On-Line Leadership Training Resources for Government Employees

Graduate School USA

Graduate School USA offers a number of instructor-supported distance learning courses covering issues such as team leadership, emotional intelligence, and leadership skills for non-supervisors.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) operates USA Learning, an Internet-based training resource for government employees. Any government employee with a .gov or .mil email address can take the on-line courses for free. They currently offer over three dozen courses, including a few courses on leadership and management, emotional intelligence, negotiation, conducting effective meetings, and several other areas. The courses, which were developed by SkillSoft and NETg are done as self study, and most of them take only 2-3 hours to complete. The Gov Online Learning Center also offers the entire NETg and SkillSoft catalogs (or portions thereof) to employees of agencies that have subscribed to them.

FasTrac

Over 50 U.S. Government agencies subscribe to the FasTrac online training program, which has over 1,700 courses (mostly from SkillSoft and Netg). The vast curriculum includes excellent courses on emotional intelligence, delegation, motivation, performance management, change management, coaching, mentoring, negotiation, and team building. There is generally no fee to employees of agencies that have subscribed to the curriculum. For more information and a full course listing, please click here.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Online Classes in Public Management

The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Continuing Studies Program offers several online courses on public management. Offerings include "Assessing, Developing, and Documenting Your Managerial Abilities," "Leading and Leadership," "Improving Productivity and Quality," and "Public Sector Labor Relations." Each course lasts 6 weeks, and enrollment is open to anyone interested in public sector management.

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