18 Free Leadership Training Programs
We’ve curated a collection of leadership training programs applicable for both first-time and experienced leaders, as well as your employees. This list includes programs and courses that strengthen leadership competencies, identify ways to improve management styles, and handle situations more effectively.
1. Leadership and Coaching/Management Styles
This best leadership development program on Leadership and Coaching/Management Styles course is designed to help coaches or managers reinforce leadership styles and develop the necessary skill sets. This 4-part course helps managers apply the appropriate management styles that will drive better outcomes for their teams. The lessons cover different leadership styles, techniques in making an effective strategy to attract top candidates, ways to create a positive culture and environment, and doing best practices in onboarding new hires.
The microlearning approach in the delivery of lessons in EdApp makes learning convenient and engaging for you. You can easily complete it at your own pace anywhere. This best online leadership course is available in EdApp’s free editable course library that already includes hundreds of courses designed by thought leaders.
Price: Free
Scope: Leadership styles, implementing different leadership styles, development as coach or manager, and onboarding best practices
Created By EdApp
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2. Leading Under Pressure
As a rule of thumb, a great leader should thrive under pressure. EdApp, in collaboration with award-winning rescue diver John Volanthen, developed this best corporate leadership development program on Leading Under Pressure with the purpose of turning leaders into dependable individuals who can withstand stress and navigate through challenging times.
In six short lessons, this leadership training course online will show your team leaders how to prepare for high-pressure situations, and build and practice resilience and mental strength even though a task feels too impossible to get through. When things start to feel too overwhelming, leaders can use the techniques shared by John Volanthen to find their focus and effectively process stressful events.
This course also touches on important topics such as the importance of knowing when to stop and stay within limits, and why it’s better to influence people quietly than simply taking charge. Additionally, there's a step-by-step guide on how to work well as a team under pressure, and manage with varying personalities and opinions. It only takes approximately 30 minutes to complete this course, which is ideal for the busy schedules of your team leaders.
Price: Free
Scope: How to prepare for high-pressure situations, build and practice resilience and mental strength, how to stop and stay within limits, influencing peoples vs taking charge, teamwork under pressure
Created by EdApp
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3. Business Leadership
Business Leadership is a graduate-level training program offered by The University of Queensland in edX. This program includes 5 leadership development courses intended to build effective leadership competencies for emerging and experienced leaders. Each course in this leadership development training integrates academic theories and best practices from experienced leaders. It covers ways to become an effective leader by exploring different leadership styles, developing strategies on organizational change initiatives, managing high-performing teams, conducting team building activities, and leading an organization in a complex environment. The courses are instructed by professors from The University of Queensland. This training program is self-paced and can be completed for 8-10 hours a week for 11 months. Then, there is an assessment program that involves knowledge tests, essays, and video presentations. This assessment requires 2-4 hours weekly for 3 weeks.
Price: $1,347.30 USD
Scope: Ways to become an effective leader, strategies in organizational change activities, building high-performance teams, and leading an organization despite challenges
Created by edX
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4. Managing Performance Discussion
Managing Performance Discussion is a course offered by NexaLearning that aims to guide team leaders, coaches, and other employees in managerial positions in facilitating discussion on performance improvement with employees. This 7-part course introduces an overview of managing performance discussions, reinforces emotional intelligence and key communication skills for employee performance discussions, elaborates the seven-step process in conducting the discussion, and also includes a practical application. By completing the knowledge assessment test at the end of the course, you’ll earn a certificate of completion.
Price: $37 USD
Scope: Overview of managing performance discussion, key communication skills during discussions, and seven-step discussion process
Created by NexaLearning
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5. How to be a Passionate Leader
Available for free in EdApp, How to be a Passionate Leader provides a leadership strategy in creating a positive impact for others. This 8-part course illustrates the benefits of being a passionate leader, identifies ways to inspire employees, promote teamwork, and manage obstacles, recognizes factors in building trust, accountability, and relationships, and guides leaders in training programs in making decisions and mentoring their team. At the end of the course, there’s a summary section that reiterates key concepts and a quiz that will test comprehension and understanding from the previous lessons.
