Leadership is a valuable soft skill that professionals in all disciplines should consistently develop over time. When choosing a leadership training program for yourself or others in your company, consider the course cost, relevance, structure, and curriculum to ensure the attendee(s) get the most out of the experience.
Below, discover some important factors when choosing a leadership program, along with a variety of training programs that may suit your team’s leadership education goals.
Considerations when choosing leadership training programs
According to DDI’s 2025 Global Leadership Forecast, 83% of surveyed organizations anticipate the need for new leadership skills to meet future demands. Yet, there remains a lack of training in key skills like change management, future talent development, and decision-making and prioritization.
Of course, just spending more time in professional development isn’t enough to ensure new knowledge and skills are applicable. It’s important to focus on finding engaging leadership training programs that have relevant learning goals. Many leaders can feel their learning is relevant by using research-based programs that support “learning by doing” and include a safe space for feedback and self-assessment. Effective training programs also adapt instruction to address managers’ needs as learners and human beings.
Leadership training programs for managers
The following is a list of leadership training programs that may be helpful for your company’s management team.
[Read more: 5 Ways Managers Can Develop Their Leadership Skills]
American Management Association: Leadership Training Programs
The American Management Association (AMA) offers 64 Leadership Training Programs with multiple sessions available for each course. Offerings range from emotional intelligence, team building, and leadership training for women to critical thinking and strategic planning.
All courses are available in in-person and online formats with expert instructors, real-time guidance, and practical, real-world examples and applications. If you want to register a team of three or more people, the AMA offers a Seminar Savings Pass.
Babson College Executive Leadership Program: Owning Your Leadership
Babson College offers transformative leadership programs for executives—and dozens of individual leadership courses. The Owning Your Leadership course, geared toward collaborative management of teams, has both online and in-person formats for attendees. The sections of this course focus on developing self-awareness to increase impact, building high-quality work relationships through mentorship, and examining successful leadership in collaborative organizations to grow management strategy and leadership skills. From the course, attendees can expect to build real action plans that can reclaim over 20% of their teams' time. Knowledgeable professionals—including Wendy Murphy, Scott Taylor, and Alia Crocker—teach the Owning Your Leadership course. To request additional information about creating a custom program for your company, use this contact form.
Becoming a Successful Leader
EdX’s “Becoming a Successful Leader (Inclusive Leadership Training)” is an affordable, versatile class that teaches managers and leaders how to embody key leadership skills like empowerment, accountability, courage, and humility to foster an inclusive workplace. The course includes fast assessments, hands-on learning, and real-world examples of success.
Becoming a Successful Leader is an introductory course perfect for low-level managers beginning their leadership careers. Participants can audit the class for free—though instructor feedback will be limited—or pay $69 to upgrade to the certified track. This class is part of a three-course Inclusive Leadership professional certificate program.
Center for Creative Leadership
The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)’s world-class leadership training programs target speed bumps found at each level of leadership—from “first-level leaders” to C-suite executives. With dozens of courses in nearly every industry—and for every challenge a leader could face—the CCL’s programs rely on rigorous research and alumni feedback to remain unique and unparalleled. Benefits of CCL programs include:
- Personalized attention.
- Ability to secure credentials after program completion.
- In-depth goal setting.
- Intentional skill set development.
The wide course catalog offers both in-person and virtual leadership courses.
Dale Carnegie Leadership Training for Managers
Dale Carnegie’s proven success of over 100 years ensures its leadership training programs lead the industry in education and actionable insights. Specifically, the Leadership Training for Managers course dives into understanding the “5 Drivers of Leadership Success” and helps attendees to master creating an eight-step planning process to define performance goals. Leaders in this course learn how to motivate their teams, strengthen trust within their work relationships, maximize full team performance, and more.
The course enables participants to create an action plan that strategically aligns organizational objectives with individual development goals. The Dale Carnegie Leadership Training for Managers is only offered in person at this time—either once a week for seven weeks or over three consecutive days. If you’re looking to register 10 or more employees for the training program, there is a form on the course information page to receive additional information.
[Read more: How to Uncover and Stop Toxic Leadership Practices]
Harvard Leadership and Management Training
The Harvard Division of Continuing Education offers 20 interactive, expert-led leadership and management training programs in online, hybrid, and in-person formats. Programs engage mid-level managers to senior leaders across a variety of industries through inquiry, discussion, and self-assessment.
