This course earns you a Certificate of Completion from HBS Online. What you earn.
Elevate your leadership style to meet the distinct challenges of leading larger, more dispersed teams
Develop strategies for planning and engineering organizational change and innovation initiativesShape your organizational culture and architecture to maximize talent, leverage diversity, and drive performance
Prepare for the next phase of your leadership journey, whether you’re expanding your overall scope of responsibilities or taking over a larger department or organization.
I'm now more mindful of how my colleagues are experiencing me, and less averse to having difficult conversations.
Learn to lead at scale and mobilize your employees as you transition your business from a startup into a growth-stage company.
"HBS Online courses are excellent for anyone who wishes to learn more about a particular subject area or further develop their career."
If you’ve completed Leadership Principles, this course will help you expand your leadership toolkit and prepare you to run a division, department, or organization.
"I found the content of the course to be extremely informative and applicable to the real challenges of being a leader. I loved the frameworks and the case study model of the course, and I thought the course was very manageable on top of a full-time job."
Boost your resume with a Certificate of Completion from HBS Online
Earn by: completing this course
Prove your mastery of leadership and management
Earn by: completing any three courses within this subject area to earn a Certificate of Specialization
Understand the key imperatives of transitioning to a new organizational leadership role, including common dangers to avoid.
Develop a direction for your division, unit, or organization, informed by the external context in which your organization operates.
Use vision, purpose, strategy, and identity to craft a statement of direction and apply techniques to communicate that direction to every level of the organization.
Video upload: Record yourself communicating direction and evaluate the effectiveness of your and your peers’ communication techniques
Understand the critical design choices to align the people, systems and structure, and culture in your division, unit, or organization to deliver value.
Identify a performance or opportunity gap within your division, unit, or organization and develop an action plan to address it. Identify personal leadership development opportunities using feedback from the Learning Path Tool assessment.
Diagnose the need for organizational change in response to external shifts or internal challenges, and utilize the CHANGE model to implement organizational change successfully.
Reflect on key change initiatives within your organization and analyze their effectiveness using the CHANGE model
Describe the steps for driving innovation within established organizations and explain how to transform your organization's culture into one of innovation.
Examine the personal and organizational challenges of leading through inflection points and adversity and assess your capacity to rise to new leadership responsibilities.
Module 8—Leading Self at Scale and Scope—is a bonus module and not required for course completion. It will be available for participants as optional content at the end of the course.
Learn about the difference between leadership and management, uncover the qualities and skills that characterize an effective leader, gain an understanding of common leadership styles, and explore how you can unleash the potential in yourself and others.
Organizational Leadership equips experienced team leaders and aspiring executives with the skills, strategies, and tools to rise to expanded leadership responsibilities and guide their organizations effectively.
Stay active by engaging in a new activity every three to five minutes and applying your knowledge through peer feedback, self-assessments, and a project.
Description of silent animated video above: Learner completes an interactive question by dragging and dropping choices into two different categories
Get social by collaborating with a global community of peers before, during, and after your course. Learners who successfully complete an HBS Online program will be added to the HBS Online Community's Official Networking Group and gain exclusive access to events and other networking opportunities.
Description of silent animated video above: Learner types an answer in the discussion board in response to a peer's question
Immerse yourself in real-world, case-based examples brought to life by industry-leading experts from companies like General Mills, Medtronic, and Levi Strauss & Co.
Description of silent animated video above: Learner scrolls through video interviews from prominent business leaders
"Organizational Leadership is an online course that equips experienced team leaders with the skills, strategies, and tools to guide their organizations effectively."
"This course will prepare you to set and communicate direction, influence through other managers, drive innovation, and engineer change."
No current course offerings for this selection.
7 Weeks $1850 + applicable international taxes Enrollment deadline October 17 7 Weeks $1850 + applicable international taxes Enrollment deadline January 9 No documentation requiredAll learners must be at least 18 years of age, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the course.
Participating in the student discussions and answering cold calls was empowering. It ignited a drive within me to learn and absorb as much as I could.
Leslie Pico
A small business owner and tech entrepreneur from Arizona
Programming & System Analysis, Biomedical Engineering, Estrella Mountain Community College
Small Business Administration, Northern Arizona University
Getting the perspective of a problem from various departments brought more solutions to the forefront that could be explored.
Participants in Organizational Leadership are eligible for a Certificate of Completion from Harvard Business School Online.
Participants are expected to fully complete all coursework in a thoughtful and timely manner. This will mean meeting each week’s course module deadlines and fully answering questions posed therein. This helps ensure participants proceed through the course at a similar pace and can take full advantage of social learning opportunities. In addition to module and assignment completion, we expect you to offer feedback on others’ reflections and contribute to conversations on the platform. Participants who fail to complete the course requirements will not receive a certificate and will not be eligible to retake the course.
