Executives value real-world perspectives (Web sight)

Rating programs for online executive training

Employers spend a great deal of time and expense training and developing executives. A 2005 BusinessWeek survey reported that companies sent more than 21,000 employees to courses and spent hundreds of millions of dollars at business schools. But how many of the programs offered are effective and how much usable information do executives retain and bring back to the workplace?

Boot camp-like training gets thumbs up
www.hrworks-inc.com/art-nov282003.html

“Training that stands out: Finding ROI in an executive education program” on the HR Works, Inc. site describes the kind of training executives said made a real impact. One executive described a weeks-long program at Harvard Business School as a “boot camp-like environment, analysing case studies alongside CEOs and owners of mid-market companies.” The course provided real-world perspectives in addition to what other courses provide — theory. Another executive cited a course offering morning sessions in “negotiation, leadership, acquisition, finance, marketing, business planning and succession. Afternoons are reserved for R&R — providing a mix of work and play… ideal for learning.”

Tailored programs best bang for training bucks
www.humanresourcesmagazine.com.au/articles/34/0C02DE34.asp?Type=60&Category=878

“The successful execution of executive education,” on the website for Australia’s Human Resources magazine, looks at the executive education market and how organizations can maximize its usefulness. Although many employers have invested heavily in educating executives, tighter budgets have led to a more targeted and sophisticated approach. The article gives several pointers for organizations wanting to tailor training, including ensuring employees want to attend and that they agree with required outcomes. Training should be used as a reward for high-potential employees, not as a punishment for poor performance.

Speeding executive onboarding
www.clomedia.com/content/templates/clo_article.asp?articleid=1283&zoneid=162

According to a survey cited in “Onboarding: Helping new executives get it right,” about one-half of senior executives are not well integrated into new jobs and it can take as long as 18 months to get up to speed. This article examines ways an employer can shorten this time with a three-step process: clearly state expectations; suggest what is important to learn and from whom it can be learned; and ask what processes, procedures and changes the executive plans to implement at the end of three months, six months and one year.

Use it or lose it
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_4_47/ai_84928074

This article, entitled “Use it or lose it,” outlines how one company’s communication and leadership training course ended up being a waste of time and money when managers failed to transfer the lessons to their work lives. Despite providing first-rate trainers and tools, many managers were intimidated and overwhelmed by the amount of information presented. The company “would have been better served identifying a few desired skills or competencies and structuring the entire training program around them… it should have narrowed the focus and designed the program so that the pre-selected competencies would be drilled and instilled.”

IT execs embrace business training
www.technologyreview.com/resources/execed/now/index.aspx

Technology Review’s “Executive education: Now more than ever” examines the types of courses that have proven relevant for IT executives: leadership, strategy, finance and sales. The article explains that chief information officers are “embracing a far different type of educational experience than in previous years. The common element: courses teaching new concepts that can invigorate and refresh corporate technology strategies.” One course is a three-day business improvisation program that teaches executives how to respond to rapid change.

Simulations stimulating training tools
www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070502.wgtgames0502/BNStory/GlobeTQ/home

Simulations are growing in popularity, according to this Globe and Mail article, “Games get down to business.” It describes how a simulation game can teach executives to make better decisions in their jobs. “The fictional problems the company suffers — clueless management, lax financial controls and departmental infighting — are daily realities.” It adds that business simulations, “are increasingly popular as younger, game-savvy workers move up the corporate ranks.”

Ann Macaulay is a freelance editor and regular contributor to Canadian HR Reporter. Her Web Sight column appears regularly in the CloseUp section.

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