions and changes quickly. It may be necessary to respond without complete information while also being careful to keep employees engaged and committed.

Representing yourself as a transparent and accountable leader builds an engaged, trusting relationship with employees. Transparency and accountability also foster teams that solve problems faster, build more authentic relationships, and have higher levels of performance than other teams.

Another way leaders can keep employees committed is by being adaptable. Adaptable leaders think about and anticipate change in everything they do. They look for opportunities and ways in which they can be innovative.

In these lessons on How to Be a Leader Through Uncertainty, you’ll learn about VUCA environments. This includes what leadership skills aid in decision-making during organizational change. You’ll also discover what it means to be transparent and accountable and how those characteristics are beneficial to your team. You’ll be able to recognize the benefits of being an adaptable leader in times of change.

Learning Objectives
Define VUCA
Describe transparency and accountability
Demonstrate adaptability

Skills You Will Learn
Leadership during uncertain times
Transparency
Accountability
Adaptability

In challenging times, it’s important to support the well-being of your employees, integrate diversity on your team, and build an agile culture.

Teamwork is also crucial in challenging times. Leaders who build a culture of teamwork create and maintain innovative cultures, catch mistakes quickly, find better solutions to problems, and have higher team productivity than competing organizations. This is all necessary for when rapid change happens.

In VUCA times, teams need to be ready to execute change quickly. To do this, leaders will want to model adaptability and state a clear, common objective, even when strategy is evolving. It’s important to encourage your team to collaborate, be innovative, and have the space to take chances.

In these lessons on How to Lead Your Team Through Uncertainty, you’ll learn how to lead with humility, including how to focus on how your team members function. You’ll also learn how to communicate a shared mission or vision that promotes teamwork. Finally, you’ll see how to help your team be open and ready for change.

Learning Objectives
Explain human-centered leadership
Demonstrate empathy
Describe an agile culture
Understand team adaptability

Skills You Will Learn
Human-centered leadership
Empathy
Integrating diversity
Helping teams evolve
Adaptability

In challenging times, the balance between organizational operations and human capital will ensure your team is able to meet goals. This balance is referred to as systems thinking, and it’s a way to keep your organization looking at future possibilities based on what currently exists in a business environment.

The human capital component of systems thinking relies heavily on teamwork for responding to challenges. Using a mission or vision to guide your organization will keep everyone focused on the same outcome. For leaders, it’s important to provide ongoing information, keep communication clear, and stay engaged.

Teamwork and collaboration also encourage more innovation, set the groundwork for efficient processes, and create the space for improved communication. They also cultivate a culture of trust, which in turn leads to higher employee retention rates and increased efficiency.

While being reactive may be necessary in VUCA times, implementing changes should take place both before and during challenging periods. Having a common purpose, clear roles, and effective processes can help your organization evolve.

In these lessons on How to Lead an Organization Through Uncertainty, you’ll learn what’s needed to lead a well-prepared organization and how teams within an organization can successfully work together. You’ll also learn why collaboration is important and how it can promote learning throughout an organization. Finally, you’ll learn how to lead your organization to be forward-focused to adapt and evolve in times of uncertainty.

Learning Objectives
Describe systems thinking
Create a culture of trust
Identify how to reset priorities

Skills You Will Learn
Systems thinking
Collaboration
Communication
Problem-solving

Effective corporate communication benefits both an organization’s members and nonmembers. From customers to internal stakeholders, establishing a clear system of communication is key for communicating efficiently. Being able to differentiate between the most common methods of communication can help your employees communicate more effectively with your target audience. This is because effective corporate communication is necessary to communicate with employees, management, stakeholders, and the public. But how can one get to that point? What’s a good first step for being a good corporate communicator?

In this course on Best Practices for Corporate Communication, you’ll learn the importance of corporate communication at all levels and identify how your business uses communications to engage employees, customers, and stakeholders. You will discover how to define and manage your organization’s public image by learning how to develop and cultivate a corporate tone of voice. By the end of this course, you will understand how to establish and enforce organizational communication standards.

Learning Objectives
Discover how businesses use communication
Identify common forms of corporate communication
Determine how to establish a tone of voice
Differentiate between internal and external communication
Understand the benefits of communication standards

Skills You Will Learn
Corporate communication
Establishing your business’s tone
Communication standardization

Effective internal communication uses established communication standards to ensure clear, defined channels of communication. Implementing different technologies can help an organization’s employees maintain clear communication in both traditional and nontraditional work settings. Whether an organization employs a few dozen people in a single office or has thousands of associates working in different departments at sites all over the world, it’s essential for everyone to be able to communicate efficiently. And when organizational change or conflict occurs, having a strong strategy and guidelines for internal communication can help you avoid many issues and address any problems that might arise.

In this course on Internal Communication Strategies, you will learn about internal communication strategies and how to implement them. We will outline how these strategies can help when planning for organizational change and internal conflict mediation. We will also explain how effectively communicating organizational changes can help employees adjust as they’re being made. By the end of this course, you will be able to communicate efficiently and effectively within your organization.

Learning Objectives
Identify the best methods for internal communication
Determine the best ways to communicate and implement organizational changes
Discover best practices for internal conflict mediation

Skills You Will Learn
Communicating internally
Communicating organizational change
Mediating conflict

How can you use media relations to your advantage? How can you make statements that lessen the impact of a corporate crisis? Effective external communication strategies are necessary for communicating with customers, the public, the media, or any other people who are external to your organization. One of the biggest challenges an organization faces when it comes to external communication is how well it can communicate a message with its target audience. Identifying the audience and how and when to reach them can help develop effective public relations and crisis management strategies.

In External Communication Strategies, you’ll learn common strategies you can use to effectively communicate with the media, customers, and stakeholders. You’ll learn why it is important to consider your target audience when creating messages. We’ll explain planning public relations and media campaigns and how to use them to counter negative press and build interest in your company. By the end of this course, you will be able to develop and implement an effective external communication strategy.

Learning Objectives
Discover external communication strategies
Explain the best methods for external communication
Explore strategies for public relations and crisis management

Skills You Will Learn
Public relations strategies
Media strategies
Crisis management

In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing business environment, managers must have the skills and knowledge to lead, inspire, and motivate employees. All the while, they also need to build a foundation of trust to support an energized and engaged team. Trust allows for open communication, cooperation, and the ability to delegate tasks.

In these lessons on What Drives People, you will discover what factors motivate people at work. You’ll discover some methods that you can use to empower your employees to work and make decisions independently. Then you’ll learn what you can do to create a culture of trust, which will help your team members to work much more efficiently. The last lesson will talk about how you can set goals and expectations for your team, which will improve their performance. By the end of these lessons, you’ll have the knowledge to inspire your team to achieve their goals, knowing they’re positively contributing to your organization.

Learning Objectives
Describe the three main factors that motivate people
Create conditions for successful delegation
Apply techniques for establishing and maintaining a circle of trust
Develop goals for employees using the SMART method

Skills You Will Learn
Employee retention
Motivating employees
Goal-setting

The best managers bring out the best in their employees, leading to increased productivity, improved quality of work, and better overall results. High-performing employees are more engaged and motivated, leading to greater job satisfaction and a lower turnover rate. Additionally, high-performance employees tend to be more innovative and adaptable, which helps organizations stay competitive and meet the ever-changing demands of the business environment. By fostering a high-performance culture, your company can achieve its goals, as well as attract and retain top talent.

In these lessons on Driving High Performance, you will discover how best to delegate to your employees, not only to increase productivity, but to demonstrate trust in your team. You’ll also discover how to reward success for a job well done. You’ll also see how you can build accountability within a team by setting clear expectations and identifying consequences. By the end of these lessons, you’ll be well-equipped to help your employees boost their performances.

Learning Objectives
Delegate appropriate tasks to the right person
Discover when and ways to reward employees
Create accountability in your team

Skills You Will Learn
Delegation
Employee motivation
Accountability

Authentic leadership provides an empowering and effective work environment for employees. Authentic leaders are true to themselves and their values. They lead by example, setting a positive tone for the organization. They communicate transparently and build trust by being consistent in their actions and words. Authentic leaders are also adaptive and self-aware, seeking to understand the perspectives of others. They create an environment in which employees feel safe to express themselves and their ideas, promoting a culture of innovation, creativity, and growth. This leadership style has proven effective in retaining employees, empowering them, and promoting a positive work environment.

These lessons on Authentic Leadership will explore how you can be a more authentic manager within your organization and the benefits of doing so. You’ll learn what the traits of an authentic leader are and how to foster them. Next, you’ll see how you can encourage equity and procedural justice within your workplace. The last lesson will cover how you can accumulate feedback for your performance and reflect on how to become a better leader.

Learning Objectives
Recognize the five characteristics of authentic leaders
Promote a fair work environment
Assess your performance as a manager

Skills You Will Learn
Authenticity
Creating equity
Promoting procedural justice
Self-assessment

Feedback is critical to a company’s success. It provides employees with clear expectations and goals to demonstrate how their work aligns with the organization's overall objectives. Feedback also allows employees to see the impact of their work, which can increase motivation and engagement. Giving feedback also lets employees clearly understand their strengths and areas of improvement, enabling them to make necessary adjustments and grow in their careers. It helps to build a culture of open communication, where employees feel comfortable giving and receiving feedback and feel their contributions are valued. Additionally, regular feedback can help you identify and address issues before they escalate, leading to a more effective and efficient organization.

In these lessons on Giving Effective Feedback, you will learn techniques for providing constructive feedback to your employees. You’ll learn how you can create a culture of feedback through applying the “five Cs of communication,” as well as what models you can utilize to give your employees feedback. The final lesson will talk about what you can do to confront and correct undesirable behavior.

Learning Objectives
Articulate the “five Cs” in giving feedback
Apply different feedback models appropriate to what you want to achieve
Identify ways to provide regular feedback
Plan how to address undesirable behavior

Skills You Will Learn
Delivering feedback
Performance management

In these lessons on Preparing to Deliver Constructive Criticism, you will learn what makes constructive criticism unique from other forms of criticism. Constructive criticism can be very effective if used correctly, which is why it’s important to plan your message and deliver it at the right time. You will learn why constructive criticism is necessary to effectively manage employees and help guide them to perform at their best.

To use constructive criticism effectively, it’s important to deliver feedback at the right moment. It’s just as important to plan your message. That way, you can give yourself the best chance of reaching a desired outcome. Delivering constructive criticism effectively is the key to helping coach and guide your employees to make improvements in their work or performance. It can be a challenge to tell somebody that they have room for improvement. But when you follow practices that help minimize negative reactions, you can influence how well the feedback will be received.

Learning Objectives
Discover what makes constructive criticism is effective
Identify when to deliver criticism for greatest impact
Determine the best way to plan your message

Skills You Will Learn
Providing constructive criticism
Effective planning

These lessons on Delivering Constructive Criticism will cover the most important elements of providing constructive criticism to others. You will learn how to get your employees to listen to you by starting off with a calm positivity. You’ll also learn to maximize their potential by bringing up actionable solutions and help them move forward by providing them with clear expectations. Effectively utilizing the skills you will learn here can help you become more effective in how you deliver constructive criticism.