Price: Free
Scope: Overview of being a passionate leader, the importance of personal passion, building trust and relationship, and handling management obstacles
Created by EdApp
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6. Leading Teams
Leading Teams is an online course available in Corexcel. This leadership development class serves as a guide for managers in shaping effective teams, motivating members, and improving performance. This is not only designed for managers but is also applicable in developing leadership skills among members. The objectives of this leadership training course include identifying characteristics, as well as challenges of teams, recognizing key motivators for employees, introducing Tuckman’s model of team development, determining qualities of an effective leader, and managing conflicts in teams. Lessons are delivered in a form of videos with complete transcripts and are accessible via web browsers only. It also includes review exercises to reinforce key information.
Price: $79 USD
Scope: Empowered teams, Tuckman’s model for teams, conflict management, removing a team member, and leading virtual team
Created by Corexcel
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7. Managing Leadership Stress
EdApp offers this free course Managing Leadership Stress. The objective of this leadership training course online is to support leaders in handling stress. This 3-part course starts by helping you in identifying and visualizing stress triggers which enables you to address them properly. It’s followed by practical ways to manage leadership stress. Then, it concludes with understanding the benefits of practicing mindfulness to create a stress-free environment for leaders. Completing this best leadership training course enables you to handle challenging or stressful situations with a more positive attitude.
Price: Free
Scope: Raising mental health awareness, managing leadership stress, and applying mindfulness in the workplace
Created by EdApp
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8. Leadership Skills for Managers
The leadership Skills for Managers course offered by Universal Class aims to ensure that managers are fully equipped with the right leadership skills to be more effective in their roles. This leadership and development training provides a thorough discussion on the value of being a leader as well as the different leadership styles. It also elaborates on important leadership skills such as problem-solving, organization, time management, emotional management, and communication skills. Universal Class provides a syllabus for each course and lessons are delivered through videos that are only accessible via a web browser. It also includes review articles and exams for each lesson. Upon course completion, a minimum of 70 percent final is required to earn a certification.
Price: $50 USD (no certification) - $75 USD (with certification)
Scope: Importance of leadership for managers and key leadership skills
Created by Universal Class
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9. Understanding Behavioral Styles for Managers
Understanding Behavioral Styles for Managers by NexaLearning is best suitable for management professionals. This leadership development training demonstrates ways to recognize different behavioral patterns. It also helps you understand behavior styles, which enable you to interact appropriately and communicate effectively with your employees. Taking the knowledge assessment at the end of the course grants you a certificate of completion.
Price: $37 USD
Scope: Understanding and recognizing different behavioral styles, improving leadership performance, and practical application of knowledge
Created by NexaLearning
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10. Stepping into Team Leadership
Available for free, EdApp created this Stepping into Team Leadership course for emerging team leaders. This top leadership training program illustrates the expectations of a team leader to prepare them for the role, demonstrates the relevance of scoping work and setting expectations, and also includes best practices on team time management and communication with teams. By stepping into a new role with the right knowledge, you’re able to develop leadership qualities and successfully perform your role as a driving force among your team by inspiring them as a leader.
Price: Free
Scope: Expectations of a team leader, Scoping work and setting expectations, team time management, and communicating with your team
Created by EdApp
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11. Magical Meetings
Voltage Control’s Magical Meetings course is a self-paced leadership skills training program that offers leaders a systematic method for facilitating fun and purposeful meetings. More specifically, it goes into detail about the different steps you can take before, during, and after a meeting. Some of the topics discussed in the first part of the course include meeting mantras, meeting checklists, virtual meeting prep, and meeting sweet spots. In the second part of the training program, you’ll learn more about silence breakers, liberating structures, fun feedback, as well as the Take 5 Method. It also talks about ways to keep time during meetings, what to do when conflicts arise, and how to ask good questions. The course then concludes by explaining the meeting system concept and providing a few examples and case studies.
By the end of the training session, leaders will be able to design more efficient and effective meetings and unleash their teams’ full collaborative potential.
Price: $200 USD
Scope: Before, during, and after meetings, meeting checklist, virtual meeting prep, questions and feedback
Created by Voltage Control
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12. Excelling as a Manager or Supervisor
Available in Skillpath, the Excelling as a Manager or Supervisor course teaches learners how to concentrate on good leadership qualities and managerial skills that drive excellence. This leadership and management seminar discusses the six differences between a leader and a boss and identifies how one is more effective than the other. It also helps supervisors master effective communication to help their teams to be more productive. It further elaborates on the importance of motivating and rewarding employees and explains the concept of tangible and intangible incentives. This supervision training program is delivered through a live, instructor-led experience format which allows for real-time interaction with their expert trainers.
