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    • Influence

    Influence Courses Online

    Explore principles of influence for effective communication and leadership. Learn techniques for persuasion, negotiation, and building credibility.

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    Explore the Influence Course Catalog

    • U

      University of Michigan

      Como influenciar pessoas

      Skills you'll gain: Influencing, Leadership, Persuasive Communication, Initiative and Leadership, Relationship Building, Rapport Building, Trustworthiness, Decision Making, Negotiation, Non-Verbal Communication, Professional Networking, Organizational Structure, Business Ethics

      4.9
      Rating, 4.9 out of 5 stars
      ·
      129 reviews

      Mixed · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks

    • Status: Free Trial
      Free Trial
      F

      Fundação Instituto de Administração

      Leadership for the future

      Skills you'll gain: Culture Transformation, Business Transformation, Communication Planning, Employee Engagement, Delegation Skills, Stakeholder Engagement, Corporate Communications, Stakeholder Communications, Business Communication, Strategic Communication, Professional Development, Mentorship, Process Improvement, Leadership, Business Process, Lifelong Learning, Digital Transformation, Workforce Development, Influencing, Team Leadership

      4.8
      Rating, 4.8 out of 5 stars
      ·
      270 reviews

      Beginner · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months

    • Status: Free Trial
      Free Trial
      F

      Fundação Instituto de Administração

      Leadership and Disruption

      Skills you'll gain: Delegation Skills, Lifelong Learning, Leadership, Digital Transformation, Team Leadership, Team Management, Business Transformation, Leadership Development, Business Leadership, Telecommuting, Constructive Feedback, Organizational Leadership, Drive Engagement, Innovation, Professional Development, Strategic Leadership, Storytelling, Adaptability, Team Motivation, Strategic Communication

      4.8
      Rating, 4.8 out of 5 stars
      ·
      263 reviews

      Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks

    • Status: Free Trial
      Free Trial
      I

      Illinois Tech

      Leadership & Organization Design

      Skills you'll gain: Leadership and Management, Team Leadership, Organizational Change, Decision Making, Cultural Diversity, Conflict Management, Business Leadership, Team Management, Leadership, Virtual Teams, Organizational Development, Cultural Sensitivity, Organizational Structure, Diversity and Inclusion, Influencing, Human Resource Strategy, Business Ethics, Team Motivation, Negotiation, Innovation

      Build toward a degree

      4.9
      Rating, 4.9 out of 5 stars
      ·
      32 reviews

      Intermediate · Course · 1 - 3 Months

    • Status: Free
      Free
      C

      Coursera Project Network

      Marketing Design with Easil

      Skills you'll gain: Marketing Design, Social Media Marketing, Marketing Materials, Social Media Campaigns, Marketing, Content Creation, Promotional Materials, Loyalty Programs, Advertising, Creative Design, Brand Loyalty, Customer Engagement

      4.8
      Rating, 4.8 out of 5 stars
      ·
      198 reviews

      Beginner · Guided Project · Less Than 2 Hours

    • K

      Kennesaw State University

      AI for Professional Communication

      Skills you'll gain: Prompt Engineering, Business Correspondence, Target Audience, Business Communication, Strategic Communication, Business Writing, Social Media Content, Communication, ChatGPT, Generative AI, Communication Strategies, Meeting Facilitation, Content Creation, Writing, Social Media, Taking Meeting Minutes, Artificial Intelligence, Document Management

      4.9
      Rating, 4.9 out of 5 stars
      ·
      11 reviews

      Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks

    • Status: Free Trial
      Free Trial
      U

      University of Colorado Boulder

      Cannabis, Mental Health, and Brain Disorders

      Skills you'll gain: Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology, Mental Health Diseases and Disorders, Mental Health, Mental and Behavioral Health, Public Health, Behavioral Health, Psychology, Public Health and Disease Prevention, Health Policy, Neurology, Medical Science and Research, Epidemiology, Research, Pharmacology

      4.7
      Rating, 4.7 out of 5 stars
      ·
      160 reviews

      Beginner · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks

    • Status: Free Trial
      Free Trial
      U

      University of Washington

      Communicating Data Science Results

      Skills you'll gain: Data Ethics, Statistical Visualization, Data Storytelling, Data Visualization Software, Data Governance, Big Data, Technical Communication, Cloud Computing, Amazon Web Services, Information Privacy, Ethical Standards And Conduct

      3.4
      Rating, 3.4 out of 5 stars
      ·
      142 reviews

      Mixed · Course · 1 - 4 Weeks

    • C

      Copenhagen Business School

      Art and the Digital Transformation

      Skills you'll gain: Socioeconomics, Liberal Arts, Digital Transformation, Advocacy, Community Development, Policy Development, Innovation, Creativity, Data Ethics, Technology Strategies, Cultural Diversity, Diversity Equity and Inclusion Initiatives, Emerging Technologies

      Beginner · Course · 1 - 3 Months

    • U

      University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

      Emergence of Life

      Skills you'll gain: Life Sciences, Physical Science, Biology, Taxonomy, World History, Environmental Science, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Scientific Methods, Chemistry

