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Flexible online courses in business and management

Current courses are:

 


Advancing your personal leadership

For professionals already exercising leadership who want a supported opportunity to reflect upon and improve their effectiveness, i.e. across professional and organisational boundaries.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Advancing your personal leadership

Applying strategic thinking

Businesses need clear strategies in order to survive and succeed. As a manager, whatever the size of your organisation, you will need to be able to think strategically and contribute to strategic decisions. This course will provide you with tools, frameworks and ideas to help you apply strategic thinking. The course will be of benefit to: senior and middle managers; high potential junior managers; entrepreneurs; directors of SMEs; and professionals currently, or soon to be, involved in developing an organisation’s strategic objectives and goals.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Applying strategic thinking

Corporate social responsibility in practice

In this course you will consider how the decisions you take at work as a manager or in a professional capacity can make a difference. How it can also be a good business decision to act in a socially responsible way.  Saving energy, reducing waste and investing in your staff make good business sense particularly in the current economic climate.

This course is not aimed at those whose whole specialist brief is CSR but rather at those at all levels - in managerial positions or professional positions - who need to know enough about CSR to understand the debate and contribute to CSR policies and practices in their organisation

Course Fee: £495

Register for Corporate social responsibility in practice

Creative problem solving

Would you like to understand what creativity means, the factors that help and hinder creativity? Would you like to improve the creative climate of your organisation? This course looks at how creativity can help you employ the best people, use resources efficiently, stay ahead of the competition and cost savings.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Creative problem solving

Discover and apply your creative skills

This course will help you to develop a more creative attitude at the personal level and have a positive impact on the creativity of those around them.  At a conceptual level, you will develop an understanding of some of the ways in which perceptions are influenced by history, culture, beliefs, cognition and life experience. You will apply a range of techniques to a current issue to generate more creative solutions.

 

Course Fee: £495  

Register for Discover and apply your creative skills

Effective collaboration in construction

If you are involved in any large construction project, understanding how different people and organisations can work together successfully is likely to be important for you. The course will help you to identify necessary skills and conditions for working together, and recognise how you might improve effectiveness in collaborative situations.

During the course you will develop the business case to justify collaboration and evaluate different areas of possible collaboration. Throughout the course you will focus on delivering value to the end client or end users, as well as keeping an eye on factors crucial to your own organisation.

Course fee: £495

Register for Effective collaboration in construction 

Effective decision making skills

In this course we explore how you can reduce the time you spend on routine decision making. This allows you to spend more time on considering the more challenging strategic decisions that you face.

Course fee: £495

Register for Effective decision making skills

Effective leadership skills

Developing your leadership capabilities can be challenging. There are so many different views about leadership; it is hard to know which ones to act on. Some of these theories are popular for a while, and then others take their place.

This course helps you take a critical, but constructive, approach to the different ideas and then to identify what is of most value to you in the different approaches to leadership. It will enable you to take a well-founded approach to developing your own practices and skills in leadership.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Effective leadership skills

Effective virtual teams

This course explores the increasingly common phenomena of Virtual Teams – teams that rarely, if ever, meet face-to-face and interact and communicate with each other via ICT. Working together while being miles apart offers both the organisation and the individuals involved many benefits; effective Virtual Teams can combine the skills and competencies of the best available staff in an organisation. Such teams must be brought together, team members must be motivated, trained and facilitated and the life-cycle of the team, from forming to adjourning, must be managed. This course explores these topics from the perspectives of being a virtual team member, a virtual team leader and a virtual team manager.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Effective virtual teams

Finance for non-financial managers

For professionals new to financial responsibility or at a level where they need to understand financial issues, this course covers basic costing, budgets, financial decision-making and interpretation of financial statements and ratios.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Finance for non-financial managers

Getting it right: consulting and communication inside organisations

This course helps managers to consult and communicate effectively with their staff within both legal and best practice contexts.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Getting it right: consulting and communication inside organisations

How can supply chain ideas help you?

The course will benefit those working in an explicit purchasing role within organisations. It will also appeal to others in an appropriate professional context whose role connects to supply chains, such as those involved in supply, logistics, commissioning, contracts, Human Resources or general management.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for How can supply chain ideas help you?

