Leadership

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the difference between management and leadership?
• Management is essential for maintaining order, ensuring efficiency and executing processes. Managers focus on organizing tasks, setting expectations and keeping operations running smoothly. They provide structure, minimize risk and ensure teams meet their goals. However, management alone is not enough to drive innovation and long-term success.
  
  Leadership goes beyond processes—it’s about inspiring, motivating and creating a vision for the future. Leaders empower their teams, embrace change and foster a culture of growth. While strong management keeps things functioning, leadership moves organizations forward. Developing leadership skills alongside management abilities enables professionals to not only maintain success but create it. To truly excel, it’s not just about managing—it’s about leading.
• What is leadership development?
• Leadership development is the process of enhancing your capacity to lead through skill development and personal growth. Understanding your strengths and weaknesses, embracing a growth mindset, and learning to be mindful, self-aware and resilient are essential to developing your leadership capacity. Building your interpersonal skills, such as communication, collaboration and conflict resolution, as well as analytical skills are also essential to effective leadership.
• Why is leadership training important?
• There are many benefits to enrolling in a leadership training program. It can improve your performance and the performance of those around you—ultimately benefiting the organization. Developing your leadership capacity, such as understanding your strengths, developing self-awareness and improving your leadership skills, can help you avoid leadership pitfalls like micromanaging and inflexibility and build stronger, more resilient teams. Investing in leadership training can also help with job satisfaction by creating a plan for growth and future advancement and increase your ability to manage change.
• Am I eligible for leadership training? 
• We offer several leadership development programs designed for different levels of leaders. To determine which leadership training program is right for you, use these eligibility guidelines:
  
  Emerging Leader is designed for new managers, team leads and those aspiring to move into leadership roles with 0-2 years of experience in leadership. There is no application for this program.
  
  Management Development is designed for leaders with 2 or more years of experience. There is no application for this program.
   
  The Executive Leadership Program is designed for executive-level leaders with 5+ years of experience and 5+ direct reports. This program is application based. Students must specify their current role, level of leadership responsibility and what they expect to get out of the program or why they would like to join the cohort. 
  
  Anyone can enroll in the Emerging Leader and Management Development programs if the topics align with their professional goals. Senior and executive-level leaders seeking a refresher are welcome to join these programs or may choose to apply directly to the Executive Leadership Program.
  
  For those looking to build on their leadership training, Emerging Leader can serve as a strong foundation before advancing to Executive Leadership, though each program is designed to stand on its own without redundancy. For questions or help planning your path, email [email protected].
• How can leadership training transform organizations?
• It’s common for high performers to be promoted into leadership roles, but being good at your job doesn’t automatically make you a great leader. And without proper leadership training, organizations actually end up with new managers who can feel overwhelmed, micromanage, or avoid accountability altogether.
  
  In today’s workplace, leaders must go beyond managing tasks—they must lead people. This includes coaching performance, resolving conflict, providing meaningful feedback and motivating teams. These critical skills are not innate; they must be developed. UC Davis's leadership coaching programs are designed to build these capabilities, helping you strengthen your leadership skills, inspire others, and effectively manage organizational change and strategy.