Managing at Yale Core Courses

Core Courses Online

The Managing at Yale core courses are delivered through an online learning platform with an in-person component. Like an online college course, you can complete much of the content asynchronously—at your own pace—during times that work best for your schedule while still experiencing the benefits of live instruction when critically necessary. You are encouraged to participate in all live sessions with subject matter experts; however, you can watch most recorded sessions on your own time.

Leadership Essentials – Step One

This eight-week virtual course, which includes an in-person kickoff session, teaches new managers about managing at Yale. Participants dedicate approximately two hours/week to the program.

This comprehensive course lays the foundation for effective leadership, covering five key areas: Leadership and Management Fundamentals, Legal and Ethical Considerations, Building a High-Performing Workforce, Performance Management, and Providing Feedback and Coaching. You’ll explore managerial roles and responsibilities, Yale’s leadership expectations, business ethics, employment law, and labor relations. The course equips you with best practices in hiring, interviewing, and HR collaboration and skills in conducting performance conversations, setting goals, and providing ongoing feedback and coaching.

In this eight-week course, you will:

  • Define a manager’s key roles and responsibilities in a leadership position and how they contribute to organizational success.
  • Identify the fundamental business standards, ethics principles, and their importance in leadership decision-making.
  • Explore the essential elements of employment law and their impact on leadership responsibilities.
  • Review best practices in hiring and interviewing and how they contribute to building a high-performing workforce.
  • Explain the critical components of effective performance conversations and how they contribute to employee development and success.

Leading Teams – Step Two

This virtual eight-week course continues the learning journey by giving managers a better understanding of themselves and their management style and insights into creating an influential culture for their team. Participants invest up to two hours/week into their learning, with the in-person kickoff session.
 

Throughout the course, you’ll gain insights into organizational culture factors, learn to apply the DiSC assessment to enhance team collaboration, and develop strategies for effective communication and leadership influence. You’ll also explore the concepts of psychological safety, emotional intelligence, and the Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team. By the end of the program, you’ll be equipped with the skills to lead with excellence, drive organizational growth, and create a welcoming workplace. You’ll be able to develop and implement Individual Development Plans (IDPs), comprehend modern approaches to behavior change and organizational initiatives, and create actionable plans for driving successful change within your department while fostering teamwork and execution excellence.
 

Throughout the program, you will:
 

  • Define the key elements of a positive team culture and how they contribute to team success.
  • Identify the key components of the DiSC assessment and understand how individual differences can enhance team collaboration.
  • Define emotional intelligence and how it impacts leadership effectiveness and team dynamics.
  • Explore practical communication principles and strategies and how they support leadership influence and team performance.
  • Define varied perspectives and collaborative environments and explain their importance in creating a positive team culture.

Driving Performance – Step Three

This final step of the initial journey continues as a virtual eight-week course, with the kickoff and the final sessions both held in person. It provides a deeper understanding of how effective managers create high satisfaction levels for customers, their staff, and themselves. Participants dedicate up to 2 hours/week to this program.

This course focuses on developing essential managerial skills to achieve business success and lead effective teams. You’ll explore key areas, including Measuring Business Performance, Communicating Effectively, Personal Effectiveness and Time Management, Delegation and Prioritization, and Leading Change and Managing Transitions. The course emphasizes data-driven decision-making, effective communication strategies, and time management techniques to enhance leadership capabilities.

In this course, you will:

  • Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) for different departments and explain how they contribute to overall organizational success.
  • Describe and discuss strategies for making data meaningful for business decisions and how leaders can effectively use data to drive performance.
  • Review the importance of effective time allocation across leadership responsibilities and understand how it contributes to personal and team success.
  • Explore effective delegation strategies and how they support team performance and development.
  • Identify strategies for preparing employees for change and how effective change management supports organizational success.

Mid-Senior Manager Courses

Extraordinary Leader Program – Step Four

This one-day program for managers will educate, train, and motivate you to become a great leader. It provides you with new insights into what makes leaders extraordinary. A 360-degree leadership assessment, development plan, and coach are included. This recommended program is ideally taken after completion of the Managing at Yale series and is for those who have been in their current position for at least 12 months.

In today’s rapidly changing, highly competitive environment, the organizations that excel in their respective markets will be those whose people are most competent, passionate, and focused on delivering results. The Extraordinary Leader Program presents a proven framework for helping individuals make a profound difference in their organization’s results, performance, and development. The program is built on research-based principles of leadership performance. This workshop will share and help you apply this process to your organizational performance and development. Once completed, you are provided with a coach for a free 90-minute session.

Advancing the Extraordinary Leader Program – Step Five

This half-day program for managers will assess improvements in the development areas you identified during your initial experience in the Extraordinary Leader Program. It again includes a 360-degree leadership assessment, development plan, and coach. We recommend attending this training 18 months after the Extraordinary Leader Program.

Registration

Step One – Am I eligible?

Are you:

  • A manager of Yale staff with direct reports?

Step Two – Identify the course(s) you need to take.

Can’t remember? Check your transcripts in Workday Learning.

  • Log into Workday Learning
  • Navigate to “My Learning” in the left-hand column
  • Navigate to “View Learning Transcript”
  • Review for any of the Managing at Yale core courses and note the date(s) you attended. Has it been over five years since you last attended? If so, consider retaking these course(s) as a refresher.

