Professional DEVELOPMENT GUIDE 2020

A NEW WORLD OF PROFESSIONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

As the coronavirus epidemic changes every aspect of our society and our economy, professional leadership development in New Zealand and globally could well become even more important as business leaders grapple with a new reality post the pandemic.

Already many business and management education providers offer online learning options to students around the country and undoubtedly coronavirus has accelerated some of that. These courses provide a wide range of development opportunities which encompass everything from short one-off personal development courses to graduate certificates and diplomas up to Master's degree level.

A World Economic Forum blog post on the future of business education highlighting ways Covid-19 could change how we educate future generations ( see www.weforum.org) noted that this coronavirus-related disruption could give educators time to rethink the sector. It noted that technology has stepped into the breach, “and will continue to play a key role in educating future generations”.

And this crisis may also see more interest in professional development as job disruption and/ or loss may well mean more of the workforce look to retrain, re-educate or upskill.

The EMA said in a recent media release that it was finding that there are people who are encouraging others to take the opportunity to undergo training “while they may have some extra time on their hands as their roles have changed during Alert Level 4, and also to be best prepared for when lockdown finishes”.