How to be effective on a governing body

The course will be of benefit to those just starting out as a new member on a board. This might include school and college governors, members of health trust boards, and members of voluntary sector management committees and will be of particular benefit to those of you who have little or no experience of governance of an organisation.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for How to be effective on a governing body

How to use coaching at work

This course is for professionals and managers who are seeking to develop both their own coaching skills and to foster more effective coaching practice across all levels of their organisation’s workforce.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Click here for further information and registration on How to use coaching at work

How well do you communicate? Interpersonal communication at work

Whatever line of work you are in, regardless of your role and responsibilities or the product or service that you or your organisation provides, communicating with other people will form a major part of your work. As communication is so central to the world of work, it follows that where communication is poor or inadequate, the quality of that work – be it a product or service – will suffer as a result. On the other hand, ensuring ‘good’ and ‘effective’ communication is a fundamental component of providing high quality services and products. Good, effective communication at work therefore is not a luxury or an optional extra but essential for success. This course is for those seeking to improve skills in communicating with work colleagues, customers and service users and external stakeholders.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for How well do you communicate

Improving your negotiation skills

This course will enable you to develop more effective negotiation skills in your own work setting. It is suitable for managers who would like to improve their negotiation skills or who may be about to become actively involved in negotiations at work for the first time. The course explores stages of negotiation and a variety of negotiation techniques, as well as alternatives to negotiation through activities including case studies and scenarios.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Improving your negotiation skills

Influencing strategic thinking for finance professionals

Businesses need clear strategies in order to survive and succeed. As a finance professional, whatever the size of the organisation you work in or with, you will need to be able to think strategically and contribute to strategic decisions. This course will provide you with tools, frameworks and ideas to help you influence strategic thinking. The course, which has been developed in conjunction with ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), will be of benefit to: senior finance professionals; high potential junior finance professionals; entrepreneurs; directors of small medium enterprises; other professionals currently, or soon to be, involved in developing an organisation’s strategic objectives and goals.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Influencing strategic thinking for finance professionals

Innovation for business results

This course looks at the different types and sources of innovation and how different organisations have grappled with the challenge of producing better products and services through innovation. This will help you to analyse where and how your organisation can innovate.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Innovation for business results

Interviewing skills for successful selection

The course will offer instant access to information, help and support for busy managers faced with the management task of participating in the recruitment and selection process.  Selecting competent staff is something that managers are required to do all too regularly – often because they don’t get it right first time. 

It will encourage you to use the interview, alongside other selection tools such as tests, to obtain reliable evidence about a candidate’s suitability for a particular role.  The course will maximise the benefits of ‘e-learning’ by providing an interactive development of selection interviewing skills.

Course Fee: £495

Register for Interviewing skills for successful selection

Leadership for professionals

This course provides the tools and techniques to help finance professionals look at different aspects of leadership and to understand the personal impact that
you have, or could have, on colleagues, subordinates and other contacts. The underpinning activity of the course is a Personal Development Plan in which you
select and reflect on two areas of leadership where changes could be made to improve your personal impact.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Leadership for professionals

Leading organisational change

"The only constant is change" applies to all organisations in the twenty first century.
At all levels in organisations leading change has become an important part of a manager’s role. This course will provide you with tools, frameworks and ideas to help you in leading change initiatives effectively.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Leading organisational change

Managing a professional practice

Specifically for the owners/managers of small professional practices, this course develops capability in managing, reviewing and improving business performance in the context of professional practice.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Managing a professional practice

Managing conflict

This course will help you recognise the causes and sources of conflict and give you skills to help you deal with the situation. Whether you are in the front line with customers, coping with suppliers, human resources or colleagues, it will develop your knowledge and skills base so that you can resolve the conflict more effectively.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Managing conflict

Managing diversity

In this course you will explore the basic principles of equality and diversity as they relate to the individual at work, looking at responsibilities in respect of both coleagues and customers to promote fairness. The course is for managers of both public and private sector organisations.

Course fee: £495

Register for Managing diversity

Managing organisational performance

Managing organisational performance is for those professionals who want to improve their practical contribution to how their organisation, or part of it, identifies objectives, establishes performance measures and uses tools and techniques to improve performance. This course is intended to give an introduction to some of the ideas behind managing organisational performance. It does this from an operational viewpoint rather than managing performance through people.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Managing organisational performance

Managing organisational politics

This online continuing professional development course examines the way in which the effective management of organisational politics can offer business benefits by ‘getting things done’ and by ‘making things happen’. Understanding why people do the things that they do and behave as they do makes good business sense.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Managing organisational politics

Managing performance through people

Managing performance requires the alignment of the outputs from the people working in the organisation with the goals of the organisation. The course explains how this can be achieved through the key processes of setting clear objectives, monitoring performance, reviewing performance and improving performance.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Managing performance through People

Marketing in practice

Successful marketing is about understanding and responding to customer needs. It is much more than promotion and selling. Understanding how to use marketing ideas and techniques is one of the best ways to improve a business's competitive advantage. This course introduces you to a range of marketing concepts and tools which you are invited to apply to your own business using a set of simple, practical activities.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Marketing practice

Practical leadership in construction

The construction industry is experiencing times of almost certainly unprecedented turmoil. The housing market slowdown and the credit crunch, combined with changing plans from central government on funding projects, increased pressure for health and safety, welfare, environment, and sustainability, together with an increasingly diverse workforce, mean that management and leadership have never been so much in demand.

