Many professionals are heading back to school to boost their business acumen
Human resource professionals are known for being enthusiastic lifelong learners, but embarking on a master of business administration (MBA) program may seem like a daunting investment of time and money for those busy grappling with the people and operational challenges of today’s economy.
However, with the move to increased online learning and working from home against the backdrop of a global pandemic, many are considering a return to school to boost their business acumen.
“We were up 20 to 25 per cent by the end of last year, and when COVID hit, I think people decided it was the perfect time to upskill,” says Rodrigo Porto, director of recruitment and admissions at the UBC Sauder School of Business in Vancouver. “We also saw international numbers continue to rise, but the domestic uptake was something beyond what we were expecting.”
Data analytics, EQ skills
People with HR backgrounds are interested in learning how to make the best use of data analytics to assist in attracting and retaining talent — using data to identify patterns in high performers and to build out teams across an organization, he says.
“It’s about how we can attract the right workforce and get the business to the next level,” says Porto. “With the impact of COVID-19, that need will be enhanced even further.”
There is also greater interest from HR professionals in emotional intelligence development, looking at emotional quotient (EQ) competencies such as self-regulation, adaptability and optimism.
“It gives you that ability to coach other managers and directors, and it’s what gets people promoted — the ability to EQ yourself into a role and grow,” says Porto.
HR people often bring a unique skill set to the MBA program, says Catherine Chandler-Crichlow, executive director of career management and corporate recruiting at the Ivey Business School at Western University in London, Ont.
“[HR is] often seeking to get more rigour around understanding strategy and operations. They understand the people side but want to better understand the operational side — that’s what they want from an MBA program,” she says.
Christina Smith is in the MBA program at the DeGroote School of Management at McMaster University. As director of operations and business development at Kangaroo Trailers, she is looking to add more strategic business management skills after working in HR roles for many years in the advertising sector.
HR was a second career for me,” says Smith. “I had the business experience, but I felt as I went through my HR career [that] I was missing that piece to be that strategic business partner. HR has a dual role in that it supports the employee perspective but also supports the business, and you need to find that link in between and understand the business behind it all.”
Shift in thinking
Megan Hall had her own human resource consulting business before enrolling in an MBA program at the Lazaridis School of Business at Wilfrid Laurier University in 2015.
“I had always wanted to do a master’s, but the longer I worked, the more I realized an unstructured research master’s wasn’t my style,” says Hall, head of people and culture at Ten Thousand Coffees, an online mentoring and networking platform. “The MBA appealed to me because I had a certain level of business experience but had focused on HR up to that point and hadn’t had an opportunity to go outside of HR.
“It shifted my thinking from ‘How are we doing right by employees?’ to ‘How are we doing right by employees while building this business?’ Everything I think about now in terms of building programs and policies for people is about what we are trying to achieve as a business; it’s not siloed thinking. That’s the number one thing I have gained from an HR perspective,” she says.
The program also expanded her knowledge of core accounting principles and gave her greater comfort around financial documents.
“It broadens your perspective on understanding how the business is doing by reading financial reports,” says Hall. “It also taught me about the different functions within a business, so from a recruiting perspective, it helped me understand more about what those roles entail and how to find great people for them.”
Online options prosper
Eighty-two new MBA students were welcomed to Wilfrid Laurier University via a Zoom meeting this year, according to Brad Davis, associate professor at the Lazaridis School of Business. And moving the program entirely online during COVID-19 provided the unexpected benefit of simulating what the world of work looks like now and how it could continue for the foreseeable future, especially for HR professionals, he says.
“This is the new norm. We’ve already seen tech companies and some of the banks say they are permanently working from home. Job interviews, recruiting and meetings are going to be done by Zoom or Skype. The mere fact most of the schools are offering these remote-based MBAs means you’re now living in the environment in which you will be working in the future.”
Some MBAs, such as those at Athabasca University and the University of Fredericton, are entirely online, while others at University Canada West and DeGroote School of Business have blended online and in-person programs. The UFred program, like most MBAs, has a significant amount of group work, so students network with others on a regular basis.
“They develop skills for working in virtual teams to a higher level because they are studying in an online environment,” says Sheri McKillop, vice president of academics at the University of Fredericton Sandermoen School of Business. “We also hear from students saying their network is across Canada instead of one specific regional area.”
At the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University, a blended learning part-time option includes an online and in-class curriculum.
“We give the students the flexibility to balance work and family commitment and build that network, which is such an important component of an MBA,” says Jennifer Dunk, manager of the blended learning part-time MBA program at DeGroote. “By being online, one mom said it gave her more opportunities to be with her baby during breaks and lunch hours.”
Jenna Wood, director of HR at Aecon Group, is currently pursuing an MBA at the DeGroote School of Management at McMaster University and says her goal is to become more involved in larger aspects of the business.
“We’ve seen the shift to HR being a key strategic player. I am part of an operational senior leadership team, and I see the importance of developing financial acumen, analytical skills and strategic thinking to better inform critical decision-making at the organizational level beyond just the people aspect of my role.”
Wood likes the blended option that allowed online learning as well as in-person networking.
“I needed a program that allowed the flexibility to balance work and personal commitments,” she says. “In a non-COVID world, I typically travel quite a bit and having the blend of online and in-person learning and the ability to develop relationships is great,” she says.
“The learning you get from being in a room full of people that are in it together and come from varied backgrounds has been huge for me.”
Jennifer Brown is the editor of Course Compare, a marketplace for education that connects people to courses and training programs in business, technology and design across the country. For more information, visit www.coursecompare.ca.
