The brain gain

Bill Shedden and David Butcher (Cranfield School of Management), Grant Ackerman (Columbia Business School), Joaquin Uribarri Zarranz (Instituto de Empresa), and Mike Rossenberg (IESE) explain executive education.

CXO. Are you seeing a growing interest in executive education and, if so, what do you think is driving this demand? Is it a trend you see continuing in the long-term or will we see the curve level off once a new generation of employees hits the market?

MR. It’s certainly growing and I think things will only continue to pick up. It is simply impossible for an individual or a management team to keep track of the changes emerging at the periphery of the business landscape and business schools are in a unique position to fill that gap. Executive training and personal development is also increasingly becoming an element of compensation and we feel that as the world gets more and more complex, the top management talent will look for those companies and organisations which offer them the best learning opportunities both on the job and in the classroom.

In my view, the main driver behind this trend is the tremendous pace of change going on around the world as a result of globalisation and technological convergence. Both at the individual and corporate level, people see education as the only way to keep up with changing times.

GA. Generally speaking the demand for executive education continues to be strong. What we are seeing now, however, is a growing interest in customisation. Both individual participants and companies want educational programmes that address their unique business needs. While that can be more readily achieved in corporate-sponsored programmes, it also can be done in open programmes if participants are given the opportunity to apply programme content to their own business challenges while they are in residence.

The primary driver for all of this is the more complex and uncertain world in which executives must now operate. The key to success in this kind of environment is the capacity to learn faster than the rate of change. That will continue and become even more important in the future. Executives can learn either from their own experience or the experience of others. Customised educational programs provide the opportunity for accelerated development to help executives stay ahead of the learning curve.

DB. We are seeing steady growth in delegate numbers on executive development open programmes. This is due to the fact that there is a need for executives to maintain an external perspective on their businesses, to engage with best practice concepts, and to receive specialist development input. This is a long-term need that, if anything, is gathering momentum.

BS. The growing demand for executive education is being driven by the increasing pressure on organisations to innovate and improve performance in order to remain competitive. This pressure isn’t going to go away. Our clients expect us to work in close partnership with them to deliver a clear organisational pay-off. Demand for executive education – or ‘executive development’ as we prefer to call it - that delivers sustainable results will continue to grow.

JU. If we look back over the last decade, we see that the growth of executive education has been significant. That’s what most of the surveys with business schools show and also what we see from our own studies in the International University Consortium for Executive Education (UNICON).

My view is that this trend will continue to grow in the coming years and that the growth rate will rise even higher than in recent years. The reason, basically, is that the need to update and renew the management knowledge and skills is becoming an increasingly key factor for the success of executives and companies. 20 or 30 years ago, we pretty much assumed that if you went to University and then got an MBA – or similar post-graduate programme – your business education was complete and the rest of your experience could be gained at work. Today, we know that that is no longer valid because markets, ideas and technologies keep changing and so do the knowledge and capabilities required to cope with them.

CXO. What are the prime things companies look for when sourcing training or executive education? Does it boil down to the flexibility or scope of the course, or experience of the business school, for example?

MR. At IESE Business School, we believe that companies and individuals are looking for a transformational experience that will actually affect the way people behave when they get back to work, as well as having a direct impact on the achieving specific goals in the short and medium term. Corporate HR managers should insist on a school that both understands the strategic and cultural imperatives and is willing to stimulate a dialogue between the academics and senior management, so that each programme is designed to achieve specific goals for the business in question.

GA. Executive education is, or should be, about thought leadership that helps individuals and organisations to perform better. HR managers should be cautious of programmes that offer content that is either too theoretical (cutting edge ideas that are largely irrelevant in the marketplace) or too practical (simplistic concepts that don’t challenge executives to think on their own). To get the most out of any executive development initiative, HR managers should ensure that content is aligned with the strategy of the firm and that the initiative itself is supported by senior leadership. Otherwise, it can become an exercise in theory or, worse, futility.

Finally, HR managers should ensure that both pre- and post-programme work create an integrated personal and organisational learning experience. Otherwise, the initiative can become an interesting, enjoyable but not terribly meaningful endeavour.

DB. Speaking only for the business school sector, the primary things companies look for when sourcing open enrollment programmes are unique perspective, practicality, world-class faculty and high quality delegates. Unique perspective means that a school uses its own material and delivery processes, not somebody else’s, while practicality means learning is contextualised in a delegate’s own business and role. World-class faculty means individual contributors to programmes who have an international reputation in a field of specialisation, and high quality delegates means effective executives from a range of business sectors and international contexts.

HR managers should above all take into account the willingness of a school to understand their businesses, and provide continued support for delegates on return to work.

BS. Increasingly, companies are choosing to work with business schools that can partner closely with them in a relationship that goes beyond delivering traditional courses, and that can include activities such as strategic consultancy, executive assessment, joint research initiatives, networked learning, etc. It is important that companies choose an executive education provider who is really committed to getting ‘under the skin’ of their organisation to provide development that makes a real difference.

