Adding value for business, individuals
• Educators work to truly meet the needs of all parties
The global financial crisis of 2008-9 forced companies to scrutinise budgets and reduce costs. Among the things cast off at the time were training programmes to develop talented executives.
However, with the economy having recovered somewhat, the focus on training has returned, and individuals and their employees are once more investing in executive education to achieve the competitive edge.
Businesses are looking for ways to grow and overcome challenges such as talent shortages, globalisation, sustainability, digital disruption and the like. Individuals are looking for effective ways to stay current, move up the corporate ladder, learn leadership skills and change careers. Both businesses and individuals are looking for ways of keeping pace with change.
EVOLVING
“The business environment is constantly evolving as it navigates broader sociopolitical change and often difficult economic conditions,” says director of executive education at the University of Witwatersrand Business School (WBS), Devan Naicker.
“To successfully manage such complexities, many business leaders are challenged to, among other things, hone their critical thinking and communication skills. It is for this reason that executive education has an important role to play in business leadership development. Correspondingly, educators have a responsibility to ensure that they are truly meeting the needs of their clients, whether employees, business leaders or companies.”
But it’s not only about keeping up with change. There are, says Lerato Mahlasela, director of custom programmes, a division of executive education of the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), several other factors driving the demand for executive education across privately and publically owned South African organisations.
“The first is the highly competitive nature of the South African and African economies, and the need to empower the workforce to execute an organisation’s long-term strategy,” she says.
“A second driver is the war for talent within organisations. Both in specialist and general management roles, there are a small number of executives and it is not uncommon for corporate executives to leave their organisations to join smaller entrepreneurial companies to secure equity. To deal with these challenges, executive education is often used as a retention tool.
“A third driver is innovation, which has unlocked new channels for companies to continually expand on the knowledge of their employees.”
TECHNOLOGY
Technology also plays a role in increasing the take-up of executive education, most notably via increased access to training by way of online programmes. Core business management related courses yield the highest demand among executives in online studies, says Michael Spreckley, consumer insights analyst at GetSmarter.
The organisation offers online executive courses in collaboration with several universities, including the University of Cape Town and its Graduate School of Business, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Cambridge. The most popular executive education courses offered by GetSmarter, says Spreckley, include future commerce, sustainability and business risk and strategic business management.
“Managers, specialists, consultants, business owners and administrators all benefit greatly from improving their business leadership skills. Organisations are increasingly recognising this and the value of training their executives.
“In 2016, at least half of those enrolled for executive education courses with GetSmarter received part or full funding, the majority of which came from their employers. Commonly cited reasons for funding executive education for employees include productivity and/or efficiency gains, support of planned business growth, and improved management competency and functional expertise,” he says.
The key to getting the design of executive education programmes right, says Naicker, is “taking to heart changing needs within the dynamic world of business and meeting the need for costeffective learning solutions”. One of the ways WBS’s executive education division — which was ranked number one globally for repeat business and growth in 2016 by the UK Financial Times — addresses this is by offering both short courses and customised, in-company programmes.
CRITICAL AREAS
“Our open programmes (‘offthe-shelf’ short courses) provide accelerated learning for individuals wanting to grow in certain areas critical to their roles,” he explains.
“For companies, our customised programmes are co-designed to address organisational growth and complexity challenges.”
Naicker believes collaboration and shared vision are central to relationships between educators and organisations, particularly in the context of emerging market economies.
“We put emphasis on the co-design concept, meaning that we create programmes in close consultation with our clients, which entails an in-depth diagnosis and needs analysis,” he says.
“Our programmes are also designed around a return-on-investment discussion, meaning that the programmes are considered more of an investment in the individuals and organisation involved, rather than a cost. Also, with a renewed focus on creativity and critical thinking in business leadership, methods such as case studies, story-telling and syndicate discussion inform many of WBS our programmes.”
Creativity and innovation are integral to executive education at GIBS. In 2016 the school was recognised for “using inspiring innovation in its delivery of executive education” by international business accreditation body, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
Continued growth in the sector means it is essential for executive education providers to continually innovate and add value, says Mahlasela.
With new technologies and potential disruptors a reality, educators are presented with opportunities for continued expansion.