Leadership
EssentialsCornell

Certificate Program

In this course you will define and differentiate between leadership and management, develop a strategy for overcoming new leadership challenges, and evaluate motivational techniques and determine when to use them. You will also identify the skills needed to develop relationships crucial to your career development as a leader, based on the research and expertise of Professor Kate Walsh, Ph.D. of Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration.

Using tools provided in this course, you will explore what motivates others, assess leadership styles, and examine communication with your leadership team. With the completion of an action plan at the end of the course, you will be ready to apply what you learn to your own organization.

In this course, you will create a strategy to turn a work group into a high-functioning team by evaluating challenges and applying techniques to generate positive team outcomes. Based on the research and expertise of Professor Kate Walsh, PhD, of Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, you will learn how to enable a team to take ownership of its own success and shift leadership roles as the team assumes greater responsibility. 

Using tools provided in this course, you will explore best practices in leading teams, assess case studies, and examine functional conflict. With the completion of an action plan at the end of the course, you will be ready to apply what you learn to your own organization.

A leader's listening ability has a tremendous impact on their effectiveness. Professor Judi Brownell's HURIER model of listening provides a comprehensive method of listening improvement. In this course, you will assess your listening skills, set personal goals, and plan a development strategy. The application of listening principles to Servant Leadership and the development of emotional intelligence are emphasized.

You will use the HURIER self-assessment instrument to assess your personal listening skills then solicit feedback from your colleagues to compare your self-assessment results to their perceptions. You will then reflect on the results and create a SMART — specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound — listening goal. As you move forward in the course, you will take on the role of a Servant Leader and determine how to facilitate a listening environment. You will observe and analyze a team and create an action plan to recommend improvements to the listening environment. Finally, you will examine three emerging issues that impact listening in the workplace and the larger social environment: diversity, ethics, and technology. After taking this course, you will be prepared to foster a strong listening environment within your organization and set clear goals for your continued skill development.

Most managers only think about performance once a year when they have to conduct annual appraisals for their direct reports, or when things are going poorly. This course equips managers to move beyond this approach and develop an ongoing and proactive developmental process that helps their employees to perform best in their jobs. When your people are performing well, you're performing well and your organization can succeed.

Every day is filled with new tasks, new challenges, and new distractions. Every so often you need to take a step back to audit how you are using your time and what your priorities should be. Doing so will allow you to effectively manage not only your own time and priorities, but the time and priorities of your direct reports as well.

In this course, Professors Diane Burton and Allison Elias will help you determine the needed frequency of audits, as well as how to create and conduct evaluations of yourself, your teams, and the organization. They will help you examine priorities and tasks on seven critical levels. In the course project, you will examine your work situation, and work-life balance, all with the goal and tools to become more efficient and effective.

Project Management Institute (PMI^®) Continuing Certification: Participants who successfully complete this course will receive 6 Professional Development Units (PDUs) from PMI^®. Please contact PMI ^® for details about professional project management certification or recertification.

Instead of HR professionals, front-line managers are now being asked to assess their personnel needs in the workplace and make hiring —or firing—choices that fit those needs. Many managers have not been trained on how to decide among candidates to make the best choices to fit their team. These choices are not just about creating test questions or reading resumes, but also about managing the interpersonal communication that must occur between hirer and candidate.

Cornell University's Professor Livingston's teaching combines well-supported theoretical evidence with real-world examples and case studies to make the subject matter both understandable and easily applicable to a wide variety of managing environments. She focuses not just on the “how” of hiring and interviewing, but on the “why” so that individual managers and decision makers can be flexible and agile in changing environments and with changing needs.

Managers must foster a good workplace atmosphere and be able to deal effectively with behavior issues as they arise. Doing so improves productivity and employee engagement and helps an organization avoid costly legal liability.

Dean Alexander Colvin, Ph.D. of Cornell University's ILR School explains how new and aspiring managers can prevent or reduce the occurrence of behavior issues. His lessons will show you how to assess issues as they arise and provide guidance and best practices on resolving behavior problems, primarily through the proven principles of progressive discipline. Professor Colvin draws on his legal and research credentials to provide guidance in dealing with harassment and bullying, planning and carrying out dismissals when required, and managing requests to accommodate special employee needs and practices.

Throughout the course, you'll remain engaged as you participate in interactive discussions and complete a five-part course project, applying the key concepts to your own situation.

Symposium sessions feature three days of live, highly interactive virtual Zoom sessions that will explore today’s most pressing topics. The Leadership Symposium offers you a unique opportunity to engage in real-time conversations with peers and experts from the Cornell community and beyond. Using the context of your own experiences, you will take part in reflections and small-group discussions to build on the skills and knowledge you have gained from your courses.

Join us for the next Symposium in which we’ll discuss the ways that leaders across industries have continued engaging their teams over the past two years while pivoting in strategic ways. You will support your coursework by applying your knowledge and experiences to relevant topics for leaders. Throughout this Symposium, you will examine different areas of leadership, including innovation, strategy, and engagement. By participating in relevant and engaging discussions, you will discover a variety of perspectives and build connections with your fellow participants from various industries.

Upcoming Symposium: February 11, 12 and 13, 2025 from 11am – 1pm ET

• Tuesday, February 11, 2025 11am – 1pm ET
• Wednesday, February 12, 2025 11am – 1pm ET
• Thursday, February 13, 2025 11am – 1pm ET

All sessions are held on Zoom.

Future dates are subject to change. You may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete any certificate program. Once enrolled in your courses, you will receive information about upcoming events. Accessibility accommodations will be available upon request.