JU. Companies look for impact – meaning a programme that is relevant for either the manager, the business unit or the company as whole, depending on the kind of educational need they are trying to fulfill. To ensure the executive education experience is relevant, HR directors should consider the quality of the school, the faculty involved, the structure and content of the programme, the profile of the participants – in open enrolment programmes – and the flexibility of the school to really adapt contents and formats to the specific needs of the company/participant, mainly in custom programmes.

CXO. What are the benefits of sending employees off to formal courses as opposed to more informal coaching in the workplace, and what kind of courses are now available to suit business’s varied needs?

MR. Business leaders today have a wide variety of programmes and courses to choose from, ranging from exciting short programmes focused on a specific topic to longer open enrollment programmes and even executive MBAs. We have been increasingly involved in developing custom programmes for companies, targeted at specific groups or a specific level of managers and carefully crafted to link into the most critical issues facing a firm.

Coaching has become increasingly popular in many companies and has an important role in maximising an executive’s potential in a specific role. More and more, we are also including personal coaching as part of our open enrollment programmes to complement the more broad-based and medium-term learning. In terms of custom programmes, we see individual coaching as a logical follow-up to a programme that is focused on changing behaviours of an entire level of management.

GA. First of all, coaching is a very powerful learning tool that can enhance anyone’s professional development. Its primary limitation, though, is that it does not allow broader interactions with other professionals outside the organisation. This is the advantage of more formal educational programmes that permit participants to explore topics with others facing similar problems. During the process, they develop a network of relationships they can draw upon for continued learning far into the future.

Courses available now emphasise skills development in both functional areas (such as marketing management or financial accounting for non-financial executives) and cross-functional, integrated systems thinking (high impact leadership, transition to general management). Development in the latter area is particularly important in the contemporary context, which requires participation and cooperation across organisational and geographic boundaries. We also have courses that are designed to meet the unique needs of individuals in specific roles in the organisation, including CEOs and corporate directors.

DB. The key benefits of formal courses are the interactions with others, from a range of business situations on an open programme, and the fact that formal courses are a particularly effective means of structuring certain types of learning. It is important to stress that the methodologies for designing and delivering formal courses have evolved to become very sophisticated. There are a very wide variety of available programmes to cater for the needs of business.

BS. By networking and learning in a business school environment, managers are stimulated and challenged through exposure to new thinking and ideas – and ‘on the job’ learning just won’t achieve that. It’s that type of exposure that helps people to make a step-change in what they’re doing.

JU. The main benefit is that an employee in a well designed formal course will learn and improve in a more systematic way, which means that the content, structure and teaching methodologies address the specific learning needs throughout the programme. On the other hand, coaching in the workplace has the benefit of immediate application to the employee’s daily reality.

Formal courses also provide the advantage of opening the participants’ mind by interacting with other participants and professors and, in most cases, getting to know the problems they face and the solutions. It is very important for employees to broaden their views and understanding by analysing similar situations to their own but in diverse sectors and circumstances.

CXO. What about distance learning and e-learning? What do you see as the pros and cons of these popular alternatives versus face-to-face education?

MR. I have personally been teaching for the last five years on our Global Executive MBA programme, which combines face-to-face classroom time with e-learning, and our experience has been very positive. The format allows for different people to participate even though they are located all over the world and might have different levels of time pressure. It also allows for a much deeper exploration of issues when done carefully. What e-learning does not do very well is the human interaction and impact that we feel is necessary in order to offer a truly transformational experience. People are still people and need human contact and that is why we feel strongly about combining such learning with significant face time.

One thing we have also found with busy executives is that it is difficult to get them to disconnect from the day-to-day pressures of their work. In this context, it is often easier to get people to focus when they are physically in the same place and for this reason we have had mixed success with the platforms outside of our structured Global Executive MBA programme.

GA. These types of asynchronous learning experiences can be a great complement to, but not necessarily a substitute for, face-to-face education programmes. For example, they are invaluable for teaching basic facts or concepts so that course time can be used for discussion and application. They also offer an opportunity to learn in the medium that is fast becoming the new workplace environment – the digital world. Combining both hi-tech and hi-touch educational experiences provides integration and balance, the keys to continued success in the emerging virtual world.

DB. Distance and e-learning are cost-effective means of delivering basic and some intermediate levels of knowledge acquisition and personal development. However, they will never be a substitute for the learning engagement possible through well delivered face-to-face executive development, especially when sophisticated development outcomes are sought.

BS. Technology is opening up exciting new opportunities for business schools and their clients, and it can help facilitate closer partnerships, particularly where global reach is important. When e-learning is used to support and extend face-to-face contact it adds value in executive development. When it replaces or hinders personal engagement however, then it can undermine real learning.

JU. The main pro of e-learning is that you break down the barriers of time and space. You can reach all participants no matter where they are and when they have time available. On the other hand, although a lot of progress has been made in this respect through the introduction of new methodologies and technologies, in distance learning you lose the value of physical contact and the direct interaction among participants and with the professor.