When you give clear directions, respond to an employee’s emotions with empathy, and properly follow up, you have the chance to help them achieve their desired outcome. Constructive criticism doesn’t start or stop with telling somebody what they did wrong. You have the opportunity to start a dialogue, connect with them, and work with them so they can make necessary improvements within their work.

Learning Objectives
Explain the best way to start constructive criticism
Define actionable feedback
Identify the best ways to follow up with an employee

Skills You Will Learn
Addressing negative emotions
Delivering criticism
Achieving desired outcomes

There are numerous ways to approach the situation when you deliver constructive criticism, but there are also specific practices you can follow to make the feedback you do give more effective. In these lessons on Constructive Criticism Best Practices, you’ll learn how you can become more efficient and effective when you deliver constructive criticism. You’ll also learn how to keep an employee focused on one improvement at a time, how to communicate results effectively, and how to best follow up with them.

These practices can help you get better results from coaching your employees, putting them in the best possible position to succeed. These practices will help you keep employees motivated, moving in the right direction, and comfortable throughout the entire constructive criticism process. While you might not be able to control what an employee does with the constructive criticism you give them, using the practice from these lessons can help you manage those potential outcomes more effectively.

Learning Objectives
Identify best practices for coaching employees
Understand what generalizations are and how to avoid them
Explain how to communicate results effectively

Skills You Will Learn
Improvement planning
Emphasizing results
Employee follow-up

In today’s increasingly uncertain times, business crises can arise at any moment. From breaches of our personal data and privacy to natural disasters that impact global supply chains, business leaders must be prepared to identify, respond to, and recover from a variety of crisis scenarios. The impacts of these crises can be costly and can severely impact a variety of essential business operations, from safety and security to infrastructure and operations. Without clear corporate values and an adequate crisis team in place beforehand, businesses may struggle to successfully respond to these unexpected challenges. If the failure is significant enough, a crisis could even put a company out of business. Creating crisis planning and management teams with the expertise to develop and effectively communicate values-driven action plans and solutions with colleagues, staff, and stakeholders is key to coping with the unpredictable, high-risk nature of modern business.

In these lessons on Communication Before a Crisis, you’ll explore how to identify potential crisis incidents and build a team of crisis management experts to tackle these kinds of organizational challenges. These lessons will help you guide your crisis team in establishing corporate values that can serve as guidelines during a crisis event or disaster scenario. You’ll also learn about the various communication methods, roles, policies and procedures, and tools you can put in place before a crisis. They’ll help you communicate with your team, employees, external stakeholders, and even the media, should an unexpected business crisis arise.

Learning Objectives
Identify and respond to crises
Create corporate values
Build collaborative crisis management teams
Establish effective methods of communication with crisis teams and stakeholders

Skills You Will Learn
Crisis Planning
Creating a Crisis Team
Crisis Response and Notification
Crisis Management
Crisis Communication

Once a crisis or disaster occurs, it can be difficult to know how to motivate your team to communicate and respond quickly to it. Delays in your company’s acknowledgement of a crisis or a poorly implemented response could negatively impact your company’s public reputation and brand. They could even result in costly fines or loss of business revenue from customers and other stakeholders who no longer trust your company. Internal challenges—such as interpersonal conflicts, outdated policies, and leaders who are unable to manage high-stress environments—can also undermine the crisis plans and response protocols that your crisis team has put in place. These internal failures can make it challenging to communicate clear, values–driven messages and action plans to external stakeholders and members of the media. To successfully navigate a crisis, companies need qualified, adaptable leaders that they can trust to navigate sensitive, complex crisis incidents that could potentially impact their ability to conduct business.

In these lessons on Communication During a Crisis, you’ll learn a unique method for quickly deploying crisis responses and drafting and delivering crisis statements for internal and external audiences, including the media. You’ll also explore several business crisis case studies, and learn effective techniques for managing stress and apathy during a crisis among leadership, crisis teams, and support staff. Not only that, but you’ll also learn how you can develop a healthy, emotionally intelligent workplace culture. You’ll learn about the impact of misinformation and disinformation about your company during a crisis, and effective tools and techniques you can use to effectively combat them.

Learning Objectives
Understand how to draft crisis statements
Identify communication challenges
Explain a crisis effectively to the media

Skills You Will Learn
Drafting Crisis Communications
Media Crisis Communication
Emotional Intelligence in Crisis Leadership

In today’s business environment, crises are an inevitable part of a company’s lifecycle. After a stressful crisis, some companies choose to quickly move on in the hope that people will forget any failures or mistakes made. This is not a helpful or useful route to take. Companies can make themselves less vulnerable to crises by reviewing and evaluating their performance and communications during a crisis, and using this analysis to develop better business policies, practices, and procedures for the future.

In these lessons on Communication After a Crisis, you’ll learn how you can offer trauma-informed support to those who have been affected by a crisis. You’ll also explore how to become a truthful, candid, and supportive leader who uses empathy to maintain open communication and positive working relationships with stakeholders after a crisis. You’ll learn how to conduct post-crisis analysis and review processes, and how you can use the information gathered in these processes to develop better crisis response and communication policies for the future.

Learning Objectives
Understand how to offer trauma-informed support
Explain how to use empathetic leadership and communication
Know how to conduct post-mortem for crisis analysis and review

Skills You Will Learn
Offering Post-Crisis Support
Post-Crisis Communication
Crisis Review
Future Planning

Assertive communication is a fundamental skill needed for successful leadership. How can you be assertive? By being straightforward, setting boundaries, and learning to say no. Assertive leaders know that it’s okay to clearly express needs and wants. Assertive communicators are respectful, not aggressive. They’re neither passive nor passive-aggressive—they’re honest. One quality that often makes assertive communicators so dynamic is their emotional intelligence and the ability to clearly express their needs and wants. But what does this look like in the business world?

In these lessons on Assertive Communication, you’ll learn what assertive communication is and how it’s beneficial. You’ll explore other forms of communication including passive, aggressive, and passive-aggressive styles, and why assertive communication is preferable to all of them. You’ll discover the connection between assertive communication and emotional intelligence and how these skills can benefit you. You’ll also see how high levels of emotional intelligence can make you more self-aware and help you to build relationships. By understanding assertive communication and its benefits, you’ll be able to see how it has practical applications for a variety of social situations.

Learning Objectives
Define assertive communication
Describe the difference between passive, aggressive, and passive-aggressive communication styles
Identify the four domains of emotional intelligence

Skills You Will Learn
Assertive Communication Techniques
Communication Best Practices
Emotional Intelligence

Assertive communication skills can benefit you in multiple aspects of your working life and may come in handy in personal situations, too. But how can you become more assertive? Many people find it challenging to speak in a straightforward manner, which is the essence of assertive communication. Being assertive can be scary, but it gets easier the more you do it.

Let’s look at some Tips for Communicating Assertively that you’ll find beneficial, whatever your role. You’ll be introduced to real-world strategies you can immediately implement to start communicating in a more assertive way. We’ll start by going over how you can overcome limiting fears over appearing unlikable or damaging existing relationships. That will help you communicate to team members, higher-ups, and investors. We’ll also explore strategies for using both verbal and non-verbal communication effectively and assertively. Once you’ve completed these lessons, you’ll be well on your way to being an effective and assertive communicator.

Learning Objectives
Recognize how to limit your fears over speaking assertively
Understand why some people experience imposter syndrome
Describe verbal strategies to be assertive
Discuss nonverbal strategies to be assertive

Skills You Will Learn
Confidence in Assertive Speaking
Overcoming Fears
Assertive Nonverbal Communication
Assertive Verbal Communication

Business today is all about collaboration, whether it be across teams, branch locations, or the entire globe. While these partnerships bring a host of benefits, group dynamics also pose their own set of communication challenges. That’s where assertive communicators come in. They can assert control over the dialogue and lead groups towards results by voicing their opinions and asking clarifying questions in order to make informed decisions.

In these lessons on Being Assertive in Group Situations, you’ll learn how to guide group discussions to ensure that all your team members remain involved. You’ll hone your active listening skills and learn to navigate the dynamics of group conversations. We’ll also cover how and when to speak up first, then we’ll talk about the benefits of being present and asking questions, as well as how to be assertive in your decision-making.

Learning Objectives
Explain how group dynamics can benefit from an assertive leader
Describe why speaking up first in a group setting is important
Recognize why asking questions is beneficial
Explain how to make assertive decisions

Skills You Will Learn
Managing Group Dynamics
Techniques for Speaking Up
Assertive Decision-Making

Accountability is a necessary leadership skill that requires responsibility for your words, choices, and actions. As a leader within a business environment, it’s important to not only understand what accountability is, but how to practice it daily. Leading with accountability includes modeling accountability to your team members to assist in learning and developing accountability skills. This requires ongoing communication and feedback, as well as maintaining an accountable culture for your team. What methods can you use to get there?

In these lessons on Top-Down Accountability, you’ll learn how to imbue your organization with the shared value of responsibility. To adopt the right mindset for accountability, first you’ll learn what accountability looks like in a corporate leadership setting. You’ll discover how you can set an expectation of reliability by modeling positive habits in front of your employees, and how these attitudes can increase your team’s productivity.

Learning Objectives
Describe accountability
Demonstrate accountability
Recognize the limits to accountability

Skills You Will Learn
Corporate Accountability
Leadership Skills
Managerial Skills

In these lessons on Building Accountable Teams, you’ll learn how to clearly communicate expectations including a mission, vision, and objectives. You will also learn how to follow-up on your communication, and to empower and motivate your employees. These are all crucial components for keeping them accountable.

Leaders need to keep their team accountable to the work they’re doing, which requires communicating what’s needed to be successful. Expressing a clear mission, clearly defining roles, and laying out timelines is necessary for ensuring that expectations are met. Follow-up communication may be almost as important as the initial communication itself. Following up with team members provides them with important information, assistance, and resources, all of which help keep employees accountable.

Keeping team members on course and following expectations requires empowerment and motivation. These will help employees trust you as a leader and make a positive impact on your team.

Learning Objectives
Explain what it means to clearly communicate expectations
Demonstrate how to follow-up on communications
Explain and apply how to motivate and empower employees

Skills You Will Learn
Communication Skills
Leadership Skills
Employee Motivation

In these lessons on Long-Term Accountability, you’ll learn how to incorporate the value of responsibility as you evaluate business models and contract agreements as a part of an annual planning process. You will also discover how to build a performance measurement system, what a culture of accountability is, and how to create an accountable culture for your team. Being an accountable leader means constantly assessing and evaluating. When it comes to business models and contract agreements, it’s crucial to evaluate these on an ongoing basis to help a team understand who the work is being done for, what the goals are, and how to achieve those goals.

