Online leadership and management courses teach you the high-level traits and micro-level tools and strategies of effective 21st-century leadership. Today’s companies and organizations desire and require leaders who can play to their team members’ strengths, inspire others to achieve greatness and build a culture that values communication, authenticity, and community. There are many online training options, and it can be difficult to sift through the available courses and figure out what’s worth your time and money. To help you narrow down your choices, we’ve reviewed the six best online leadership and management courses below.
- Udemy — Think Like a Leader With Brian Tracy — Top Pick
- edX — Becoming a Successful Leader (Inclusive Leadership Training) — Most Affordable
- edX — Agile Leadership Principles and Practices — Best for Project Managers
- Coursera — Inspired Leadership Specialization — Best for Inspiration, Inclusivity, and Positive Change
- LinkedIn Learning — Coaching Skills for Leaders and Managers — Best for Lunch-Hour Learning
- Emeritus — Leading Organizations and Change — Best for Organizational Change
Our Ranking Criteria
The top online leadership and management courses provide you with a balance of inspiration, introspection, and self-knowledge, practical tips and tools, and hands-on, real-world exercises to help you become a more effective leader. We researched more than 20 online leadership and management courses before narrowing down the top six to include in this guide. We used the following criteria when deciding which programs to include and which to leave out.
Basic ranking criteria
Before committing to an online course, you should know the time required to complete the course, whether any prerequisites are required, how flexible the schedule is, and what sort of certificate you can earn upon completion. That’s why we looked at four basic factors for each online leadership and management course covered in this guide.
Time to complete. You should be able to complete your online leadership and management course relatively quickly to efficiently implement new leadership and management practices into your business or organization. The courses this guide covers take half an hour to 11 months to complete.
Prerequisites required. Only one of the courses covered in this guide requires you to have completed any prerequisites. This means you can dive straight into any course and immediately start learning. Leadership and management courses are typically geared toward professionals with some leadership or management experience.
Flexible schedule. You’re likely very busy if you’re a team leader or manager. We selected part-time courses with flexible schedules to best suit your needs.
Certificate of completion. All courses in this guide offer a verified certificate of completion, which is a valuable addition to your resume.
Advanced ranking criteria
The basic criteria mentioned above are relevant to nearly all online courses. However, we also looked at some key factors specific to leadership and management. These factors include.
- The course covers various leadership and management skills, such as emotional intelligence, communication, and project management.
- The instructors are skilled teachers with first-hand experience as team leaders and managers.
- The course’s effectiveness has been proven by graduates successfully up-leveling their leadership roles or improving their career paths within their industry.
- The course includes interactions (for instance, through online discussion boards) with fellow students to build a sense of camaraderie and personal connection through the online platform.
- The course utilizes hands-on, project-based exercises that help students implement leadership strategies.
- The course acquaints students with important techniques, vocabulary, and norms within the world of leadership and management.
- The course is applicable to the contemporary, 21st-century leadership and management landscape.
6 Best Online Leadership and Management Courses
Udemy
Think Like a Leader With Brian Tracy
Intelligent Award: Top Pick
Udemy’s Think Like a Leader with Brian Tracy course is arguably the most accessible course in this guide. It’s suitable for current or aspiring leaders in any organization, club, or new business. The course focuses on very actionable daily habits and strategies that, taken as a whole, can transform your leadership capabilities and success. Establishing powerful daily habits and mindset shifts sets the stage for you to inspire, motivate, and lead others. The course is structured around the eight core pillars of effective leadership: Vision, Integrity, Strategic Planning, Project Management, Courage, Communication, Teamwork, and Action, and the total length of about three hours means you can complete all the segments in a day if you wish. You can also return to the course lectures and exercises several times for them to truly sink in. The relatively low time commitment, reasonable price point with a possible discount, and self-paced schedule can suit nearly any student.
- Price: $199.99, with the possibility of a steep discount
- Time to complete: 3 hours, 4 minutes
- Prerequisites required: No
- Flexible schedule: Yes
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes
Who should take this course? Its accessible, actionable nature makes it a great option for people who are already in leadership positions, as well as for people who aspire to leadership positions or are starting a new business.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Flexible scheduling. | No live interactions with faculty or fellow students. |
| Top-notch instructor. | |
| Very actionable tips and strategies. |
edX
Becoming a Successful Leader (Inclusive Leadership Training)
Intelligent Award: Most Affordable
EdX’s Becoming a Successful Leader (Inclusive Leadership Training) course is a great deal, as you can take the entire course for free or upgrade to the verified track for only $69. Whether you audit the course for free or pay for the verified track, you can access a month’s material focusing on 21st-century leadership. The course teaches you to embody empowerment, accountability, courage, and humility, key leadership skills linked to inclusive, successful teams. Through quick quizzes, case studies, hands-on exercises, and real-life success stories, you’ll prepare to create a Personal Leadership Plan that will guide your path forward after the course.