Having said that, our experience at Instituto de Empresa shows that the quality of learning in our e-learning modules is as high, if not higher, to those run face-to-face. The main con is that the time and effort devoted in e-learning is significantly higher, which is why in executive education courses the e-learning formats are less popular. It is very difficult to have a manager working online in a programme while he/she has to be also working in the regular work. Face-to-face education has de advantage of taking the employee out of work to concentrate only in the course.

CXO. Business management ideas, regulations and technologies are constantly changing. How do you ensure your courses are always at, or ahead of, the leading edge?

MR. Besides their activities in academic research, IESE business school actively encourages its faculty to become engaged as consultants and board members with companies dealing with such problems every day. We are constantly publishing new cases and other materials that explore these issues and their impact on business. Our executive education team then has the challenge of keeping abreast of the needs of international executives and their companies and matching the faculty’s interests with the market.

GA. Like any other organisation, our success is and will continue to be directly related to our capacity to learn and adapt. After each programme – open or custom – we engage in a comprehensive review to determine what worked well and what did not. We take these evaluations very seriously and use them as an opportunity to learn directly from our customers.

Most importantly, as members of a profession that has as its core value the pursuit of knowledge, we need to take the lead in developing and presenting new ideas. Somewhere right now, one of our faculty members is just beginning to develop that next, great idea that will change the way we think about how and why we organise in commercial ventures. Our goal – our challenge – is to encourage the exploration of that idea and, when it is ready to be transferred to the marketplace, to provide the vehicle that will allow all executives to benefit from it.

DB. In many ways it is a self-fulfilling process. Being and striving to remain world class in the field of executive development means that many activities, internal and external to the business school, are designed to achieve just that. It is therefore more about creating an organisational culture of excellence over the long term than it is about mere scanning of the horizon for particular developments of ideas, regulation or technologies.

BS. Unless we continue to innovate in response to the needs of organisations, and unless what we offer is perceived by our clients to be adding significant value, we won’t continue to win business as a customised provider. This ensures that our interventions remain at the leading edge both in terms of knowledge and learning process.

JU. The critical point here is to have a faculty body that is very close to business reality through their work producing applied research, consulting for companies and participating in corporate and academic networks. You also need high quality staff in executive education who are able to identify and anticipate trends in the different industries and management functions.

David Butcher is Director of open programmes at Cranfield School of Management and has been in management education for 20 years, having held positions in several major business schools. He works extensively with top management on an international basis, and is known for the clarity of his vision and his ability to challenge and inspire.

Having published widely on organisational leadership and business transformation, Butcher is in high demand as a speaker at international conferences. His early career was in advertising and marketing where he worked for several multinationals including Du Pont. He views management development as indispensable to business transformation and growth.

Bill Shedden is Director of the Centre for Customised Executive Development at Cranfield School of Management, where he has directed the rapid expansion of the School’s customised development activities since he joined Cranfield in 2002.

Bill has worked in the field of executive development for 20 years. He sits on the EFMD (European Foundation for Management Development) Steering Group and is a frequent member of EFMD peer review panels for both the EQUIS and CLIP accreditation processes. He is also a member of the Membership Committee for UNICON, the International University Consortium for Executive Education.

Prior to joining Cranfield he was Director of Executive Education at Ashridge Business School, where he was responsible for a large part of Ashridge’s executive education business as well as its MBA programmes. He has also taught on the MBA programmes at the Universities of Warwick and Aston.

Grant Ackerman is Associate Dean for Executive Education and Professor of Management at Columbia Business School. His teaching emphasis is on Executive Leadership, Collaborative Leadership Models and Cross-Cultural Issues in Management. His research focuses on Managing Conflict and Consensus Within and Between Firms, Cross-Cultural Negotiations and Dispute Resolution and Organizational Justice.

Ackerman has written numerous papers and publications, has extensive experience in organizational consulting and has provided educational programs or consultations companies.

From 1985 to 1989 he served with Educational Services Exchange with China, Inc. (ESEC) as Director of the Institute for International Trade. Other professional experience includes serving as Coordinator of the Team Leadership Program at Columbia Business School's Professional Development Center.

Mike Rosenberg is Acting Director of International Executive Education at IESE and also teaches Business Strategy at the school. He has 18 years of experience advising companies on how to improve performance through R&D improvements, business strategy development & implantation, operations improvements, and developing management teams both as a headhunter and an educator.

Rosenberg’s consulting experienced was primarily in the automotive industry for Arthur D Little and AT Kearney in Europe, Latin America, and North America. While teaching part time at IESE Business School and prior to joining the faculty full time in 1998, he managed the Global Automotive Practice for Heidrick & Struggles.

Joaquín Uribarri is the Director of Marketing and Innovation in the area of executive education at Instituto de Empresa, and has acted as a catalyst for senior management programmes and the internationalisation of in-company and open programmes. He is also an expert in the area of e-learning having launched, as director of the initiative, IE Learning Net. Previously, he was responsible for the MBA and IMBA programmes, to which he gave greater international outreach. Uríbarri has spoken at numerous forums on his area of expertise and is the primary representative of IE at UNICON.