Harvard Management Communication Course

As part of my Executive MBA program, I enrolled in a Management Communication course developed by Harvard Business Publishing. The course contains three key modules in communication, covering Planning Communication, Writing in Business, and Presenting in Business. The courses are aimed at providing us with in-depth resources on how to improve our all-round communication skills as executives.

When we were newly enrolled to take the course, I didn’t understand what the course fully offers. I thought it was merely one of the statutory requirements of the school in ensuring that we engage in its programmed academic exercises. Little did I know that it will be a life-changing encounter that I had been hoping to find for a long time.

The Course Composition

The course was designed to be self-paced and was made available to us on the 19th of February to expire on the 17th of March – after which we will no longer have access to the course. The course includes three sections that were estimated to cumulatively take 20 hours of reading, practice questions, and examinations at the end of each of the three-course modules.

Taking the course and completing it in time, therefore, requires that one gets soaked in the process of studying and going through all the contents as at and when due.

Last Minute Reading

From my past experience of taking online self-paced courses, I have underestimated the time it will take to engage with the course with unbroken attention. I thought that I would simply take the course within a few hours, take the examinations and conclude the modules. I enrolled for the course on the 19th of February and did not commence the training till the 9th of March when it was less than 10 days to the end of the course.

More so, I had work-related and family responsibilities as well as a full week of intensive MBA program scheduled for the 6th to 10th of March from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. It became very difficult for me to catch up with the events and timeline. I realized that I should have started much earlier.

Lessons Learnt

1. Start Early: No matter how cheap the task ahead of you looks, endeavor to commence early to enjoy all the benefits of well-paced learning. I realized that not starting early put me under the pressure of speed reading and struggling to grasp the full benefits of the program.
2. Work Smart: You need to look through the structure of any study material that you have and understand it well before going ahead to read or study. Don’t start reading a book or begin studying a course if you are yet to understand the structure and arrangement of the content. This understanding will help you to know the most-relevant parts to study, move faster and learn better.
3. Ask questions: You need to always relate with colleagues, friends, and lecturers who are also familiar with the study material that you are about to study to give you tips that could guide your learning process. Don’t keep your learning journey to yourself, leverage the strength and knowledge of others.
4. Focus on Learning: Don’t just study for studying sake, do it with the intent to learn. One of the mistakes that we make in learning is doing it to fulfill all righteousness. Rather, use every study material to gather information and knowledge relevant to the improvement that you desire to make in your life and career.