The Best Online Women’s Management Training
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Managing people is hard. And managing people as a woman brings its own complications and considerations. Management and leadership training specifically designed for women can help, but if traditional in-person training isn't in the cards, there's plenty of online women's management training out there, and that's what Reader K is looking for. She asks:
Do you have any suggestions for online leadership/managerial training programs for women (or anyone really)? I am a government lawyer stepping into a managerial position and there is no formal training beyond my past experience watching my supervisors. I would like to take a more proactive step toward developing better managerial and leadership skills, but don't know where to start. Thanks!
Great question, K! It's been a couple of years since we talked about resources for becoming a better manager, so this is a great time for an update. (We’ve also discussed online classes for working women, executive presence for women leaders, dressing like a manager, imposter syndrome, delegating work, and whether you should be friends with staffers.)
{related: online classes to take for fun}
Here's our list of online women's management training (plus some general training for everyone):
Online Management Training for Women
- Be Leaderly — offers workshops, webinars, and coaching programs for emerging women leaders. Its Emerging Women Leaders Webinar Series is a yearlong, five-part series that blends skills training with advice. As of April 2020, the cost is $207.
- Cornell Online — offers courses in business, management, and leadership, including an Executive Women in Leadership Certificate that requires 3–5 hours a week for 3 months and costs $3,600 (or $770/month) as of April 2020. Cornell Online also offers one-off courses such as Power Dynamics and Ethics in Negotiation.
- American Management Association — offers a Women's Leadership Certificate Program, both online (four lessons) and in-classroom (two days). It is designed for women who want to take on a leadership role, advance their careers, and/or develop their leadership skills. The cost is $2,995 ($2,695 for AMA members) as of April 2020.
- Progressive Women's Leadership — provides live training for $199 (two courses: presentation skills and leadership communication), on-demand webinars for $199 (creating an inclusive, diverse organization; positive leadership; coaching techniques; and more) and custom training (email or call for details). An all-access subscription includes one year of unlimited access and nine downloadable leadership ebooks. Progressive Women's Leadership also offers podcasts and a blog. Fees are current as of April 2020.
- Coursera & Case Western Reserve University — “Women in Leadership: Inspiring Positive Change” is taught by a professor from Case Western and requires about 20 hours to complete (with flexible deadlines). It aims to “empower women and men to lead change with more conviction and confidence — and improve our workplaces and communities for all.” As of April 2020, the course is offered free of charge.
Online Management Courses for Anyone
- MIT OpenCourseWare — free access to course materials (lecture notes, etc.) for a number of MIT management courses.
- Udemy — courses on leadership and other career topics, in a range of prices.
- Lynda (now LinkedIn Learning) — leadership and management courses (offers one free month of membership as of April 2020 and is $19.99/month thereafter).
- Coursera — tons of courses on leadership and managing people; most Coursera learning is $29-$99.
- Skillshare — offers courses in leadership and management; free or premium options.
- edX — business and management training; offers various certificate and degree programs.
- The Open University‘s OpenLearn (UK) — free courses on leadership and management.
Have you completed any online women's management training? Any of the ones above? How about in-person management training? For managers: What were the most important tools and resources that have made you a better manager?
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Anyone have suggestions for courses of this type specifically targeted at women lawyers? I am a partner at a law firm and suddenly have additional firm management responsibility.
I spoke with Dad. He said that a more general MANAGEMENT course is in order for me too b/c I want to be the manageing partner someday. For that, he said I should NOT take an on line course, but a Dale Carnegey course on the subject. He is a graduate of the Carnegey course, and he said he learned alot at that course, and he has become VERY assertive after takeing it, he said. So I recommend Dale Carnegey to the HIVE b/c it worked for Dad!!!! YAY!!!!!!
Although not online courses, I recommend these resources:
“Your First Leadership Job: How Catalyst Leaders Bring Out the Best in Others” book by Byham and Wellins. This book is EXCELLENT at breaking down the basics of managing people and leadership. The advice is basic, practical, and concrete.
The Harvard Business Review blog is worth reading regularly.
Regarding Lynda, check with your local library to see whether you can get free access to the Lynda content.
I am addicted to reading the blog “Ask A Manager”. While it may not be formalized training, I’ve learned a ton regarding tricky real world situations and scripts/considerations to use when handling them. The community is fantastic and commenters will often provide any other insight that Alison doesn’t initially touch on.
I have been looking for management training too. I went from BigLaw to in-house and inherited a team of very nice people who generally are 9-5ers and are not the go-getter law firm types. Its been a major adjustment for me. My company offers management training (it’s a brand new program) which has been incredibly helpful. They also offer mentoring one on one for me with our head of training and development. The trainings are based on the Oz Principle and How Did That Happen along with Disc analysis and MBTI. I’m a bit of an MBTI geek. I asked my dad who was a corporate executive for many years for recommendations and he said there is no formal training program. He has an MBA and said no, there’s no point in getting an MBA when you have a JD. He didn’t recommend any of the programs above (not that they would hurt, he just thought they were a waste of money). His only recommended reading was a book called The Goal, which I haven’t had a chance to read yet. And his other big recommendation was just to watch and learn through other people’s successes and failures and through my own. Almost every day I run into a situation where I think, there must be a simple answer to this. But I ask my dad for advice, and he says, part of being a great manager is being a good person, so focus on that. And you can’t be told the answers because part of being a great manager is trusting your intuition. It’s hard. So far no one on my team has quit, so I feel good about that. A coworker told me that when my team got switched over to from another manager to me, they were all really happy. That was huge compliment. I sometimes wonder if I’m too hard or too easy on my team… gosh, management feels like parenting a bit.