7 Best People Management Courses Online for Team Leads

Looking for ways to motivate your team and guide them to success? Here are the best people management courses online.

Learning people management skills is essential to building a cohesive workforce.

Here are the best people management courses online for individuals in leadership positions who want to learn how to help others learn, engage, and grow at work.

These courses provide a deep dive into practical strategies for coaching employees and offering constructive feedback, while also resolving conflicts and helping employees navigate different work styles.

The employee side of the business is a critically important side of the business, and these people management classes are designed to support both first time-managers and seasoned managers in effectively fulfilling their roles and responsibilities.

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What are the Best People Management Courses?

Here are the best people management courses to enroll in online this year:

1. Human Resource Management: HR for People Managers Specialization

Do you have people that report to you in your job role? Would you like to build or freshen up your HR knowledge?

Human Resource Management: HR for People Managers is a popular people management course on Coursera.

This specialization provides a robust introduction to the key principles, policies, and practices of human resource management.

It's a valuable program for managers and entrepreneurs taking on these responsibilities as well as anyone else interested in the fundamental principles of human resource management.

You'll learn about three core areas that all managers should understand: hiring employees, evaluating their performance, and rewarding them.

Program Syllabus:

Course 1: Preparing to Manage Human Resources
Course 2: Recruiting, Hiring, and Onboarding Employees
Course 3: Managing Employee Performance
Course 4: Managing Employee Compensation
Course 5: Human Resources Management Capstone: HR for People Managers

By the end of the specialization, you'll gain a greater understanding of the diversity of factors that motivate workers and you'll be able to avoid the key mistakes in (mis)managing human resources.

Key course features:

Flexible Schedule

Learn online at your own pace.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

Beginner Level

The ideal learner will have at least two years of college experience, but college experience is not required. Work experience is not necessary.

Approximately 2 months to complete.

10 hours a week.

=> Enroll in Human Resource Management: HR for People Managers.

2. The New Manager Toolkit

There is never a second chance to make a first impression, so getting off to a good start is an essential element of an exceptional manager's journey.

The New Manager's Toolkit is a professional certificate offered on edX by Indiana University (IUx), to help first-time managers effectively transition into their new role.

Learners will discover how to handle some of the most common management challenges including establishing credibility and trust with team members, running productive meetings, giving constructive feedback, overcoming resistance, and more.

Through examples and illustrations from managers in real jobs and situations, you'll get to see what it means to become a leader who inspires people to be their best.

The program is composed of 3 main skill-building courses:

Becoming a People Manager: Taking Charge with Care
Effective Management and Communication
Developing Your Personal Leadership Style

The New Manager Toolkit is different from other people management classes because the class segments are short and mission critical - focusing not on theories and concepts but on practical skills that you can apply immediately.

It's delivered in a highly visual way and the goal is for participants to leave each course with a set of tools that is directly transferable to their day-to-day management context.

Length: 3 Months
Effort: 2-3 hours per week
Course Type: Self-paced on your time
Professional Certificate Included

=> Enroll in The New Manager's Toolkit program on edX here.

3. Leading People and Teams

This 5-course specialization by the University of Michigan will teach you how to inspire and motivate individuals, manage talent, influence without authority, and lead teams.

Not only will you learn from Michigan faculty, you will also learn directly from leaders including Jeff Brodsky, Global Head of HR for Morgan Stanley, and John Beilein, previous Head Coach of the University of Michigan Men’s Basketball Team.

In this program, you will discover how to:

Create and communicate your vision as a leader

Manage talent to improve employee performance, development and retention

Use the Michigan Model of Leadership to define organizational goals

Create a high-quality team charter that enhances team performance

Program Syllabus:

Course 1: Inspiring and Motivating Individuals

Course 2: Managing Talent

Course 3: Influencing People

Course 4: Leading Teams

Course 5: Leading People and Teams Capstone

In the capstone project, you will prepare interview responses that apply content from the specialization and demonstrate your knowledge of key leadership skills.

Key course features:

Flexible schedule

Learn online at your own pace.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion.

Beginner Level

No previous experience necessary.

Approximately 1 months to complete.

10 hours a week.

=> Enroll in the Leading People and Teams Specialization here.

4. People Management

Have you ever asked yourself any of the following questions:

Where did I go wrong in managing this particular employee?