In this course we explore how you can develop your skills as a leader to equip you to meet these challenges head on, cope with the complexity and still deliver your projects on time.

Course fee: £495

Register for Practical leadership in construction

Recruiting the best people

This course is principally for managers, and professional staff who are required to be involved in recruiting staff because of their professional expertise. It may be of particular interest to those who do not have access to in-company training on recruitment and selection such as those working in SMEs or in smaller voluntary sector organisations.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Recruiting the best people

Successful team working

Successful organisations rely on successful teams. That is to say, successful organisations rely on collections of individual staff members who can recognise the difference between being a team members and merely being a member of a group and who can work together successfully.

 

Most staff members are, in fact, members of several different teams - working with different people - on different things - at different times and under different constraints; in one team they might be the leader, in another, a team member. This course is aimed at developing their skills and abilities to become effective and successful team players.

Course fee: £495

Register for Successful team working

 

Sustainability at work: how to go green

Sustainability at Work aims to introduce the broad aspects of sustainability encompassed by UK government policy.  As you work through the materials you will consider the environmental, social and financial aspects of sustainability and how they relate to the operations of your organisation. 

The course also aims to enable participants to analyse the actions of their own organisation in the context of sustainability factors and to produce a structured analysis that will identify those factors most important to the organisation and then develop measures to monitor and improve performance.

 

Course Fee £445

 

 Register for Sustainability at work: how to go green

The evolving information professional

This course is for information professionals – librarians, archivists, information and knowledge managers – looking to keep up to date with modern technologies, sources of information, and today’s users. It is for those in the profession who wish to stay relevant in this fast-changing world of information, find out how other information services are facing the challenge, and consider ways of proving their worth in the Google age. Amongst all the issues that the course covers, you will be given the opportunity to reflect on the possible consequences for your service of a new generation of ‘Homo zappien’ users, try out games developed for library users and archivists and consider the implications of the 7 Ps for the marketing of your service. 

Course fee: £495

 

Register for The evolving information professional

Time management for you and your team

A recent survey of 2,500 businesses in 38 countries conducted over four years found that wasted time cost UK businesses a staggering £80 billion a year. Not only does poor time management mean that a business may not operate as effectively as it needs to in order to be competitive; for some businesses wasted time can also mean they incur penalties on contracts and, potentially, lose future business. As a manager, it is obviously essential that you can manage your own time effectively, but it is equally important that you can help your team manage theirs.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Time management for you and your team

Understanding finance and budgets 

This short course will help you increase your understanding of the basic concepts, key ideas and terminology of finance and budgets that all managers need in order to contribute to the financial management of their area of responsibility within an organisation.The course will be of benefit to those working at middle and senior management level in all types of organisation: large or small, public or private.

Course fee: £495

Register for Understanding finance and budgets

Understanding stress at work

For professionals concerned about the effect of stress on organisational productivity, this course can help identify and address its causes and effects and reduce the negative impact of high individual stress levels.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Understanding stress at work

What you need to know about marketing

In any organisation many staff become involved in marketing issues with colleagues from other areas of expertise within the organisation, in day to day discussions, within working groups or teams, and sometimes with external partners. Non-marketing staff need to understand the basic concepts of marketing in order to contribute to these discussions. This short course is intended for managers in organisations where there is a degree of separation between functions and will explain marketing concepts and de-mystify marketing jargon in order to help them understand and contribute to marketing activities.

Course Fee £495

Register for What you need to know about marketing

Working across cultures

This course will explore the potential traps and opportunities in working across cultures, understanding the impact of culture on work-based relationships, identifying the logic behind multicultural behaviours and belief systems and recognising how different cultures perceive and develop trust in working relationships.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Working across cultures

Working together across professional boundaries

What are the new challenges of cross-boundary management? The answer lies in the degree to which managers across the public, not-for-profit, commercial and industrial sectors are being expected to work in a more integrated and collaborative way with colleagues within their own organisation and in other organisations.

This course looks at a way of thinking and operating on a different level. One that involves greater awareness of relationships and more complexity.

Go to the taster section to view a sample of the course material, do an activity and see a sample of the work-based activity.

Course fee: £495

Register for Working together across professional boundaries

 

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