It’s important to track and monitor employees’ performances to keep them accountable. This can be done while keeping organizational goals in mind, while also identifying team objectives and individual accomplishments. If the business models and contract agreements are updated and in place, and your team has a consistent, standard performance measurement system, it’s time to look at creating and sustaining a culture of accountability. This type of culture holds team members responsible for completing individual, team, and organizational goals.

Learning Objectives
Describe the importance of evaluating business models and contract agreements
Identify the steps needed for performance measurement and management
Recognize what an accountable culture is
Explain what it means to have a culture of accountability

Skills You Will Learn
Leadership Skills
Performance Tracking
Evaluating Business Models

Taking risks is an integral part of any successful business strategy, but risk-taking can also be a source of great anxiety for many entrepreneurs. What are some strategies you can use to develop a healthy mindset toward risk-taking? What are the benefits of change? If you want to succeed in business, it's important to learn how to take risks and see challenges as opportunities for growth.

In this course on Changing How We View Risk, we will help you understand how your perceptions of risk can impact your business decisions. You will also learn strategies to help overcome your fear of risk-taking and develop techniques that will help you adopt a more positive mindset about taking chances. Whether you are just starting out as an entrepreneur or have been running your own business for years, this course’s insights will help you develop the mindset and skills necessary to embrace uncertainty with confidence.

Learning Objectives
Recognize the benefits of embracing risks
Discover techniques to reframe your idea of failure
Identify practices that help you see challenges as opportunities
Recognize the value of a growth mindset

Skills You Will Learn
Overcoming fear of failure
Reframing perspective
Embracing risks in business

Risk-taking is an important part of innovation and any successful business strategy, but how do you know when it’s the right time to take a risk? If you're looking to take your business to the next level, it's essential that you learn how to assess and manage risks so that you can effectively innovate and grow your business.

In this course on When to Take Strategic Risks, we will teach you about the importance of taking risks when it comes to driving innovation and growth in your organization. You'll learn how to properly assess risks to make informed decisions, as well as practical techniques for managing those risks effectively so they don't jeopardize your success. Whether you're already working at a senior level in your company or hope to break into that role in the future, this course will help you understand when to take strategic risks. By the end of this course, you will understand how assessing and managing risks can be a key component to success.

Learning Objectives
Understand the relationship between risk and innovation
Identify best practices to assess risk
Understand the role of key risk indicators and key performance indicators
Explain the role of stakeholder input
Recognize the value of managing risks

Skills You Will Learn
Timing risks
Managing risks
Assessing risks

Creating a culture of risk-taking in your company is a key ingredient for business success and growth in today's market. Are you ready to take your business to the next level? Do you want your employees to embrace risk-taking and think creatively? If you're looking to create a risk-taking culture within your company that will lead it toward further success, then you are in the right place.

In this course on Creating a Risk-Taking Culture, we will explore some of the common techniques you can use to build a workforce that embraces risk-taking. We will also cover some of the common strategies you can use to establish guardrails on projects so employees can feel safe taking chances. We will also explore the importance of regularly conducting post-mortem analyses on your failures and successes to better plan for future projects and celebrate continuous learning. By the end of this course, you will be better equipped to nurture innovative thinking and encourage new ideas in your company.

Learning Objectives
Recognize interview best practices for hiring for entrepreneurial mindsets
Identify best practices for setting guardrails on projects
Identify important entrepreneurial mindsets to look for in new hires
Recognize the importance of first hires
Identify best practices for hosting post-mortems

Skills You Will Learn
Project management
Holding project post-mortems
Continuous learning

There are many advantages to performance reviews for both organizations and for employees. For example, performance evaluations provide an opportunity to discuss an employee’s career goals and can also help them determine any training that might be needed. A performance review may come with rewards for an employee who is doing well, and guidance for an employee who may be struggling. These evaluations can be enormously beneficial for everyone involved, which is why it’s important to know how to perform them.

In these lessons on The Importance of Employee Evaluations, you’ll learn what a performance review is, and why organizations invest time and money to do performance reviews. They’ll help you put yourself in the best mindset to write performance reviews by defining or redefining performance review for you. You will come to know how performance reviews impact employees. And you’ll come away feeling confident about your time investment in performance reviews, with an understanding of the purpose performance evaluation serves to your company.

Learning Objectives
Define performance reviews and explain their role in organizations
Describe the benefits an employee and a company receive from a performance evaluation

Skills You Will Learn
Performance Tracking
Management Skills
Employee Evaluation

These lessons on Crafting Employee Performance Reviews will address the sources of information used for the performance review. These would include things like the job description since an employee should only be rated on the required elements and duties of their job. In these lessons, we’ll also address performance standards, and how they should be tied to teach aspects of the job description.

In addition, we’ll address the variety of inputs that can be used for a performance appraisal, such as assessments from the employee, management input, colleagues, and customers. The lessons will also address the types of reviews that can be used, along with advantages and disadvantages of each, such as the graphic rating scale and forced choice reviews. Finally, these lessons will address best practices on how to write the performance evaluation while minimizing bias. This includes specific examples on how you might state deficiencies and focus on forward-thinking and improvement.

Learning Objectives
Identify the possible sources of data for use in performance reviews
Evaluate the variety of inputs that can be included in a performance review
Identify bias in performance reviews

Skills You Will Learn
Performance Reviews
Managerial Skills
Performance Tracking

The final, crucial component of the performance review process is the performance review interview. This takes place after you’ve written the evaluation and you’re ready to discuss it with the employee. There are many methods you can use to do this interview, such as virtual or in-person. No matter the method chosen for the interview, it’s important that the employee benefits from this interview. Preparation is the key to a productive performance review interview.

These lessons on Delivering Employee Performance Reviews will address some of the things you may want to do to prepare for the interview. We’ll also address the ‘tell and sell’ and problem-solving approaches. Depending on the employee and situation, one method over another may be more appropriate.

To maximize the interview’s effectiveness, you can set the proper tone with body language. But in some situations, despite the best preparation, an employee may experience disappointment or even anger during the interview. After you review these lessons, you’ll know how to handle these uncomfortable situations. You’ll also learn about performance improvement plans and proper follow-up after the interview has been conducted.

Learning Objectives
Discuss best practices associated with the performance review interview process
Identify elements associated with preparation for the performance review interview
Compare and contrast the interview approaches you can leverage
Explain how you might handle a difficult interview, and performance improvement plans

Skills You Will Learn
Managerial Skills
Conflict Resolution
Body Language
Performance Improvement Planning

As organizations face increasing complexity, both in the marketplace and in their own business operations, they should anticipate and prioritize threats to their organization as part of their corporate strategy. They should consider risk in all management decision-making, from new product development to growth strategies. They should develop risk management programs that identify all sources of risk. Sources may be the behavior of their own employees or external forces and events, and they can cause problems for a company’s brand and reputation.

In the course, Risk Management for Internal and External Risks, you will learn how to identify and explain the primary areas of risk that organizations face, both internally and externally as well as their impact on brand and reputation. You will learn that internal risks can range from employee behavior and misconduct to cyberattacks and data breaches. You will also learn that, as part of their corporate strategy, leaders must be aware of risks from external sources. These include risks that are easily observable and those that are more difficult to determine, including regulatory and operational risk, financial and economic risk, and environmental risk. You will realize that these risks are not always separate and distinct but are interconnected. A threat in one area of the organization can impact another area, and understanding and tracking these relationships can greatly enhance one’s ability to control risk. You will learn that, in order to create an effective risk culture in organizations, leaders need to be perceptive and diligent in identifying risk and establishing risk management programs. You will see that the role of leaders in risk management is intensifying.

Learning Objectives
Explain the primary areas of internal risk that organizations face
Understand the responsibility of leaders in management of internal risk
Identify the primary areas of risk that organizations face from external forces and events
Recognize the responsibility of leaders in management of external risk

Skills You Will Learn
Internal risk management
External risk management
Brand management

Leaders cannot avoid taking risks and must be able to calculate how much risk their organization is willing to take. Organizations are establishing specific leadership roles for risk management at higher levels, with the goal of attaining a positive risk-taking culture in which the opinions of all stakeholders are considered.

In the course, Risk-Taking and Leadership, you will examine the role of leaders in risk-taking and risk management. You will learn why risk management programs need to be centralized as an effective way to lessen risk. While most leaders believe that risk-taking decisions are objective and based on facts and data, there is also a subjective element. You will learn how different risk-taking styles can determine the outcome of decisions. You will more fully comprehend the characteristics of a positive risk-taking culture and be able to compare useful risk management tools to help you in your own risk decision-making. You will learn that more uncertainty in the world of business creates more vulnerability in the form of risk.

Learning Objectives
Explain the role of leaders in risk-taking and risk management
Identify risk-taking styles
Discover the impact of various risk-taking styles on risk management
Understand the characteristics of a positive risk-taking culture
Compare risk management tools

Skills You Will Learn
Internal risk management
External risk management
Leadership skills

Strong risk management programs understand that innovation is necessary for growth and survival. Innovation and risk are inherently linked. Leaders should enhance their decision-making skills to push for optimal innovation and be prepared to identify and effectively resolve the risks that occur along the way.

In the course, Innovation and Risk Management, you will learn that risk-taking is essential for innovation to occur and how this leads to organizational success. At the same time, you will realize that as organizations push for more innovation, they must deal with any conflicts that arise. You will understand how to recognize these conflicts, balance the risks and rewards of innovation, and that even failures in innovation can produce positive results for future innovation projects. You will be able to categorize the types of decisions that leaders make in managing innovations. You’ll understand the five specific stages of the Stage-Gate Approach in new product development. You will recognize the impact of innovation and effective risk-taking in the marketplace, and discover how these can result in competitive advantage.

Learning Objectives
Discover the relationship between risk management and innovation
Understand how leaders can use innovation failures to advantage
Define ‘The Innovator’s Dilemma’
Understand the five stages of the Stage-Gate Approach in new product development
Discover how companies can use risk and innovation for competitive advantage

Skills You Will Learn
Internal risk management
External risk management
Business innovation

The Team Alignment Map is a simple, visual tool designed to help people, teams, and organizations become more effective. This tool helps with many challenges in the workplace, including unproductive meetings and disengaged employees. The Team Alignment Map raises several questions regarding what high-performing teams do and the kind of climate they create. For example, are the missions, goals, and objectives clear to everyone on the team? Does the team environment cultivate an atmosphere where everyone values, respects, and inspires one another?

In The Basics of Team Alignment Mapping, you will learn the essential functions of Team Alignment Mapping and how it works to create more efficient meetings, organize projects, and assist with organization. You will also learn ways to improve team dynamics and communication to foster a culture of respect. By the end of this course, you will be able to create more productive teams and a more positive environment.

Learning Objectives:
Define the essential functions of Team Alignment Mapping
Explain how Team Alignment Mapping improves project organization
Identify ways Team Alignment Mapping improves team functioning and climate
Analyze principles of team engagement
Explain how communicating the mission evokes team commitment

Skills You Will Learn:
Managing team dynamics
Mission communication
Team building

Successful teams begin their projects by setting a mission to define their purpose and values. There are many advantages to clarifying your mission, including team cohesion, engagement, and focus. It’s also recommended that teams set a period or timeline. This period can instill a sense of responsibility and urgency. Filling out the Team Alignment Map helps teams see the big picture to plan their project, reduce risk, and save resources. How do you develop a challenging mission statement and help your team understand their why? How can you set your team up for success?

