Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Corporate Universities
Here is an article to jump start our next line of topics - in-house training for skills transfer. How do we make training stick?
***********************
What does the corporate university mean to corporate training?
Over the last few decades, the training profession has been impacted by significant changes;
in the way we do business,
in the expectations of employees and
in the latest in HR techniques and trends.
These changes range from delivery technology and technology assisted training to changes in leaner characteristics and transfer demands. The training profession has been inundated (often from our own members) with speculation as to how these changes will impact our work.
In the late 80’s there was speculation that technology based training would take trainers out of the corporate classrooms and they would be replaced by audio, video and PC programming. Now we know that technology based training has enhanced our profession and forced many of us to upgrade our skills and add to our own personal “Training tool kits”.
In the 90’s, we were told that financial belt tightening would decimate the demand for the outsourced trainer and even in house training functions would be scaled back as HR would be one of the first areas to be cut. While granted that did occur in some organizations, for the most part, the demand for training has increased dramatically (see report on The status of training in Canada produced by Strategis) in the 90’s.
Janet Dean, President and Master Trainer with Advance Corporate Training Ltd. of Vancouver says, “I built my business during the time when instructor led training was predicted to be in a downward spiral. Since 1990, our business has grown every year to our current status of 12 trainers and a score of satisfied – and repeat - clients. I think that all these influences and changes make us a stronger profession and that we will continue to play an important role in the personal and professional development of the workforce for years to come.”
Issues in the 00’s include the growth of the Corporate University. This concept has organizations formalizing their training function and increasing the transferability of the courses offered. This coupled with the inherent internal and external marketing benefits of a “Corporate U” has both employees and management singing its praises.
The second wave of the corporate university concept now sees organizations partnering with others to build and brand their own customized training function. Although initially turning to public post secondary institutions for partnerships, the training profession is still playing a significant part of this workforce development. Partnerships are often three way – with the organization partnering with a public institution for credit and transferability and a private training organization for delivery.
“Our partnerships with education and industry ensure we as trainers keep up to date not just on our content expertise, but also the latest in training methodologies and skills transfer. This in turn makes sure public institutions keep their offerings current, marketable and in some cases cutting edge and of course, industry reaps the benefits. Partnerships like these are truly win-win.” says Dean.
And often, it is trainers like Dean who put the players together. “Recently I had a client who wanted to build an in-house corporate university and wanted to partner with an educational institution. Through my contacts within the institutions and my relationship with the client, we were able to put together a three way partnership with minimal effort, no risk and great potential – for all three of us”
In other cases, colleges like Aurora College in the Northwest Territories have long had a reputation of partnering with local business and industry to become their training arm. Campus Director Miki O’Kane says. “We recognize that in addition to serving our college student base, it is important for us to build partnerships with employers here in the Territories. By taking on some of their corporate training needs, we make valuable contacts, serve our community and continue to do what we do best – educate northerners.” Many courses and programs delivered by Aurora College through corporate universities for multinational companies working in the local oil and gas industry are transferable to programs and certificates offered by Aurora and other educational institutions. Anne Church, continuing education coordinator, “I get to know what business needs, find top quality trainers and then manage the relationship.” The partnership works at all levels.
Other institutions get involved in other ways. Programs like Vancouver Community College’s Leadership certificate program become “adopted” by industry as a training standard and some organizations then make it a required management development activity – whether in house or at the school. Organizations like ICBC and HRDC take part, enhancing their own programs while developing their staff to a consistent external standard.
In some cases partnerships may be even larger. Working with the Canadian Association of Community Colleges and Canada Post, Dean took part in the development and delivery of a supervisory development program. Canada Post’s in house corporate university – The Learning Centre- partnered with the association (and thus their member organizations in each region) and outside trainers like Dean to develop and deliver high level supervisory training to all supervisors in the country. A project this scale needed all players at the table to make it work and work it did!
“Corporate Universities are here and are serving a valuable function. As trainers we encourage and foster the spirit of lifelong learning. We need to take this on ourselves and learn and grow to fill our very important niche in this latest training and HR trend.” Says Dean
Janet Dean can be reached at dean@actraining.com or visit their website at www.actraining.com
***********************
What does the corporate university mean to corporate training?
