ISB Online | Certificate Programme in Management Essentials

Course Modules

Programme Structure

The Art of Storytelling

Professor Mihir Mankad

This course on the Art of Storytelling is designed to teach you to communicate effectively in a professional situation with confidence and creativity. You will begin with theoretical concepts on content, credibility and building connections in a public speaking context. We will combine this theoretical knowledge with real-life examples of impactful public speakers. By studying the communication styles of renowned - figures such as Steve Jobs, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Shashi Tharoor, Amy Cuddy, Ronald Reagan, and Dr Kiran Bedi, you will learn about the importance of building compelling story openings, using soundbites and incorporating data for building credibility.

Building Your Personal Brand

Professor Mihir Mankad

The course blends theory and practice. We will dive into cases and stories of people from around the world, as well as from across sectors, who have built and sustained their personal brands in a unique manner. You will be pushed, with exploratory and introspective exercises, to create your brand narrative by understanding and articulating your strengths and weaknesses. Real-life cases of people like Indra Nooyi, Zach Wahls, Shah Rukh Khan, and Kiran Sethi will be used to provide examples of how to create, sustain and even rejuvenate your personal brand through effective storytelling. Sharp interviewing, as well as the power of vulnerability to connect, will also be explored towards interactive brand building. The learnings and exercises will enable you to differentiate your narrative of yourself to become more relatable and likeable to your teams and stakeholders.

Critical Thinking

Professor Deepa Mani

When employees experience you as a leader or manager, they experience you as someone with better judgment. This course will introduce you to canonical decision models and emphasise how, despite the availability and knowledge of data, our understanding of the world, intuition and, ultimately, judgment are signi- ficantly influenced by schemas or abstract representations of events and cognitive biases. When we become aware of these influences on our thought and intuition, we can avoid serious judgment errors that derail effective decision-making and, ultimately, our progress.

Effective Negotiation and Persuasion

Professor Madan Pillutla

This course explains value claiming and value creation as two broad sources of value in negotiations and specific negotiation strategies that allow one to claim and create value. The course additionally presents a systematic approach to resolving conflict and disagreement, negotiating effectively as a team, and dealing with the prospect of being deceived while negotiating. The course is designed not only to help learners achieve their professional goals but also to help them build trustworthy and fruitful relationships with others both in their professional and personal lives.

Managing High-Performance Teams

Professor Ram Nidumolu

This course comprehensively covers the fundamental principles of team management, from team formation to building modern team structures and processes for high performance. It teaches managers about the key differences between work groups and teams, the behaviours that describe effective team managers, the pillars of team success, the various phases of team development, the variety of approaches to managing conflict, how to deal with key stakeholders such as your boss and team members, and how to implement the structures and processes for agile, innovative, remote, and culturally diverse teams. These team management capabilities are critical for ensuring corporate success and advancing professional careers since the mission-critical work of organisations is mainly done in teams.

Project Management

Professor Vijaya Sunder M

The course on Project Management will empower you with the knowledge, tools, techniques, and processes required to steer projects to completion efficiently and effectively. You will understand these skills and practices comprehensively across various stages of the project lifecycle, from planning to implementation and monitoring to closure. The course also helps you understand and cultivate good project governance, including planning, prioritising budgeting, and mitigating risks and conflicts using relevant strategies and tools. You will learn from real-life project case studies for a broader perspective on all project aspects.

Leading Change

Professor S Ramnarayan

The course on Leading Change will provide you with in-depth behavioural insights about managing and leading change. These include how to create a shared felt need for change, align key stakeholders around the change objectives, diagnose and address resistance appropriately, create a change team that works collaboratively to pursue the change plan, energise people for effective execution and build resilience to bounce back from impediments. Ultimately, this course will prepare you to lead change con- fidently and effectively to respond to new opportunities and challenges.