8 Best Decision-Making Courses Online

The Career Project is reader-supported. We may earn a commission on products purchased through links on this page. Learn more here.

Decision-making skills are essential for all senior work team members. So, if you’re a manager and you’re looking to progress your decision making skills further, we have spent the time researching the best decision making courses that are available online. We have included both free and paid courses, that are suitable for all levels, to ensure that you can find a course best suited to you!

But first, let’s answer a very important question – what are decision making skills, and why should all managers (and other team leaders) be looking to develop these skills?

Decision making skills are typically broken into four main types: problem solving, collaboration, emotional intelligence and logical reasoning. Being able to make decisions allows managers to guide their team on a path of long-term success as their team members are lead with clarity, direction and confidence.

If you are a manager, or someone who would one-day like to be a manager, you can learn how to make decisions through online learning. Suitable for all levels, I have spent the time researching the best online decision making tutorials out there. So, if you’re looking to progress your managerial skills, there will be an online course out there for you!

 

1. Master your Decision-Making, and Critical Thinking Skills! (Udemy)

  • Level: All levels
  • Completion time: 4h 3m
  • Cost: $79.99
  • Certification: No
  • Number of people who have completed the course: 13,186
  • Course rating: 4.4/5 (out of 3,795 ratings)

To complete this bestselling Udemy course, all you need is a high school diploma and the willingness to learn!

Essential for all business managers and leaders, in this course you will learn about the evolutionary context of decision making, heuristics and biases, logical fallacies, the costs of irrationality, and how to optimize the decision-making process in today’s world!

In just over 4 hours, you will learn how your brain thinks, judges and makes decisions. By understanding this, you should also have developed your critical thinking skills so that you can be the best possible leader!

 

2. Making Quick Decisions (LinkedIn Learning)

  • Level: All levels
  • Completion time: Approx 22m
  • Cost: 1-month free trial
  • Certification: Yes
  • Number of people who have completed the course: 122,699
  • Course rating: N/A

Being able to confidently and quickly make smart, high-quality decisions can help you excel as a range of tasks, and Todd Dewett is going to teach you how to do this!

Dewett, one of the world’s more watched leadership personalities, will show you simple steps for making strong decisions in your professional life. You will learn how to define each problem you face correctly and how to assess its urgency. You will also take a look at how to gather essential information, collaborate appropriately, make a choice and make you decision stick!

After completing this course, you should feel confident that you have to practical skills to collaborate effectively with your team and make decisions that stick.

 

3. Decision Making Skills: A 4-Step Model to Improve Your Decisions (Skillshare)

  • Level: All levels
  • Completion time: 1h 8m
  • Cost: 14 day free trial
  • Certification: No
  • Number of people who have completed the course: 1,076
  • Course rating: N/A

In this course, you will learn about the ABCDecisions model. This model is a 4-step model that will help you make better decisions, both at work and at home. You will learn how to Align, Broaden, Compare and Decide. You will also take a look about how to overcome any decision making challenges.

To solidify your understanding of the model, you will frequently complete different activities that help you to apply your new skills as you learn them!

 

4. Decision Making: Solve Problems with Emotional Intelligence (Udemy) 

  • Level: Beginner to Intermediate
  • Completion time: 4h 3m
  • Cost: $79.99
  • Certification: No
  • Number of people who have completed the course: 16,459
  • Course rating: 4.4/5 (out of 4,261 ratings)

In order to successfully complete this course, you need to have an interest and understanding of emotional intelligence and an interest in how to use your emotions to manage impulses, solve problems and make optimal choices. 

In this course you will complete 8 practical activities, on topics such as understanding your reality and increasing gratification, which are all designed to develop your decision making capabilities. Once you have completed the learning and the activities, you should be able: to identify how to make better decisions through critical and creative problem solving, know how to recognize and remove barriers, understand how to move beyond familiar thinking, have adapted new ways of  listening and innovating, and be able to use mindfulness to evaluate different opinions to make a more informed decision. 

