This week, Harvard Business School announced they will be offering a new leadership course via HBX, their online learning platform. The name says it all. “Developing Yourself as a Leader” will impart some best practices for personal gain in a leadership role over a 12-week period.

The course is designed for young and emerging leaders to hone their craft. It will will be taught by Harvard Business School faculty and include support from talent development coaches. What’s more, learners will not need to significantly interrupt their weekly routines. While the course is synchronous, learners will be able to follow the modules and participate remotely.

Learning Through Cases

The course is built around eight ‘cases.’ For each, learners will join instructors for live virtual sessions on the HBX platform. These cases are based on real-world situations experienced by the Harvard faculty and represent common challenges that young leaders will face. In addition to these cases, each learner will undergo three one-on-one sessions with talent development coaches. These coaches will follow the Pick-Apprise-Collect-Elicit framework (PACE), the same theory they use with Harvard MBA students.

The course will be lead by associate professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior, Ethan Bernstein. His research has focused generally on leadership and collaboration in a global context. Bernstein will be joined by assistant professors Alison Wood Brooks and Ariel Stern.

“With the Developing Yourself as a Leader course, the faculty teaching team is delighted to bring some of Harvard Business School’s best theory and research in topics essential to proactive leadership development to emerging leaders around the globe,” said Bernstein in a statement. “Combined with a suite of self-assessments, leading-edge tools, and one-on-one talent development coaching, the course equips each participant with a personalized toolkit to make tangible, lasting progress on leadership goals and ready them for a leadership trajectory in their organization.” 

“Getting to know the needs of the individual and offering tailored support for her development goals is one of the hallmarks of talent development coaching at Harvard Business School,” said Talent Development Coach Co-Manager Eileen Stephan in a statement. “With Developing Yourself as a Leader, high-potential emerging leaders can access that same close, customized attention without having to travel to campus.”

Harvard Business School, HBX, and Vocational Training

Applications for the program are currently open. The process will go through three different rounds, the first of which will close on August 29. Priority will be given to applicants who apply in the first round. Following that, Harvard will continue to accept applications until the program has reached capacity, or until December 5th, whichever comes first. The course is set to begin January 29, 2019.

Harvard Business School offers a wide range of continuing education courses for young and mid-career professionals. They range widely both in time commitment and cost. Subjects include anything business analytics to mastering negotiation. Another big bonus of HBX courses is they help business learners connect with others much like them. Along with annual events and in-person meetups, the vocational training efforts from Harvard Business School can offer a solid network along with much needed skills.

Cover Image: Florian Pilz, Flickr.