Over the last few decades, the training profession has been impacted by significant changes;
in the way we do business,
in the expectations of employees and
in the latest in HR techniques and trends.
These changes range from delivery technology and technology assisted training to changes in leaner characteristics and transfer demands. The training profession has been inundated (often from our own members) with speculation as to how these changes will impact our work.
In the late 80’s there was speculation that technology based training would take trainers out of the corporate classrooms and they would be replaced by audio, video and PC programming. Now we know that technology based training has enhanced our profession and forced many of us to upgrade our skills and add to our own personal “Training tool kits”.
In the 90’s, we were told that financial belt tightening would decimate the demand for the outsourced trainer and even in house training functions would be scaled back as HR would be one of the first areas to be cut. While granted that did occur in some organizations, for the most part, the demand for training has increased dramatically (see report on The status of training in Canada produced by Strategis) in the 90’s.
Janet Dean, President and Master Trainer with Advance Corporate Training Ltd. of Vancouver says, “I built my business during the time when instructor led training was predicted to be in a downward spiral. Since 1990, our business has grown every year to our current status of 12 trainers and a score of satisfied – and repeat - clients. I think that all these influences and changes make us a stronger profession and that we will continue to play an important role in the personal and professional development of the workforce for years to come.”
Issues in the 00’s include the growth of the Corporate University. This concept has organizations formalizing their training function and increasing the transferability of the courses offered. This coupled with the inherent internal and external marketing benefits of a “Corporate U” has both employees and management singing its praises.
The second wave of the corporate university concept now sees organizations partnering with others to build and brand their own customized training function. Although initially turning to public post secondary institutions for partnerships, the training profession is still playing a significant part of this workforce development. Partnerships are often three way – with the organization partnering with a public institution for credit and transferability and a private training organization for delivery.
“Our partnerships with education and industry ensure we as trainers keep up to date not just on our content expertise, but also the latest in training methodologies and skills transfer. This in turn makes sure public institutions keep their offerings current, marketable and in some cases cutting edge and of course, industry reaps the benefits. Partnerships like these are truly win-win.” says Dean.
And often, it is trainers like Dean who put the players together. “Recently I had a client who wanted to build an in-house corporate university and wanted to partner with an educational institution. Through my contacts within the institutions and my relationship with the client, we were able to put together a three way partnership with minimal effort, no risk and great potential – for all three of us”
In other cases, colleges like Aurora College in the Northwest Territories have long had a reputation of partnering with local business and industry to become their training arm. Campus Director Miki O’Kane says. “We recognize that in addition to serving our college student base, it is important for us to build partnerships with employers here in the Territories. By taking on some of their corporate training needs, we make valuable contacts, serve our community and continue to do what we do best – educate northerners.” Many courses and programs delivered by Aurora College through corporate universities for multinational companies working in the local oil and gas industry are transferable to programs and certificates offered by Aurora and other educational institutions. Anne Church, continuing education coordinator, “I get to know what business needs, find top quality trainers and then manage the relationship.” The partnership works at all levels.
Other institutions get involved in other ways. Programs like Vancouver Community College’s Leadership certificate program become “adopted” by industry as a training standard and some organizations then make it a required management development activity – whether in house or at the school. Organizations like ICBC and HRDC take part, enhancing their own programs while developing their staff to a consistent external standard.
In some cases partnerships may be even larger. Working with the Canadian Association of Community Colleges and Canada Post, Dean took part in the development and delivery of a supervisory development program. Canada Post’s in house corporate university – The Learning Centre- partnered with the association (and thus their member organizations in each region) and outside trainers like Dean to develop and deliver high level supervisory training to all supervisors in the country. A project this scale needed all players at the table to make it work and work it did!
“Corporate Universities are here and are serving a valuable function. As trainers we encourage and foster the spirit of lifelong learning. We need to take this on ourselves and learn and grow to fill our very important niche in this latest training and HR trend.” Says Dean
Janet Dean can be reached at dean@actraining.com or visit their website at www.actraining.com
