As workforce, professional, and executive education programs focus on recruitment, they often face similar challenges: They need ways to diversify their revenue. They want to retain their students and activate their alumni. And they strive to position their graduates \u2014 undergrads, graduate students, and adult professionals \u2014 for success, both in their careers and as leaders in their communities.<\/p>\n
Time and time again, research has shown that strong interpersonal skills allow leaders to take their newly developed “hard” skills back to their organizations and make an impact.<\/p>\n
That’s why college and university administrators who design programs for adult learners aim to offer a well-rounded education that combines skill development and career-track training along with a leadership development curriculum that fosters growth in people skills at the same time.<\/strong><\/p>\n Yet, institutions\u2019 limited human and financial resources can often stand in the way of their ability to incorporate soft skills training into their larger existing programs. It\u2019s not easy to design an engaging leadership development curriculum \u2014 especially when a school or institution has a multitude of other priorities, including marketing overall program offerings, expanding its reach within the community, retaining existing clients, and adopting and integrating new technologies to keep pace with student expectations for virtual delivery.<\/p>\n Based on decades of experience in the field, our experts in higher education leadership development recommend 4 best practices for incorporating a robust leadership development curriculum into workforce, professional, and executive education programs.<\/p>\n Whether colleges and universities are considering adding short courses in leadership, leadership certificate programs, workshops, digital learning or micro-credentialing opportunities, following these guidelines will help you quickly integrate a leadership development curriculum into your offerings and position your program (and its graduates) for future success.<\/p>\n Most higher education institutions offer programs targeted to a specific leader level. However, all too often the leadership development program curriculum doesn\u2019t take into account the common challenges faced and different skills needed to succeed at each leader level. To be most effective, the leadership development curriculum should offer research-backed tools and resources tailored for each leader level \u2014 from leading self, to leading others, to leading a business function, all the way up to leading an entire organization.<\/p>\n For example, first-time managers face unique challenges<\/a>, as they must learn how to transition from getting the work done themselves to getting work done through other people. Rather than focusing on their own performance, they have to consider how their team collaborates, whether their group is committed and engaged, and how individual motivations and needs are connected to the work and the organization.<\/p>\n The capabilities new managers need to develop are different from the senior leadership skills needed by experienced executives<\/a>, who may need help developing clear action plans that address organizational challenges and priorities.<\/p>\n A leadership development curriculum that\u2019s tailored to the leader-level needs of your particular program\u2019s student body will be more effective, engaging, and impactful.<\/p>\n Workforce, professional, and executive education programs can use competency assessments to identify leadership skill gaps and opportunities for improvement. These competencies can assess the skills of individuals, teams, and\/or organizations. This qualitative data is critically important for benchmarking and evaluating program success.<\/p>\n For example, a university with an executive education program focused on artificial intelligence may use a 360 degree assessment<\/a> to determine which leadership competencies their adult learners already have, as well as where and how to target future development.<\/p>\n If the assessment shows that their cohort of AI engineers are largely lacking in the ability to be agile and flexible with change, the university could incorporate an off-the-shelf workshop that\u2019s targeted for developing skill at leading people through change or increasing learning agility.<\/p>\n Colleges and universities should consider partnering with a leadership development curriculum provider who can help develop a customized competency assessment tailored to their organization\u2019s unique context, student population, and course offerings, to understand adult learners\u2019 strengths and areas for development, weighted by importance.<\/p>\nHow to Incorporate a Leadership Development Curriculum<\/h2>\n
4 Best Practices We Recommend for Workforce, Professional & Executive Education Programs<\/h3>\n
1. Develop research-backed leader level offerings.<\/h4>\n
2. Leverage leadership competency assessments.<\/h4>\n
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