      4.2
      Rating, 4.2 out of 5 stars
      ·
      104 reviews

      Beginner · Course · 1 - 3 Months

    • Status: Free
      Free
      C

      Coursera Project Network

      Expand Employee Interaction with Canvas

      Skills you'll gain: Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Learning Management Systems, Collaboration, Intranet, Teamwork, Content Management

      4.8
      Rating, 4.8 out of 5 stars
      ·
      6 reviews

      Beginner · Guided Project · Less Than 2 Hours

    • Status: Free Trial
      Free Trial
      I

      Imperial College London

      Global Health Challenges and Governance

      Skills you'll gain: Health Policy, Advocacy, Health Disparities, Health Equity, Community Health, Public Health, Policy Analysis, Health Systems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Health Care, Immigration Law, International Relations, Socioeconomics, Social Sciences, Governance, Environmental Science, Political Sciences, Public Policies, Mitigation

      4.9
      Rating, 4.9 out of 5 stars
      ·
      19 reviews

      Beginner · Specialization · 3 - 6 Months

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    In summary, here are 10 of our most popular influence courses

    • Como influenciar pessoas: University of Michigan
    • Leadership for the future: Fundação Instituto de Administração
    • Leadership and Disruption: Fundação Instituto de Administração
    • Leadership & Organization Design: Illinois Tech
    • Marketing Design with Easil: Coursera Project Network
    • AI for Professional Communication: Kennesaw State University
    • Cannabis, Mental Health, and Brain Disorders: University of Colorado Boulder
    • Communicating Data Science Results: University of Washington
    • Art and the Digital Transformation: Copenhagen Business School
    • Emergence of Life: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

    Frequently Asked Questions about Influence

    To influence someone is to affect or change their behavior without the direct use of authority, coercion, or force. Instead, the influencer creates change by shifting the mindset of individuals, groups, or entire organizations, persuading them to adopt the desired course of action of their own free will. The ability to influence can be important for everyday communication and maintaining harmonious relationships in our personal and family lives, but it is also a very important skill for many jobs and career paths.

    For instance, being able to subtly influence your customers to “get to yes” when you’re closing a deal is an essential talent of sales professionals of all kinds, whether you’re selling shoes or business software. In fact, the world of social media and digital marketing has created a new type of selling called influencer marketing, in which influential personalities and cultural figures post pictures and testimonials with the product being sold.

    The ability to influence is also essential for leadership roles in any organization, as management positions require you to motivate employees to not only fulfill their roles but to work enthusiastically at the peak of their abilities. The best executives and CEOs are talented at bringing their teams into vision alignment, with strongly shared priorities, values, and focused goal setting that allow organizations to succeed - in business as well as in the recruitment of top-flight talent.‎

    Influencing skills are important for almost any career that requires working in a team, but they are most important for roles as managers and top executives. Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” has been a mainstay in business school curricula despite being written nearly a century ago because this skill has always been fundamental for success in the business world. The ability to get your team aligned to work together effectively is rare and highly valued; according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, top executives earned a median annual salary of $104,690 per year in 2019, including a median pay of $184,460 for chief executive officers (CEOs).‎

    Absolutely. There is a common myth that the ability to influence others is simply an innate talent that some people have and others don’t, but the reality is that influencing is a skill that is taught at every business school - including schools offering courses online through Coursera. You can learn how to influence others from leading faculty at top-ranked schools like University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, Northwestern University, and Macquarie University. And even though Coursera lets you learn remotely on a flexible schedule, you can still work with faculty in live virtual office hours that let you practice your influencing skills to an expert audience.‎

    Some skills or experience you might need to have before learning influence are strong social skills that allow you to get along with all types of people, such as supervisors, peers, and customers. If you have any sales experience or experience presenting information and concepts to others in person or online, you may already have the skills necessary to learn advanced influencing methods.‎

    The kind of people who are best suited for roles in influence are those who are confident in their abilities to motivate and persuade others whether or not they’re in authority roles. Types of people well suited for roles in influence can build and maintain high-quality relationships with diverse groups of individuals. People best suited for learning influence can discern other people’s attitudes, diverse social factors influencing behavior, and why people may or may not act on their intentions.‎

    Learning influence may be right for you if you want to learn how to develop it so you can become more effective in achieving your organizational goals. Studying the subject may be right for you if you want to understand the framework of power and influence and the dynamics of effective networks, persuasion, and leverage. If you're in any type of role where you need negotiation, communication, and sales skills, then learning influence may be a good choice for you.‎

    Common career paths for someone who has studied influence are often found in corporate management in general where the ability to persuade people is paramount. Specific common career paths for people who have studied influence might be product and brand management, research and development, and any leadership position in an organization’s C-suite. Another common career path for someone in influence is blogging where paid or sponsored influencers create content on various social media platforms. The most common career path for someone in influence is in sales where it’s critical to understand how to best persuade customers and clients using various tools, including neuromarketing.‎

    There are many topics you can study that are related to influence, such as emotional intelligence, which may help you to work effectively in teams, build cooperative relationships, and exercise effective influence to foster meaningful change. Another topic related to influence that you can study is social psychology to help you understand why people behave in certain ways. Marketing is another strongly related topic to influence that you might consider studying.‎

    This FAQ content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.

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