7 Masters in Leadership and Management Online

An adaptive mindset is flexible and able to effectively respond to or lead disruption in the workplace. This leadership quality is becoming essential in a business environment where change is the norm, not the exception. Managers and leaders without this attribute, who are stuck in a repeating cycle, will struggle to bring their organisations forward.

Techniques to be more adaptive in your approach include to:

• practice design thinking, which means mapping out problems, constraints and solutions
• be a student of your customers and the business environment
• trust your instincts when considering future opportunities
• focus on value adding as opposed to busy work
• be a lifelong learner who values curiosity above demonstrating expertise
• see mistakes as learning and growth opportunities.

Communicating well is a recurring theme in leadership and management courses. Strong communication skills are essential in almost all managerial activities. Communication is important for leaders in order to achieve buy-in and carry people along, instil a corporate vision, solve problems collaboratively, and manage critical external relationships.

One of the key communication skills you'll gain from a Master of Leadership course is the ability to fluently talk about management issues. Spending time reading, analysing and writing about relevant topics invariably increases your knowledge base and familiarity with key terms. The result is that you should be easily able to hold your own in senior executive meetings. For your career progression, you'll also be able to give great responses to interview questions.

To gain insight into how to become a more effective leader, you may study leadership theory. This is concerned with how leaders are built, made or otherwise come to be.

Some examples of leadership theories are:

• Transformational or Relationship Theory: Transformational leaders motivate and inspire others by modelling the kinds of behaviours they want and by demonstrating passion and enthusiasm. They win over their staff through the positive nature of their relationships.
• Great Man Theory: This theory assumes that leaders are born with a certain combination of traits that makes them who they are. They rise to high positions naturally while others, who lack such traits, may struggle to ever become good leaders.
• Transactional or Management Theory: Some leaders may emerge by adapting to and succeeding within the governance system of their organisation. They are rewarded for performing well in a structured environment.

How people, both as individuals and groups, behave within a company or other organisation is the topic of interest when you study organisational behaviour. As part of a management or leadership course, you'll examine strategies to elicit the kinds of behaviours that maximise performance.

A simple example of organisational behaviour management is positive reinforcement. When, as a manager, you notice an employee or team doing something well, you reward that. Positive reinforcement might simply be a personal acknowledgement. But you can also draw attention to strong performance publicly or even build salary rewards into your performance management system.

A further behavioural management strategy example is open communication. To improve the flow of information, you identify any barriers to communication and try to remove or overcome them. For example, you can facilitate 360 degree feedback, where staff have the ability to provide anonymous feedback on the performances of their business or bosses.