Review of Accelerated change leadership course from IDEO U

A short take on one of the latest courses from IDEO U — Accelerated Change Leadership.

A few words about me to understand my viewpoint

I’d like to share a bit about myself to provide some context and help you determine whether our viewpoints align:

1. I’m passionate about learning. Whether it’s exploring new tools, immersing myself in design methodologies, or engaging in workshops, I view education as a vital part of my professional life. I also teach others, so when I take courses, I evaluate them both as a learner and an educator.
2. I tend to be a bit sceptical when it comes to the quality of content. As Lead designer I’m interested in Service design, Business design, and Design Management. So in my courses, I try to focus either on those provided by companies who have great expertise in this sphere, or based on the amazing feedback, or if they are accredited schools.
3. I’m looking for skills and mindset. So, I’m okay that some courses have a good balance of that. But I rarely participate in solely mindset courses, with networking but little to no practical skills.

If you resonate with these perspectives, be sure to clap and follow my Medium account for more reviews on UX and product design courses, leadership, strategy, and design education. Now, let’s dive into the details of this program!

What is the IDEO U Change leadership certification?

The Accelerated Change Leadership certification from IDEO U is an intensive 10-week program that includes three courses, priced between $1,800 and $2,000 USD (I ended up paying on the higher end). Prices can vary depending on the purchase period. IDEOU promotes this program as a human-centred way to lead others through change, aiming to help build more resilient and adaptable teams by placing people at the heart of the change process.

What IDEO U Promises:

This program aims to teach you how to:

Apply systems thinking to gain context around change, identify opportunities, and pinpoint where to begin. Use frameworks to take small steps, co-create solutions, and experiment to foster change and build support. Develop strategies to navigate the challenges and complexities of implementing and scaling change.

However, spoiler alert: I wasn’t impressed with the course. With my background in similar subjects, I found it lacking. Let me explain why.

Course structure and my impressions:

The course is structured around nine topics over ten weeks ( or 10 if you consider onboarding and finishing the module with a questionary). The study process includes weekly self-paced videos, reading materials, practical tasks, and reflection activities. Additionally, there are three live sessions led by the instructor (actually 2 each week, for different timezones, same topic, but no one prohibits you from visiting both). While the live meetings were insightful and offered a chance to discuss challenges, they didn’t entirely make up for the weaker parts of the course content.

Syllabus

Week 1: Understanding complexity (4/5) The first module delved into complex projects, the essence of complexity, and human-centred systems. I appreciated the methodical approach to zooming in and out of problems — a strong start overall.

Week 2: Systems thinking and change (5/5) This module covered network mapping, process mapping, and problem mapping. Although I’m already familiar with systems thinking, I found the practical tasks engaging and well-organised, making it the most valuable part of the course.

Week 3: Humanising change (4.5/5) Focusing on design thinking, research, interviewing, and audience insights, this module didn’t introduce groundbreaking concepts for me, but it was informative and featured thoughtfully selected examples.

Week 4: Mobilizing people for change (3.5/5) This session addressed framing challenges and coalition building. The change beacons inspiration gallery stood out, but the rest felt relatively underwhelming.

Week 5: Leveraging intuition in change leadership (1/5) This module was a major letdown. Instead of practical insights, it relied on vague concepts about intuition. I expected actionable strategies rather than motivational rhetoric. At this stage, I thought maybe that’s just one module like this, but further, it was not much better or just as bad.

Week 6: Redesigning the system (2/5) While there were some useful ideas on prioritising impact, much of the content felt overly simplistic. Topics like prototyping and leverage points were covered, but they lacked depth and practical application.

Week 7: Prototyping and testing (2/5) This week felt like a series of podcast snippets rather than a structured module. The focus seemed more on storytelling than on teaching concrete methods. Some tips on gathering diverse feedback were helpful, but overall, it didn’t deliver.

Week 8: Growing change (3/5) Storytelling — a key leadership skill — was disappointingly condensed into a few short videos (3–7 min total). Although some communication techniques were mentioned, the module as a whole lacked substance. While in the marketing material IDEOU specifically mentioned this to be learned as a skill.

Week 9: Measuring the impact of change (2/5) Attempting to wrap up the course by connecting previous concepts, this module briefly addressed metrics. The only somewhat useful part was measuring the impact in systems, which would mostly benefit beginners, or if you never created a Measurement plan or worked with metrics.

My thoughts on the learning experience:

The course structure felt disjointed. The first three weeks set high expectations, but the quality dropped significantly afterward. I expected consistency, but the latter modules felt like an entirely different, more basic program.

What I liked:

• Sofia Lopez’s excellent facilitation and warm approach during meetings.
• The first three modules, which felt practical and insightful.
• Adding the IDEO U certificate to my LinkedIn profile.

What I didn’t like:

• The course structure seemed backwards, transitioning from advanced topics to basic ones.
• Later modules lacked practical relevance and depth.
• Considering the content quality, the course felt overpriced.

Outcomes

To earn the Change Leadership certificate, you need to complete all assignments and participate in the live sessions. The program also includes a star-based feedback system, where your peers can award stars for your contributions to discussions, reflections, or shared tasks. Accumulating stars isn’t mandatory for certification, but it’s presented as a motivational aspect to encourage participation.

Networking and community

IDEO U emphasises networking through peer feedback, group discussions, and collaborative projects. You’re encouraged to connect through the platform and share your insights. The cohort is live, you can receive feedback from both the teaching team and the other participants.

While it’s a good idea in theory, I found the community aspect less engaging than expected. Some interactions felt forced rather than organically building a network of like-minded professionals because peer feedback was one of the tasks to earn stars (so at the beginning of the program there was a lot of engagement).

Should you take this course?

Answer these five questions to decide if it’s right for you (you need at least three “Yes” answers):

1. Is your company paying for it? Yes/No
2. Are you a beginner in product design, or product management? Yes/No
3. Did you read the full syllabus with a detailed explanation of topics and tasks? Yes/No
4. Are the topics aligned with your expectations? Yes/No
5. Have you tried ChatGPT or other prompt-based tool to research the topics first? Yes/No

If you’re new to change leadership or want a basic introduction, it might be worth a shot. However, if you’re already familiar with systems thinking and leadership principles, it’s hard to justify the cost.

Rating: 2.5/5

Disclaimer: when applying to this program I took time to contact the sales, to confirm that this program has the same syllabus and content as a regular Change Leadership program, and they confirmed that. So even though I took only the Accelerated version, I tend to think that the regular version would get the same feedback.

If you found this review helpful, don’t forget to clap and follow my Medium account for more insights on leadership and design education.

And if you’re looking to grow in your design career check out the book “Product Design Workshops: Beginner’s guide to foster innovation and build better products through functional collaboration” to get practical insights on how to conduct valuable workshops for product teams, explore 6 workshop types and how to approach them effectively, and 19 practical exercises for ideation, problem-solving, and concept refinement.

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