In this Team Alignment Mapping: The Forward Pass course, you will learn how to complete the Team Alignment Map chart. This involves identifying the project, mission, and timespan of the project. You will also learn how to identify the objectives, commitments, resources, and risks. Completing this chart as a group is key to improving your team’s engagement and efficiency. By the end of this course, you will have the tools to lead your team to success.

Learning Objectives:
Describe how to complete the Team Alignment Map
Identify the project, mission, and period
Evaluate objectives, commitments, resources, and risks
Describe how to develop a substantive resource checklist
Analyze ways to reduce risks and save resources

Skills You Will Learn:
Team planning
Strategic organization
Risk management

Risks may be inevitable to some degree. But with collective foresight and planning by a team, many can be mitigated. The Backward Pass involves reviewing the joint resources and risks to eliminate them by transforming them into objectives. Since the entire team shares in the workflow and decision-making process, they can efficiently resolve and mitigate problems as a group. How can you prevent disruptions, address risks, and transform resources into actionable objectives? How can you foster better team communication, cultivate trust, promote respect, and encourage employee engagement?

In this Team Alignment Mapping: The Backward Pass course, you will learn how to transform identified resources and risks into actionable objectives. This course explains how to evaluate the resources needed, identify the team members responsible for providing those resources, and how team members will collaborate to succeed. By the end of this course, you will have the tools to turn potential problems into solutions.

Learning Objectives:
Describe the benefits and methods of applying the Backward Pass
Analyze the process of examining the Forward Pass with a focus on the joint risks and resources
Explain how to transform joint resources and risks
Practice methods to establish team validation and organizational cohesion

Skills You Will Learn:
Task analysis
Team building
Organizational methods

Value-driven companies are able to maximize their competitive advantage and create value that extends across markets. Developing a value creation strategy can be overwhelming, but there are best practices for success. Value can be considered through the perspective of customers, employees, and other stakeholders. Balancing each of these groups is necessary for successful value creation. Sometimes, creating value requires a company to extend product lines, apply new technologies, increase brand recognition, or even expand to new locations.

In this course on How to Create Value Across Markets, you will discover how to build a strategy for creating value in your business and the need to diversify your business to add value. You’ll learn how your current resources and skills can give you a competitive advantage. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to identify new geographic markets for expansion, while managing geopolitical risk. Value creation is important for creating and maintaining an advantage over your competitors.

Learning Objectives:
Explain how to build a strategy for creating value
Understand the need to diversify in order to add value
Describe your current resources and skills that give you an advantage
Identify new geographic markets, while managing geopolitical risk

Skills You Will Learn:
Value creation
Geopolitical risk management

One of the simplest ways to build value for your business is by building a supportive team that harnesses the knowledge and skills of individuals to reach strategic goals. When thinking of your team, consider both internal and external team members. Employees play a major role, as do external team members like suppliers, customers, and the community. In addition to your team, you can create value through acquiring assets. When used properly, assets can help a business reach its strategic goals. Creating value may require changing your organizational structure, and it will also require you to respond to changing markets.

In this course on Creating Value by Building Your Business, you will discover the importance of investing in and building your team and how buying and building both tangible and intangible assets can create value. You will also understand the need to change or evolve your organizational structure to support your value-creation strategy. By the end of this course, you will know how to respond to changing markets to add value.

Learning Objectives:
Recognize the importance of investing in and building your team
Examine how buying or building assets can create value
Understand the need to evolve organizational structure to support your strategy
Discover how to respond to changing markets to add value

Skills You Will Learn:
Value creation
Team building

When planning how to add more value to your business, sales and marketing are vital areas that cannot be overlooked. In this course, we will discuss the four key components of sales techniques—awareness, interest, desire, and action. We will explore how these components work within the consumer decision-making process, as well as how they can be harnessed to add value to your business. The marketing mix is another important consideration in value creation. You will learn how product, price, place, and promotion can work together to create value.

In this course on Value Creation Through Sales and Marketing, you will discover how an effective sales strategy adds value. By the end of this course, you will understand the need for a focused marketing strategy to create value. But value creation strategies are susceptible to common mistakes, such as getting too caught up in new innovations, not appealing to customers’ needs, and failing to notice change in product life cycle stages. In our course, you will learn about these value creation mistakes and how to avoid them.

Learning Objectives:
Explain how an effective sales strategy adds value
Understand the need for a focused marketing strategy to add value
Recognize common value creation mistakes to avoid

Skills You Will Learn:
Value creation
Sales strategy
Focused marketing

You may be noticing people of all ages in the modern workforce, and each age group seems to have different characteristics. The newer generations of employees often have their own concerns, and it’s important to understand their values so you can enjoy a functional relationship with them. We’ll discuss the basics of who Millennials and Gen Zs are, so we can learn about their general contributions and needs in the workplace.

More companies are going to be working with Millennials and Gen Zs, so it’s of the utmost importance that companies learn more about their perspectives and attitudes. You’ll know how history has shaped the way these groups approach employment. After taking this course, you will understand what Millennials and Gen Zs are likely to want from an employer. You’ll also be able to compare and contrast these generations with the ones before them based on research. There are about five generations in the workforce today, which is why it’s important to let us help you understand more about all of them.

If you manage multigenerational teams, this course will help you learn about the traditional work practices and settings that can help you retain your younger talent. You will also learn how to better connect with Millennial and Gen Z professionals. This course is designed to help you gain a sound understanding of who Millennials and Gen Zs are.

Learning objectives:
Understand different working generations
Learn what each generation looks for in employers
Learn to strengthen intergenerational team connections

Skills You Will Learn
Recruitment strategies
Effective communication
Driving retention

Many employers want to appeal to the top candidates from the newest generation, but this may require adjusting their recruitment strategies to attract younger people. A best practice is to learn what younger job seekers are expecting because a lot of the new professionals are determined to achieve their personal and professional goals. Because these demographics are interested in making a positive impact, it’s crucial to support a diverse organization with growth, purpose, and equality.

In this course on Recruiting Millennials and Gen Z, we’ll look at ways to re-approach talent acquisition to interest both demographics. As you come to understand the differences between these two generations, you will be better able to position your organization to hire them successfully.

These lessons will start by discussing what unique tactics you can use to attract and hire these candidates. Then we’ll go over interviewing techniques before capping off with how to best communicate expectations on topics like pay, working hours, and benefits.

Learning Objectives
Prepare for successful candidate interviews
Review your hiring process
Plan modern recruitment strategies

Skills You Will Learn
Interviewing diverse candidates
Negotiating
Job marketing

Even though they’ve been in the workforce for a relatively short time, millennials and Gen Z resign and change jobs more frequently than other generations. While those who consider employment a privilege may see job hopping as disloyal or unappreciative, many young people continue to switch roles at a high cost to companies. They often don’t stay at a job that doesn’t satisfy their needs, which makes it important to learn about their interests so you can provide jobs they’ll want to keep.

In this course, you will learn why the younger generations are leaving their jobs and how to retain young talent. We’ll discuss the importance of cultivating a positive work environment and how workplace conditions impact performance, productivity, organizational commitment, and retention. You’ll also learn how to turn your workplace into a place where people of all ages are comfortable.

There’s a fine line between micromanaging and leading remote employees, which is a topic that many leaders study. You’ll learn to navigate and successfully manage remote employees to keep your teams engaged. We also discuss what our younger generations are looking for when it comes to career growth and development. After this lesson, you’ll understand why younger generations want to see a clear picture of what their growth opportunities are.

Learning Objectives
Understand why younger professionals change jobs
Cultivate a positive work environment
Manage engaged and productive remote teams

Skills You Will Learn
Motivating employees
Developing company culture
Optimizing productivity

Establishing presence is key for professionals and leaders. It’s especially critical for women to help them advance their careers, demonstrate their expertise, and enhance their brand within the workplace. In these lessons on Why Executive Presence is Critical for Women Leaders, we’ll examine how to enhance that leadership presence. This course will encourage you to examine how certain leadership factors work together and what each means to you. That will help elevate you as a leader within your organization.

We’ll go over what exactly executive presence is, how you can assess your own level of presence, and how you can start moving towards your desired level of leadership. We’ll also go over how to command attention by using open body language, appropriate tone, and eye contact. You’ll also learn to craft an authentic leadership presence by balancing your image as a person and as a leader. And you’ll learn to reflect on your leadership presence by collecting feedback, both from yourself and from your peers.

Learning Objectives
Describe executive presence
Learn to develop executive presence
Assess leadership style
Learn to enhance leadership presence

Skills You Will Learn
Effective communication
Self-reflection
Leveraging leadership strengths
Getting feedback
Building leadership presence

When it comes to strengthening your executive presence, your perspective of yourself may mean more than you may know. Your self-perception can either launch or impede your career. In these lessons on how to Gain a New Perspective to Enhance Your Executive Presence, we’ll look at how our behaviors are influenced by our ideas. This course will help you build your confidence by changing your inner dialogue, visualizing your goals, and communicating your emotions more effectively. You’ll see how you can reframe your mindset to take your executive presence to the next level.

You’ll see how and why improving your self-talk will make you seem like more of a confident, capable leader. Then you’ll learn how you can meditate and utilize vision boards to visualize your leadership goals. From there, you’ll see how to become a better leader by building up leaders and caring about their various needs. Lastly, you’ll see how mastering your mindset and emotions will help to establish yourself as a capable leader.

Learning Objectives
Learn self-talk for leadership presence
Visualize and actualize goals
Recognize support techniques to build presence

Skills You Will Learn
Visualization
Mastery of mindset
Leadership

How can you make sure that your leadership presence is perfect? For starters, it’s a good idea to pay attention to how you speak and what you say. It's important to find a means to express your confidence, because it will show in both your verbal and nonverbal communication. Also, the underappreciated leadership ability of listening is critical for leadership. If you can't develop your listening skills, you'll have trouble leading and being seen as a leader. And a leader who doesn't listen, or doesn’t look like they’re listening, may discourage employees from speaking up.

In these lessons on Perfecting Your Executive Presence, we'll discuss how you can leverage your communication to make sure that other people see you as a leader. We’ll talk about how you can tailor your vocabulary to express more confidence, as well as how listening to your employees can create a culture of trust. We’ll also talk about how helping your own employees succeed can help to increase your executive presence.

Learning Objectives
Learn communication for executive presence
Learn to express leadership confidence
Listen to enhance leadership skills
Present professionally to others

Skills You Will Learn
Confident communication
Active listening
Leadership etiquette

Effective public speaking is an essential component of leadership and professionalism. Think of the public speakers you admire. What are some of the top traits that set them apart from other public speakers? How do they make the best use of their verbal and non-verbal capabilities to project self-confidence and control when giving a speech? The most successful and respected public speakers have equipped themselves with specific and practical techniques to help them maintain a polished presence when speaking in public. You too can develop your public speaking prowess by learning, practicing, and applying those same techniques.

