Want to jump straight to the answer? The best management course for most people is VirtualSpeech – Essential Public Speaking or Building a Second Brain.
Ready to take your management skills to the next level? Whether you’re currently a manager looking to step it up, or an aspiring manager, there are likely some skills you need to learn before you’re ready to jump into action.
Management courses help you sharpen your leadership skills, take your knowledge to the next level, and give you the confidence required to be an impactful manager.
The Top 6 Best Management Courses
- VirtualSpeech – Essential Public Speaking – Best for Public Speaking
- Building a Second Brain – Best for Knowledge Management
- Udemy – Business Fundamentals: Management and HR Management – Best for Management Basics
- Udemy – Practical Business Management: Strategy Business Game – Best for Hands-On Learners
- Masterclass – Bob Iger Teaches Business Strategy and Leadership – Best One-Day Expert Course
- LinkedIn Learning – Foundations of Performance Management – Best for Managers Looking to Boost Team Performance
Now that you have our top list, it’s time to dive deeper. Learn more about the classes, what they entail, and who they are best for by reading the in-depth reviews below.
VirtualSpeech – Essential Public Speaking – Best for Public Speaking
Is the management position you currently have or the management position you’re after one that requires public speaking? If so, you need to take this course.
This course takes about 5 hours to complete, and also includes 6 case studies and 8 practice exercises that you can experience either online or in VR. You can expect to come out of the completed course with the following knowledge:
- Key theory and techniques to deliver strong speeches
- Ability to easily design your presentation to engage your audience
- How to manage nerves and be more confident in your public speaking
- Skillset to engage and connect with your audience via storytelling
- How to enhance your message with body language, eye contact, and more
- Tools to overcome your fear of public speaking so that you can speak in front of audiences of all sizes
The VR aspect of this course gives you a way to practice public speaking in a simulated environment like you’ve likely never done before.
This is the best way for you to gain the skills you need to turn this VR speech into a real one, which in turn will help you become the strong manager you want to be.
The course costs $200 for 12 months of access.
Building a Second Brain – Best for Knowledge Management
As a manager, chances are good that you are consuming large amounts of information on a daily basis. And that’s where the struggle begins: you’ve got all this information, but what can you do with it?
You can learn the answer to this question in the Building a Second Brain course.
In this course, you can expect to learn the following:
- How to cultivate knowledge for future use
- How to create structure around creative projects that often lack structure
- How to uncover patterns and improve your thinking
- How to create a digital environment that allows you clarity
- How to reduce stress and anxiety, since you will have the tools to preserve your ideas
- How to find the files and notes you’ve saved
The overall concept of this course is to provide you with a method to capture and organize your ideas, as well as share them in a way that can make major positive waves in your business and personal life.
The self-paced BASB Foundation course is $499, while the four-week live BASB Cohort is $999.
Udemy – Business Fundamentals: Management and HR Management – Best for Management Basics
For those who are just starting out in their career, this course may be the right one for you.
If you feel like you are a little iffy on some of the basics of business management, then take a look at Business Fundamentals: Management and HR Management.
This course will teach you all sorts of things including:
- The qualities of a great manager
- How to manage operations
- How to manage supply chains
- How to manage productivity
- Forecasting and budgeting
- Stress management
- How to motivate your employees
Experience the course via 1.5 hours of on-demand video that takes you through the following lessons, broken down into 27 lectures:
- Introduction
- Getting started
- The Planning function
- The Organization function
- The Staffing function: Pre-hire activities
- The Staffing function: Post-hire activities
- The Leading function
You will also gain access to three downloadable resources and a certificate of completion upon finishing the course.
This class is $16.99.
Udemy – Practical Business Management: Strategy Business Game – Best for Hands-On Learners
Ready to have a little bit of fun with your learning? Change up how you look at your interest in management courses by taking this one that makes learning a game.
This course provides you the opportunity to act as if you’re a CEO in a simulated market (the game). In the game, you will practice strategy, finance, marketing, sales, HR, and much more. You can expect to learn from this class things such as:
- Pricing decisions
- Financial analysis
- Production and stock management
- Product life-cycle analysis
- Competitor analysis
If you are a hands-on learner looking to gain in-depth knowledge of concepts that top-performing managers use in their daily lives, then this may be the course for you. Get ready to shake things up a bit and learn about management in a fresh and fun way.
