Course features

In today’s interconnected world, leadership extends beyond formal roles and has become an essential capability for navigating the ever-growing complexity of cultural diversity in the workplace. This course equips you with the knowledge, skills, and mindset to lead ethically and effectively across diverse contexts.

At its core is the ACT model - Activating Consciousness, Connecting Relations, Transforming Practice – a framework linking self-awareness, relational competence and systemic change.

Guided by Dr Shuangyu Li, Reader in Clinical Communication and Cultural Competence and Director of King’s Cultural Competency at King’s College London, this course introduces cultural competence as a core leadership capability for today’s interconnected and complex world. You’ll begin by exploring the importance of cultural competence in leadership, critically examining your own identity, biases and how systems of power can shape leadership practice.

You'll then build practical skills to connect with others across differences, communicate inclusively, manage conflict and foster trust in multilingual and multicultural environments. You’ll also focus on how to build equitable partnerships and inclusive networks in digital and global contexts.

The course also explores how cultural competence can be applied to real-world challenges, contributing to addressing complex and ‘wicked’ problems. In the final part of this course, you’ll consider how leaders and those with a leadership mindset can drive systemic change within organisations and institutions.

Through reflective activities, case studies, and quizzes, this course will prepare you not only to navigate diversity, but also to transform it into a source of creativity, resilience, and meaningful global leadership impact.

Course format

This course is delivered through the edX learning platform and is designed to be completed in approximately 5 hours, along with 3 hours of self-directed study.

What you'll learn

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Develop inclusive leadership and decision-making skills
• Build cultural consciousness by examining identity, positionality, bias and power dynamics
• Design and evaluate equitable partnerships and networks across differences
• Navigate conflict and build trust in collaborations
• Integrate cultural competence frameworks to lead transformative change
• Understand inclusive leadership theories and apply them effectively in your professional practice
• Apply cultural competency principles to real-life challenges in the workplace
• Develop inclusive communication strategies for diverse cultural and linguistic contexts

Entry requirements

No formal requirements. English proficiency recommended (IELTS Level 6).

Further information

King’s College London has partnered with the online education platform edX to deliver self-paced short courses to learners worldwide. Anyone can audit the course materials for free, excluding graded assessments, for a limited time.

For full access to the course, including graded assessments and to obtain a verified certificate upon successful completion, the fee is $199.

Payment for verified access to the course is made directly via edX. Please see edX Terms of Service for further information.