- Price: Free to audit, or upgrade to the verified track for $69
- Time to complete: 4 weeks (at 1 to 2 hours per week)
- Prerequisites required: No
- Flexible schedule: Yes
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes, if you upgrade to the verified track
Who should take this course? This introductory course is great for students new to leadership and management who want to test the waters. Beginners can easily audit the course for free before deciding whether they wish to continue with further training.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Possible to audit the course for free. | The free audit track provides no feedback on assignments. |
| Flexible scheduling. | |
| Beginner-friendly. |
edX
Agile Leadership Principles and Practices
Intelligent Award: Best for Project Managers
EdX’s Agile Leadership Principles and Practices is all about learning how to maximize a team’s performance in business or any other area. Whereas some other courses in this guide underscore the key traits of effective leaders, this course centers on two very teachable skills, facilitation and communication. Agile leadership refers to leadership that redefines and redistributes team roles to leverage the team’s full talent and potential. After completing this course, students can continue to further Agile courses and even pursue training to become an Agile certified practitioner (PMI-ACP) or certified scrum master (CSM).
- Price: Free; add a verified certificate for $249
- Time to complete: 4 weeks (at 2 to 3 hours per week)
- Prerequisites required: No
- Flexible schedule: Yes
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes, if you upgrade to the verified track
Who should take this course? This is a great course for current or future project managers who want to learn Agile leadership principles for free relatively quickly.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Flexible scheduling. | High surcharge for a verified certificate. |
| Includes bonus videos on key topics. | Geared towards advanced students. |
| A possible stepping stone to further Agile training. |
Coursera
Inspired Leadership Specialization
Intelligent Award: Best for Inspiration, Inclusivity, and Positive Change
The Inspired Leadership Specialization on Coursera is a bundle of five courses: Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence; Women in Leadership: Inspiring Positive Change, Conversations That Inspire: Coaching Learning, Leadership and Change; Leading Positive Change through Appreciative Inquiry; and Be a Leader, Develop a Leader. More so than any of the other courses featured in this guide, this course focuses on inclusive leadership and positive transformation. The course takes a holistic, mind-body approach to leadership and aims to help students build better relationships and take positive approaches to coach others to achieve their greatest potential.
- Price: $49 per month
- Time to complete: 2 months (at 10 hours per week)
- Prerequisites required: No
- Flexible schedule: Yes
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes
Who should take this course? It is geared towards intermediate students of leadership and management and suits students who want to learn from an extensive curriculum.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Takes a mind-body approach. | The slower you take the courses, the more you pay for access. |
| Great for intermediate students. | |
| A bundle of courses as opposed to one course. |
LinkedIn Learning
Coaching Skills for Leaders and Managers
Intelligent Award: Best for Lunch-Hour Learning
LinkedIn Learning’s Coaching Skills for Leaders and Managers is a 34-minute course that can be completed during your lunch hour. It walks through the distinction between coaching, leading, and managing and offers actionable tips and strategies for coaching in the business world. Students learn different coaching frameworks, how to set goals and give feedback as a coach, and how to work within the GROW coaching model. The course is divided into short, less than five-minute segments, and each module ends with a quick quiz. This is the shortest course included in this guide.
- Price: 1-month free trial, then $39.99 per month
- Time to complete: 34 minutes
- Prerequisites required: No
- Flexible schedule: Yes
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes
Who should take this course? This course is excellent for busy managers and business leaders who want to spend less than an hour learning actionable coaching strategies they can immediately test out with their team.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Very short and actionable. | The limited scope of the course is due to its length. |
| Can be completed for free. | Best suited to experienced business leaders or managers. |
| Strategies can be implemented immediately. |
Emeritus
Leading Organizations and Change
Intelligent Award: Best for Organizational Change
MIT Sloan School of Management Professor John van Maanen teaches this intensive Leading Organizations and Change course. Some of the options in this guide feature only video lectures and short assignments, but this course contains a mix of 65 video lectures, seven assignments, six discussions, four case studies, three live teaching sessions, and one capstone simulation, making it very dynamic. Students learn MIT’s Four Capabilities Leadership Model and work through modules about perspectives on organizations, power, and influence in organizations, organization networks, and a simulation developed by Harvard that puts all the teachings into practice.
