The Corporate University: New Frontier, New Challenges
Opportunities for learning in the workplace have never been greater nor more accessible than they are today. The rapid development of virtual, mobile, on-demand, open, and customizable training solutions has revolutionized not only our traditional educational system, but also quickly advanced to its more utilitarian business counterpart—the corporate university. While organizations have eagerly appropriated innovative offerings like MOOCs, they are also beginning to see challenges arise in tandem with the opportunities these new educational methods and tools present.
The same forces that have produced this evolution—globalization, technological innovation, the blurring of work/life boundaries—have also called into question the function, constitution, the very raison d’être of (if not budgetary justification for) the corporate university.
Indeed, unless mandated by the boss, why should employees bother with the prescribed company training, particularly if there is no tangible added value for their own careers? For the boss, why remove employees from productive working hours for training, especially when high turnover may mean that those new skills are quickly absorbed by another organization?
U-Spring: Reimagining the Corporate University
BPI group recently convened over 500 chief learning officers, human resources leaders, academics, public policy makers, and other leaders at the inaugural U-Spring conference, to reimagine the corporate university in this new context. We have published our findings in the white paper linked below, The New World of Corporate Universities: Challenges, Trends & Opportunities.
In a BPI group survey of corporate university leaders, 84% reported that their operating model will radically change by 2020. If a corporate university extreme makeover is at hand, what can be predicted about the final reveal, and what will it take to get there?
The Two Ambitions of the Corporate University of the Future
The new model and mandate of the corporate university—and our collective ability to fulfill it—were central points of discussion at U-Spring. The learning leaders in attendance identified two primary ambitions of corporate universities for the future:
- Catalyzing organization transformation: the relative independence of corporate universities from the operating side of the organization, and their orientation to the broader market, mean that they frequently serve as ‘sensors,’ equipped with the ability to anticipate and plan for the future of the organization’s human capital.
- Developing new educational methods: corporate universities are not only adopters of innovative educational tools, like action learning and serious games, they are also impelled to develop their own, as education itself becomes less hierarchical and compartmentalized, and more accessible and collaborative.
Six Major Challenges for the Corporate University Today
In exploring case studies of corporate universities across a broad array of organizations and industries, we have identified six major challenges for corporate universities today:
- Democratizing the access to knowledge. Corporate universities must define their target audiences, and consider expanding their reach beyond the traditional executive ranks.
- Improving the relevance of corporate training certification. With the diversification and proliferation of certifications available today, organizations must ensure certifications are relevant and transferrable. They may consider adopting reputable external certifications or building a brand around their own proprietary certifications.
- Striking the right balance with digital technology. While new digital tools offer great opportunities for scale and access, they do not replace the need for other forms of learning.
- Mobilizing employees. Corporate universities do not work in a “build it and they will come” fashion. Employees must also be motivated to participate and bring the training to life in their work.
- Re-defining the role of the Chief Learning Officer. The increasing complexity of the field of organizational learning heightens the expectations and opportunities for CLOs. The CLO of the future will be the facilitator of a complex and fluid system, in which rigid processes and programs will disappear.
- Ensuring the sustainability of the corporate university structure. Given budget pressures and a competitive training market, how can corporate universities ensure they remain relevant and sustainable—and maybe even turn a profit?
To further explore these challenges and recommendations for corporate universities of the future, view The New World of Corporate Universities.