We all want to add skills to our tool belt, but how do we do it, and which courses are best to take?
We all have the options:
- Piece it together for free using YouTube
- Upend your life by taking expensive, formal, university classes
- Engage in online e-learning
The advantage of e-learning is that you can study on your own time, from anywhere, at your own pace. You will learn from industry professionals instead of theories out of books.
You will also earn HR certificates online that will advance your career.
So, here is our list of five great e-learning courses that are relatively short (between two and three hours), certificated, affordable, and very practical:
Course #1: Personality testing using DISC
This course is free, and comes with a free, 25 question assessment and a seven-page booklet to go along with it. It’s simple and very effective. In this course, you will learn to understand the motivation and communication style of others and learn how to put people in roles that take advantage of their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. This course is highly recommended, and can be viewed here:
https://learning.professionalleadershipinstitute.com/courses/personality-testing-using-disc
Course #2: How to hire A-players
Hiring is one of the most important activities any organization engages in, and one of the least understood.
Even if you’ve attended business school and earned your MBA, it’s unlikely that you learned any practical skills on this most important topic.
This course covers the entire hiring process, from sourcing, screening, interviewing and reference checking.
You can see more about the course here:
https://learning.professionalleadershipinstitute.com/courses/hiring
Course #3: How to fire with minimum pain and drama
Firing is something no one wants to talk about, and also something that every leader has to do more than once in their career. For this reason, it is not taught in business schools, even though every business leader and HR professional will have to do it.
In this course, you’ll learn to deal with your fear, prepare for and conduct the firing interview, and deal with the team post-firing. Learning this skill is extremely important and learning how to fire well will make the process go as smoothly as it can go. Learn more about how to fire here:
https://learning.professionalleadershipinstitute.com/courses/firing
Course #4: Dealing with underperformers
If you’re an HR professional, much of your time is going to be spent talking about, strategizing over, and dealing directly with employees who are underperforming. Underperformance happens for a variety of reasons, not all of them the employee’s fault.
In this course you will learn to diagnose the reason behind the underperformance. You will also learn how to prepare for and conduct difficult conversations. This is a key skill that every HR professional needs to have.
In addition, you will learn a variety of possible responses you may receive from underperformers and how to respond to them effectively.
Learn more about dealing with underperformers here:
https://learning.professionalleadershipinstitute.com/courses/109-dealing-with-underperformers
Course #5: Coaching based performance reviews
The traditional performance review is dead and dying. Managers hate doing them, and employees hate receiving them.
Managers are tired of the lengthy preparation required to do a performance review. By the end of the process they feel that nothing meaningful has been accomplished.
Employees dislike them because the idea of getting a pass/fail grade once per year just doesn’t cut it in the age of social media where instant responses are expected, and feedback is taken for granted.
Coaching is quickly taking its place as a much more effective and useful way of seeing your underperformers pick up their game and your best performers get even better at what they’re already good at.
In this course, you’ll learn how to use a very simple one-page coaching form called “coach and connect.” The idea is to learn how to have frequent, informal, coaching conversations with employees, and address the important issues that get lost in the process of conducting traditional performance reviews.
Find out more about coaching based performance reviews here:
https://learning.professionalleadershipinstitute.com/courses/108-performance-reviews
In summary:
HR professionals need to continually upgrade their skills. Online courses are a simple, affordable, and effective way to do that without the cost and time required to attend formal schooling.
The top 5 e-learning HR manager courses are:
- Personality testing using DISC
- How to hire A-players
- How to fire with minimum pain and drama
- Dealing with underperformers
- Coaching based performance reviews