In these lessons on Professional Delivery, you will discover those very methods. You will identify the major components of professional delivery so that you can improve upon your own verbal and non-verbal communication capabilities. And you will also learn some techniques to help you overcome stage fright.

Learning Objectives
Know how best to leverage body language
Move around a stage effectively
Maintain a professional demeanor
Learn how to use diaphragmatic breathing
Practice some routines to overcome stage fright

Skills You Will Learn
Effective body language
Speaking with confidence
Overcoming stage fright

The goal of public speaking is to build rapport and influence with your audience through a carefully crafted message. Having influence hinges on your ability to connect with your audience this way. People learn and retain better when presented with a message that’s both verbal and visual. They also develop a deeper emotional bond with a presenter if they believe that person sees and understands them. Your ability to craft a message that’s clear, credible, heartfelt, and visual will transform any group you’re speaking to into an engaged and emotionally connected audience.

In these lessons on Persuasive Speaking, you will learn how to build a powerful bond with your audience through structured storytelling and imagery to complement and enhance your message. If your message is verbally, visually, and emotionally appealing, you’ll create a strong connection between yourself and your audience. And that will help you to persuade your audience towards whatever point you’re making.

Learning Objectives
Understand audience emotional connection
Construct a compelling story for a speech
Apply imagery to your presentations
Use visual tools to aid public speeches
Deliver a purposeful message

Skills You Will Learn
Effective spoken storytelling
Developing emotional connections
Using visual aids
Engaging audiences

At some point in your public speaking career, you may encounter an audience that’s less than receptive to your message. Likewise, you may be tasked with delivering bad news to your organization. Whatever the case, the trick is to stay focused on the message’s receivers. There are specific methods you can use to maintain control and appear calm when you are under pressure. The keys are in learning to keep your emotions in check, know your message, and stick to the facts. You may think this is easier said than done, but with practice, you will be able to preserve your professionalism even when under pressure.

In these lessons on Telling It Like It Is, you will discover techniques for handling an unfriendly crowd, delivering bad news, and speaking to the media. The skills you will learn in this course will give you a foundation for handling any unwelcome or stressful situations you may encounter when speaking publicly.

Learning Objectives
Prepare to deliver bad news
Respond professionally to audience hostility
Manage a tough audience
Know how to re-engage a crowd
Learn to navigate the news media

Skills You Will Learn
Managing your audience
Delivering bad news
Speaking to the media

Great employees help companies surpass their competitors. They’re critical for successful strategy implementation. Employees must adapt to uncertainty, account for their quality of work, and deliver results. It’s crucial that employees perform well. Team leaders hold the responsibility to manage their performance. Part of being a manager is the need to assess whether team members are performing well. You may currently assess your workers based on what factors you feel are important.

However, as a more systematic approach, you can divide performance into task completion, contextual performance, adaptive performance, and counterproductive behavior. You can then use these categories to identify performance issues. In addition, if you know the impact of poor performers on your team and organization, you can better decide which performance issue to prioritize first, especially when you have limited time and resources. In Identifying Poor Performance, you will explore why good performance is important, how to recognize poor performance immediately, and how poor performance affects the rest of the team, including you.

Learning Objectives
Discuss importance of good performance
Understand poor performance
Analyze the impact of poor performers

Skills You Will Learn
Work styles
Assess team weaknesses
Re-engage poor performers

There can be many reasons why employees fall short of expectations. Managers can be quick to assume performance is tied specifically to ability and motivation, but personal or professional barriers also affect performance. For example, morale suffers when employees don’t connect with the management style or their team culture. There’s often no need to assume incompetence, undermotivation, or a wrong fit for the job. There can be many obstacles to achievement of work standards.

Employees may perform poorly if they misunderstand what’s expected of them. When managers take a moment to uncover the real reasons why performance is poor, speak to underperformers directly, and invest trust, new doors open for employees to improve. In these lessons on Diagnosing Performance Issues, you will discover how to identify the causes of poor performance. You’ll then address how to set expectations for both team-based and individual performances so you can get your employees back on track.

Learning Objectives
Understand how to investigate the causes of poor performance
Set team performance expectations
Relate team expectations to individuals

Skills You Will Learn
Identifying performance barriers
Setting performance expectations

When managers confront performance issues, employees can become defensive or emotional. It’s common to worry about how it might affect working relationships. To fulfill your responsibility as a team leader or manager, you must address these concerns. If performance management is not checked and balanced, teams suffer low morale and underachievement.

Performance adjustment needs objectivity and transparency. A performance plan helps employees realize you take their performance seriously. They’ll know they must take action and improve. Both you and your employee will also have clear expectations on what you have agreed to. You will have a plan for tracking and reviewing progress. In these lessons on Handling Poor Performers, you will explore ways to address employee performance problems, discover how to create a performance plan, and learn what to do if performance concerns persist.

Learning Objectives
Learn to address performance problems before they affect your work culture
Learn to design performance plans that address specific areas for employee improvement
Discover how to solve persistent underperformance by an employee

Skills You Will Learn
Confronting performance problems
Creating performance plans

You use technology every day at work to help you accomplish your goals, be a better team member to your coworkers, and follow your passion at work. Businesses can communicate instantly with their employees, the public, and customers across the globe with the help of ever-evolving technologies. Knowing how and when to use technologies makes you an invaluable part of any organization.

In these lessons on How Technology Has Changed Workplace Communication, you’ll see how modern technology has completely transformed how we communicate in the workplace. You’ll come to appreciate the incredible speed, efficiency, and global reach that these technologies provide individuals and organizations. You’ll learn how technology has made workplace communication significantly faster and more reliable. You’ll also see how it can facilitate communication with a significantly wider audience through search engine optimization and translation services.

Learning Objectives
Understand how technology has made communication faster and more reliable
Know what internal communications software can do for you
Learn how technology has increased workplace productivity

Skills You Will Learn
Communicating across audiences
Communicating with technology

It has never been easier or faster to communicate using technology. With the wide variety of hardware and software tools available to us, talking and collaborating with coworkers, clients, and customers is easier and more efficient than ever. So, what can you do to ensure that you’re getting the maximum benefits from your workplace communication technology? Do you know how best to use video chat? How to work better remotely? How to communicate clearly when using technology?

In these lessons on Using Workplace Technology, you’ll learn everything you need to know to communicate efficiently. You’ll learn about the ins and outs of video chatting and how to use whiteboarding and webinars to better collaborate. You’ll discover the benefits of remote work, such as saving money and billable time. By the end of this course, you’ll know how to use technology to overcome potential communication barriers. This course will allow you to more easily collaborate and engage with your peers.

Learning Objectives
Understand the basic facets of communicating through modern software
Learn how to work and communicate remotely
Discover how to communicate clearly at work

Skills You Will Learn
Using video chat
Remote work communication
Communicating clearly

Although digital technology has many benefits, it also has its drawbacks. Maybe you have experienced the feeling of wanting to “unplug” from your technology, email, and social media. The internet, smart devices, and social media can all cause information overload, lack of productivity, distractions in the workplace, and misunderstandings among coworkers. However, understanding these risks and learning strategies to prevent them will keep you productive and happy while using communication technology.

In these lessons on Disadvantages of Communication Technology, you’ll learn about the potential drawbacks of workplace communications technologies and how to avoid them. You’ll learn that technology can sometimes cause information overload. This course will help you prevent yourself from getting distracted, while staying accountable and on-task. We will discuss how you can avoid creating misunderstandings when you communicate with others remotely.

Learning Objectives
Describe information overload and how to avoid it
Learn how to avoid distractions caused by technology
Understand how to avoid misunderstandings with coworkers

Skills You Will Learn
Increasing productivity
Avoiding distractions
Preventing misunderstandings

Change is an inevitable force within our society that affects organizations at lightning speed. For many organizations, the old way of doing business is gone. In order to thrive, you may need to implement new practices. This course will help you understand the various kinds of changes a company can undergo. You will learn about the areas you can prioritize during your organization’s transition. As a leader and HR professional, it’s critical that you understand how to plan so that you can implement change effectively. This course will help you be better prepared to assist the management team in managing change.

Change Management: An Overview will show you why managing change is important and help you understand which factors matter most when your company decides to implement change. You’ll learn the basics of the change process, as well as how to educate employees on change and train them accordingly. You will also learn how to identify potential risks and rewards within your organization.

Learning Objectives
Identify why change is important for your organization in the digital age
Recognize the need and opportunity for change
Name types of change within your organization

Skills You Will Learn
Change Management
Strategic Thinking
Problem Solving

In our course, Major Approaches and Models of Change Management, you will be introduced to six reliable change models. You will learn how to select the best model for your organization’s needs. We’ll teach you how to help employees feel more comfortable by ensuring they understand the reasons, benefits, and vision behind the changes. The right change model can enable all stakeholders to be excited and energized for what lies ahead.

For those who are responsible for leading change, it’s imperative to select the appropriate change model that compliments the needs of your organization. In this course, we will discuss potential reasons for change in your organization and explore proven models for change. You will learn best practices within each model. Our course will help you learn how to deliver strong results, while also knowing how to address your employees’ concerns and immediate needs.

Learning objectives
Learn six change models
Identify the role of leadership during change
Discover ways HR can assist leaders in change

Skills You Will Learn
Change Management
Employee Relations
Project Planning

In our course, Implementing Change, you will learn how to choose a change management model, how to guide leadership in the development of a communication plan, and how to avoid common pitfalls that often slow change down. This course will teach you how to examine the major change models and select one that is most appropriate for your organization, as well as how to make modifications that better suit your company. We also help you learn how to address difficult employees who resist change.

As organizations find themselves operating in an ever-evolving economy, change management is becoming more and more important in the business world. In order to continue thriving, companies often choose to be proactive and improve weaknesses in their infrastructure. This course will help you learn to reinforce change, so it sustains the company. You’ll learn how to monitor success and support lasting results. Successful change implementation plans do not happen by chance. A great deal goes into planning the change, and this is an opportunity for HR professionals to lead the way.

Learning objectives
Learn how to choose the appropriate change management model for your organization
Develop a framework to fit your change plan
Identify and address common challenges during transitions

Skills You Will Learn
Change Management
Problem Solving

Workforce planning is how organizations achieve operational effectiveness, as well as plan for the future. Effective workforce planning not only ensures both short- and long-term staffing needs are met, but also enables the company to launch new products and services, have greater operational efficiency, meet market and regulatory demands, and even reduce risks to the organization. Effective workforce planning also ensures employees are able to achieve the necessary competencies to make their current jobs easier, as well as gain knowledge and skills towards career advancement. This leads to greater job satisfaction and employee retention, reducing the cost of talent management overall. By focusing on learning and development, workforce planning ensures the organization’s people have the right knowledge and skills to meet the challenges of technological and environmental shifts.