 

5. Effective Problem-Solving and Decision-Making (Coursera)  

  • Level: All levels
  • Completion time: Approx 5h
  • Cost: Enroll for Free
  • Certification: Yes
  • Number of people who have completed the course: 179,159
  • Course rating: 4.5/5 (out of 4,738 ratings)

Offered by the University of California Irvine and instructed by Rob Stone, a professor at the university, this course will teach you all about the application of scientific methods and logical thinking that will aid you to solve problems and make decisions. 

You will learn about critical thinking and how it enables you to avoid common obstacles, test your beliefs and assumptions, and correct distortions in your thought processes. Additionally, you will take a look at how to use analysis, synthesis and positive inquiry to address all the individual and organizational problems that a manager may encounter. 

By the end of this 5 hour course, you should be able to apply appropriate problem solving and decision making processes and methods. You will also be able to confidently identify common obstacles, recognize the human variable in problem solving and decision making, explain the elements of problems solving and much more! 

 

6. Decision-Making Strategies (LinkedIn Learning)

  • Level: All levels
  • Completion time: Approx 44m
  • Cost: 1-month free trial
  • Certification: Yes
  • Number of people who have completed the course: 273,539
  • Course rating: N/A

In a little under an hour, you will learn the art and science of business decision-making from experienced leadership trainer and coach Mike Figliuolo. 

Mike will concisely outline four styles of decision making: autocratic, participatory, democratic and consensual. As well as learning about these four styles of decisions making, you will also learn techniques for involving stakeholders in the decision-making process and how to use a RACI matrix (responsible, accountable, consulted and informed). Mike believes that by applying these major concepts, you will have to tools to help you make better decisions in a faster and more risk-free manner.

 

7. Decision-Making and Scenarios (Coursera) 

  • Level: All levels
  • Completion time: Approx 7h
  • Cost: Enroll for Free
  • Certification: Yes
  • Number of people who have completed the course: 38,093
  • Course rating: 4.6/5 (out of 1,619 ratings) 

This course is designed to show you how to use quantitative models to transform data into better business decisions.

Focused more on science and logic, in this class you will take a look at how to use models to facilitate better decision-making, and how to structure your decisions for optimal results. You will be taught the step-by-step processes of modeling common business and financial scenarios so that you can significantly improve your ability to structure complex problems. The idea of this course is that if you can be taught to create models of existing realities, possible risks and alternative scenarios, you can then go off and determine the best solution for any problem that you or your team encounter. 

 

8. EdX’s Decision Making Courses (edX) 

  • Level: Variety 
  • Completion time: Varying
  • Cost: Varying
  • Certification: Yes
  • Number of people who have completed the course: N/A
  • Course rating: N/A

Suitable for those from all industries, edX offer a huge range of decision-making courses from top universities and institutions. From data analysis for decision making, to critical thinking, to ethical decision making and evidence-based decision making, there will be a course for everyone! 

If you’re wanting to progress your decision making skills in a whole variety of areas, then we highly recommend searching through these courses to find one that is suited to you and your needs. 

 

Conclusion

So, there you have it… the 8 best decision making courses that are available online. These classes are suited to anyone who is wanting to develop their skills to become a fantastic manager in any industry.

Having excellent decision making skills will aid you hundreds of careers, as these skills will allow you to make decisions with confidence and purpose. Specific careers where decision-making skills are particularly helpful include:

To gather the decision making skills that will make you progress in lots of careers, there are lots of online courses available for you. There are free courses that take as little as an hour to complete, and there are more expensive courses that much longer to complete! Some courses are suitable for those with no managerial experience. Whereas other courses are better suited for those with lots of experience as a manager, but are specifically looking to increase their skill set further.

The online classes in this list are the best of the best. Each is taught by an experienced and dedicated teacher, and they all have lots of satisfied and happy customers.

So, which course you decide take depends on your experience, funds and spare time. Are you someone who has lots of managerial experience? Or, are you completely new to managerial roles? Do you have a huge amount of money to spend on your skill development? Do you have a lot of spare time, or are you just looking for a quick, but effective, skill top up?

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Table of Contents

Share this post: