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Rice University · on Coursera

Relationship Management

Advanced English University CertificateFREE
SkillsStakeholder managementLeadershipConflict resolutionNegotiationTeam leadershipTrust building

Is this course right for you?

Our take
David Van Kleeck's Rice University course on the human side of leading complex work — and it's pitched as advanced, for people already leading through others.

Good for: Experienced practitioners leading teams and managing stakeholders.

Skip if: You are new to leadership or want an introductory people course.

It covers building trust, managing stakeholders, leading teams, and handling conflict and negotiation: the interpersonal work that determines whether big projects actually land. Though it draws on engineering-project-management experience, the material applies well beyond that, to anyone whose results depend on other people cooperating.

The advanced framing is worth taking seriously. If you're new to leadership or want an introductory people course, this will move too fast and assume too much; its value is real precisely because it's written for practitioners who've already hit these problems and want to handle them better.

Audit it free on Coursera; a certificate needs a subscription (about $49/month) or Coursera Plus, with financial aid available, and stands as a record of study, not a professional qualification. The relationship skills at its core don't date (as of 2026).

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About this course

Relationship Management focuses on the human side of leading complex work: building trust, managing stakeholders, leading teams, and handling conflict and negotiation. From Rice University's David Van Kleeck, it's drawn from engineering-project-management experience but applies broadly to anyone who has to get results through other people.

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Instructor

DV
David Van Kleeck
Coursera instructor

David Van Kleeck teaches project leadership at Rice University, drawing on extensive industry experience managing large engineering programmes. The course reflects that real-world, practitioner perspective.

Frequently asked questions

It is useful for them, but broader — it is about managing professional relationships and interpersonal effectiveness generally, part of a Rice University career-development specialization, rather than a management-specific course. New managers benefit, but so do individual contributors, since building trust, communicating well, and handling workplace relationships matter in any role. It assumes no management position to be valuable.

No. Although it sits within a specialization aimed partly at technical professionals, the relationship and interpersonal skills it teaches are universal — communication, emotional intelligence, building rapport, and managing conflict apply across every field. Engineers wanting to strengthen soft skills are one audience, but anyone looking to work more effectively with others gets value from it.

The interpersonal side of professional life: building and maintaining working relationships, communicating effectively, emotional intelligence, trust, and navigating conflict and difficult interactions. It aims to strengthen the people skills that increasingly determine career success alongside technical ability, giving you practical approaches rather than abstract theory about working well with colleagues, managers, and teams.

Yes, you can audit it on Coursera and watch the lectures at no cost. The graded assignments and the certificate require a subscription, with financial aid available if you apply. Since much of the value is understanding and reflecting on the interpersonal concepts, auditing gives you the substance if you want the ideas rather than the credential.

As a single course within a specialization, it typically runs a few weeks at a modest weekly pace. It is concept-and-reflection focused rather than a hands-on build, so the time goes into absorbing the interpersonal material and applying it, with the wider career-development specialization a longer commitment if you continue.
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