Can executives benefit from online courses in India?

Upskilling is the new need of the hour. You must stay relevant and important to your industry, especially as you grow higher in your career, such as at the executive level. Executives in any organization must work toward their problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and analysis, and foster creativity. This is imperative to their growth in the industry, as they tread toward leadership roles. The good news is – executives can now work on upskilling themselves with the help of multifarious online courses available easily at their disposal. This blog highlights some of the top benefits of online courses in India and how they can help executives move forth in their respective careers.

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Adapting to the Modern Business Environment

As stated above, rapid changes in the business landscape necessitate ongoing education for executives. Add to that the equally rapidly evolving technological landscape that propels ongoing executive education to be able to meet industry demands. Executives need to adapt to these fast changes to be able to contribute to revenue growth for their companies and improve their retention probabilities. 

It becomes imperative to stay current and relevant to new technologies, business strategies, and market trends. It helps executives stay competitive in the job market and makes them skilled with new capabilities introduced by the day. This in turn helps organizations save money and time in the long run, avoiding the unnecessary costs of hiring and recruiting new employees, since their current workforce is equally skilled and adept at handling new challenges brought in by the changing business landscape. 

Online learning contributes to all this and much more. Let us look at some of its key benefits below.

Also read: Best online courses to start/advance your career in Marketing

Benefits of online learning for executives

Online courses for executives can be particularly beneficial in filling the skill gap they need for advancing in their career trajectory as well as making them eligible for higher leadership positions. Listed below are the top 8 benefits for executives in pursuing an online course:

Flexibility to Balance Work and Learning

Online courses offer flexibility to students, enabling executives to perfectly fit learning into their busy schedules without compromising their professional responsibilities. Executives may sometimes find it difficult to join an offline class for a specified number of days or months, considering their hectic work schedules. Online learning however enables them to pursue self-paced study or attend online classes in their own time and at their choice of place, whatever is best suitable to their current situation. This flexibility and convenience make online courses for upskilling a perfect choice among executives.

Specialized Skill Development

Online courses offer targeted skill development in areas such as leadership, strategic management, digital transformation, and industry-specific knowledge. Some of the popular courses offered for executives in these specialized skill areas include:

• Project management – These courses help improve the leadership skills of the executives, equipping them with the know-how of essential project management tools, team dynamics, task delegation, performance metrics, and problem-solving abilities. 
• Time management – Special courses are imparted online to help executives enhance their overall organizational skills, boost their productivity at work, and manage deadlines effectively.
• Leadership – The dynamics of leadership can be learned from courses teaching the setting of team goals, managing a team well, improving communication skills, and improving intra- and inter-team collaboration. The course equips you with the desired skills to become a popular and effective leader in your organization.
• Soft skills – Online courses teach a wide array of desirable soft skills to executives that help them work with improved efficiency, coordinate with their respective teams better, and meet organizational objectives.

Practical Applications and Real-World Relevance

One of the best advantages of online courses is that they incorporate practical case studies, projects, and real-world scenarios that allow executives to apply what they learn directly to their everyday work scenarios. The courses are designed in a way that makes them realistic and personalized to the executives, highlighting the real-world value for the learners from the program. The courses also create simulated or mock situations to encourage executives to use their conflict-resolution skills and find innovative solutions where the situation is real at the workplace.

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Credentialing and Certification

Completing an online course from a credible university entitles you to obtain recognized certifications that help enhance your credibility and career prospects as an executive. Some of the well-regarded certifications available online are:

• Web Design for Web Developers: Build Beautiful Websites
• Google Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
• Inbound Marketing Certification
• Google Ads Certification
• Google Analytics Academy Courses

Enhanced Global Networking

Online courses provide opportunities to connect with a diverse group of peers and industry leaders globally. Some of the top benefits for executives of building a wide-ranging professional network are:

• It enables you to gain newer ideas and insights by tapping into your network.
• It helps you build your brand online.
• You can exchange information regarding best practices with your network, and vice versa.
• Networking helps boost self-confidence, validating your thoughts and opinions.
• You can end up developing personal relationships with your network for a long time. 

Also read: How our graduates are leveraging online learning for professional networking.

Personalized Learning Experiences

Online learning platforms offer personalized learning paths that cater to the individual needs and goals of executives, making their learning experience more effective and relevant. Students gain the freedom to customize their learning approach, the pace of learning, as well as the content to meet their specific requirements. You can set your own learning goals based on your time availability, go at your own pace, and personalize your learning by communicating your exact expectations with your instructors. This enables you to learn what you want when you want it and how you want it. 

Cost-Effective Professional Development

Online courses are relatively more affordable than pursuing a degree in a traditional campus (offline). Lower costs of programs in turn result in a higher return on investment through career advancement. By paying relatively lower fees for the course as compared to their traditional counterpart, graduates can still advance on their career paths by entering top job roles as there is no compromise on the quality of education offered. 

Online courses can afford to be cost-effective by doing away with expenses related to a physical location and commutation expenditure in addition to buying course materials (which are also easily available online).

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Supporting Innovation and Strategic Thinking 

Online courses can enhance an executive’s ability to drive innovation and strategic initiatives within their organization. Some examples of online courses focused on innovation management and strategic planning are:

• Business Strategy
• Strategic Leadership and Management
• Essentials of Management and Strategic Planning
• Strategic Management
• Strategic Thinking for Everyone
• Strategic Planning and Execution
• Foundations of Strategy

Take your executive career forward with Online Manipal

Now that we know that ongoing education is key to progressing your career journey as an executive, and opening new avenues for growth, let us look at the steps you can take to get started.

Pursuing a skilled certification or structured degree program online from a recognized university is the first step in this direction. Manipal University Jaipur offers some of the best online courses in India in 100% online mode, assuring flexibility, convenience, and affordability to executives. Professionals can easily keep up with their work commitments while studying online at their own pace and in their own time.    

Some of the most popular online degree courses by Manipal University Jaipur offered at the postgraduate level for executives are: 

• Master of Business Administration (MBA)
• Master of Computer Applications (MCA) 
• Master of Commerce (MCom) 
• Master of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication (MA-JMC)

Manipal University Jaipur offers all of the above courses on the Online Manipal platform. These programs are carefully designed to help you take your career forward and are specifically tailored to meet your professional aspirations. 

Conclusion  

This blog highlighted some of the key benefits of online courses for executives in India, with flexible learning, cost-effective courses, and self-paced at a time and place suitable to you topping the list. Executives must keep learning continuously for their career advancement as well as for overall organizational success. Several business organizations are now encouraging their employees to pursue online courses as a strategic tool for their professional development. Sign up for an online MBA course in India with Manipal University Jaipur and take the first step on the career ladder upward. 

References 

https://digitaldefynd.com/IQ/working-executives-online-learning-benefits

https://www.michaelpage.co.in/advice/career-advice/career-progression/top-12-benefits-networking-why-networking-important

https://www.coursera.org/courses?query=strategic%20planning