10 Management Courses Every Manager Should Take
You’re struggling as a first-time manager. Maybe you can’t gain the respect or attention of your subordinates, fail to turn from coworker to superior, or find time management difficult. Or perhaps you’re an employee looking to pave your way to management, but you aren’t sure how. Both are tales as old as time — or at least as old as the dawn of the office.
However, you don’t have to attend an Ivy League school to obtain an Ivy League curriculum or learn the principles that can make you excel as a manager or leader — you just need to know where to look.
Thanks to a plethora of high-quality content available on the internet from reputable sources and universities, the opportunity to take self-paced management courses is more rife than ever. If you have the drive to develop your management skills, these management courses will give you the insight, principles, and fundamentals that can make you a better manager, whether now or in the future.
10 Management Courses To Improve Your Business Skills
Online learning has reached its apex in recent times, allowing you to find management courses and management certifications from accredited bodies, business schools, and universities. You can also select from specialized management courses in industries like human resource management, healthcare management, or engineering management, as well as specialization courses such as risk management, product management, supply chain management, or scrum.
Even more intriguingly, you typically don’t need any prerequisites or even a bachelor’s degree to sign up. Just find the course you want, pay any fee (although many are free!), and you’re ready to go. No matter what your goals are, you should find that these management courses will improve your skills while giving you the edge you need to excel in a competitive market.
1. Unicorn Labs Leadership Program
Price: Varies
Although management and leadership are inherently different, every great manager eventually becomes an even greater leader — although a bit of learning is always necessary. If you aspire to turn into an agile, flexible, charismatic, and respected leader, the Unicorn Labs Leadership Program is a leadership and management course to put on your shortlist.
In this individualized and personalized course, you’ll learn about the Six Levels of Unicorn Leadership, attract and retain top talent, invigorate the culture of your team, and become a drastically better manager and leader.
The course takes place over 12 weeks and offers plenty of extras, including:
- 12 coaching sessions
- 50 downloadable worksheets
- A DISC workplace behavior assessment
- Lifetime access to online learning modules
- Team dynamics and Leadership 360 assessments
And you get it all with a free trial to boot. If you’re serious about becoming a manager and a leader, this is the course to light a fire underneath you.
2. Making the Transition to Management
Price: $2,595
If you’re one of the many people who aspire to go from employee to manager, this is the course for you. Making the Transition to Management from the American Management Association is a comprehensive management course that can turn you from a coworker into a superior without losing respect or dissolving working relationships.
The course covers many of the introductory principles of transitioning to a manager, including people management, project management, giving and accepting feedback, building alliances with peer managers, and understanding your new responsibilities. It won’t make the transition instantaneous, but this management course will certainly make it a bit easier.
3. Managing Social and Human Capital from Coursera
Price: Free for seven days, $79/month thereafter
As a manager, leveraging social and human capital is a surefire way to inspire your employees and promote productivity. However, managing personalities and task conflict in the workplace isn’t always as simple as it sounds.
But in Managing Social and Human Capital from Coursera in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania, you can learn the core concepts of onboarding, manager-employer relationships, talent management, performance management, and more. It’s an entry-level course, and with seven self-paced hours of information, you can complete it at your leisure.
4. Building a Second Brain
Price: $1,500
Featured in Forbes and Entrepreneur, Building a Second Brain is a five-week course centered on the newfound concept of knowledge management. Using techniques and virtual tools, this five-week course centers around the ability to organize and process information more quickly — something that’s drastically needed in an era where your mind is constantly besieged with content and information.
The course features eight videos, 10 live sessions, and a library with lifetime access. After you complete the course, you’ll be able to condense loads of information into bite-size pieces that are both relevant and actionable. Perfect for forward-thinking managers and those interested in turning entrepreneurship into a career, Building a Second Brain enables you to sort information and organize it like never before.
5. Management Fundamentals From Coursera and the University of Pennsylvania
Price: Free for seven days, then $79/month thereafter
Ideal for first-time managers, Management Fundamentals through Coursera and Penn is an entry-level, six-hour course that guides you through the principles of management. In this self-guided course, learners can understand the basics of work systems, timely management decisions, and designing managerial architecture throughout an organization.
6. Improving Your Business Through a Culture of Health
Price: $219
Speaking of Ivy League schools, Improving Your Business Through a Culture of Health can put a Harvard education on your resume. This nine-week course from Harvard enables you to learn the importance of employee health and wellness, how it affects your business, and what you can do to keep your employees healthy.
7. Fundamentals of Finance and Accounting for Non-Financial Managers
Price: $2,595
Just because you don’t crunch the numbers doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know what they mean. So rather than stumbling across ROIs, budgets, and financial reports, let this course from the American Management Association lend a helping hand.
In Fundamentals of Finance and Accounting for Non-Financial Managers, you’ll learn how to interpret financial information with ease, whether you’re in a growing startup or an expanding small business. With this information, you’re prepared to make financial decisions, read charts and ratios with confidence, and become a more well-rounded manager.
8. Business Intensive
Price: $1,349
If you’re tired of the mundane management training courses at university or online, liven it up with the six-module management course from Business Intensive. With live workshops, usable management templates, and weekly guest speakers, this program will strengthen your management skills in eight different areas.
Not sure if it’s for you? Check out the one-hour MBA, which gives you Master’s degree insight and a preview of whether Business Intensive is the right course for you — before you plop down the cash.
9. Udemy’s Business Fundamentals: Management and HR Management
Price: $49.99
If you’re an employee with management aspirations or a first-time manager in desperate need of principles and tools to excel, this affordable Udemy course is an excellent option. With 1.5 hours of video to accompany the online management coursework, you’ll discover many of the basics that can turn you into a better manager. Some of the modules include:
- Setting OKRs and SMART goals
- Motivating your team and supporting teamwork
- Learning basic business strategies, leadership styles, and leadership skills
- Communication skills and emotional intelligence
- Intro to operations management
10. VirtualSpeech
Price: $295 including a VR headset
According to the National Social Anxiety Center, fear of public speaking — known as glossophobia — affects around 40% of the population with about 73% of people saying they fear it more than death. That’s right; a majority of people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy.
If this fear affects you, it can significantly impact your management abilities. But taking online courses hasn’t been proven as a way to corral those fears — until VirtualSpeech began.
Using a VR headset, VirtualSpeech is an interactive course that gives you the ability to speak “in person” through eight exercises while applying five hours of coursework. For business professionals or those whose professional development is hindered by glossophobia, this course is a godsend.
Add Leadership Management and Coaching to the Equation
Management courses can teach you fruitful skills and elevate your business acumen. However, putting them into practice isn’t as simple as it sounds. You have to recall the courses when a situation or conflict arises, and even then, your quick-thinking actions aren’t always guaranteed.
Add in the fact that these courses rarely offer hands-on, in-person, or real-world situations, and management courses aren’t always a holistic approach to management — or more importantly — leadership.
The only plausible solution to help you think on your feet, improve your decision-making and problem-solving, and become a master of business management and leadership is to find an expert with knowledge on the topic.
With Unicorn Labs, you have everything you need to hone your management skills, develop your leadership skills, and forge an unstoppable team. Whether you need leadership coaching, an individualized leadership training program, or be part of a retreat with the rest of your team, you can find it all here with Unicorn Labs. Contact us today for a free 30-minute consultation to see how Unicorn Labs can meet your needs.
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A DISC Behavior Assessment is the best way to understand your team's personalities.
Each DISC Assessment includes a Self Assessment and DISC Style evaluation worksheet