As life under COVIDҳ shadow continues, one thing has never been clearer: there is no static Ӯew normal.Ԡ This pandemic has driven changes and innovations, oftentimes overdue, to the way business is done, and it will continue to do so. Succeeding in a climate like this means staying agile and understanding what clientsҠever-evolving Ӽ/span>jobs to be doneԠare נsomething that many executive education programs have struggled with historically.༯span> Thatҳ according to༯span>researchলom The International University Consortium for Executive Education (UNICON). As management educator Tom Ryan found when conducting that research, individuals and companies are looking at their jobs to be done in this changed world and seeking solutions for the new skills and capabilities they require. Traditionally, executive education has been a go-to for finding and developing those solutions נbut, as Ryan states, ӳurveys suggest that a substantial number of businesses find university-based executive education does not fully meet their needs.Ԡ In particular, thereҳ a belief, per UNICONҳ research, that executive education programs today Ӧail to demonstrate an understanding of what clients really need and their jobs to be done.ԠPart of this may be rooted in misperception; as Ryan puts it, Ӂ firm is a solutions provider only when its clients see it as such,Ԡand schools should be doing more to ensure that their capabilities are seen and understood as relevant.༯span> In order to remain relevant, the UNICON recommends࠴hat executive education programs focus on improving in the following areas.Executive education programs must take a more client-centric, customized approach. Many business schools choose to emphasize empirical knowledge as their main offering to clients. However, as UNICONҳ report found, the ability to provide solutions that meet client needs through customization is seen, now more than ever, as far more critical נwhich may be why as many as 75% of respondents to a UNICON and Financial Times survey said they planned to use non-university training partners.༯span> The survey, in fact, found customized executive education to be the༯span>most༯span>sought-after criteria by clients when choosing a࠰rovider. Nearly 40% of respondents considered it extremely important, compared to less than 5% who prioritized research-based and empirical knowledge. According to another 2021 UNICON report, ӗhy Companies DonҴ Use Business Schools,Ԡa providerҳ ability to create content clearly related to a clientҳ individual business needs and challenges was also seen as key criteria. Customization, clearly, is part and parcel of what it means to have a customer-first vision נand thatҳ likely why companies are increasingly opting for tailor-made solutions, like those prioritized by HEC Parisଠinstead of a more traditional business school approach. They must adopt a solutions provider mindset. As a Harvard Business School marketing professor famously said: Ӑeople donҴ want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.ԠCompetitive programs in the executive learning space, including those offered by HEC Parisଠare sharpening their client-centered business models with one goal in mind: to better deliver solutions to clientsҠneeds. In todayҳ climate, the only way for an executive education program to stay relevant, after all, is to position itself not simply as a tool, but as a provider of solutions.༯span> Though an exclusively customer- and solutions-centered focus may not be possible for universities due to structural factors, UNICONҳ report found there are some tactics, particularly when it comes to choosing staff and faculty, that executive education leadership teams can take. ӏne of the most important antidotes to the lack of customer-centricity,ԠRyan wrote, өs to hire and develop people with the perspective and skills to help the client meet that job to be done.Լ/span> Carefully selecting the faculty of your custom programs, as༯span>HEC Paris does, can help schools Ӣuild the human capability needed to be client-centric and solutions-oriented,Ԡhe adds. By offering customized learning experiences and putting faculty with both empirical expertise and real-world experience at the helm, programs can better position themselves as in-touch with todayҳ business challenges נand their solutions. They must employ new systems for learning. As UNICONҳ report underlines, with the shut down of business schoolsҠphysical campuses in response to the pandemic, the ӣompetitive advantage of location fell aside נand made the need for offering customer-centric solutions even more prevalent.Ԡ The business schools that experienced the least amount of friction as executive education moved online were those that had already embraced digitally supported models,༯span>like HEC Paris. And, rather than characterizing a moment in time, this eraҳ new, digital-heavy learning methodologies must continue to be utilized. As UNICONҳ report highlights: Ӕhe ability to deliver content virtually or in an asynchronous online form can enable schools to make better use of their capability and to provide solutions to our clientsҠjobs to be done.Ԡ In an environment as competitive נand as unpredictable נas the one weҲe in currently, executive education programs have no choice but to innovate. Itҳ high time, as Ryan emphasizes, that more of these programs make their own job to be done out of Ӱroviding client-centric relationship management and delivering meaningful solutions with real-world application to the learning and development needs of organizations.Լ/span> ------------------------------------------- By: HEC Paris Title: How Executive Education is Getting the Job Done in the New Normal Sourced From: www.ivyexec.com/career-advice/2022/how-executive-education-is-getting-the-job-done-in-the-new-normal/ Published Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2022 13:00:06 +0000 Read More