Advancing your personal leadership

The course enables you to review your current leadership style, identify ways to improve your leadership skills and effectiveness, and create, or contribute to, an environment that empowers others and encourages innovative thought. It also encourages you to review your decision making, consider how effectively you create and communicate a vision, and build and improve networks both inside and outside your organisation.

The course will be of interest to:

• first line and middle managers in large organisations
• those who have a leadership or management role in smaller organisations
• organisations seeking to improve leadership.

What you will study

You will work through the course at your own pace. The study materials examine five main areas: What is leadership?; Impact on others – motivation and empowerment; Decision making; Vision and goals;  and Networking. The underpinning activity of the course is a Personal Development Plan – in which you will select and reflect on three areas of leadership where changes could be made in order to improve your personal impact.

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• understand different approaches to leadership and assess which of these suit different situations
• distinguish between leadership and management
• understand the importance of emotional intelligence in professional leadership
• understand what an effective leader can do to empower others
• enable the creation of an innovative and creative climate within an organisation
• appreciate the influences on decision making and use that insight to identify ways in which to make more effective decisions
• create and communicate a vision
• identify ways in which goal setting can be effectively linked to your organisational objectives
• appreciate the factors that affect personal, operational and strategic networking.

The strong link between course learning and your work practice creates relevant, enduring and transferable outcomes. It requires no more than 30 hours of your time in total, over whatever period suits you. But the learning is far richer than more expensive one- to three-day workshops. Register online today and start tomorrow – no need to wait!

The course features the distinctive strengths of The Open University from its years of expertise in work-based learning:

• The convenience of accessing its clearly presented and sequenced materials, activities and support whenever suits you and wherever you have access to the dedicated website – if you prefer, you can print key materials to work on them offline.
• The support of an expert learning adviser who can clarify study materials, answer questions and help you relate the course to your specific needs.
• A work-based activity helps you to connect the course to your individual and organisational context and needs. This is built up from short activities during the course, leading to a Personal Development Plan. At the end of the course you send this to the learning adviser, who provides personal feedback.
• Certification of completion from the OU for those who complete the course. You can use this to demonstrate your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activity to your employer and/or professional body. (N.B. The course does not carry academic credit points.)

Entry

Although there are no formal academic requirements to study any of our CPD courses, you are expected to have some experience in the field and the course assumes a familiarity with the subject.

For each course you can register and begin at any time during the life of the course. You can study at your own pace and submit your work-based activity at any date before the final submission date for the course. Information about the final submission date is available when you register for the course.

If you have a disability

The course is delivered online and makes use of a variety of online resources. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in using a computer or the internet you are advised to talk to the Student Registration and Enquiry Service about support which can be given to meet your needs. If you are a new learner with the OU, make sure that you look at our website.

Study materials

What's included

All learning materials, exercises, study support and work-based activity are delivered entirely online.

Computing requirements

You will need a computer with internet access to study this course as it includes online activities, which you can access using a web browser.

• If you have purchased a new desktop or laptop computer since 2007 you should have no problems completing the online activities.
• If you’ve got a netbook, tablet or other mobile computing device check our Technical requirements section.
• If you use an Apple Mac you will need OS X 10.6 or later.

You can also visit the Technical requirements section for further computing information including the details of the support we provide.

Learner support

Expert, confidential learner support is available when you need it from a learning adviser, who will respond to you direct within 24 hours. Other support is available via the GB018 forum, library, StudentHome website and computing helpdesk.

Work-based activity

The work-based activity for this course is a written report and has been designed as an integrated ongoing activity that you submit at the end of your study. It will allow you to reflect on your learning and how to use it in your professional work.

Professional recognition

Successful completion of the course enables us to recognise your achievement of the course learning by issuing an OU certificate, which you can use to document your commitment to continuing professional development in your personal portfolio, or to provide evidence to employers or a professional body.

Students also studied

Students who studied this course also studied at some time:

• Myth in the Greek and Roman worlds (A330)
• Exploring the classical world (A219)
• The arts past and present (AA100)
• Creative writing (A215)

Your questions

Try our frequently asked questions.

Come and meet us at an event near you.

Or contact an adviser by Email or call +44(0) 845 300 60 90 +44(0) 845 366 60 35

Employers' questions

Contact Corporate Enquiries
Visit our website for employers or Email us