The course costs $16.99 and provides you with lifetime access to all the downloadable resources and video lectures.
MasterClass – Bob Iger Teaches Business Strategy and Leadership – Best One-Day Expert Course
Learn from one of the top managers of our time, Bob Iger.
This MasterClass course consists of 13 self-paced video lessons that take you through topics including:
- Brand expansion
- Negotiation
- Time management
- And more
The lessons are broken down as follows:
- Introduction
- Using Your Time Effectively
- Focus, Strategy, and Priorities
- Taking Giant Swings: Pixar Acquisition Case Study
- The Art of Negotiation
- Creating Brand Value
- Expanding Your Brand: Marvel Acquisition Case Study
- Anticipating What Consumers Want
- The Importance of Risk-Taking
- Navigating Complex Deals: 21st Century Fox Case Study
- Managing Industry Disruption: Disney Plus Case Study
- Tenets for Success
- Conclusion
As you can see from the above, there are some major case studies in the curriculum that will go into the specifics that can help you gain great insight from someone on the inside.
The course is self-paced and is a total of 2 hours’ worth of lectures and lessons, made specifically for those who are passive learners.
The class is offered via MasterClass, which has a monthly membership of $10.
LinkedIn Learning – Foundations of Performance Management – Best for Managers Looking to Boost Team Performance
A crucial part of being a successful manager is being able to have a strong team that works under you and with you.
This course is not intended for beginners, but only for advanced managers who want to boost their team’s performance. Over the course of 16 videos, you will cover 7 major lessons:
- Defining Job Roles
- Goal Setting Basics
- Giving and Receiving Effective Feedback
- Reviewing and Rewarding Performance
- Defining the Learning Needs of the Team
- Managing Poor Performance
- Maintaining High Performance
Each lesson ends with a quiz that tests your knowledge, and you can finish the course with a certificate of completion.
The course is led by bestselling author, executive coach, and speaker Nigel Cumberland, and he will show you the ropes of how building a strong team will help to make your success as a manager more likely.
The price of this course is $44.99.
How to Find The Best Management Course For You
Not all managers are the same. Not all managers are looking to be the same. That’s why there is a wide variety of management courses available to take. Before you pick which management course is right for you, here are some criteria you ought to consider.
Time
If you are a high-performing manager, chances are good you don’t have a lot of time on your hands. On the other hand, if you are simply considering a position in management, you may have more time to spend.
Take a step back and reasonably consider how much time you have to give to a course. Whether that’s 4 hours or 40 hours, it doesn’t matter–-you can find a course that fits your time restraints. Just make sure you are not pushing yourself beyond your capabilities when it comes to time, and make sure you are not spending minimal amounts of time when you have room for more.
Current Career
Are you happy in your current career and simply looking to strengthen your skills? Or are you unhappy in your current position and looking to move into a different management position? Think about where you stand in your career right now before choosing a course.
In addition, if you don’t currently work as part of a team, then you may not need to take a course on managing teams (unless you plan to start managing teams down the road). Take some time before researching management courses to see what areas you need help with, as your job currently stands. That is the best place to start in choosing your course.
Career Goals
If you are looking to take a management course to help you get to the next level of management, which brings you closer to your career goals, then know what those specific goals are.
What type of management are you hoping to get into? What style of leadership works best in that position? What will your employees be like? What knowledge is vital to that position?
Dive into your management career goals, and see what it takes to get there. Then, find courses that align with those needs.
Learning Style
As we grow, we learn that not everyone’s learning styles are the same. Some are better at passive learning via lectures. Others are better at hands-on learning such as VR.
There is no right or wrong way to learn, there is just knowing the way that works best for you. If you struggle to listen to lecture after lecture, then signing up for a management course that has 40 hours of lectures probably isn’t the best decision to make.
If you want to be successful in your course of choice and your career, you need to recognize your strengths in learning styles and find a class that suits them.
The Top Management Courses in Summary
The best management courses help you master critical skills like public speaking, leadership, and team building.
Out of thousands of different management courses, the top six reviewed in this guide offer something for everyone. You can take online lectures or go through hands-on training to become a better manager.