In this course on Workforce Planning Basics, you will explore the importance of workforce planning and how it can impact an organization’s ability to effectively operate in the present, respond to market pressures, and seize future growth opportunities. You will also learn to establish foundational goals that are key to ensuring a viable workforce plan that aligns with your organization’s overall business strategy.

Learning Objectives
Define workforce planning
Explain the importance of workforce planning
Discuss the impact of workforce planning
Identify goals that need to be established for effective workforce planning

Skills You Will Learn
Purposeful goal-setting
Workforce planning fundamentals

The essential preparation for an effective workforce plan is to accurately assess the current workforce capabilities and to forecast as accurately as possible the additional capabilities that will be needed. This requires extensive ongoing research into workforce supply and demand, and then systematically applying that information toward employee training, career development, and succession planning. Incorporating this information into the development of the workforce strategy and the workforce plan of action makes implementation more impactful and the monitoring of the plan more precise.

In this course on How to Develop a Workforce Plan, you will learn about the various real-world contexts in which workforce planning occurs. You will also learn how to determine workforce supply and demand and how workforce training, along with the use of accurate data, tools, and metrics, can help reduce the gap between the two. You will investigate what needs to be accomplished to develop and implement a workforce strategy and plan of action.

Learning Objectives
Demonstrate the steps in the workforce planning process
Determine workforce supply and demand
Analyze the elements of a workforce plan of action and implementation
Recognize how to classify and source data
Argue the limitations of metric applications

Skills You Will Learn
Workforce planning
Analyzing metrics

Whether change is due to internal or external factors, effectively moving through it requires thoughtful planning. In this course on Major Considerations in Workforce Planning, you will learn the impact that effective communication with stakeholders can have through each stage of planning. You will also learn how responsibility and accountability can reduce conflict and create a degree of uniformity. Since workforce planning can influence organizational change, it is important that it be done carefully so the changes can be integrated successfully.

You will achieve a deeper understanding of what to consider before and during the workforce planning process. The ability to adapt, meet employee and stakeholder expectations, and recognize the need for change in the work environment itself are all major considerations in workforce planning. You will understand the concept of “The Future of Work,” and realize how preparing for your organization’s future is a critical aspect of workforce planning.

Learning Objectives
Explain how to effectively communicate with stakeholders
Define workforce planning responsibilities
Evaluate the impact of internal changes on workforce planning
Analyze the changing work environment and culture
Anticipate The Future of Work

Skills You Will Learn
Efficient stakeholder communication
Effective accountability
Workforce planning

With the negativity found every day online and around the world, you may find yourself lacking inspiration, motivation, and the desire to achieve. While these doubts may seem overwhelming and demoralizing, they don’t have to be. By adopting the right mind-set and engaging in motivational practices, you can get and stay motivated in some of the most difficult circumstances and achieve the goals you set out to accomplish.

In this Getting and Staying Motivated course, you will discover how to cultivate a mind-set that helps establish strong motivation. You will also learn what motivation and achievement are and the place in your mind they often originate. After you understand these concepts, this course will explore methods to increase your drive, so you can achieve your goals using self-discipline. After completing this course, you will be on your way to becoming a motivated professional who can achieve new things at work every day.

Learning Objectives:
Describe what self-motivation and achievement are
Learn ways to maintain self-discipline
Explain how to stay motivated to achieve more

Skills You Will Learn
Self-motivation mind-set
Self-discipline
Goal achievement

Some goals may seem too impossible to actually reach. For example, you may desire to earn another degree while continuing to work a full-time job. By carefully planning your short- and long-term goals, you can find a way to achieve these realistic goals and successfully navigate a big challenge. And, after achieving these goals, it can be important to celebrate both small accomplishments and big milestones.

In this course on Realistic Achievement, you will learn how to create goals for yourself that can be realistically achieved. You will also learn the difference between short- and long-term goals and the best way for you to plan for each type. These lessons outline some ways you can celebrate both the large and small wins in your life. After completing this course, you’ll be ready to achieve almost any realistic goal you set. You’ll also understand the importance of celebrating and some of the best ways to do it in any situation.

Learning Objectives:
Learn how to plan long- and short-term goals
Understand realistic achievement
Know the best ways to celebrate large and small wins

Skills You Will Learn:
Goal setting
Celebrating accomplishments

It can be easy to get motivated when you’re just starting to work toward your goals but how can you stay motivated long enough to achieve your big goals? This can be done by properly understanding self-discipline and how it can affect your motivation, as well as how resilience in difficult situations plays a part. But one of the most vital things to understand is the concept of self-worth and how it can impact our desire to achieve.

In this course on Long-Term Motivation and Achievement, you will discover how to get and stay motivated over a long period of time. This course discusses how self-discipline can help you maintain your motivation and help you improve your resilience so you can overcome adversity. You will also explore the meaning of self-worth and how it isn’t based on title, salary, or other achievements. After taking this course, you’ll be ready to work toward your goals for how ever long they may take.

Learning Objectives:
Identify ways to maintain self-discipline and resilience
Understand self-worth
Recognize growth mind-set vs. fixed mind-set

Skills You Will Learn:
Self-discipline
Healthy self-worth
Adopting a mind-set
Resilience

Team dynamics are influenced by team culture and organization structure. This includes characteristics such as a team’s behavioral standards, expectations, and adaptability. Successful teams are interdependent, have mutual accountability, and share goals. These team dynamics have a direct impact on employee performance, engagement, and turnover. A manager navigates these dynamics by providing support and organizing activities. It can be difficult to implement strategies that improve team dynamics. So, how can you ensure effective team communication and cooperation? How do you manage your team to encourage progress and performance?

In this Team Dynamics and Team Culture course, you will learn the characteristics of team culture and organizational structure. These two factors intersect to create workplace dynamics. You will also learn about the relationship between teammates and leaders, and how to manage teams. By the end of this course, you will be able to create a better workplace environment for yourself and your team.

Learning Objectives:
Explain how team culture and organizational structure relate
Evaluate how team dynamics can impede or facilitate the flow of operations
Define the dynamics among team members and with team leaders
Recognize the mutual impact between managers and team dynamics

Skills You Will Learn:
Integrational team management
Operational flow facilitation
Conflict resolution

Team cohesion is the sense of commitment and unified purpose across a team. Cohesion brings positive work atmosphere and increased engagement. There are barriers to improving team dynamics, including unconvinced managers and changes in personnel. Leaders are responsible for promoting the team’s well-being and motivating them through either transactional or transformational leadership. Depending on the type of organizational design, there are many challenges to improving communication and culture. So, how can you promote work-life balance among your team members? How do you motivate and encourage your team to enhance cohesion?

In this Improving Team Dynamics course, you will learn about the challenges to creating a strong team dynamic and how to overcome or prevent them. This includes improving team cohesion, which determines if a team’s talents are put to good use. You will also learn about teammate capabilities and how leaders can improve productivity through employee well-being and motivation. By the end of this course, you will be able to improve your team’s cohesion.

Learning Objectives:
Explain the importance of team dynamics to team cohesion
Identify organizational barriers
Apply teammate capabilities to team cohesion
Evaluate teammate well-being
Apply best practices of team dynamics to team cohesion

Skills You Will Learn:
Team management
Team motivation
Emotional Intelligence

Team dynamics are the positive and negative underlying currents at play within groups of people. There are many benefits of positive team dynamics, including communication, collaboration, and creativity. It is possible for teams to have a negative dynamic, which can cause poor decision-making and friction between members. It’s recommended that leaders foster open communication and align their team around a mission. It is difficult to accomplish tasks or resolve conflict without creating a positive team dynamic. So, how can you evaluate and improve your team dynamics?

In this Managing Team Dynamics course, you will learn necessary team leader skills, such as creating a positive team dynamic and overcoming negative dynamics. You will also learn the skills to foster open communication, align team roles with team objectives, and identify and resolve conflicts. By the end of this course, you will be able to create a work environment with trust and communication to lead your team to success.

Learning Objectives:
Identify signs of problems with a team’s dynamic
Understand how to foster open communication
Describe how to align team roles to project objectives
Apply conflict resolution techniques
Explain how to nurture team commitment

Skills You Will Learn:
Team alignment techniques
Conflict resolution
Team commitment building

Empathy has a profound impact on leadership and relationships. Strong leaders develop skills that allow them to make honest connections with their team so they can inspire and motivate them to success, and empathy is key for achieving this connection. There are multiple types of empathy. Knowing the differences and translating that knowledge into an empathetic response enhances the work environment and will strengthen your communication skills. You’ll gain the ability to make more meaningful relationships with co-workers while building stronger leadership skills.

In these lessons on Defining Empathy, you’ll learn how empathy has a profound impact on leadership and relationships. Strong leaders develop skills that allow them to make honest connections with their team so they can inspire and motivate them to success, and empathy is a key component to achieving this connection. Mastering these skills and abilities will provide you with the ability to respond to others when they’re in distress.

Learning Objectives
Learn the definition of empathy
Compare the differences between empathy and sympathy
Identify the different types of empathy
Understand how to respond with empathy at work

Skills You Will Learn
Cognitive empathy
Emotional empathy
Compassionate empathy

Empathy isn’t exactly a learned skill, but it is something that can be improved upon. But how? What methods and activities can you use to boost your empathy? The simple act of reading fiction helps you to experience another's emotions and feel what it’s like to be in that person’s shoes. Another effective tool is to practice active listening skills when communicating with others and applying those skills in daily conversations. These abilities make it easier to acknowledge other people’s experiences and understand their emotions and needs. This helps you to relate to their circumstances and respond to them in an empathetic way.

These lessons on Improving Your Level of Empathy discuss realistic and helpful suggestions that can be easily implemented daily, such as reading. Using these methods will improve your empathetic skills in a fun and enjoyable manner. These techniques will also provide you with the tools you need to effectively communicate with diverse groups of people.

Learning Objectives
Identify the different ways to improve empathy skills
Understand how reading develops empathy
Implement active listening in conversations
Recognize and appreciate differing opinions and beliefs
Improve accountability skills in the workplace

Skills You Will Learn
Improved empathy
Active listening

How you respond to people and your response time can make a huge difference in how others see you. You may not realize it, but your responses have a significant impact on others and shape what people think of you. This is why when your peers approach you with a problem, whether personal or professional, it’s crucial to respond with empathy. Not only will your reputation improve, but your teammates will be willing to come back to you for help later.

But what skills do you need to properly use empathy in the workplace?

These lessons on Developing Empathy at Work will give you skills for using empathy in a professional setting. Devoting time and attention to others is beneficial to your team and organization and can be done through active listening. Evaluating your communication style can help you better respond to your coworkers. Responding in a timely manner to their concerns will show them that you respect them and their time.

