Investigating Our Custom Clients’ Evolving Needs A UNICON Research Study April, 2009 Marie Eiter Principal Investigator

Purpose of the Study to identify how client needs are changing to discuss implications of clients’ changing needs for university-based executive programs to examine implications with regard to new competitors

Research Methods 14 in-depth interviews with business schools representing large (>$30m), mid-size ($8-29m) and smaller (<$7m) providers 50% U.S. business schools 50% non-U.S. Countries represented: Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, U.K. 6 interviews with senior HR executives of client firms Review of selected published articles

Results Are the needs expressed by your custom clients today different from 5 years ago? 13=Yes 1=No

“It’s about their issues, not your content.” Clients today want programs focused on executing business strategies programs focused on helping them solve their problems programs that bridge leadership actions to business results real partnerships and more involvement in design and delivery “It’s about their issues, not your content.”

Clients today are more sophisticated more demanding smarter more experienced more focused more credentialed more involved

Meet the Chief Learning Officer The new learning leaders have arrived, and they will not be denied. …and they will change the way you think about learning and performance. They're high octane and hard-charging, and they're moving into your neighborhood—now. Training & Development, May 2002

alternative learning methods 2003 vs. 2008 In 2003, clients asked for… a program In 2008, the Chief Learning Officer is asking for… an integrated learning platform classroom teaching post- program pre- classroom teaching alternative learning methods pre- program post- program

Integrated Learning Platform Value Chain Proposal Pre-Program Engagement Classroom Experience Facilitated Learning Experiential Learning Action Learning Coaching Post-Program Evaluations

The RFP Process Proposal “RFPs are increasingly detailed and not easy to answer. They take a lot of time and that is just to make the cut.” “There is an expectation of a level of detail that includes session objectives, expected outcomes, and specific cases and exercises.” “There is a lot of competition at the proposal stage. You need to demonstrate a much greater understanding of the company, the industry and the business challenges in the proposal.” “We need a lot more horsepower in responding to these RFPs, especially when they come through procurement.”

A Greater Level of Advising Pre-Program Engagement Most schools now offer 360 assessments as part of the engagement. “We have created our own assessments.” “We purchase a standard 360 assessment.” “We design a 360 assessment around the company’s competencies.” Most schools now offer action learning as part of the engagement. “We provide guidance to the company on choosing action learning projects.” “We provide guidance on helping participants prepare live cases.”

Less Teaching, More Application Classroom Experience from 5 day programs to 2-3 day modular programs with action learning between modules from case teaching or lecture to facilitation and application to the business shortened faculty sessions in core functional areas more co-delivery with line executives “Most effective response may not be a program at all, but facilitated discussions.”

From Knowing to Acting Facilitated Learning workshops with strategy frameworks and facilitated team discussions objective is to make a real difference in achieving business results by helping clients identify “must win” battles “Requires a lot more flexibility and exploration on the part of our faculty.”

Case Study Doing and Learning Situation: A global financial company needed help in developing their strategy. Response: Darden faculty created and facilitated strategy workshops with the senior team. They posed a series of rigorous strategic questions, facilitated discussions, provided frameworks, and orchestrated difficult conversations. Result: The company left with a strategic plan and the executives learned about strategy development.

Making Resources Available Experiential Learning There is an increased demand for experiential learning which is a lot less prescriptive and a lot more interactive. Kolb & Fry, 1975

Learning at the Behavioral Level Case Study Learning at the Behavioral Level Situation: Major company needed to “bring their brand to life.” Response: Chicago Booth created a 3-day program, only 4 hours was traditional B-school faculty teaching. They used 3 live cases and field visits to 14 companies to understand the customer experience. The faculty provided a lens for focusing on the behaviors observed. The group debriefed their observations and worked in teams to apply what they learned. Result: Executives observed “living the brand” at a behavioral level and were aided in translating what they saw to their own company.

Learning by Experience Case Study Learning by Experience Situation: Asian consumer products company wanted to develop products for the American market. Response: UT provided appropriate teaching sessions, but in addition, leveraged their network of Ph.D. students and TAs to work with the project teams over 3 months to conduct applied field research on U.S. consumers, and to understand how their products would be used. Result: The company achieved a successful launch of their product in the U.S. market.

The Real ROI is in Action Learning Action learning is now a core part of most programs. The real results occur when teams go away, work on action learning projects, and come back and report progress. “During the action learning part of the program, we contract for 2 hours of mentoring per team, per module. We use our MBA consulting alumni, some graduate students—all within the orbit of the school.”

Coaching? Yes and No Coaching One-on-one coaching is embedded in many programs and continues long after the program ends. “A group of our senior school administrators became certified as coaches. It works better than trying to get an outside firm connected to our program.” “We did coaching but it is not scalable, faculty can’t do that work and we are hesitant to brand external people with our school name.”

It’s All About The Transfer of Learning Post-Program Evaluations Success is… demonstrating business impact, but not all impact is quantitative the quality of the business plan or the product plan a change in the conversation helping clients solve their problems executives acting differently

Barriers Not all faculty are interested or adept at facilitation or experiential learning Deep faculty involvement in one company creates both capacity and compensation issues. Current internal structures and policies do not support the integrated learning platform Few facilitators are familiar with faculty concepts and frameworks. Few schools have senior level administrators with business consulting experience who can take on more non-faculty roles. Few schools have a pricing model for the integrated learning platform.

Implications

Key Messages from our Clients “You have incredibly good faculty, but you need to listen to our needs and help us solve our problems.”

Key Messages from our Clients “Make an effort to understand our business, get to know us, interact with us, and we will honor the partnership.”

Key Messages from our Clients “No more talking heads. Executives want to get actively involved in the learning process.”

Key Messages from our Clients “Together, we need to be thinking about business impact as early as the design phase.”

Key Messages from our Clients “We need more state-of-the-art social networking approaches. Your hierarchal models of management are outdated.”

Issues for Schools to Consider Our core value has always been the classroom educational experience, and the faculty our most valuable asset. Is our distinctive advantage eroding?

Issues for Schools to Consider The demand is for customized and integrated solutions in the marketplace. Do we need a new business model, a combination of business consultants and faculty?

Issues for Schools to Consider As the demand for traditional classroom teaching decreases, schools are experiencing downward pressure on pricing. Have you developed a pricing model for the integrated learning platform?

Issues for Schools to Consider Not every school wants to or is capable of offering an integrated learning platform. Where does your school fit?

Questions or Comments? Thank You Marie Eiter meiter@mit.edu