Leadership &
Management Certificate Program
Five Key Domains For Competency Building
The certificate program is focused on five key domains for competency building: leadership, strategy, and governance; organizational performance optimization; financial management; innovation, marketing and service line development; and technology and analytics. You can click through the five key domains below to learn more about the domains’ content and view available courses.
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1. Leadership, Strategy & Governance
- Strategic Business Vision – Strategy Development
Recognize threats and take advantage of the opportunities in the market that affect the organization’s competitiveness and effectiveness. Individuals with this competency are masters at assessing the internal and external organizational environment and developing a vision and strategic business objectives that align with it to achieve growth and sustainability. They incorporate thinking with an “enterprise” perspective to define business acumen.
- Strategy Implementation & Management
Create organizational processes and team structures aligned to the strategic plan, with clear accountability for outcomes. Master business tools used to manage organizational performance and sustainability, including business process mapping, reengineering, unit cost analysis, and return-on-investment analysis.
- Decisionmaking Acumen
Analyze the current market—customers, competitors, and internal capabilities—and make critical and timely organizational decisions. Develop strategic decision making skills – the process of understanding the interaction of executive decisions and the impact on the organization and its ability to gain a competitive advantage and sustainable market position.
- Service Line Portfolio Management
Analyze and evaluate the organization’s entire line of services for market “fit” to determine which services to invest in and which to phase out. Individuals with this competency analyze service lines on several parameters – including their relationship to organizational mission, profitability, market share, and market potential. They can develop service line management strategies to ensure the organization’s financial and human resource investments are used appropriately.
- Transformational Leadership & Change Management
The communication skills of leaders go beyond written and verbal communication skills. Individuals with this competency relate well to all kinds of people – staff, board directors, customers, and other stakeholders. They can build constructive relationships with a wide range of individuals and are able to adjust their communication style to ensure that messages are clear.
- Meta-Leadership – Building Collaboration & Partnerships
Develop and effectively manage strategic collaborations or partnerships with other organizations. Individuals with this competency see collaborations and partnerships as a potential tool for achieving the organization’s mission, and they work with a mindset that, in some instances, partnerships with competitors, customers, or other stakeholders, build competitive advantage.
2. Organizational Performance Optimization
- Operational Performance Measurement & Management
Select and use appropriate performance metrics to manage the progress and effectiveness of individuals, workgroups, and the organization. Individuals with this competency use data to measure success or failure, and they are skilled at interpreting performance measures and explaining their meaning to others for compliance and quality management.
- Workforce Management & Talent Optimization
Develop, coach, and maximize the performance of current employees and workgroups. This skill is critical in a field where the largest expense is people. Competency in this area includes the skills needed to identify human resource needs and to create a work environment that supports change. Individuals with this competency have exemplary supervisory skills and are knowledgeable of best practices in human resources.
- Project Planning & Management
Plan, budget, and manage a complex project from start to finish. Individuals versed in this competency area can accurately determine the length and difficulty of the necessary project tasks, including developing and managing process steps, schedules, staff and financial resources, and progress milestones.
3. Financial Management
- Financial Management Best Practices
Assess and manage the organization’s financial operations and build organizational financial strength.
- Budget Development & Management
Best practices in developing and managing budgets – using budgets to test organizational planning.
- Costing & Pricing
The ability to determine the cost of delivering services—and manage those costs—and participate in negotiating customer pricing.
- Financial Planning
Lead the organization with proactive financial analysis and modeling for mergers and acquisitions, new service line planning, major investments, and return on investment analysis.
4. Innovation, Marketing & Service Line Development
- Market Positioning & Marketing Strategy
Assess markets and develop competitive market positioning and marketing strategies to bring that positioning to market.
- Marketing Planning & Execution
Develop strategy-focused marketing plans to achieve organizational revenue goals and execute the strategy.
- Customer Experience & Engagement
Empathize with and attend to the needs, desires, and satisfaction of all the organization’s customers—purchasers, consumers, and other stakeholders—and create a superior customer experience.
Individuals with this competency have an external focus. They actively seek feedback and input from customers. They are “in tune” with customers, understanding what they want and how they think.
- Innovative Service Line Development
Identify and analyze creative service opportunities. Individuals with this competency can translate marketing knowledge into desired service attributes and acceptable pricing.
5. Technology & Analytics
- Technology Strategy & Planning
Individuals with skills in technology resource planning understand how the organization operates to serve its customers – and how to use available technology to improve performance and reduce costs. This competency involves extensive knowledge about what technology is available in the marketplace and the ability to help the management team implement the technology solutions necessary to achieve strategic objectives.
- Technology Optimization
Leverage technology to improve organizational performance, competitive advantage, and sustainability. This includes skills in technology implementation, process reengineering, and enhanced customer interface/customer experience.
- Metrics-Based Management
Organize and use data to monitor and manage organizational strategy and performance.
- Information Literacy & Data-Driven Decisionmaking
Understand and use available data to manage the organization, creating strategic links between business activity, internal performance information, and external market intelligence. This includes “translating” information requests from across the enterprise and facilitating the use of data for performance optimization – creating a solution-focused, data-driven management culture.