Training topics include management and leadership styles; diversity, equity, and inclusion; examining and transforming organizational culture; emotional intelligence; and AI-driven decision-making. There are even specific programs for women leaders. Program lengths range from two days to five weeks, and some award a certificate of completion.
As remote and hybrid work remain commonplace, training in remote leadership is essential for modern-day managers.
LinkedIn Learning: Body Language for Authentic Leadership
Body Language for Authentic Leadership is led by Erica Dhawan, whose work focuses on connectional intelligence. This program is a 35-minute LinkedIn Learning video course that helps leaders understand and master body language to demonstrate an executive presence. The course also addresses body language in online meetings.
Like all LinkedIn courses, this course contains different segments with specific learning goals and includes in-video quizzes and the option to take time-stamped notes. After completing the course quiz, leaders earn a LinkedIn Learning certificate that will automatically add skills from the course to a connected LinkedIn profile.
Manager Bootcamp
This eight-week program is intended for new managers and brings leadership training into busy schedules. Through Manager Bootcamp, leaders improve in self- and social awareness, communication, team relationships, evaluating employees, and investing in personal growth.
The program contains four modules with a collection of short video lessons and quizzes, along with email check-ins, a workbook, and a personal coaching call with the course creator, Cecilia Gorman. Program participants, which can include managers of all levels, have access to course materials for a whole year.
To register your team, you’ll need to contact course creator Cecilia Gorman to discuss your team’s needs and get the support you need to kick off your boot camp, including HR support and resources, coaching calls, and student tracking. Individuals can purchase their spot and register themselves here.
Udemy Course: Managing Remote Teams
As remote and hybrid work remain commonplace, training in remote leadership is essential for modern-day managers. Udemy’s Managing Remote Teams is a three-hour on-demand course taught by Dr. Corrie J. Block, Ph.D., DBA, that addresses practical and social-emotional components of remote leadership. Through a series of lectures and downloadable resources, leaders learn how to improve communication and work-life balance and practice remote team building. The course also awards a certificate of completion.
Thomas Gordon: Leadership Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.)
The Leadership Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) programs offered by Thomas Gordon are intensive courses led by authorized L.E.T. Facilitators that walk you and your team through coaching presentations, videos, small group discussions, skill exercises, and practice scenarios. These exercises teach how to practice active listening skills and how to understand when conflict is necessary; and help identify communication roadblocks, conflict situations, and resolution.
The training programs are offered in person and online, but in-person sessions happen more frequently. If you’re interested in a private session for your team, review your session options and email Gordon Training for more information.
Creating an in-house leadership training program
While there are benefits to seeking out professional leadership training programs, no one knows your company or employees better than you. Here are two main reasons why it may be prudent to create and implement an in-house leadership training program immediately:
- Your employees are asking for advancement training and opportunities.
- The global leadership pipeline is drying up; 86% of companies cite developing new leaders as their top talent challenge.
An in-house training program can cultivate new leaders within your workforce who have historical knowledge of your brand, existing relationships across the organization, and a vested interest in the company.
To create a training program that will address your leadership pipeline needs, here are some tips and considerations:
- Assess your company’s overall values and goals to determine which leadership skills ladder up to them.
- Be open when selecting candidates for the program; don’t focus solely on employees who are the top performers in their current roles.
- Select instructors for the program with proven leadership skills. Some of the abovementioned third-party organizations can help review, select, and train the most qualified candidates.
- Incorporate different teaching methods into your program to address all learning styles and create measurable benchmarks to assess the program’s success.
Measuring the ROI of leadership training programs
Whether you invest in an in-house training program or a program offered by a third-party organization, measuring the ROI of any leadership training program you implement is critical.
To ensure you can collect the data you need, inform participants of your need to assess their performance upfront and provide them with the necessary collection tools to gather and organize the information. When sharing the program results, be open about what the data shows. If it’s yielding a negative ROI, discuss changes you can make to future iterations of the program or how to alter the material to drive positive business improvements.
While each business will have unique goals to achieve through investing in these types of programs, some key questions to answer include:
- Did participants feel the program was relevant?
- What knowledge did they gain, and can they apply what they learned daily?
- Did the program positively impact your business objectives? If so, how?
[Read more: 5 Leadership Skills That Anyone Can Learn]
Jacqueline Medina also contributed to this article.
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