Putting Muscle Behind Executive Education

Beth Cliff, Director of Executive Educations at Northeastern University College of Business, explains why executive education is worth the investment.

Today’s news is all about the winds of change in the economy, and how we all need to tighten our belts and dig deeper. A natural place for companies to look these days is at their executive education budgets, and to trim the fat. Eliminating fat is always a good practice; the trick is not to cut into the muscle. And in our experience, executive education programs that are designed and delivered correctly can be just the muscle needed to drive an organization forward.

At Northeastern University, there are a number of elements we feel make for strong executive education programs, which we share here. We urge decision-makers to consider these elements as they determine their executive education investments for the year ahead.

• Practical. We have a bias towards applied learning. Takeaways should be immediately relevant and useable. As we design our programs and determine faculty, we strive to ensure we use pragmatic tools, frameworks and exercises.
• Customized. We believe real value is offered when workshops are customized to meet the specific business challenges of our clients, which is why we don’t even offer ‘off the shelf’ programs. We use active client work in our programs whenever we can.
• Delivering business results. Success for our clients is not just “Wow, that professor was really interesting” but also, and more importantly, a positive answer to the question “Did this help us reach our business objectives?”
• Broad content knowledge. Business challenges do not follow the curriculum of a business school. Usually they are a blend of cross-functional or cross-disciplinary issues. Our clients can access university resources and expertise that extend beyond our business school whenever necessary.
• Multiple delivery options. Because every client has different operational needs, we offer multiple delivery options for all our educational programs, including accredited online learning.
• Numerous partners in the learning space. We have developed relationships with outside faculty, consultants, practitioners and executives who can supplement our in-house expertise as needed. In this way, we are a "one-stop learning shop" for our clients that combines our faculty expertise with cutting-edge learning process and design.
• Strong client relationships. Companies want to know we can deliver on what we say. Nothing speaks more to this issue than our client list. We bring these organizations and their employees into partnerships with us so they can learn from each other, and take advantage of graduate business scholarships and other services for their employees.
• Industry expertise. Clients gain assurance knowing our faculty is accustomed to working in their industries. We are deliberate about working in certain industries and investing in them purposefully.
• Key focus areas. Business schools can have disciplines for which they are well-known, and it is often advisable for clients to tap into that knowledge when possible. At Northeastern, we encourage clients to get to know our faculty in our areas of strength so they can leverage – and at the same time contribute to – their research and expertise.
• Easy to work with. We do all we can to listen to our clients needs and respond accordingly. If we’re too difficult to get on the phone or meet with, the relationship becomes more distant, and the program, too, can move away from the client’s objectives.
• Rapid and responsive client engagement. We strive to turn things around quickly, adjust our plans to meet client requirements, listen and respond to their suggestions, and flex as situations develop. We’ve come to see this as a significant success factor in our work.

In summary, armed with the right approach (practical, customized and results-oriented), the right faculty (industry and area-focused) and the right executive education partner (quick, responsive and flexible), a company can’t help but provide top-notch educational experiences to their executive teams. In times like these, this is precisely the muscle that’s needed.