Price: $99 USD
Scope: Performance management methods, team communication, difference of being a leader vs. being a boss
Created by Skillpath
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13. Performance Management
EdApp’s Performance Management course is a leadership development program that focuses on establishing role clarity, addressing feedback, and managing underperforming employees and their weaknesses. This online leadership program begins by explaining role clarity, wherein the responsibilities and tasks that come with the job are identified to spot performance gaps. It also discusses how to give, receive, and process feedback effectively through radical candor. Lastly, it provides leadership techniques in objectively communicating underperformance, which should be done right away when detected.
Delivered through EdApp’s mobile learning solution, learners have the flexibility to access training lessons on any mobile device, anytime and anywhere.
Price: Free
Scope: Understanding performance management, understanding role clarity, feedback process, ways to manage underperformance
Created by EdApp
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14. Coaching Skills for Managers Specialization
To boost morale and help improve employee performance, leadership development company Coursera offers Coaching Skills for Managers Specialization course to discuss different coaching styles and practices that can improve your coaching conversations with your team. It tackles how to manage expectations and assess the performance of your team members so they can improve. This leadership skills training is offered in 9 languages and it takes approximately 4 months to complete.
Price: Free
Scope: Coaching practices & conversations, setting expectations & assessing performance
Created by Coursera
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15. Managing Social and Human Capital
Hosted on Coursera, The Wharton School offers the Managing Social and Human Capital course is designed to provide leaders with knowledge in handling and managing employees. This leadership training tackles employee motivation and the role of rewards. It also covers distributing tasks based on strengths, managing decisions, and modifying organizational architecture when the current setup no longer works. Employees are the most important asset of an organization, especially in labor-intensive industries. Through this leadership training development, you’ll develop interpersonal skills that will help you delegate tasks effectively and become a better leader for your teams.
Price: Free
Scope: Motivation and rewards, systems of work, managing decisions, organization architecture
Created by Coursera
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16. The Future of Work
Available in EdApp for free, The Future of Work is another leadership development program that tackles foundational business knowledge and principles not just for business leaders, but also for all levels of employees. It begins with an introduction to the trends in organizational design. Then, it dives into lessons on using the Network of Team organizational model, working with distributed teams, and ways to manage them. It also covers cutting-edge work practices to help improve relationships in the workplace. By taking this leadership program for professionals, your employees can develop a sense of leadership and cultivate a relevant leadership model to keep up with the fast-paced industry.
Price: Free
Scope: Future of organizational design, using network of teams, importance of distributed teams and ways to manage them, cutting-edge Work Practices
Created by EdApp
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17. Youth Entrepreneurship: Leadership Skills
The Leadership Skills course, which is part of the Youth Entrepreneurship series created by UNITAR in EdApp, is a leadership development program that covers the most essential leadership skills in entrepreneurship. It includes lessons on communication, negotiation, self-awareness, leadership, and efficiency. By developing these skills among your employees, you're able to support them in making a significant impact on your business. By the end of this team leadership development, there's a summary and quiz available to reinforce key learnings from the entire Youth Entrepreneurship series.
Price: Free
Scope: Communication, leadership, efficiency
Created by EdApp
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18. Beginning to Lead a High-Performing Team
Beginning to Lead a High-Performing Team by EdApp is an effective leadership training designed for first-time leaders. This 3-part course defines the qualities of high-performing teams, highlights leadership strengths, guides managers in being effective and transformational leaders by differentiating simple management and actual leadership, and explains the “leadership shadow” to improve the self-awareness of managers as a leader. Upon completing the lessons, your knowledge retention is tested through a gamified quiz. This course makes use of gamification features which creates a fun learning experience for you!
Price: Free
Scope: Listing qualities of a high-performing team, difference between management and leadership, and defining leadership shadow
Created by EdApp
Explore the courseAim for success for you and your teams with leadership training programs
The purpose of leadership training is to shape leaders into effective management and development of teams or organizations. Inspiring leaders lead to outstanding business results and motivate employees in bringing out their best. Contrary to popular belief, leaders are not born but are rather created. Leadership skills enable managers to handle teams more efficiently, deal with different challenging situations, create a better work environment for employees, and transform organizations. Keeping your leadership knowledge and skills in check through leadership training programs enables you to improve management styles and foster a better relationship with your employees.