Executive Education: Here's What Should You Look For

Executive education offerings in India are flooding the market. Everyone from top Indian and international schools to large reputable consulting firms to independent operators are promising to “educate” and “develop” senior managers. CEOs and their vice presidents of human resources are bombarded with daily requests to buy the latest and greatest in executive education. How do you differentiate the snake charmers from the real deal? The quality of the organization you hire to train your executives pivots on 7 key factors.

1. Has the school or training outfit built or are they willing to build a relationship with your business? Executive education is a relationship business. How many times do executives or even middle managers leave a training session about leadership or growth excited about insights they never truly implement. Can executive development programs be held responsible for execution?

Although execution is truly the job of the manager, an executive education program that offers no custom-designed curriculum will always meet the bar of interesting and always fall short of helping managers turn insights into executable actions. When an organization that sells executive education takes the time to learn about your organization and its challenges, engages in deep interactions with the various decision-makers in your company, and meets the target training audience, the content they provide can be much more tailored to your needs and therefore much more impactful for your managers.

2. Do their faculty or trainers have a global mindset? It is completely reasonable to ask for the resumes of the people who will be training your management team. Foreign Direct Investment in India is growing at double-digit rates and coming from countries as near as the UAE and as far as the U.S. Indian companies are increasingly investing in companies abroad at a rate of $15 billion in the first three quarters of 2010, up 6% from last year. Top companies competing with Indian firms from the U.S. can boast international work experience among 30% of their senior executives. That number increases by almost 10 percentage points among European competitors. So when you make the decision to spend executive education dollars, you must insist that the education is being delivered by faculty that have lived, worked, and conducted research abroad.

3. How much global experience does the school have? It is as important for a school to have a global presence as it is for faculty. The context in which an organization trains executives matters. If your training is limited to one site, city or country, the breadth or depth of the knowledge sources that you interact with can be limited. On the other hand, if the organization that provides you executive education delivers programs in different countries, industries and sectors, you can be certain that your executives will be trained on the global cutting edge. If the faculty that provides the training regularly comes into contact with other faculty and executives from around the world, their insights will simply be more global and therefore more in line with today’s executive needs.

4. Are the faculty and trainers from the best global institutions? Even the most successful undergraduate and graduate-level faculty is not always very successful in the executive education classroom. Teaching executives is a real craft that one hones over years of varied experience. Faculty with limited breadth of experience or experience in one singular context often struggles in the executive education classroom.

5. Do faculty or trainers engage in applied, practical, real-world, publishable research? What does a faculty member bring to the discussion in an executive development class? Many attempt to “out-executive” the executive; this is a trivial pursuit. The faculty member’s role is to be a knowledge partner to the executives in the room. When faculty members are actively involved in the publishing process, i.e. when they regularly publish in the world’s most prestigious business journals, they are at the forefront of knowledge creation. Their approach in the executive education classroom will not only be informed by their cutting edge knowledge but they will also be more willing to learn from executives in a way that helps create new knowledge that will be very pertinent to your organization.

6. Are the delivery methods applied and practical? The typical rhythm of executive education is lecture, discussion, break-outs, and debrief. Does the organization that offers you executive education use more cutting-edge teaching methodologies such as experiential exercises, debate sessions, video, simulations, real-time feedback, and most importantly, the case method. The case method is one of the most powerful educational tools in a trainer’s or faculty’s tool box. It allows faculty to present complex ideas in practical settings. By requiring the interaction of theory and practice, the case method maximizes students’ learning by allowing them to think of new and old problems in very different yet practically meaningful ways. Ensure the organization you are contracting with has strong case teachers who not only use cases but also write cases. The best case teachers are more often than not also great case writers.

7. Do they have the support systems in place in India and globally to build customized programs for your needs? An executive education facility committed to its clients will have layers of support for you. Are you currently working with a relationship manager that is taking the time to learn your business and understand your needs? Are the actual instructors involved in building a program to suit your specific needs; are you getting a customized experience? Have you had the opportunity to meet with faculty in-person or via teleconference? Is the delivery method one where you have input? If you are doing an offsite program, is the physical location of the delivery and the events planned during your program in line with your company’s goals and status? Are you supported by individuals from the executive development organization who are willing to deal with your needs throughout the design and delivery process?

Extracting value for money is a key hallmark for why Indian companies have been so successful on the global stage. Why should you expect anything different from the organizations you work with to train your most senior executives? The best executive education is unlikely to be inexpensive; the difference is in the value it provides to your firm over time. Without strong answers to the questions outlines above, VPs of HR and CEOs should be cautious before spending expensive executive education dollars.

Reprint from Ivey Business Journal
[© Reprinted and used by permission of the Ivey Business School]