Top 10 Executive Courses in Leading Organizational Change

The Stanford Graduate School of Business in Silicon Valley puts on the Leading Change and Organizational Renewal program in-person over six days in collaboration with Harvard Business School. Participants learn how to leverage research and proven methodologies for change management. The course includes innovation challenge workshops to help organizations catalyze change. Participants also learn how to put design thinking into action at Stanford’s Institute of Design. 

NYU Stern School of Business in New York City runs the Change Leadership: Strategies for Organizational Growth in a Dynamic World program. The four-day online executive course is designed to guide leaders through the process of sparking and leading successful change while ensuring business growth. Participants learn how to diagnose the needs of their company, develop a plan for change and examine case studies that illustrate different implementation techniques.  

Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business in New York state puts on the Leading Organizational Change course. On this online program, running for two weeks, participants examine their own leadership styles and learn skills that help them translate ideas into hard results. They also learn how to overcome inertia within companies and study strategies for overcoming individual resistance to change. They also explore ways to anticipate and mitigate uncertainty. 

UW Foster School of Business offers the Leading Organizational Change online program, which focuses on how to overcome stagnation and achieve innovation. Participants learn in one day how to anticipate and overcome common barriers to change including employee disinterest, exhaustion and paranoia. They learn how to motivate enthusiastic employee engagement, and create and implement an organizational change plan, while developing and receiving feedback. 

The Warwick Executive Diploma in Organizational Change provides a comprehensive view of the full spectrum of change strategies, enabling participants to craft tailored strategies for organizational change. The program is taught over a year on a part-time basis, at Warwick Business School’s London campus at The Shard skyscraper. 

Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Illinois hosts the Driving Organizational Change program, delivered digitally. On this hands-on course, participants work on projects to put the latest theories and tools into practice. They often attend with teams from their organization, and so gain the opportunity to create a plan together and receive feedback from expert faculty, becoming “change champions” on their return to the office.  

UBC Sauder School of Business in Vancouver, Canada, offers the Leading Change program that runs for two days and is delivered online in real time. Participants learn how change impacts people and what leadership skills are needed to manage the upheaval. This includes communicating clearly, supporting people and facilitating the transition process, which helps to sustain the momentum for change. 

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business has the Leading Organizational Change program. It attracts participants from a wide array of backgrounds, who bring their experience to bear in case studies covering a broad range of leadership challenges. Participants apply the tools and concepts learned to their own organization, and consult with classmates to prepare for the challenges ahead. They also benefit from a post-program consultation with Booth faculty. 

Another UK option is the Leading Change and Organizational Development Masterclass at Henley Business School at the University of Reading, north of London. Taught on Henley’s beautiful Greenlands campus, participants attend two full-day sessions where they learn how to articulate the value of change, align people, processes and structures, as well as the skills needed to design, enable and sustain change. 

Elsewhere in Europe, the Rotterdam School of Management, in the Netherlands, runs a three-day online program called Organizational Change. It explores the theories of change and the different approaches that can be applied to the diagnosis and solving of problems in organizations. Participants learn how to develop and implement a plan for change, and study the critical issues to be considered, such as stakeholder management, strategic leadership, communication and motivating others to change.