Step Three – Register

In Workday Learning, search for the course(s) that you still need to complete to register. You are required to enroll in all three courses in the same Cohort. Cohorts can be identified with the letter following the course title; for example, if you register for Leadership Essentials Cohort P, you will enroll in Leading Teams Cohort P, followed by Driving Performance Cohort P. This ensures that you attend these in the order intended, as they build upon one another. If you need to change cohorts after enrolling in Leadership Essentials, change your enrollment in the other two courses to ensure you are taking these in order.

If your transcripts indicate that you need just two of the foundational core courses, please email learning@yale.edu with your request.

Step One – Am I eligible?

Are you:

  • Employed at the University for 12 or more months.
  • A manager of staff and has one or more direct reports?
  • Job Grade is 24 and above.
    • Don’t know your job grade? To confirm your grade, please consult with your HRBP.
  • Have you completed all three pre-requisites (the foundational core courses: Managing at Yale Essentials, Great Manager Program, Managing for Results?)
  • If you have answered Yes to all the above, please proceed to Step Two.

Step Two – Identify the course(s) you need to take.

Can’t remember? Check your transcripts in Workday Learning.

  • Log in to Workday Learning
  • Navigate to “My Learning” in the left-hand column
  • Navigate to “View Learning Transcript”
  • Review any of the Block Two courses and note the date you attended. Has it been over five years since you last attended? Have you changed departments and have been in your new department for at least 12 months? If so, consider retaking the course(s) as a refresher.

Step Three – Register

In Workday Learning, search for the course(s) you still need to complete to register. Your registration will go into a pending status while we verify that you are in the correct course. If we discover you may have registered for an incorrect course, we will reach out to get you into the correct course. Once approved, you will receive a welcome email with additional information.

Extraordinary Leader Program
(pre-requisite: Managing at Yale Essentials, Great Manager Program and Managing for Results)

Advancing the Extraordinary Leader Program
(pre-requisite: attended the Extraordinary Leader Program at least 12 -18 months, prior to this course start date)

If you have any questions, please get in touch with us at learning@yale.edu.

Frequently Asked Questions

Being able to manage your time is important to us. We estimate you must set aside an average of 2 hours per week. Some weeks may be more than that, while others will be less. In Leadership Essentials, the two Labor Relations are not recorded and are mandatory. This is the heaviest lift of the program, with two 120-minute compulsory sessions. All other live sessions are recorded and available for viewing shortly after they were recorded.

Once you have registered, we expect you to be available to participate in all three modules. We encourage you to contact the Learning Center at learning@yale.edu to determine the start dates and the best time to register. If your vacation interrupts your learning in any module, choosing another Cohort may be wise.

You will always have access to the content you create. However, access to the learning content is limited to the one-year timeframe of your license.

Please get in touch with us at learning@yale.edu to discuss which Cohort fits your schedule. If you have already registered, please contact us as soon as possible to discuss the next steps.

Once a license is activated, it is the participant’s responsibility to continue learning. Please contact learning@yale.edu immediately to discuss your situation. Fees may apply.

Yale has contracted with an online learning platform, which requires an individual license to access the platform.

Yes, there is a fee associated with each participant’s license. Yale provides the license at no cost to participants; however, if you activate your license and do not attend a $60.00 recovery fee may be charged back to your department.

The initial core Managing at Yale series offered through the online learning platform has three courses and two 9-10 week breaks: Leadership Essentials (8 weeks with two mandatory live sessions), Leading Teams (8 weeks), and Driving Performance (8 weeks).

After completing the three core courses, we offer two programs for managers to continue developing via a 360-assessment. Zenger Folkman, a globally recognized research-based consulting company, presented this assessment and facilitated a session. These courses are: Extraordinary Leader Program and its follow-up program, Advancing the Extraordinary Leader Program. It is recommended to start your 360-assessment process with the Extraordinary Leader Program 12 months after completing the initial core Managing at Yale series.

Yes. Once your license has been activated, you will be asked to complete all three modules in that same Cohort. Should an emergency arise, please reach out to us to discuss your individual situation at learning@yale.edu.

Please contact us at learning@yale.edu to discuss your situation before registration. Once your license has been activated, you will be asked to complete all three modules in that same Cohort.

Please contact us at learning@yale.edu with your alternative date and we will adjust the dates. Please do not register for multiple dates.

Accidents happen! Please contact us at learning@yale.edu to confirm the date you want to commit to.

When you register, you start the process of activating your license. But don’t worry; we will reach out to confirm your attendance as we get closer to the Cohort date. Once confirmed, you will be enrolled in the online platform, and your license will be activated with your first log-in. Once activated, your license is valid for one year for course completion. Access to any content you have created on the platform will not expire!

Detailed syllabi are available one week before the start of the Cohort and included in your welcome email.

View/download the sample syllabus for the following courses:

This program is highly recommended for all existing and new Yale managers, as the curriculum was specifically designed to support managers in Yale’s unique managerial environment. If you have additional questions, please email learning@yale.edu. If you have concerns about participating in this program, please contact your HRBP.

That is fine. You do not need dual screens to complete this course.

If you cannot access a camera on your laptop or desktop, you can access live meetings and team meetings on your smartphone by downloading the Zoom app from your favorite App Store. Just remember to use your Yale ID to log in.

Once your license is activated, you will receive a welcome email with specific log in instructions for accessing the online learning platform.

Do not worry! We offer an opportunity to learn all about using an online learning platform before the course begins. Once you are enrolled, we will notify you of the live session, or how you can access a recorded session.