Moving from being an individual contributor to a manager—or from entry- to senior-level management—comes with responsibilities that require new skills. In addition to your role’s technical tasks, you must enable others to do their best work.
“A manager provides direction, gives feedback, gives advice, and helps people become as effective as they can be in the roles they’re in,” says Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson in the online course Management Essentials.
An effective way to gain those skills is by earning a management certificate. Here’s a primer on what a management certificate is, six ways it can benefit your career, and how to tell if pursuing one is right for you.
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DOWNLOAD NOWWhat Is a Management Certificate?
A management certificate is what you earn upon successfully completing a course designed to provide the skills to manage organizational teams.
Management certificate programs come in various formats, including in-person, online, and hybrid. They differ in their instructors, time commitments, and content, but each is designed to prepare you to assume a managerial role or advance to a higher organizational level.
Adding a management certificate to your resume can signal your commitment to lifelong learning and becoming a better manager.
Who Should Pursue a Management Certificate?
If you’re a new or aspiring manager—such as an entrepreneur who needs to supervise a growing team—you can benefit from a foundational management certificate course. It can provide the instruction needed to further your career and manage effectively using different tools, frameworks, and perspectives.
If you’re a seasoned manager advancing to a higher level—for instance, if you’ll be leading larger, geographically diverse teams—a management certificate course can provide the skills to reach the next level.
Alex Glavkov, a technical program manager at Amazon Robotics, took Management Essentials to strengthen his management skills.
“I thought I knew the subject relatively well and it would be a refresher,” Glavkov says. “I was in for a surprise. After the first module, I realized I did many things wrong. The most chilling thought was about missed opportunities. The course is giving me a good structure to understand organizational behavior.”
The beauty of management is that it’s useful in virtually every department and industry—whether you work in sales, marketing, finance, accounting, public relations, product management, customer service, or information technology. Knowing how to manage is also valuable if you’re an engineer, an educator, a radio DJ, or a doctor. No matter your career, being able to guide teams and empower people to do their best work can set you up to excel.
Related: What Is a Management Training Program, and Is One Right for You?
6 Career Benefits of Earning a Management Certificate
1. Make Critical Decisions
As a manager, you’re responsible for setting your team’s direction, which frequently requires making decisions. Those decisions can have a lot riding on them—for instance, your company’s revenue, culture, or customer and employee retention. Yet, according to a McKinsey Global Survey, only 20 percent of organizations excel at decision-making.
A management certificate course can provide tools and frameworks to help you make the best decision in a given situation.
Some courses, such as those HBS Online offers, include real-world examples of tough decisions managers have faced. You're presented with a scenario and asked to reflect on how you’d respond. Afterward, you learn how the manager handled it, taking away insights to inform your future decisions.
Related: Decision-Making in Management: 5 Common Pitfalls to Avoid
2. Empower Employees
The best managers possess leadership skills, including the ability to align and motivate teams. You must set direction and make decisions, but if you don’t empower your employees to do their best work, you could micromanage them and reduce their sense of agency.
You can empower your team by providing open channels of communication, building a culture of trust, and delegating tasks with purposes tied to goals.
A management certificate course can teach you how to master both sides of your role and bring out the best in your employees.
Related: How to Stop Micromanaging Your Employees
3. Manage Change
Even the most successful organizations encounter change. As a manager, it’s your responsibility to navigate your team through it.
Managing change requires confidence, emotional intelligence, and strong communication skills to ensure employees have the information they need to feel secure in shifting scenarios.
Taking a management certificate course can give you a confidence boost and provide tried-and-true frameworks you can use to implement organizational change.
4. Implement Strategies
Along with setting direction and empowering employees, you need the skills to execute organizational strategy.
Regardless of whether you formulate the strategy, you must:
- Delegate tasks
- Communicate your vision and how each employee’s work factors in
- Provide and streamline processes to help execution run smoothly
- Create an environment for your team to thrive in pursuit of goals
A management certificate course can provide the foundation for starting with high-level goals, breaking them down into daily tasks, and communicating their importance to your team. While a management essentials course can include this instruction, you can also pursue a course dedicated to this skill, such as Strategy Execution.
5. Increase Your Earning Potential
In addition to building the skills to succeed, earning a management certificate can increase your earning potential.
In a survey by City Square Associates, 42 percent of HBS Online learners said their course helped boost their salary, with an average raise of $17,000. Additionally, nearly 20 percent said their certificate helped increase their bonus by $14,000 on average.
Earning a certificate can also position you to be considered for promotions and help you garner attention when applying for jobs. Listing it on your resume denotes the skills you’ve gained and your dedication to improving your managerial capabilities.
6. Build Your Network
Finally, taking a management certificate course can help you forge connections with other managers and build your professional network.
Depending on the program you select, you may have the opportunity to interact with fellow learners before, during, and after your course. For instance, HBS Online’s course platform prompts you to share reflections, respond to other learners’ thoughts, and complete exercises.
In addition, the HBS Online Community is open to all professionals and provides a way to network with others facing similar challenges in their managerial journeys. It also allows you to stay in touch with them long after you’ve earned your certificate.
Is a Certificate in Management Worth It?
To decide whether pursuing a management certificate is worth the time and cost, reflect on what you hope to gain.
Ask yourself where gaps exist in your managerial skill set. What skills do you want or need to advance to your desired role?
Next, consider program costs and your budget. If your employer can provide professional development assistance, use it. Is there evidence to support a return on investment? For instance, HBS Online learners reported an average 10-times return on investment after taking a certificate course.
Finally, consider features. Who’s teaching the course, and do they have credibility in the field? Can you connect with fellow professionals? Does it include real-world examples to work through and learn from? Is the content designed to be engaging?
Ultimately, you decide whether a management certificate’s benefits outweigh your investment. If you choose a course that aligns with your goals and provides value, you can position yourself to grow into a stronger manager.
Are you interested in building your managerial skills? Explore our online leadership and management courses. Download our free flowchart to find the best fit.
