Certificate in Change Leadership and Strategy

Learn how to create, implement and execute successful and meaningful change in your organization through Drexel LeBow’s Certificate in Change Leadership and Strategy. The innovative, part-time certificate enables students to develop the knowledge and skills to drive change in a variety of organizational and team-based settings. Incorporating a broad-based perspective that spans from the individual level to the organizational and industry levels, the certificate facilitates an understanding of both change generation as well as change execution.

Certificate Format

Available in an in-person format on Drexel’s Philadelphia campus, the certificate consists of four courses, utilizing an experiential approach in which students put theory into practice through simulations, cases and personal application. The learnings from each course will engender a breadth and depth of practical skills that are directly relevant for leading change in all kinds of organizations.

Why Study Change Leadership and Strategy?

The Certificate in Change Leadership and Strategy will help you develop skills in strategic thinking and organizational management that are critical to creating change in organizations. Examples of course topics include:

• Managing alignment between goals and processes
• Strengthening climate and culture
• Analyzing and forecasting the technology landscape
• Carrying out a vision and a mission
• Creating frameworks of change
• Understanding opportunities and challenges in managing innovation
• Using system thinking
• Communicating effectively
• Boosting motivation
• Handling resistance

Who Should Attend?

Management-level professionals who are leading and managing change among people, projects or operations and/or planning to lead change initiatives. This certificate is suitable for all industries, especially those in highly dynamic areas that experience rapid change.

Key Features

Participants will gain a variety of skills that are central to leading change in organizations, including individual change management, communication, influence, strategic decision-making, industry analysis and more.

Course Requirements and Descriptions

The certificate requires that students take four courses (12 credits) total. Required courses include:

MGMT 600: Introduction to Change Management: An Integration of Macro and Micro Perspectives
This course — comprised of two modules — provides an overview of organizational change by focusing on external and internal dynamics, in which firms craft their strategic actions and organizational implementations. The first module takes a strategic perspective to analyze the external dynamics of large-scale organizational change, and the second focuses on the internal dynamics of organizational change. The course introduces analytical tools for students to understand the complexity of organizational change, build a mindset of organizational change and obtain a skillset for executing organizational change agendas.

ORGB 602: Leading and Executing Change
Developing a winning organizational strategy that unlocks growth is essential for business survival. Developing a strategy, however, is only one part of the equation, as some studies show that as much as 70 percent of strategy and chan ge initiatives fail in execution. This course explores why change efforts fail and how to proactively overcome common change leadership challenges. It will introduce effective change leadership approaches and develop specific skills, such as planning, communication, change management and performance measurement.

MGMT 604: Strategic Change Management
Corporations are continuously adapting to changes and new opportunities in their environments to maintain a competitive advantage. However, if not planned and implemented properly, change not only runs the risk of undermining a firm’s value proposition and customer base but might be difficult to manage. This course approaches the management of change from a strategic perspective. As such, the class will consider how internal structures and external factors jointly facilitate (or hinder) change and innovation, covering topics such as organizational resistance to change, agility, strategic repositioning and various sources of change.

MGMT 690: Change Management Experiential Capstone
This change management capstone course is designed to provide actionable know-how and skills for leading and managing change management initiatives successfully. Using live change consulting projects, a simulation and interactions with change practitioners, the course is designed to provide students with a real-world experience in the art and science of change management.

Admissions Requirements

• A completed application
• Bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited university/college
• Unofficial transcript(s) from all universities/colleges attended (once accepted to LeBow, students must submit official transcripts prior to the start of term)
• Professional résumé

View the application requirements and deadlines

Additional Information

All 12 credits from the Certificate in Change Leadership and Strategy can transfer to a LeBow MBA or MS program if completed with grades of B or above, and if all other admissions criteria for those degree programs are met.