Top 20 leadership training programs

As a rule of thumb, a great leader should thrive under pressure. Mitti (by SafetyCulture), 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.

• 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 in partnership with former Australian cricket star Shane Watson, Mitti (by SafetyCulture)’s course draws on his extensive experience in high-performance settings. It offers actionable insights into what makes an effective leader, whether on the sports field or in the workplace.

Throughout the course, participants will explore key topics such as the traits of high-performing leaders, the difference between being results-driven and results-focused, and how to manage the expectations that come with leadership. Shane shares valuable tips and real-world examples from his own journey, which make the lessons relatable and practical.

The course is structured in bite-sized segments, allowing learners to easily absorb the information at their own pace and from any device.

• Scope: Traits of high-performing leaders, duties of a leader, results-driven vs. results-focused, the demon of expectation

Business Leadership is a graduate-level training program offered by The University of Queensland in edX. This program includes five 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.

• Scope: Ways to become an effective leader, strategies in organizational change activities, building high-performance teams, and leading an organization despite challenges

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 seven-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.

• Scope: Overview of managing performance discussion, key communication skills during discussions, and seven-step discussion process

Available for free in Mitti (by SafetyCulture), How to be a Passionate Leader provides a leadership strategy in creating a positive impact for others. This eight-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.

• Scope: Overview of being a passionate leader, the importance of personal passion, building trust and relationship, and handling management obstacles

Designed to help leaders adapt to a rapidly changing work environment, this course goes over essential topics such as the definition of leadership strategy, its significance, and the key qualities and skills that make a strategic leader successful.

By taking the course, participants will learn about various leadership strategies that are crucial for navigating change. It highlights how organizations can adjust their leadership approaches, especially in response to significant events like the COVID-19 pandemic. Learners can see how different companies have successfully modified their strategies, giving valuable insights for their own leadership practices.

• Scope: Qualities, skills, and practices of a strategic leader, leadership strategies needed to adapt to change, adapting leadership strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic

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.

• Scope: Empowered teams, Tuckman’s model for teams, conflict management, removing a team member, and leading virtual team

Mitti (by SafetyCulture) offers this course, Managing Leadership Stress. The objective of this leadership training course online is to support leaders in handling stress. This three-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.

• Scope: Raising mental health awareness, managing leadership stress, and applying mindfulness in the workplace

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.

• Scope: Importance of leadership for managers and key leadership skills

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.

• Scope: Understanding and recognizing different behavioral styles, improving leadership performance, and practical application of knowledge

Available for free, Mitti (by SafetyCulture) 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.

• Scope: Expectations of a team leader, Scoping work and setting expectations, team time management, and communicating with your team

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.

• Scope: Before, during, and after meetings, meeting checklist, virtual meeting prep, questions and feedback

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.

This supervision training program further elaborates on the importance of motivating and rewarding employees and explains the concept of tangible and intangible incentives. It's delivered through a live, instructor-led experience format which allows for real-time interaction with their expert trainers.

• Scope: Performance management methods, team communication, difference of being a leader vs. being a boss

Mitti (by SafetyCulture)’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 Mitti (by SafetyCulture)’s mobile learning solution, learners have the flexibility to access the platform’s leadership courses on any mobile device, anytime and anywhere.

• Scope: Understanding performance management, understanding role clarity, feedback process, ways to manage underperformance

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.

• Scope: Coaching practices & conversations, setting expectations & assessing performance

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.

• Scope: Motivation and rewards, systems of work, managing decisions, organization architecture

Available in Mitti (by SafetyCulture) 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.

• Scope: Future of organizational design, using network of teams, importance of distributed teams and ways to manage them, cutting-edge Work Practices

The Leadership Skills course, which is part of the Youth Entrepreneurship series created by UNITAR in Mitti (by SafetyCulture), 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.

• Scope: Communication, leadership, efficiency

Beginning to Lead a High-Performing Team by Mitti (by SafetyCulture) is an effective leadership training designed for first-time leaders. This three-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!

• Scope: Listing qualities of a high-performing team, difference between management and leadership, and defining leadership shadow