5 Distance Learning Degrees That Will Develop Your Leadership Skills

Being a successful manager is highly rewarding; nothing beats the knowledge that you’ve lead a team to success.

But finding the right person for the job isn’t always easy, and a Gallup poll found that this is something up to 82% struggle with. That said, leadership is best fostered through growth, and with a commitment to education and investment in employee training, employers can help staff gain the skills they need to climb the career ladder.

Anyone with managerial ambitions should be continually developing their leadership skills, as these will serve you well throughout your career. But if you’re new to management or operating in a junior role, it can be hard to know where to start. While there’s a lot that you can learn on the job, there’s nothing quite like learning from the experts. And by choosing to advance your career through education, you’ll learn all the skills you need to become a great manager.

Becoming a competent manager requires a complex set of skills. Some of these are industry specific, such as the ability to use certain programming systems. However, there are many soft skills which, once mastered, will make it much easier to progress and succeed in your dream role. Skills such as patience and compassion, an understanding of different approaches and values, and excellent time management and interpersonal skills are all vital tools to have when you’re preparing to advance in your career.

If you’re looking to take the next step in your company’s hierarchy, or a manager looking to improve on the skills you already have, here are just five of our excellent degree programmes that will equip you with the skills you need to lead successfully.

A business degree is one of the best ways to gain a full understanding of business management. It’s the perfect avenue both for those looking to expand their current role as a manager and take strides to improve their organisations, and for those looking to advance into management positions.

Our brand-new Business Management BSc (Hons) has been specifically designed to teach you everything you need to become a successful business leader. Our modules will introduce you a theoretical approach to business management and provide you with the tools to problem solve and make decisions based on evidence and experience. You’ll also explore the practicalities of leadership roles that you can implement in your own workplace to see instant results in both you and your team.

At ARU, we’re committed to arming you with the skills you need to thrive as a manager, and our business management degree program will introduce you to a range of perspectives that impact how firms, and the managers in those companies, need to conduct themselves in order to succeed. You will gain an understanding of the economic, environmental, political, and social issues that are not only continuously evolving, but are also vital if you want to climb the career ladder.

For those students who are already managers, a business management degree is ideal to take your company to new heights. By gaining this extra piece of the leadership puzzle, you’ll be able to inspire your team into functioning as a cohesive whole for the betterment of your firm. And, if you’re yet to climb the ladder to a management role, our degree programme is the perfect place to start, preparing you for your new responsibilities when the time comes and ensuring you’re fully equipped with the skills you need to become a fantastic manager from day one.

Working in education is incredibly rewarding. You have the opportunity to shape the lives of children, helping them to grow up and achieve their own goals and aspirations. However, when you aspire to educational leadership roles, you have the chance to create change and drive educational procedures forwards.

At ARU, we’re passionate about education, so we’ve designed our Education with Leadership and Management MA to ensure that you receive the support you need to progress in your role and go after new opportunities such as management and consultancy roles. You’ll have the chance to tailor your research to suit your academic interests and enhance your both your future plans and your current workplace.

The modules on this course will build upon your existing experience and skills working in education, and introduce you the theories and practices that are essential for educational leaders. You’ll grow your understanding of contemporary issues in education that affect not only the children under your tutelage, but the issues that affect teachers at differently levels too. This knowledge is essential for those looking to enter management positions and help bring about improvements in the education sector.

Learning to identify challenges and knowing how to implement change is vital to ensure that your area of the education sector is running efficiently and able to provide children and young people with the care and teaching that they deserve.

In the fields of both health and social care, there is an increasing demand for appropriately qualified professionals in management roles. These specialist sectors require effective team leadership, resource management, and attention to detail to ensure that expert care is delivered to vulnerable individuals who need it most.

Our Healthcare Management MSc is designed to help you develop the full range of leadership skills required to lead and inspire teams in a vital sector. You will also gain an understanding into contemporary issues that impact health and social care.

The ability to keep pace with changes – from local to international – is vital to the success of an organisation, company, or trust. This degree will teach you how to adjust to the fast-paced nature of leadership roles, how to adopt and implement the new policies and practices you are likely to encounter in healthcare management.

The modules on this degree programme will ensure that you have everything you need to ensure that you deliver expert care. You’ll be introduced to the wide range of ethical and legal complexities that make up the professional conduct that should be exhibited by every member of your team at every stage of the service you provide.

Project managers are valuable members of organisations in a wide variety of industries, from construction to IT, finance to advertising. Project managers are essential for ensuring that those services are implemented effectively, and tasks are completed on time.

Our Project Management MSc is designed to give you grounding and knowledge that is essential for you to build your career as a project manager. You’ll learn how to utilise the talents of your team and construct efficient and successful projects in whichever industry you work in.

The modules in this postgraduate degree are designed to teach you how to critically evaluate projects in order to effectively decide the most appropriate project management techniques to implement.

By introducing you to a range of case studies and general practices, a project management degree is the perfect method to learn leadership skills and set you up for management roles in a wide range of industries. And, due to this exposure to other industries, you’ll be able to apply valuable techniques from other fields to your own leadership, in order to pave the way for advancements in your industries methodologies and procedures.

For those already working in construction and civil engineering, progression onto a management position is the step you need to take if you want to have a greater input in the direction of the projects you work on. The best way to achieve this advancement and gain the knowledge you need to ensure that you’re fully equipped for your new role, is through higher education.

At ARU, we’ve designed our Construction and Civil Engineering Management MSc to help those already working in construction and engineering achieve their career dreams. Our modules will enable you to understand the complexities of hierarchal structures within civil engineering and construction, the demands that are placed on managers and how to tackle them, and fully prepare you to enter your new position as manager.

Sustainability is fast becoming an increasingly hot topic in local, national, and international conversations that guides the actions of businesses and organisations. That’s why our MSc course in construction and civil engineering explores how and why environmental changes impact construction.

Our degree will expand your knowledge of sustainability and introduce you to incredible world of structural adaptation. We live in world in which climate change is an ever-present problem and ensuring that you’re armed with the knowledge of how to conduct yourself, your firm, and your team in economically and environmentally friendly why, you’ll not only help future proof your career and your company, but you’ll have the reward of knowing that you’re acting to better the world around your through your work.

At ARU, all of the above degree programmes take place online. This means that you’ll be able to build your career while you’re learning. By continuing in your role while you study, which ever course is right for you, you’ll have the chance to implement your new knowledge form day one.

If you enjoyed this blog, you may be interested in the following:

• 7 Ways to Enhance Your Employability
• What Can I Do with An Online Degree?
• 5 Reasons Career Progression is Crucial for Personal Development