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Employees sit and talk at a conference table as they take part in professional development training.

Executive Communications Professional Certificate

Develop skills to reach success as an influential and direct executive communicator.

Register now

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  3. Executive Education
  4. Professional Development
  5. Leadership
  6. Executive Communications

Course structure for executive communications online certificate

Want to become an influential communicator at the highest level? The Executive Communications Professional Certificate program introduces you to skills you can use to successfully convey ideas for solving challenges in your workplace. The program takes place over eight weeks and consists of one 90-minute synchronous session each week, for a total of eight sessions. You’ll complete asynchronous material each week that supplements the coursework. At the end of the course, you’ll have the opportunity to deliver a capstone presentation to your cohort demonstrating the skills you’ve learned.

Upcoming dates

Dates: September 17 to November 5
Price: $2,550
Duration: 8 weeks
Online: Wednesday 7 to 8:30 p.m.

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Executive level communication and leadership training at Kelley

Hear from Kelley School Senior Lecturers Anna Deeds and Trent Deckard as they detail the Executive Communications Professional Certificate, covering proven communications strategies that will uplevel your leadership skills and prepare you for exciting career growth opportunities.

Description of the video:

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.480 2 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:11.570 Do you wish you were more confident while communicating 3 00:00:11.570 --> 00:00:12.450 with others? 4 00:00:12.450 --> 00:00:15.690 Would you like your big ideas to be better understood? 5 00:00:15.690 --> 00:00:18.720 Strong communication isn't just a skill. 6 00:00:18.720 --> 00:00:22.980 It's the key to influence, leadership, and career growth. 7 00:00:22.980 --> 00:00:26.640 Whether you're leading a team, pitching an idea, 8 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:29.790 or navigating those tough conversations, 9 00:00:29.790 --> 00:00:33.290 the ability to communicate with clarity and confidence 10 00:00:33.290 --> 00:00:34.710 can set you apart. 11 00:00:34.710 --> 00:00:36.950 The executive communication certificate 12 00:00:36.950 --> 00:00:39.710 helps busy workplace problem solvers 13 00:00:39.710 --> 00:00:42.200 by giving you doable, proven techniques 14 00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:44.340 to make your message more impactful. 15 00:00:44.340 --> 00:00:46.880 This program takes place over eight weeks, 16 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:50.070 with one 90-minute synchronous session each week, 17 00:00:50.070 --> 00:00:53.600 a total of just eight sessions designed to maximize learning 18 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:56.250 while fitting into your busy schedule. 19 00:00:56.250 --> 00:00:59.990 Through hands-on practice, our personalized coaching, 20 00:00:59.990 --> 00:01:02.370 as well as actionable strategies, 21 00:01:02.370 --> 00:01:05.570 Trent and I will help you build the confidence and skills 22 00:01:05.570 --> 00:01:08.790 to communicate with more presence, persuasion, 23 00:01:08.790 --> 00:01:09.690 and impact. 24 00:01:09.690 --> 00:01:12.590 We will talk about a variety of proven strategies, 25 00:01:12.590 --> 00:01:15.300 like data storytelling and visualization, 26 00:01:15.300 --> 00:01:18.830 and we'll show you how executive communicators confidently 27 00:01:18.830 --> 00:01:21.000 speak without any notes. 28 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:22.700 Over the course of the program, we'll 29 00:01:22.700 --> 00:01:25.380 guide you through engaging discussions, 30 00:01:25.380 --> 00:01:29.120 interactive exercises, and real-world applications that 31 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:32.160 will transform the way you communicate. 32 00:01:32.160 --> 00:01:34.460 Come along with the Kelley School of Business 33 00:01:34.460 --> 00:01:37.050 for your executive communications journey, 34 00:01:37.050 --> 00:01:40.600 and take your career to the next level.