More detailed information on course requirements will be communicated at the start of the course. No grades are assigned for Organizational Leadership. Participants will either be evaluated as complete or not complete.
The Learning Path Tool (LPT) is a 360-degree assessment developed at Harvard Business School to provide leaders with insights into key areas of competence essential for effective leadership. At the beginning of Organizational Leadership, you’ll be asked to complete a self-assessment and solicit feedback from colleagues, such as direct reports, clients, or managers, for the assessment. Upon successful completion of the LPT—which requires obtaining ratings from at least two colleagues (and ideally at least six)—you will receive a detailed report that provides insight into your leadership and how others experience you.
Please note that Qualtrics—the tool used in the delivery of the Learning Path Tool—does not provide services to individuals in Russia and Belarus. If you take Organizational Leadership from any of these countries, you won't be able to complete the Learning Path Tool. However, you'll still be eligible to complete the course successfully. Please contact the HBS Online Support Team for more information.
You will have access to the materials in every prior module as you progress through the program. Access to course materials and the course platform ends 60 days after the final deadline in the program.
At the end of each course module, you will be able to download a PDF summary highlighting key concepts used throughout the course. At the end of the program, you will receive a PDF compilation of all of the module summary documents. We hope the module summary documents will serve as a helpful resource after you finish the course.
Harvard Business School Online
Certificate in Organizational Leadership
[Cohort Start Month and Year]
List your certificate on your LinkedIn profile under "Education" with the language from the Credential Verification page:
School: Harvard Business School Online
Dates Attended: [The year you participated in the program]
Degree: Other; Certificate in Organizational Leadership
Field of Study: Leave blank
Grade: "Complete"
Activities and Societies: Leave blank
For the program description on LinkedIn, please use the following:
Organizational Leadership is a 7-week, 40-hour online certificate program from Harvard Business School. Organizational Leadership equips experienced team leaders with the skills, strategies, and tools to set and communicate direction, influence through other managers, generate organizational alignment, drive innovation, and engineer change.
The program was developed by leading Harvard Business School faculty and is delivered in an active learning environment based on the HBS signature case-based learning model.
CLIMB enables new and experienced leaders to ignite their careers with a combination of vital and forward-looking business skills, self-reflection, and an immersive cohort-based learning experience with a diverse global network.
1 year, 5-9 hrs/week
Learn to bring out the best in others by applying and adapting your leadership style and managing the conditions that drive team performance.
6 weeks, 7-9 hrs/week
Secure maximum value for your organization through a mastery of negotiation techniques.
8 weeks, 4-5 hrs/week
Master four vital managerial processes: decision-making, implementation, organizational learning, and change management.
8 weeks, 4-7 hrs/weekWe offer self-paced programs (with weekly deadlines) on the HBS Online course platform.
Our platform features short, highly produced videos of HBS faculty and guest business experts, interactive graphs and exercises, cold calls to keep you engaged, and opportunities to contribute to a vibrant online community.
We expect to offer our courses in additional languages in the future but, at this time, HBS Online can only be provided in English.
All course content is delivered in written English. Closed captioning in English is available for all videos. There are no live interactions during the course that requires the learner to speak English. Coursework must be completed in English.
No, all of our programs are 100 percent online, and available to participants regardless of their location.
Certificate Programs
HBS Online welcomes committed learners wherever they are—in the world and their careers—irrespective of their professional experience or academic background. To extend the reach of HBS Online, we no longer require an application for our certificate programs. (Applications are still required for our credential programs: CORe and CLIMB.) You can now immediately enroll and start taking the next step in your career.
All programs require the completion of a brief online enrollment form before payment. If you are new to HBS Online, you will be required to set up an account before enrolling in the program of your choice.
Our easy online enrollment form is free, and no special documentation is required. All participants must be at least 18 years of age, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the program.
Updates to your enrollment status will be shown on your account page. HBS Online does not use race, gender, ethnicity, or any protected class as criteria for enrollment for any HBS Online program.
Credential Programs
HBS Online's CORe and CLIMB programs require the completion of a brief application. The applications vary slightly, but all ask for some personal background information. You can apply for and enroll in programs here. If you are new to HBS Online, you will be required to set up an account before starting an application for the program of your choice.
Our easy online application is free, and no special documentation is required. All participants must be at least 18 years of age, proficient in English, and committed to learning and engaging with fellow participants throughout the program.
Updates to your application and enrollment status will be shown on your account page. We confirm enrollment eligibility within one week of your application for CORe and three weeks for CLIMB. HBS Online does not use race, gender, ethnicity, or any protected class as criteria for admissions for any HBS Online program.