How should I give feedback to my subordinates?

How do I handle potential assessments?

How should I motivate people who report to me?

This online course on edX explores the answers to these questions, by taking you through the journey from being an individual contributor to becoming a people manager.

First, you'll gain an overview of the different aspects of people management - including both the rewards and challenges faced by a first time manager.

Then you'll reflect on your own managerial experiences and build a personal development plan for yourself.

Program Syllabus

Week: Introduction to People Management
Week 2: Getting Work Done Through Others
Week 3: Assessment and Evaluation
Week 4: Building Peer Networks
Week 5: Essentials of Communication
Week 6: Managing Self

Overall, this course is designed to provide learners with an enhanced understanding of people management in an organizational context.

It is ideal for newly appointed people managers, but aspiring and seasoned managers will also benefit from the material.

Key course features:

Length: 6 Weeks
Level: Introductory
Effort: 2-4 hours per week
Course Type: Self-paced on your time
Certificate available upon completion

=> Enroll in the edX People Management course here.

5. The Manager's Toolkit: A Practical Guide to Managing People at Work

If you're looking for a general course on managing people at work, this one by the University of London is a great option.

The course focuses on helping you develop four core skills: decision making, leadership, management and performance management.

In addition, you will learn about a few HR theories and see how they translate into everyday working life.

Program Syllabus:

Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Interviews
Week 3: Leadership and Decision Making
Week 4: Performance Management
Week 5: Pay as a Motivator
Week 6: Managing Conflict at Work

Key course features:

Flexible Schedule

Learn online at your own pace

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion.

Approx. 29 hours to complete

3 weeks at 9 hours a week.

=> Enroll in the Manager's Toolkit course on Coursera here.

6. Managing People from a Global Perspective (ASUx)

What are the best strategies for managing people in a complex, volatile global context?

In this course, you will learn how to achieve organizational success through growth-focused employee management.

First, you'll start by learning how to implement more effective tasks and processes. Then, you'll discover the common characteristics of high performing teams and how to positively shape behaviour through reward design.

You will also learn:

Best management practices for today’s global business environment
How to build and maintain top-notch teams
How to raise the performance bar through coaching, goals and tools
How to apply grounding concepts and strategies for observing and reading culture
How to graph the relationship between workplace generosity and productivity

This people management course is unique to others on this list in that it highlights cultural and location-based perspectives on people management.

From this vantage point, you will explore strategies for balancing generosity and productivity, as well as how to avert, evaluate and overcome conflict among employees. It's an interesting and unique approach!

Key course features:

Length: 6 Weeks
Level: Intermediate
Effort: 10-12 hours per week
Course Type: Instructor-led on a course schedule
Certificate available upon completion

=> Enroll in the Managing People From a Global Perspective course.

7. Stepping Up: Leading Others

Stepping Up: Leading Others is a course that is designed for leaders who have five to six years experience and are beginning to manage teams, customers and clients more regularly or directly.

The course is part of the Leadership Out of the Box specialization on Coursera, a four-part program that provides you with a robust set of tools, skills and frameworks to enable you to step up and lead more effectively.

In this course, learners will study team dynamics, the differences between work groups and teams, the nature of remote teams, and cross-cultural implications of leading teams.

Course Syllabus:

Week 1: Team Dynamics
Week 2: Leading Your Peers
Week 3: The Leader as Guide
Week 4: Important Conversations

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

Describe strategies for leading peers, dealing with blockers and disruptors
Implement the key elements of coaching and mentoring as a leader
Understand best practices for goal-setting and delegation
Hold important, challenging conversations with your team

Highlights of the course include discussions about the stages of team development, looking at how teams change through time, and considering the opportunities and challenges presented by remote and hybrid team structures.

Key course features:

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance with your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion.

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Advanced Level

Approx. 19 hours to complete

English

Subtitles: English

=> Enroll in the Stepping Up: Leading Others course here.

Final Thoughts

Thanks for checking out this post on the best people management courses online. Hopefully you've found a course (or two) that meets your needs and learning requirements.

Ultimately, people management plays a pivotal role in driving better hiring processes, increased productivity, and an improved work environment, so it's an important skill area to develop.

By becoming a better people manager, you'll strengthen your relationships with your team members and be more equipped to provide them with the motivation and support they need to perform at their best.

Happy learning!