Whether you’re an experienced manager or a new manager, training for fundamentals, skills, and other principles is tantamount to success. However, you can’t rely solely on training from your employer or learning on the job. Doing so can cast you into the void of mediocre management, and you can quickly lose direction or the attention of your employees.

So how do you keep up to date with the latest trends in management? Sign up for a handful of manager training courses. Unlike going back to school for a master’s degree, manager training courses are specialized, self-paced, and less sensitive to your time constraints.

Whether you’re aiming for upper management, want to cement your foothold in middle management, or are just getting started in the management realm, manager training courses provide the material and insight you need at your own pace and at an affordable price.

So What Exactly Is a Manager Training Course?

A manager training course is a structured program designed to provide individuals with the knowledge, skills, and tools they need to effectively manage and lead teams. Unlike university degrees, they aren’t a series of classes, but rather individual courses you can select as they pertain to you.

In general, manager training courses cover specific topics, but the variety and scope of classes can vary greatly. Some of the topics often covered in manager training courses include:

• Specialized topics, such as project management, operations management, or performance management
• Managerial principles for first-time managers
• Various management skills such as decision-making, conflict resolution, communication skills, emotional intelligence, and problem-solving
• Resource and time management
• Human resource and employee management
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Goal-setting

The Advantages of Taking a Manager Training Course

Beyond becoming a better manager, manager training courses also offer a number of benefits. One of the most intriguing advantages is that you can take online courses instead of traditional in-person, onsite classes. This allows you to work them around your schedule, which is invaluable as a busy, on-the-go manager. You can also enjoy many of these benefits when you take a manager training course:

• Self-evaluation and personalized feedback, which you wouldn’t get in a larger class
• Develop a deeper understanding of a manager’s role
• How to become an effective manager beyond the resources afforded to you
• Improved self-awareness
• Personal development, fulfillment, and satisfaction
• Opportunities for career advancement
• Help you find the link between management and leadership roles

Learning any new topic is always vital to success. It can satiate your hunger for desire, provide growth, and help you find new opportunities — even if you’re just aiming to advance your career.

6 Manager Training Courses To Develop New Skills and Refine Old Ones

Manager training courses aren’t just for the uninitiated first-time manager. Sure, you can find courses that specifically pertain to that, but even seasoned managers can still find something of value in these courses.

Think of manager training courses like this: You get to learn something new that you may not have known before, but you also get an opportunity to hone and refine the management principles and ideas that you use frequently. It’s a win-win scenario no matter how you look at it, and one that the best managers take advantage of.

So whether you’re intrigued by the idea of change management, you want to become a true team leader at your startup, or you yearn to become the type of mentoring boss that your employees respect, you can find a manager training course that appeals to you. Here are some of the best.

1. CCL Boost for First-Time Managers

Price: $250

Who It’s Best For: (You guessed it.) First-time managers

Marking the switch from individual contributor to manager can feel like a daunting and almost insurmountable task. The way you think and act has to change to garner the respect of your direct reports, while also shouldering the responsibility of your new role.

That’s what CCL Boost for First-Time Managers aims to do. To help first-time managers overcome their fears, understand team management, and even learn leadership skills, this manager training course provides case studies, worksheets, and guided reflection. It’s entirely self-paced and on your schedule, giving you time to digest bite-size pieces of information at your leisure.

2. Unicorn Labs Leadership Development Program

Price: Varies

Who It’s Best For: Startup managers

Leadership development is the transcendent quality that turns great managers into amazing leaders. Though many manager training courses focus solely on the organizational aspects of management, the Unicorn Labs Leadership Development Program provides you with the leadership styles and skills that pertain to struggling startup managers.

Through this 12-week, self-guided course, you get one-on-one coaching, 30+ hours of online learning content, 50+ downloadable worksheets, and various assessments to ascertain your skills as a manager and leader.

The course strays from the pure management training you find on other platforms, but let’s face it. If you’re focused solely on management and not on leadership, you’re a step behind your cohorts.

3. Managing Change from LinkedIn Learning

Price: Free with LinkedIn Premium

Who It’s Best For: Managers who struggle to keep up with trends and change

Change management has become somewhat of a buzzword in recent times. But with a dynamic modern business landscape, learning how to keep up with change has never been more integral.

Managing Change from LinkedIn Learning is a 3.5-hour course that tackles this newfound issue with six self-paced learning modules. With this manager training course, managers will learn how to navigate change, prep their team for change, and maintain the pace of change without burnout.

4. Managing Across Generations from Skillsoft

Price: Varies

Who It’s Best For: Managers who work with a breadth of age groups and generations

The older generation thinks the younger generation is lazy. The younger generation thinks the older generation is behind the times. These are common debacles that are highly debatable, but one that can rear its ugly head in the office if not managed effectively.

If you work with a variety of age groups, Managing Across Generations from Skillsoft is the manager training course for you. It’s one of the more comprehensive options available, covering roughly 40 hours of material through a set of eight books or audiobooks.

However, you’ll learn how to transition your management style to the needs of each generation, learn what works and what doesn’t, and become a master of people management — no matter what age they are.

5. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Certification Course from HR University

Price: Free!

Who It’s Best For: Managers who have a diverse or globally distributed workforce

Whether you’re an onsite manager or a remote manager, diversity and inclusion are essential to success in the modern work environment. As a manager, diversity provides fresh perspectives and contributes to company culture, while inclusion allows everyone to feel interconnected — which leads to more productivity and camaraderie.

If you’ve never managed a fairly diverse workforce, ensuring you lead with tact and respect is a necessity. With a certification in diversity, equity, and inclusion from HR University, you’ll learn the skills necessary to manage a diverse workforce, ensure everyone feels like they’re part of the team, and have fun doing it.

The course is roughly 40 hours over 10 weeks, but it’s entirely self-paced. With assignments, a lecturer, and 120 video lessons, you have plenty of material to learn the ins and outs of DEI — and get a certificate while doing it.

6. Digital Leadership Program from Wharton Online

Price: $2,250

Who It’s Best For: Managers who aren’t exactly tech-savvy

Technology has transformed the way people work. But if you feel like you’re lagging behind with respect to technology, you can often feel overwhelmed as a manager. With the Digital Leadership Program from Wharton Online — the famed online branch of the University of Pennsylvania business school — your technophobia will become a thing of the past.

Featuring four, four-week courses that last about three hours a week, this manager training course teaches you how to become more digitally and technologically savvy. Thanks to modules on how business AI affects productivity and employees, dealing with the age of digital disruption, and management principles of the global digital economy, you can navigate complex situations with great aplomb.

Add Leadership Training To Your Manager Training Regimen

Manager training courses provide the pieces to the puzzle of management itself. You only need to plug your knowledge into specific situations to get results.

However, management training programs are logistical in nature; the psychological side of management is leadership. If you want to enhance your professional development thoroughly, you can’t ignore one in favor of the other. You need to combine both to become a great manager — and perhaps more importantly — a great leader.

High-performing teams are a direct product of good leaders, increasing their productivity and engagement as a direct result of the vision provided by a leader. That’s why you should strongly consider a leadership development program as part of your management training.

With the Unicorn Labs leadership training program, you can get individualized coaching, a 360 assessment, online learning modules, and more. Management training courses give you the keys to the car, but leadership training teaches you how to drive. Find out how Unicorn Labs can help you become the best manager and leader you can be.

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