Weekly sessions

Topics covered: 

  • Identifying highly credible communicators and their success patterns
  • Understanding your communication style
  • Experience inventories for credible communicators
  • Understanding audience types and different communication opportunities
  • Problem-solving through communication: introducing the capstone
  • Managing warmth and competence

Asynchronous material for Week 1: experience inventory, capstone idea generation, warmth and competency communication flexing exercise

Topics covered:

  • Methods of powerful delivery
  • Cadence of effective communication
  • Warming up the delivery style
  • Communication fallacies and hindrances on preparation
  • Simply outlining
  • On-demand delivery

Asynchronous material for Week 2: simple outline and case scenarios, delivery and warm-up materials, React! exercise, capstone journal

Topics covered:

  • Identifying the needs of the global communicator
  • Cultural dimensions
  • Hybrid communication in a flexible world
  • Accuracy in writing effective business emails and managing AI
  • Managing effective meeting communication

Asynchronous material for Week 3: chapter from Erin Meyer’s The Culture Map, case scenarios for managing organizational communication

Topics covered:

  • Applied practice: capstone discussion intro for the week
  • Effective use of research and data for solutions
  • Direct communication through Mintos (SCQA What, Why, How)
  • Problem-solving through Mintos
  • Sell the thing at the exchange!
  • Applied practice: capstone discussion outro for the week

Asynchronous material for Week 4: case scenarios, capstone outline

Topics covered:

  • Organizational inventory: our visual culture
  • Gray areas of slide design
  • Impactful visual design for better decks
  • “Let it slide”? Using visual executive summaries
  • Managing Q&A for better confidence
  • Delivering bad news and having tough discussions
  • Applied practice: capstone slide design

Asynchronous material for Week 5: video examples, capstone slide exercise, visual executive summary template

Topics covered:

  • Influential language for audience connection
  • Personification for impact
  • Storytelling in the global organization: It’s real!
  • Advanced storymaking
  • 10 Great Stories Every Leader Should Tell
  • Framing your capstone

Asynchronous material for Week 6: video examples and analysis, 10 Great Stories Every Leader Should Tell, framing guide

Topics Covered:

  • Virtual presenting tools
  • Giving and receiving feedback; conducting self-evaluation
  • Testing the frame
  • Meeting one-on-one with peers for practice and feedback
  • Final coaching delivery

Asynchronous Material for Week 7: framing guide, evaluation materials, virtual presenting guide, coaching delivery exercise

Topics covered:

  • Capstone delivery
  • Building a communication action plan (CAP) through specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals

Asynchronous material for Week 8: final self-evaluation; communication action plan (CAP)

Showcase your new skills as an influential executive-level communicator

Executive Communications digital badge

In addition to earning a professional certificate upon completion of this program, you will also earn a digital badge to showcase your skills on platforms like LinkedIn. These credentials show your network the concrete and in-demand skills you earned from taking this Kelley program.

Meet the instructors

Trent Deckard portrait

Trent Deckard

Trent Deckard is a lecturer at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business and is a recipient of the Trustees’ Teaching Award and the Mumford Excellence in Extraordinary Teaching Award. He teaches business communication classes to undergraduate students and participants of the Kelley Executive Education Programs and MS in Information Systems. In the spring, Trent also teaches a class on leadership lessons taken from the comic book industry. 

Beyond his work at the Kelley School, Trent is also a doctoral student at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and was selected to be a member of the 182-year-old institution's inaugural cohort of the PhD in global leadership program with a focus on organizational change and behavior. His research interests are global business and leadership storytelling as well as imposter syndrome within organizations. After working in his family’s small business, he received his BS degree in political science and criminology from Ball State University and his MA degree in applied communication from IU. A former communication lecturer on the IU Indianapolis campus, Trent also worked as a district director for a member of Congress, led an agency at the State of Indiana, served as chief of staff for a legislative caucus in the Indiana House of Representatives, and currently serves as an at-large member and president pro-tempore of his community’s county council. His private sector experience includes time in leadership with the Kroger Corporation and his families’ franchise for Pepperidge Farms.

Anna Deeds portrait

Anna Deeds

Anna Deeds, recipient of the Panschar Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, Kelley Trustees' Teaching Award, and multiple student-selected Teaching Excellence Awards, is a senior lecturer at the Kelley School of Business in Bloomington. She teaches business communication to undergraduate students and participants in Kelley Executive Education Programs and provides communication coaching to students in the Kelley Full-Time +Flex MBA, Kelley Direct Online MBA, and Executive Education programs.

Anna earned her BA in Communication from Bellarmine University and an MS in Higher Education from Indiana University. Prior to teaching, she worked in GE Appliances’ communication division and served as associate director of admissions at the Kelley School of Business. Her areas of expertise include business and influential communication, student retention and recruitment, and imposter syndrome.

Questions? We're here to help.

Email us at kelleypd@iu.edu with any questions you may have, and a member of our team will be happy to assist you.

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