Today’s managers have much more responsibility than in the past; they must serve as influencer, collaborator, performance coach, motivator and team-builder, along with juggling traditional management/supervisory responsibilities.  They are also under more pressure to produce results with fewer resources and must leverage their leadership skills to achieve more.  However, leadership skills must be learned—they don’t automatically come along with a promotion to management.  In collaboration with UMass Amherst Continuing & Professional Education, the UMass Donahue Institute (UMDI) has designed a nine-week Leadership Excellence Certificate Program to offer a unique opportunity to provide mid-level managers with the training they need to become effective leaders—with the convenience and cost savings of a flexible online course.  Taught by Jeffrey Davis, M.Ed., one of UMDI’s most experienced leadership instructors, the certificate program:

• Balances conceptual knowledge and leadership best practices research with many opportunities to apply the learning back on the job
• Utilizes different vehicles to deliver content and spur self-reflection and class discussion, including: self assessments, online lectures (both live streaming and archived), readings of online articles and white papers, instructional exercises, class discussion, and live interactive discussion forums
• Uses case studies generated by the current challenges of each cohort of students, providing real-life situations to which students can apply new learning and problem solving skills
• Provides 32% cost-savings over traditional, in-person training by eliminating travel time, time out of the office, and reducing program overhead 
• Can be completed at the pace most convenient to each student, minimizing impact on work-day accessibility and productivity

If you are looking for a practical venue with high program standards and the opportunity for you or your staff to work with other like-minded individuals, the UMass Donahue Institute online Leadership Excellence Certificate Program is right for you!

The next sessions for the online Leadership Excellence Course are as follows:

Spring Session: Monday, March 5^th through Friday May 4^th, 2012

Summer Session: Monday, July 9^th, 2012 through Friday, September 7^th, 2012

Registration for the Spring Session close on Friday, February 24th. Please click here to register.

The cost of this 9-week, 6-module, 36 training-hour course is $1,750.00 per person, which includes all course materials and transcript fees. If you'd like to discuss the possibility of sending a group of staff through the course at the same time, or are interested in customizing this course for your organization specifically, please contact Kathryn Swaim at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

A certificate and 3.6 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be awarded to those who complete the course requirements.

The Leadership Certificate has six modules that provide 36 hours of training and are taken over a nine-week period:

Module 1. Assuming the Role of a Leader in Today’s Challenging Workplace

• What is a Leader? How does Leading Differ from Managing/Supervising?
• What are the main responsibilities of a leader?
• How Leaders Grow and Improve – The ‘Inside Out’ Method© for Leadership Development
• Assessing your current leadership style – weighing both your strengths and opportunities for development
• Setting your own performance goals as a leader
• Tips for the newly promoted leaders – the first 90 days

Module 2. Understanding the Skill Set of an Effective Leader

• Leadership Competencies – Making Yourself ‘Follow-Able”
• Key Characteristics for Effective Leadership – results of a national survey
• Leadership styles – what is your preferred leadership style? (using the DISC assessment)
• How to influence others using your preferred leadership style
• Balancing Leading & Managing/Supervising – Effectively Wearing Both Hats

Module 3. A Leader’s Use of Power & Influence

• What is Effective Communication?
• Your Preferred Communication Style – an assessment
• Communicating effectively with those of a different communication style than yours
• Effective Listening Skills – how to improve in this vital area
• Non-Verbal Cues – reading what is unspoken
• How to Build Rapport
• Counseling – guidelines for when (and how) to counsel and when to refer to other professionals

Module 4. The Leader as Motivator

• Understanding Basic Motivational Principles
• Dealing with Tricky Performance Issues – Do’s and Don’t’s
• Reinforcing and Rewarding Performance Excellence

Module 5. The Leader as Performance Coach – How to Improve Employees’ Performance

• Defining Performance Management
• Getting Clear on Your Accountability for Others’ Performance
• Setting a Baseline for Individual & Team Performance
• Monitoring Performance – Creating a Simple System

Module 6. The Leader as “Team Captain” - Building and Sustaining Effective Workplace Teams

• Defining a Workplace team
• 5 Ingredients Essential to Team Growth
• Common ‘Team-Busters’ and How to overcome Them
• Diagnosing Where Your Team is in its’ Development
• Coaching Your Team to Excellent Performance
• Action Planning for Team Growth