Course Description
Course Details
Leadership skills can help you gain the respect and admiration of others, while also allowing you to enjoy success in your career and more control over your destiny. Contrary to popular belief, leadership skills can be learned and developed. Even if you don't hold a leadership position, this course will teach you how to use the principles of great leaders to achieve success in almost every aspect of your daily life.
How It Works
This course is fully online, you require internet access and an email account. The course duration is 6 weeks, followed by a 2-week period to complete the final exam (online, open book). Lessons are released on Wednesdays and Fridays of each week, for a total of 12. You are not required to be online at any specific time. In addition to the specific lesson content, there is a discussion board with each lesson and often there is an optional assignment to apply the learning. Following each lesson, there is a short multiple choice quiz. Your score on these quizzes does not count towards the final mark but completing these helps solidify your learning as well as prepare you for the final exam. The final exam is an open-book, multiple choice exam and you need to achieve a minimum of 65% on the final exam to pass the course. There is only one opportunity to pass the exam. A certificate of completion from WatSPEED is available within four weeks of successful completion of each course and can be accessed in your student portal. Many of the Ed2Go courses are eligible towards the various online certificates offered by WatSPEED.
Syllabus
Lesson 1 - Leadership Qualities and Models. Leadership Qualities and Models: Do you think you know what leadership is? In our first lesson, you'll see how many ways there are to answer that question. And you'll start to get a sense of what leaders really do. We'll begin to share our thoughts and use roles models as ways to showcase the kinds of behavior that we'll work at together. This lesson always generates lots of discussion!
Lesson 2 - Leadership Responsibilities. Leadership Responsibilities: In this thought-provoking lesson, we'll look at the responsibilities leaders have to individuals and to organizations. And you'll begin to look at some of the leadership tools we'll use in this course—readings, ideas from great leaders, and your journal—to get you thinking about what you can do to behave like a leader.
Lesson 3 - Value-Centered Leadership. Value-Centered Leadership: We do what we believe in, don't we? In today's lesson, we'll look at two important aspects of leadership: its relationship with principles and its relationship with emotional intelligence. If you've ever known someone whose behavior seemed out of touch, you'll find out why in this lesson.
Lesson 4 - Leadership Self-Assessment. Leadership Self-Assessment: Leaders know themselves well, so in this lesson we'll talk about methods you can use to get to know yourself better. We'll learn about personality type assessments and behavioral assessments. This study will be particularly fun and will have an impact on your behavior in all aspects of your life.
Lesson 5 - Leadership Skills: Team Building. Team Building: You probably already know that successful leaders are team builders, but do you know what types of teams are possible or how to build them? We'll take a closer look in today's lesson. Every one of us has been on some kind of a team, so this lesson has guidance and insights for us all.
Lesson 6 - Leadership Skills: Communication. Communication: Leaders are often differentiated from others by the power of their communication skills. Today, you'll get a sense of why and how when I guide you through some simple but insightful methods you can use to improve your communication skills. This lesson helps many students start changing their behavior right away!
Lesson 7 - Leadership Skills: Coaching or Mentoring. Coaching or Mentoring: Today, we'll begin to explore the types of behavior that successful leaders portray, leaders guide and support others by asking questions, providing advice and feedback, supporting others, and building morale. This lesson will provide you with plenty of practical tips and much to think about.
Lesson 8 - Leadership Application (Personal): Behavioral Styles. Behavioral Styles: If you're wondering how leaders can balance being themselves and being a public figure, this lesson will help! We'll look at something called Situational Leadership, as well as how leaders relate to organizations. This lesson will be an eye-opener!
Lesson 9 - Leadership Application (Personal): Influence and Collaboration. Influence and Collaboration: Ready to learn more about your own behavior? Today we'll look at how leaders make decisions and influence others without forcing them. We'll answer some challenging questions and explore some insightful guidelines, as well.
Lesson 10 - Leadership Application (Professional): Providing Strategic Vision. Providing Strategic Vision: Everyone turns to a leader for strategic vision, but do you know how to think strategically? This is an important lesson because it takes some of the mystery out of the terms strategy and vision.
Lesson 11 - Leadership Application (Professional): Creating/Changing Culture. Creating/Changing Culture: Today we'll discuss another big topic: how leaders effect change. In this lesson, we'll look at some very specific things that leaders and you can do to effect change. As in all our lessons, you'll read quotes from famous writers about change and leadership that will help stimulate your own ideas.
Lesson 12 - Leadership Application (Professional): Facilitating Creative Thinking. Facilitating Creative Thinking: Leaders aren't the only ones who have great new ideas, and so our course will end with a look at how leaders inspire creative thinking in others. It's a logical and fun way to end—pointing you in the direction of your own new ideas. The last thing we'll do is take a thought-provoking look at what it means to be creative.
