Best Free MOOCs In Business For April

High Performance Collaboration: Leadership, Teamwork and Negotiation

School: Northwestern University

Platform: Coursera

Start Date: April 4, 2016 (3 Weeks Long)

Workload: Not Specified

Enrollment Link: REGISTER HERE

Graded: Students can choose to explore course videos, discussions, and ungraded assignments for free, but they won’t be able to submit graded assignments, earn a certificate, or complete a specialization without paying a $79 fee.

Instructor: Leigh Thompson

Credentials: After earning her Ph.D. in psychology from Northwestern, Thompson returned to her alma mater in 1995, where she is the J. Jay Gerber Professor of Dispute Resolution & Organizations. In addition to her teaching and research, which focuses on negotiation, creativity, decision-making and collaboration, Thompson is also the director of the Kellogg Team and Group Research Center, the Kellogg Leading High Impact Teams Executive program and the Constructive Collaboration Executive program.

Description: Leadership comes naturally – for a select few. For most it is a skill that requires self-awareness, practice, and diligence. In this course, students will learn what leadership is and what it isn’t, with special focus on teamwork and negotiation skills. In particular, the course will cover leadership styles, emotional and organizational intelligence, decision-making, people savvy, goal setting, conflict resolution, listening and persuasion, and team-building. The content will be delivered through videos and readings, with mastery evaluated through quizzes and peer reviewed assignments, which include developing team charter sand negotiation planning documents.

Review: “This is a really good course from Northwestern and Prof. Leigh Thompson. The course covers the topics of Leadership, Teamwork and Negotiation. Each lecture is approximately 5-7 minutes in which Prof. Thompson explains the key concepts, the research or data behind the concepts and summarizes key points on how to apply them. She clearly has a lot of experience in both research as well as working with companies and management in implementing these concepts. As an example, one totally non intuitive concept I learnt was that individuals are more creative than teams. There is research to back this up. And Prof. Thompson explains strategies for making teams creative. Really worthwhile course as a very good introduction to these topics.” For additional reviews, click here.

Additional Note: This course is the first part of an “Organizational Leadership” specialization,” a six course series that includes a capstone project. To learn more about these courses and register for them, CLICK HERE.