Top Executive Management Programs to Augment You As a Leader

When your career needs a transformation, you cannot rely on incremental changes. Especially for mid-career and senior management professionals, there are phases in your career when you want to make a radical shift in your career journey.

 

Executive management programs are specifically designed for such times, catering to mid and senior-level managerial positions having around 10-15 years of experience. 

A well-designed executive program from a reputed institute will not only help you reflect-on and redirect your career, but it will also help you in developing the required perspective and mental models through your interaction with faculty and peers. Ideally, it should help you in maximizing the impact of your professional journey.

Let’s look at some of the key benefits of taking up an executive management program:

• Build a strategic thinking approach 
• Improve leadership skills
• Update yourself on macro-economic realities
• Personal career growth and mental reset
• Change your ecosystem

List of Leading Executive Management Programs for Senior Level Executives 

Short Term Courses (Less than 6 months)

1. Persuasive Communication Bootcamp by MIT Professional Education

This course focuses on helping professionals groom their communication skills. It is suitable for those who constantly communicate with both sides of the hierarchy (up and down). The key selling point of this program is multi-dynamic and teaches how to communicate using visual persuasion and data visualization techniques. It also throws light on the importance of intercultural diversity in persuasion, and at the same time, it enhances your critical thinking abilities which are helpful in digging out positive outcomes even from tricky discussions. 

Who Should Attend This Program?

This program is suitable for both IT and Non-IT professionals who are constantly involved in constant communication with diverse audiences and multiple media channels. 
Duration – 5 days
Mode of Learning – Live Virtual Class
Focused Skills – Communication, Presentation, Data Visualization

2. EDP in Marketing Analytics by XLRI

The course is crafted for experienced marketing professionals, product managers, and senior finance managers. The course content is a comprehensive blend of topics including modern marketing concepts including data interpretation, product analysis, social media marketing, and pricing analysis. Also, this course offers practical and useful tools and approaches for managers to foresee the impact of marketing efforts and truncate marketing expenditures.  Also, the course pedagogy is a perfect amalgamation of online lectures, case studies, simulations, practical exercises, and peer discussion, which helps course takers in gaining deeper insights and greater precision. 

Who Should Attend This Program?

This program is designed for the following professionals:

• Senior managers (sales, marketing, business development, retail, branding, digital marketers, media and advertisement)
• Business Analysts 
• Experienced product managers

Duration – 5 months
Mode of Learning – Online Classroom Sessions
Focused Skills – Sales Forecasting, Product Portfolio Analysis, Presentation, Advertising, 

3. Product Management Certification Program by Duke CE University

This course is offered by Duke CE University, which is one of the most prestigious universities. It is designed to bridge the skill gap which most of them face while designing a successful product roadmap. This unique course module deepens into every step of the product management lifecycle and how mid and senior-level managers can use all formalistic insights into the real industry. The most interesting part of this course is that it brings real-world case studies and live sessions based on actual problems that product managers face. 

Who Should Attend This Program?

This program is curated for the following professionals:

• Project managers
• Product managers
• Sales and marketing professionals
• Business development managers
• UI-UX Design 

Duration – 5 month
Mode of Learning – Online virtual class
Focused Skills – Product Artefacts, Interactive prototyping, MVP, Product Analysis, Product Planning

4. 21st Century Leadership (In a VUCA World) By ISB 

The course by ISB is structured for 10+ years of working professionals who are on heading a team or are holding a leadership role including GMs, business heads, and functional heads. It brings in the agile thinking frameworks using the blended and theoretical workshop models. Also, as the industry in the VUCA era (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) is witnessing agile, uncertain, and complex global markets, the managers and business heads need to reskill their leadership qualities in order to deliver positive business outcomes. This is where this course is helpful as its pedagogy emphasizes on agile leadership skills and develops competencies to envision the bigger picture. 

Who Should Attend This Program?

This is one of the leading Executive Management Programs which is designed for professionals having 10+ years of work experience and are working as:

• General managers
• Functional heads
• Business heads/ Business leaders
• Senior executives
• Vice presidents

Duration – 3 days
Mode of Learning – On-campus 
Focused Skills – Transformative Leadership, Transformation skills, Behavioural approach

5. Oxford Programme on Negotiation – Saïd Business School

This course by Said Business School delves around developing a framework for leading successful negotiations. Negotiation skill is like the backbone for those who are leading a team and thus this course outlines a scientific way of winning conversations using persuasive communication. Also, with this 5-day program, you will learn how to negotiate rationally in a non-rational world, what roles trust and ethics play in negotiation, how to use negotiation skills during multi-party discussions, and a lot more. The alumni of this course also vouch for it and they have gained ubiquitous exposure in their organization by achieving better results with all stakeholders. 

Who Should Attend This Executive Management Programs?