Learning Objectives
Learn how to better pay attention to others
Respond to others in a timely manner
Determine your communication style

Skills You Will Learn
Active listening
Acknowledging coworkers’ needs
Responsiveness

Effective communication is essential for smooth team interaction, but it’s not always easy. Getting your message across in the way you intend can be challenging due to the many variables present in the communication process. So how can you tailor your communication to enable your subordinates to interpret your message correctly? How can you share information in a way that promotes retention? How can you provide feedback so that it actually results in improvements and team development?

In these lessons on how Communication is a Two-Way Street, you will discover how to identify key elements in communication that can improve understanding, promote better information sharing, and motivate team members towards greater collaboration. You will become more aware of the underlying meaning behind the message and discern the different styles of communication. You will learn how to maximize the transfer of knowledge in a more efficient way for greater retention. You will also discover ways to improve team morale and development by promoting a culture of active listening, recognition, and feedback.

Learning Objectives
Understand the process of communication
Identify context within a message
Differentiate and apply teaching methodologies
Develop a habit of active listening and asking high-value questions

Skills You Will Learn
Mindful listening
Effective feedback
Coaching-oriented leadership

When working with internal and external stakeholders, many challenges may present themselves. How do effective communicators deal with the barriers brought about by different objectives, perspectives, and needs? How can you expand your influence in a positive way to promote collaboration and alignment? What are the elements you need so you can foster trust and good will?

In these lessons on Persuasive Communication for Leaders, you will learn how to build unity and trust within a team through proper communication, ensuring a smoother path towards alignment and collaboration with both internal and external stakeholders. You will distinguish between persuading and influencing, learn when it is better to push and when to pull, and learn how to balance the two. You will also discover the essential foundational elements needed to create an effective team. Some simple changes in an initial approach can make a big difference in the impact and acceptance of your requests.

Learning Objectives
Identify elements that impact trust within a team
Plan ways to approach stakeholders for maximum impact
Learn how to determine how trustworthy someone is

Skills You Will Learn
Managing conflict
Building trust
Influencing stakeholders
Persuading stakeholders

Effective communication requires not only awareness of others and their styles, but also courage to engage in a respectful and honest way when things are not going smoothly. So how do effective communicators determine the best approach for a difficult situation? How can you relay your message or request in a way that conveys the essence of the message without causing offense or misunderstanding?

In these lessons on Communication Methods, you will learn how to manage difficult conversations to express an important message without damaging a relationship. You’ll gain insight into how to use and notice your body language when communicating. You will be able to discern between descriptive and evaluative language to promote continued dialogue and good will. You’ll discover best practices for spontaneous and effective communication with methods to build better communication habits. By the end of these lessons, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge you need to be an effective communicator.

Learning Objectives
Determine the best way to initiate a difficult conversation
Choose neutral language for an effective approach
Plan ways to engage people through non-verbal language
Implement best communication practices

Skills You Will Learn
Conflict management
Body language awareness
Effective communication habits

Being a high performer doesn’t mean that we do things perfectly and work 24/7, but it does require us to think differently about our jobs and what we do. High performers think more strategically and methodically, while also being more mindful of forming and nurturing relationships with those they work with. In these lessons on Mental Habits of High Performers, we’ll examine how high performers maximize their mental habits.

You will discover tools, frameworks, and methods that you can use to reinvent yourself as a individual and as a high performer. While high performers may appear to work flawlessly, they work in a way that’s thoughtful. It’s not about getting everything on the to-do list done or working constantly.

Being more aware of the larger picture of what the organization is trying to accomplish, given industry conditions, is critical. And while this level of awareness is important to thinking proactively, it also positions people as high performers and critical thinkers. Along with critical thinking, a commonly associated attribute of high performance is being a good communicator. Communication is a broad topic, but these lessons will outline how high performers communicate in a way that unites their vision with action to help them and their teams take initiative. In assessing the importance of communication to performance, we’ll examine how communication can be used as a tool to build trust and amplify performance.

By the end of these lessons, you’ll have a roadmap to take your performance to the next level.

Learning Objectives
Examine how seeking clarity in defining and communicating purpose and vision can drive yourself and your teams
Discover how asking for feedback, being proactive, and seeking advice to navigate difficult situations can help you find answers and solutions
Recognize how taking time to talk and listen to others and to reflect on what they’ve learned can enhance your relationships
Assess how defining your mission and what you are trying to achieve can align you and your teams

Skills You Will Learn
Communication
Team building
Using VUCA framework

People who are high performers within their careers have developed routines that encompass healthy habits that they can attribute to their success. While changing a habit can be difficult, considering what changes you can make to your routine is key in jumpstarting your career. In these lessons on Beneficial Habits of High Performers, we’ll take a thoughtful look at various lifestyle choices that you can consider for yourself and the positives that will follow at work.

Taking the time to think more holistically can help you reset your mind and body to ensure that you’re performing at your maximum potential. High performers aren’t running marathons every weekend or restricting their diets. Small changes can lead to big results when it comes to examining and potentially changing your lifestyle routine. Adopting a quick lunchtime walk or being more mindful of your food choices can have a positive impact.

From a mental standpoint, you can find ways to reflect through reading and journaling. And while it may be hard to find the time to incorporate these practices into your day, apps, podcasts, and audiobooks can help you expand your mind and track your thoughts. Stress management is also key to maintaining your performance. Meditating and yoga can give you the tools needed to better manage your stress, your emotions, and your thinking.

In completing these lessons, you’ll gain strategies on how to change your habits that will have you feeling good and performing even better without turning your life upside down.

Learning Objectives
Discover the importance of reading to be informed and inspired
Explore the art of journaling to self-assess and reflect
Define the benefits of exercising to improve your body and reduce your stress
Identify the positives of eating well
Assess how you can make small changes daily to impact your life and performance overall

Skills You Will Learn
Self-reflection
Physical habits
Mental habits

Our habits at work impact how we perform. If we have good habits and practice them regularly, we can differentiate ourselves from others in relation to performance. Yet, if we have bad habits, it can hinder us more than we think. These lessons on Work Habits of High Performers will further explore the unsung attributes of high performers including storytelling, resiliency, perseverance, and grit.

In reviewing each one of these elements, you’ll be challenged to consider where you can take action that will make a difference for you and your performance. Plus, you’ll get some insights on time management and planning that will help you navigate your day in a more productive way, specifically by using a priority matrix. This tool can help you reconfigure how you tackle different tasks based on their importance. High performers know the difference between what needs to be done now versus what’s trivial.

We’ll also examine steps you can take to enhance your influence through sharing stories, using your abilities, and demonstrating your confidence. Additionally, we’ll explore how courage is another attribute of a high performer. While courage can look different to all of us, it involves finding ways to speak up, challenge others, and act in a way that benefits yourself and your peers.

Once you’ve completed these lessons, you’ll have new practices you can adopt that will amplify your performance in a way that will help you stand out while making a real difference to those you work with and lead.

Learning Objectives
Learn how to use tools to maximize your time management and planning
Assess how to develop and enhance your influence
Recognize ways to be courageous in your day-to-day work
Discover how to increase your perseverance and resilience

Skills You Will Learn
Time management
Influencing
Priority matrix

As a manager, you have probably focused on maintaining a stable, productive workforce. But now, you need both management and leadership functions to achieve success in a complex and ever-changing business environment. You can consider management and leadership as being complementary to each other, each serving its own function. Management is about coping with complexity and chaos in organizations. On the other hand, leadership is about motivating, guiding, and inspiring others to cope with change. How will you know whether you are managing or leading in your current role? What steps do you need to take to ensure you can transition from being a manager to a leader?

In these lessons on Making the Transition from Manager to Leader, you will discover the differences between management and leadership, key leadership traits, why some people fail to become leaders, the benefits gained from being a leader, and how you can practice transformational leadership to gain organizational power.

Learning Objectives
Discuss the differences between managing and leading
Explore key leadership traits
Explain why some people fail to become leaders
Identify the benefits of being a leader
Relate the transformational leadership to the organizational power

Skills You Will Learn
Management
Leadership

When you step into a leadership role, there are some essential areas that are critical to work on. As a leader, your team and peers will expect you to be transparent in all your dealings with them. It will be important to learn to set strategies and agendas for your team. Without those, your team won’t know which direction to go or won’t feel a sense of purpose in their day-to-day work. Being a leader also means being able to see the “big picture.” The more knowledge you have of various functions in your organization, the more likely you’ll have a “big picture” view of what’s going on in your organization. It’s also crucial to be able to communicate well with everyone around you.

In these lessons on Essential Leadership Roles, you will discover how to be transparent when dealing with others, how to set strategies and agendas for your team, how to become a generalist by integrating multiple competencies, and how to communicate clearly to your coworkers.

Learning Objectives
Understand how to be transparent when dealing with others
Explore how to formulate strategy, including for your team
Explain how to set agendas for your team
Discuss how to become a generalist who deals with multiple areas in your organization
Know how to communicate well with your peers

Skills You Will Learn
Transparency
Strategizing
Agenda-setting
Being a generalist
Effective communication

As a leader, it’s very important to have self-awareness so that you can manage yourself and regularly reflect on your own actions for continuous improvement. Self-awareness is not only about knowing yourself, but also about knowing how others perceive you. If you can close the gap between those two areas, you’re likely to have better relationship with others in your organization.

Another valuable skill is to be aware of your organizational culture and to try to contribute toward your team’s positive culture by motivating and inspiring them through setting the example. When you become a leader, it’s important to build networks within your organization because you will probably need to collaborate with various cross-functional teams. To maintain a harmonious working environment between yourself, your team, and other departments in your organization, it’s important for you, as a leader, to be able to influence other people.

In these lessons on Becoming an Impactful Leader, you will discover how to gain self-awareness, uncover your organization’s culture, set aspirations and work toward them, gain influence over people, and make a sustainable impact as a leader, especially toward your team.

Learning Objectives
Understand how to gain self-awareness
Explore how to learn more about your organization
Know how to influence others
Understand how to make a sustainable impact on the team

Skills You Will Learn
Self-awareness
Influencing others
Example-setting

Your team’s growth and development are your responsibility as a manager. But what can you do to facilitate that growth? How can you help your team members overcome obstacles and reach their full potential? The answer lies in creating a stable ally and mentorship system. Allies and mentors can improve inclusion and opportunities for all employees, helping those who have been marginalized or overlooked. They can be advocates for those employees who haven’t gotten their chance to shine yet.

In these lessons on Allies, Mentors, and the Workplace, you’ll learn what duties come with being an ally or mentor and understand how to utilize allyship and mentorship within the workplace, how to operationalize your understanding of allies and mentors, and recognize the similarities and distinctions between the two roles. Toward the end of these lessons, you’ll also learn how you can create a positive workplace culture in your capacity as an ally or mentor.

Learning Objectives
Define allyship and recognize its importance
Differentiate between the different kinds of allies
Define mentorship and learn to leverage it within the workplace
Differentiate between the functions of an ally and a mentor

Skills You Will Learn
Allyship
Mentorship
Giving constructive feedback
Establishing positive relationships

Within inclusive environments, allies and mentors can empower others to cultivate self-advocacy to recognize and quantify their impact within the organization. Identifying and assessing training needs serves as the foundation for which organizations can equip allies and mentors within their roles. Overall, becoming an effective workplace ally takes dedication to inclusive principles, training, assessment skills, and a means to develop interventions that properly support individuals within the organization. So, what can you do to facilitate this?

