To businesses in all fields, few things are as valuable as a well-educated work force, one that's willing to continue to learn.
Fortunately, companies have a wide range of choices when it comes to delivering that continuing education to their employees. From a hands-off approach of supporting employees' own efforts to find educational opportunities, to partnerships with existing institutions, to in-house, businesses have many options for bringing students and education together.
Increasingly, many businesses are recognizing the value of tying educational efforts directly to a company's goals and ongoing changes. Such organizational education can help a business through a trying transition, unlock growth opportunities and help identify and refine future leaders.
Boston-based The Forum Corp. has been providing organizational education since 1971, when it was founded by graduates of the Harvard Business School, according to CEO Ed Boswell, with an emphasis on using research about adult education to deliver what companies need.
"If there's a common theme in what brings businesses to us, it's usually when companies are embarking on a fairly major transformation," Boswell said. For example, a gaming and hotel business opening its first four-star hotel brought Forum in to help the company prepare employees to "deliver a four-star experience from the moment guests arrived." A Canadian petroleum company tapped the firm to help pave way for an ambitious growth effort, and a financial services firm asked for help in changing corporate culture to meet changing market conditions.
"These are once in a decade or generation changes," Boswell said. "Usually, there's not a lot of people in an organization that have been through it before."
Increasingly, Boswell's firm finds itself focused on the issue of leadership development.
"Some days I think everything is tied to leadership," he added. One offering of the firm aimed at the leadership question is called the First 90 Days, which helps managers and executives prepare plans for starting new positions of authority within a firm.
For some companies, keeping employees learning may mean forging partnerships with outside degree-granting institutions. Businesses in the Boston area have plenty of options to choose from, with most colleges in the area offering programs aimed at working adults and many willing to customize programs to meet a business's needs.
Often, those partnerships are formed along geographic lines, which makes it easier for working students to pursue their studies. At Dean College in Franklin, that means forging partnerships with businesses that have headquarters or branch operations in the Interstate 495 belt.
"If you're working and living in the area, you don't want to have to travel to Boston for college at night or on the weekend," said Ida Lamothe, associate dean of continuing studies at Dean. Dean offers certificate and two-year degree programs and, through a partnership with Suffolk University, offers on-site four-year degree classes as well.
"We're seeing more and more business students looking to get the skills they will need to move ahead in their careers," Lamothe said. "Location is a key factor for the businesses that we partner with, as is our reputation in the area."
Students can pursue general business studies and then decide to pursue a specialty, such as marketing or management, often with input from their employers in their decisions.
Flexibility of time is also a key factor. Lamothe said that Dean offers four different course formats, including a seven-week accelerated program and a five-week Friday and Saturday schedule.
Francine Fink, dean of the College of Continuing Education at Dean, said businesses should be able to identify and partner with institutions that are constantly adapting to meet the changing needs of those seeking to advance their educations. "They should be responsive to the needs of the students, which are constantly changing," Fink said.
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