This program is restricted access and only working professionals having an average experience of 10 years can opt for this course. The work profiles of participants can vary and it includes:

• CEOs
• Business directors
• Military heads
• Educational leaders
• NGO heads
• Senior managers 
• Senior civil servants
• Political leaders

Duration – 5 days
Mode of Learning – On-campus
Focused Skills – Negotiation, Persuasive communication, Multicultural communication

Long Duration Courses (6 months to 2 years)

6. XLRI Executive Development Program in Project Management for Senior Professionals

In order to offer a holistic view of project management skills, tools, and techniques; XLRI brings an executive development program for senior professionals having a minimum of 8 years of experience. This program covers 7 modules and incorporates a separate module for IT-related and non-IT related project managers. The course initiates from the basic project management concepts including Frameworks like Agile, PRINCE2, PMBOK, and charts and tools like CPM & PERT concepts. It also drives through some deep concepts like risk assessment and management in projects, project portfolio management, and strategic alignment. 

Who Should Attend This Program?

As this program is designed for senior-level professionals, the minimum eligibility for managers to apply for this program is 8 years of work experience. Out of these eight years, these managers must hold 3 years of direct experience in project management or five years of experience in a project execution role. Also, all the Indian and international participants must be graduated or diploma holders from any recognized university.  

Duration – 8 months
Mode of Learning – Online classroom course 
Focused Skills – Project Management, Risk Management, Vendor Management, Project Budgeting, and Cost Controlling 

7. IIMA- Senior Management Programme Offered by VC Now

This course is offered by IIMA – India’s most prestigious management school with QUIS (European Quality Improvement System) accreditation. It is particularly designed for working professionals having 10+ years of experience and looking for moving forward to leadership roles. Also, this being a blended program, most of the classes are virtual and thus it enhances the skills of senior professionals without moving them out from their job. A majority of course modules revolve around marketing, financial management, operations, organizational behaviour, and HR. 

Who Should Attend This Program?

The program can only be taken by professionals who have 10 or 10+ years of work experience or are self-employed for ten years. This course is best suited for those who are aspiring to next-level leadership roles in their organization. 

Duration – 12 months
Mode of Learning – Virtual class along with 12-day on-campus sessions 
Focused Skills – Management, Negotiation, Communication, Strategy, Information Systems

8. Executive Programme in Leadership Management (EPLM) by IIM Calcutta at Hughes Global Education

As strategic thinking and leadership management are two essential skills for working professionals, IIM Calcutta brings an executive program that is designed to equip participants with effective strategy formulation at the workplace. This course is particularly developed for senior professionals having at least 10 years of experience and even start-up owners and entrepreneurs having at least 5 years of experience can opt-in for the course. This program helps tools managers for articulating and managing risk and successfully make strategic choices. 

It also grooms intuitive leadership, promotes a forward-looking agenda, and how as a leader, one must make bold moves early. Further, it also underpins managers to identify the strategy required for situations like ‘when to compete or collaborate’. The captivating part of this course is that it offers an interactive workshop on ‘Strategic Communications’

Who Should Attend This Program?

The eligibility criteria for the EPLM program is:

• Must be a working professional or self-employed
• Must be a graduate with at least 50% of aggregate marks from a recognized university (UGC/AICTE)
• At least 10 years of work experience
• At least 5 years of experience as a founder, entrepreneur, or promoter
• The final selection will be based on an interview conducted by program directors

Duration – 12 months
Mode of Learning – Blended course
Focused Skills – Strategic Communication, Networking & influencing, Social Media Marketing

9. IIT Bombay-Washu Executive MBA

This Executive MBA program is a collaborative course offered by two very eminent institutes – IIT-Bombay and the Washington University in St Louis. This exclusive MBA program is ideal for senior leaders looking to succeed in dynamic business cycles and severe business volatility. This course enhances the managerial competencies of professionals who belong to varied industries including finance and banking, eCommerce, health and medicine, automation, automobile, education, etc. The course curriculum includes ten core functional topics like Strategic Management, Data Modelling and Decisions, Strategic Cost Analysis, and ten advanced functional topics like Competitive Strategy & Industry Analysis, Global Business Planning & Strategy, Strategic Management of Innovation. 

Also, for this program, professionals need to attend 17 classroom sessions in India (Taj Lands End or/and IIT Bombay Campus) and visit Washington DC for another two-week session. Also, the top 20% of the class is eligible to join the global Beta Gamma Sigma network.

Who Should Attend This Program?

In order to be eligible for this program, participants must have:

• Proven work experience of at least 7 years wherein at least 5 years of managerial level experience is required 
• Fluency in English both oral and written

Duration – 18 months
Mode of Learning – Classroom program 
Focused Skills – Strategic Communication, Networking & influencing Social Media Marketing 

End Note

As per Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, most professionals with 10+ years of experience are on the ‘Self-Esteem’ stage. Now, for them to move on to the level of ‘Self-Actualization’ and successfully leverage leadership roles, it is imperative to update and augment new competencies. Thus, the above-listed executive programs will not only unfold managers into leaders but will also open new dimensions for your growth.