In these lessons on Becoming an Effective Workplace Ally, you’ll discover how to use allies and mentors to promote equity and inclusion, understand the demographics that need allies the most, and what kind of support they may want. In addition, you’ll go over how to advocate through your team by increasing inclusive environments, establishing transparent communication, and recognizing your team members’ hard work. Toward the end, you’ll learn some best practices for serving as an ally.

Learning Objectives
Recognize the groups that are most in need of allyship
Explain how organizations can empower allies to provide advocacy
Know why advocacy can be beneficial for employees

Skills You Will Learn
Establishing inclusive environments
Providing training
Allyship best practices

Mentors impart expertise and knowledge to assist their mentees in developing professional competence and confidence in their contributions. Mentees most often develop skills and knowledge through observation, so it’s pivotal for mentors to empower by example. You can aid individuals with self-advocacy knowledge and empower them to speak up for themselves, seek mediation, focus on positives, and address productivity issues. So, what can you do to be the most effective workplace mentor that you can be? What sort of skills are required?

In these lessons on Becoming an Effective Workplace Mentor, you’ll recognize how mentors help mentees develop and clarify professional goals. You’ll identify various types of mentorship programs to discover the best method of mentoring that fits your employees’ development needs and how your company can help foster and develop supportive workplace relationships. These lessons will explain how you can share expertise, lead by example, and create professional development plans.

Learning Objectives
Identify different kinds of mentoring programs
Create a buddy system for employees
Use methods to provide and impart expertise to employees
Compose a professional development plan
Help employees facilitate decision-making

Skills You Will Learn
Developing mentoring programs
Fostering relationships
Sharing expertise
Leading by example
Planning professional development

Effective leadership development focuses on authenticity. This means being honest, leading by example, and identifying your strengths and weaknesses. By being transparent and openly looking for areas where you can improve, you are being true to yourself and showing followers that you are willing and able to overcome challenges and face difficult decisions by trying to be the best leader possible. This behavior and mindset allows followers to embrace their leadership abilities, which promotes a positive work culture.

In this Recognizing Leadership and Leadership Culture course, you will learn the meaning of leadership and the integral role it plays in motivating and guiding people personally and professionally. By identifying core leadership values displayed by influential leaders, you will discover key leadership styles that are pivotal when communicating with followers and future leaders. Recognizing your leadership styles and utilizing them based on specific situations can help you develop as an influential leader.

Learning Objectives:
Identify leadership styles
Recognize leadership culture
Analyze your skills as a leader

Skills You Will Learn:
Leadership development
Self-assessment
Authenticity

As a leader, you may have identified team members who display potential for becoming great leaders in the future. By embracing a positive attitude with an approachable personality, you can appear engaging and trustworthy among followers. Modeling self-awareness skills and embracing a team mentality can help you equip potential leaders with the tools needed to identify and improve their leadership traits.

In this Developing Leaders course, you will discover how your attitude and personality impact your effectiveness as a leader. You’ll also learn to identify and overcome blind spots caused by biases and misguided power structures. We’ll also show you how preconceived notions, prejudices, and unsubstantiated ideas can create a divisive culture that lacks unity. By focusing on the benefits of power to influence productive behavior rather than acts of manipulation, leaders can be more effective in nurturing and encouraging potential leaders. After completing this course, you’ll be prepared to develop strong leaders on your team.

Learning Objectives:
Recognize potential leaders
Identify blind spots and know how to address them
Indicate how to nurture leadership traits
Describe how to equip potential leaders

Skills You Will Learn:
Leadership development
Goal setting
Self-awareness

As a leader, you likely want to have a great relationship with your followers. Developing relationships within your team may be difficult without developing skills like intentional communication, strong collaboration, and healthy competition. With a little practice, you can acquire the skills needed to create productive relationships. By learning how to effectively build relationships among your team members, you can cultivate a culture of leadership development and create a team of strong leaders.

In this Building Relationships as a Leader course, you will learn how communication can help you build and maintain productive relationships. You’ll also discover the importance of ethical and moral leadership, and how change affects a leader’s vision when communicating with followers. This course will also discuss best practices that can impact a leader’s ability to identify and train future leaders. We’ll also show you how to create a team of leaders by identifying personality traits ideal for leadership roles.

Learning Objectives:
Demonstrate how to communicate with intention
Identify collaboration and competition
Recognize productive relationships
Explain how to train leaders

Skills You Will Learn:
Leadership development
Relationship building
Constructive competition
Intentional communication

Effective multicultural teams bring together diverse cultures into one work culture that leverages the unique skills each team member brings to the workplace. Multicultural teams are important in the global economy because, while many teams may work well together, a diverse team can offer a variety of perspectives. This means that unique skill sets are needed for leaders and managers to be effective and make the most of a diverse team setting. This course provides today’s workplace leader with the necessary skills to identify the level of acculturation by both the dominant and subcultures that exist in your workplace, develop a basic strategy to cultivate a balanced level of cultural expressiveness, and foster an atmosphere of intercultural respect.

In this Multiculturalism, Leadership, and the Workplace course, you will discover how multicultural team leadership has evolved and how globalization has redefined expectations for today’s leader. You’ll also explore the dynamics of diverse cultures in forming one workforce and how leaders can be the guiding hand to successful multicultural teams in the workplace.

Learning Objectives:
Describe the evolution of multicultural teams
Explain how dominant culture affects cultural expressions among employees
Define multicultural sensitivity and awareness leadership
Recognize the leadership responsibilities to diversity and inclusion
Evaluate the knowledge you may gain by being open to other cultures

Skills You Will Learn:
Intercultural communication
Navigating stereotypes
Preventing cliques

Effective multicultural teams are geared toward performance and progress to reach a unified goal. This can’t be accomplished if the team isn’t united. Team cohesion is required for groups to endure and maintain unity as they work toward accomplishing a set of objectives. But successfully maintaining cohesion can be difficult. Bias and stereotyping often prevent team cohesion and challenge leaders of multicultural teams. Poor communication can also be a roadblock to leading diverse teams. So, how can leaders overcome these struggles and successfully unite their teams? By considering potential problems and making a plan to address them.

In this course on Considerations for Leaders and Managers of Multicultural Teams, you will gain expertise in navigating barriers to team cohesion and adopting a diverse workplace communication style. You’ll also learn about different virtual communication skills and avoiding bias and stereotyping. This course also discusses setting expectations and assessing workplace performance in a diverse environment.

Learning Objectives:
Identify potential roadblocks to team cohesion
Develop methods for addressing conscious and unconscious biases
Apply techniques for adopting a communication style
Describe how to communicate virtually
Evaluate the process of setting expectations and assessing performance

Skills You Will Learn:
Team cohesion
Intercultural competence
Bias prevention
Best practices

Innovation and creativity can flourish in a diverse environment because they contain many different perspectives, talents, knowledge, and skill sets. Diverse cultural environments can bring rich, lived experiences into the workplace and enhance value-added perspectives for employees. But how can leaders develop the intercultural skills needed for organizations to lead their multicultural team to success? They can do this by adopting multicultural awareness practices, working to understand the needs and values of their employees’ cultures, and offering training to all their employees.

In this course on Leadership and Multicultural Awareness, you will learn how leaders can inspire, motivate, and set the tone for diverse cultures to come together. You’ll also explore the role of leadership in promoting awareness and understanding among multicultural teams and how to offer training, facilitate communication, and deepen relationships. This course discusses how to be aware and attentive for potential challenges and devise strategies to resolve them.

Learning Objectives:
Explain how leaders can maintain understanding and reduce conflicts
Define cultural coding and multicultural awareness
Apply principles of cultural understanding and intelligence
Explain how cultural bias and stereotyping are formed

Skills You Will Learn:
Cultural competence
Multicultural understanding
Resource acquisition
Communication strategies
Relationship building

EN,ES,FR,DE,BR,CN,UR,AR,AR-VO

Great coaches know that it takes a team to be successful. Ideally, work teams have common goals, cooperate effectively, and achieve desired results in tandem. Managers can demonstrate this perspective by being open to feedback, monitoring their skills for self-improvement, and being coachable. Coaching managers to help determine where and how the team can improve is critical for a team’s success. With outstanding coaching, managers can learn to leverage their skills, develop new competencies, and create high-functioning teams, which are key to an organization’s growth and success.

In this Benefits of Coaching Managers course, you will learn the skills and techniques you’ll need to coach and develop managers. We’ll also explore how you can utilize coaching to empower managers in their day-to-day activities, and how to use coaching as a management strategy. By the end of this course, you’ll know how to best coach managers to help their teams succeed, increase productivity, and decrease turnover.

Learning Objectives
Identify the skills and techniques required for coaching managers
Indicate how coaching relates to professional development
Demonstrate how to empower managers

Skills You Will Learn
Management
Employee development
Empowering employees
Leadership

EN,ES,FR,DE,BR,CN,UR,AR,AR-VO

Being an effective coach means being able to recognize the importance of truly knowing who you’re coaching and why. Coaching managers can be especially challenging, as you are guiding those who guide others. Because of this, providing constructive feedback is a critical element of effective coaching. Whether you’re in the same conference room or meeting virtually, feedback is an ongoing part of the job. Knowing how to give effective feedback to managers is instrumental to an organization’s continued success. But how can a coach be effective in guiding managers?

In this Creating a Coaching Relationship with Managers course, you’ll learn an effective route to solidifying your relationship with the manager you’re coaching. We’ll cover the importance of learning about them, establishing expectations, providing feedback, and personalizing your approach. Upon finishing this course, you can use what you’ve learned to show your managers that instead of just checking boxes, you’re meeting with them to help them make progress.

Learning Objectives
Identify potential coaching obstacles
Describe the importance of providing feedback
Demonstrate how to set and communicate expectations

Skills You Will Learn
Management
Employee development
Leadership
Communication

EN,ES,FR,DE,BR,CN,UR,AR,AR-VO

Being a leader can be challenging, especially when you’re coaching managers. As a coach, you will likely encounter a range of responses. One of the biggest obstacles you can face is working with managers who don’t think they need coaching. Some managers might feel that they’ve “made it” and don’t need coaching to continue to be successful. What can you do if you want to help managers overcome their misconception of the benefits of coaching?

In this Coaching Managers: Challenges and Opportunities course, you will learn the art of helping managers see the value in being coached and having effective conversations about development. We will cover how to create a coaching structure and establish coaching opportunities as well as best practices that will allow you to build trust and form a positive work relationship. By the end of this course, you will know how to address and overcome the challenges of coaching managers.

Learning Objectives
Identify obstacles when coaching managers
Demonstrate the best practices for coaching
Describe how to develop a coaching structure

Skills You Will Learn
Management
Coaching
Employee development