Courses for those who already have management responsibilities and experience but need to expand their knowledge and capabilities.
How to access these resources
To access the free resources, register for an Open University account. Details of how to do that can be found in our Registration Guide.
What is leadership?
Leadership is often misunderstood due to its complex nature. Learn what being a leader means and how you can practice leadership. This course explores:
- why leadership is different to management
- what effective leadership is
- what types of power are needed to be a leader
- how you can influence other people at work
- how individual differences shape the way people see leadership.
Level: Level 1 - Introductory
Duration: 6 hours
An introduction to public leadership
In this course, you will learn more about leadership in the context of public service provision, by public sector organisations, community and voluntary groups, and political bodies.
You will explore the distinctive features of leadership in public service, including its increasing focus on the generation of public value and the negotiation of different forms of public interest. You will learn some of the key skills of public leadership such as political astuteness, working in collaboration and conflict handling.
Throughout, you will look at different types of public leadership, exploring the different roles of elected politicians, public servants and community activists and consider different levels and contributions of leadership - from frontline police officers or social workers through to prime ministers.
Level: Level 1 - Introductory
Duration: 9 hours
Collective leadership
This course will give you an insight into the importance of how to be a more effective leader, and how to better engage and work with ‘followers’ in an organisational setting. It then builds on what is meant by Collective Leadership, using real-life case studies as examples.
Level: Level 1 - Introductory
Duration: 6 hours