High Stakes Leadership Leading in Times of Crisis

This course has been designed to help leaders, like you, learn how to effectively navigate the challenges of significant organizational disruptions. As a participant in this course, you’ll discover why an understanding of various stakeholder perspectives can inform and dramatically improve a leader’s response to events that threaten an organization’s very survival. This course is also about understanding and developing individual and organizational resilience—the ability to anticipate potential threats; to cope effectively with adverse events when they occur; and to adapt to changing conditions, ensuring a viable path forward for yourself, your team, and your organization. These topics are particularly relevant in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Many course examples will reference lessons leaders around the world have learned during this far-reaching healthcare crisis.During the eight course modules, which are distributed over four weeks, participants will explore topics such as: Why the VUCA world is making crises more common; Characteristics of resilient organizations and ways to increase resilience; Stakeholder value propositions and how these are threatened during a crisis; Organizing frameworks for estimating the types of crises an organization might encounter; the Unique and challenging nature of the crisis environment; the Fundamentals of crisis leadership; and Building a plan to prepare yourself, your team, and your organization for your next major crisis—which, in today’s world, is not so much an “if”, as a “when”.

Professor Mike Barger, your faculty member for this course, has served as a TOPGUN instructor in the United States Navy and as a founder and executive at JetBlue Airways. His professional experience has helped him learn a great deal about crisis leadership and to gain a true sense of what it means to be resilient. Throughout the course, Professor Barger will draw upon many practical examples that will make the content of this course easy to appreciate, understand, and translate into practical lessons that you will be able to apply immediately at your organization.

Crisis leadership is a topic that’s exciting, daunting, and almost impossible to master. With some time and effort over the four weeks of the course, however, you can develop an exceptional set of crisis-leadership tools that will serve you well throughout your professional career.

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Syllabus

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week 1
Modules 1 & 2: Course Introduction and Our VUCA Environment Demands a Focus on Stakeholders
During the first course week, participants will gain an appreciation for the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment in which their businesses must operate and how these conditions have dramatically increased the likelihood of an organizational crisis. Participants will also gain a deep understanding of organizational stakeholders and how the perspectives of these stakeholders become vitally important frames of reference for leaders during a crisis.
Week 2
Modules 3 & 4: Developing Resilience and Understanding Stakeholder Reactions to Crises
During the second week of the course, participants will learn how to increase their organization’s capacity for resilience, defined as the ability to anticipate potential threats; to cope effectively with adverse events when they occur; and to adapt to changing conditions, ensuring a viable path forward for everyone involved. Participants will also explore this week a model for understanding and predicting how stakeholders will respond to crises that threaten their value proposition with an enterprise.
Week 3
Modules 5 & 6: Crisis Varieties, Responses, and the Unique Nature of the Crisis Environment
During the third course week, participants will examine a collection of different crisis types and how each type requires a unique response from crisis leaders. This week will also present a detailed look at the nature of the crisis environment, which will explain why crisis leadership is one of the most challenging aspects of any leader’s set of responsibilities.
Week 4
Modules 7 & 8: Crisis Leadership and Preparing for Future Crises
During the fourth and final week of the course, participants will explore the key characteristics of effective crisis leaders and how to effectively demonstrate leadership before, during, and after a crisis. Then, to bring the course to a close, participants will work through a collection of steps that will help them effectively prepare for their next inevitable crisis.

FAQ

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?

Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:

What will I get if I purchase the Certificate?

When you purchase a Certificate you get access to all course materials, including graded assignments. Upon completing the course, your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.

What is the refund policy?

You will be eligible for a full refund until two weeks after your payment date, or (for courses that have just launched) until two weeks after the first session of the course begins, whichever is later. You cannot receive a refund once you’ve earned a Course Certificate, even if you complete the course within the two-week refund period. See our full refund policy.

Is financial aid available?

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

Reviews

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Great course to prepare the company before Time of Crisis arrives. The contents of the course and experiences shared applied in real life situations are very enlightening and educative.

thank you so much to coursera and the resource person of University of Michigan. The course was excellent with useful content. Thanks again.

Relevant to all organizations in a world growing in complexity. Material well delivered and comprehensive. Highly recommended!