- Price: $1,343
- Time to complete: 2 months (at 2 to 4 hours per week)
- Prerequisites required: No
- Flexible schedule: Yes, for the most part
- Includes verified certificate of participation: Yes
Who should take this course? It is great for professionals who have the time and money to devote to learning best practices for steering an organization through change.
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Great design and execution. | High price point. |
| Taught by a top organizational leadership professor. | Some inflexible scheduling. |
| Dynamic course structure. |
Online Leadership and Management Course Comparison Chart
| Course | Price | Features |
| Udemy — Think Like a Leader with Brian Tracy — Top Pick | $199, with a possible steep discount | ✓ No prerequisites required
✓ Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation |
| EdX — Becoming a Successful Leader (Inclusive Leadership Training) — Most Affordable | Free, or add a verified certificate for $69 | ✓ No prerequisites required
✓ Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation (with a $69 fee) |
| EdX — Agile Leadership Principles and Practices — Best for Project Managers | Free; add a verified certificate for $249 | ✓ No prerequisites required
✓ Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation (with a $249 fee) |
| Coursera — Inspired Leadership Specialization — Best for Inspiration, Inclusivity, and Positive Change | $49 per month | ✓ No prerequisites required
✓ Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation |
| LinkedIn Learning — Coaching Skills for Leaders and Managers — Best for Lunch-Hour Learning | One-month free trial, then $39.99 per month | ✓ No prerequisites required
✓ Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation |
| Emeritus — Leading Organizations and Change — Best for Organizational Change | $1,343 | ✓ No prerequisites required
✓ Flexible schedule ✓ Includes verified certificate of participation |
Tips for Succeeding in an Online Leadership and Management Course
1. Consider the cost
How much do online leadership and management classes cost?
Online leadership and management course costs vary widely. You can expect to spend from $0 for a free class to over $1,000 for a comprehensive course run by an elite business and/or management school. Most fee-based courses offer you the option of making payments in installments instead of upfront in one lump sum. Furthermore, some courses charge by the month for course access, so the sooner you complete the course, the sooner you can stop paying the monthly fee. If you do not want or need a verified certificate after your course, then you can audit many courses for free.
Will my employer pay for me to take the course?
Employers often reimburse or help to subsidize the cost of professional development courses and programs for their employees. This is worth speaking to your boss or HR department about, especially if you are in a leadership position or managing a team. There is a good chance your employer will view the course as a worthwhile investment that will benefit the whole company.
2. Get your tech squared away
The online leadership and management courses featured in this guide do not require any fancy software or programs. You can engage with all the course materials through your web browser. Your computer will need to support streaming video, so you’ll want to ensure you have a fast, reliable wifi connection and, at minimum, an i5-level processor and 8 GB of RAM.
3. Use the right study resources
Many courses included in this guide are geared towards established leaders and managers. If you’re looking for beginner-friendly learning resources to engage with before or during your leadership and management course(s), here are a few good places to start: Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee’s book Primal Leadership: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, Jim Collins’ book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t, and Steven R. Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change.
Frequently Asked Questions About Online Leadership and Management Courses?
What jobs can you get after completing an online leadership and management course?
The skills you learn in an online leadership and management course are transferable to many domains, whether or not you’re an established leader or manager. Depending on your area of expertise, these courses might prepare you for a career or promotion in a school setting, a start-up, an established company or organization, or a private enterprise. Leaders are needed in every industry. However, securing a leadership or managerial position typically requires extensive hands-on experience and course training.
Are there free online leadership and management courses?
Some free leadership and management courses are available online, some of which are featured in this guide. One thing to bear in mind is many platforms offer an “audit” version of their courses for free but require you to pay a one-time or monthly fee if you wish to benefit from all the features of the course, such as instructor feedback, unlimited access to course materials, and a verified certificate of completion. It is typically the case that the deeper, more extensive, and more dynamic the course material and structure, the more the course will cost.
How long is the average online leadership and management course?
Online leadership and management courses can be as short as 30 minutes and as long as several months. Most courses run for approximately 1 to 2 months, with 2 to 3 hours of work per week.
What is a Leadership and Management course?
A course in leadership and management aims to teach you the habits of mind and practical tools and strategies to become an effective leader or manager. Some courses are geared towards a specific industry, such as education or tech, and others are broader and can be applied to many different domains. Some courses focus more on introspection, self-awareness, and becoming an “internal” leader before learning to lead others. On the other hand, some courses are less about turning inward and more about utilizing tried and true processes to inspire, build cohesion, and play to team members’ strengths. It may be true that some people are “born leaders,” but it’s also true that leadership and management techniques can be taught. That’s what online leadership and management courses aim to do.
Interested in a degree instead?
Learn more about online degrees, their start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.