MIT Sloan School of Management

Inquiry-Driven Leadership

Enhance your creative problem-solving skills by acquiring the ability to pose thought-provoking questions that stimulate innovation and facilitate significant organizational transformations.

Start date

19 February 2025

Price

$2,950 USD

Installment Plan

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Course duration

6 weeks

Excluding orientation

Language

English

Access resources from start date

Effort

6–8 hours per week

Self-paced learning online

ABOUT THIS COURSE

Course overview

12%

The percentage of global executives who strongly agree that their business leaders have the right mindsets to lead their organizations forward.

Cognizant (Jan, 2020).

53%

The percentage of learning and development professionals who identify leadership and management programs as a top priority in 2021.

LinkedIn (2021).

Duration: 6 weeks (excluding orientation)

Effective questioning has the potential to break down the barriers to creative thinking, allowing for a shift in focus from finding a single correct answer to driving positive change and greater value for organizations.

The Inquiry-Driven Leadership online short course from the MIT Sloan School of Management equips you with the leadership skills to adopt a questioning approach to identify and solve organizational problems. This MIT leadership course teaches you about the habits and conditions necessary to create an environment conducive to asking better questions, and the ability to frame and solve challenges specific to your context.

Learning to facilitate productive inquiry with a question-based mindset will uncover new insights and opportunities for innovation within your business. The course will explore the transformative impact of catalytic questions that can shift behaviours and beliefs, and generate value for individuals and organizations alike.

Is this course for you?

If you have a passion for resolving business issues, this online leadership program can aid in developing inquisitive leadership skills that can help overcome challenges and identify new opportunities. The productive inquiry tools taught in the program are applicable to professionals in various functions and industries. Senior and middle managers can benefit from understanding the relevance of a question-based approach in today's environment of uncertainty and disruption. With this course, consultants, strategists, and professionals in marketing, innovation, and operations can strengthen their critical thinking and problem-solving skills, enabling them to drive significant change within their organisations.

Course overview

Duration: 6 weeks (excluding orientation)

What will set you apart

On completion of this course, you’ll walk away with:

Skills to create the conditions for a questioning culture that identifies and solves business challenges.

An understanding of how to dissolve the barriers that constrain productive inquiry and creative thinking.

An ability to distinguish the types of productive, catalytic questions that drive change and innovation.

Insight into how CEOs and innovators transform industries by asking the right questions.

Course curriculum

Explore fresh avenues for business growth and expansion as you progress through the program's weekly modules.

Orientation module

Welcome to your Online Campus

Module 1

Appreciating the power of catalytic questions

Module 2

Creating the conditions for questions to flourish

Module 3

Building the habits of productive inquiry

Module 4

Understanding and working through the barriers to inquiry

Module 5

Building the questioning capacity of a team or organization

Module 6

Changing the world by changing the questions

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Who you’ll learn from

The design of this online program is guided by MIT Sloan faculty, as well as industry experts, who will share their experience and in-depth knowledge with you throughout the program.

Hal Gregersen

Senior Lecturer, Work and Organization Studies, MIT Sloan

Roger Lehman

Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan

Earn a certificate of completion from MIT Sloan

Acquire the expertise to utilise a query-centered methodology in addressing issues within your leadership sphere and earn an official digital certificate of completion from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

This program also counts toward an MIT Sloan Executive Certificate, which you can earn upon completion of four programs where at least three of the four come from your chosen certificate track and at least one is completed in person. Find full details here.

Your certificate will be issued in your legal name and sent to you digitally upon successful completion of the program, as per the stipulated requirements.

MIT Sloan Inquiry-Driven Leadership online program certificate

YOUR INFORMATION

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FAQ

Want to know more?

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We deliver market-led courses that equip working professionals with the expertise required to upskill, reskill or kickstart a completely new career. Through a data-driven approach, we analyze future skills requirements and ensure all courses address this need. We ensure that leading universities and institutions are your expert guides and our people, technology, and resources are your engine – together we power more than just education, we power your potential.

Read more about GetSmarter here and edX here.

Find out more about GetSmarter’s approach to digital learning, course design, and online delivery here.

You can pay your course fees before the course starts, or you may opt for a split payment plan on courses that are nine weeks and shorter. For courses 10 weeks and longer, there is a three-part payment plan available. To find out more about payment options please visit our Payment and Financing page, or contact an Enrollment Adviser, to find out which option you qualify for.

GetSmarter's learning model is designed to help you, as a working professional, improve your skills without compromising on work and family responsibilities. The course work is broken up into weekly, manageable bite-sized modules, with incremental deadlines, designed to help you pace yourself over the duration of the course and allow you the legroom to work when it suits you best.

At the beginning of each module you'll be presented with the course content and assignments necessary for completion. You also have access to your Success Adviser who will help you manage your time, and support you with any administrative or technical queries you might have.

By improving your skills and industry knowledge, you'll have an influence on the success of your organization. Why wouldn't you ask your boss to help you fund your studies if it's going to have an impact on the way you do business?

Of our past students, 37 percent have received financial assistance from their employers. You can ask for help, too. Here is a guide to show you how to request financial assistance from your employer.

If you are a Learning & Development (L&D) manager, or involved in training and upskilling for an organization, you can request information regarding our corporate offering on our GetSmarter for business page.

As part of our commitment to your professional development, GetSmarter offers you a two-week period to change your course start date or request your money back if you’re not fully satisfied.

To qualify for a deferral of your course start date, or to cancel your enrollment and receive a refund of your course fee, your request would need to reach our Success Advisers before the release of Module 2. For more information, please read our Terms and Conditions.

The Online Campus will be your virtual classroom for the duration of your course. Through its easy-to-use interface you'll have access to a diverse variety of course content formats including: interactive videos, module notes, practice quizzes, presentations, assignment briefs, and additional web resources.

On the Online Campus, you'll also be able to ask questions and interact with your fellow students and teaching team through the discussion forums. If you are looking for your Online Campus login, please visit your Account page here.

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