A valuable partnership: why co-designed learning is the perfect fit for your organisation
Published on the 04 July 2023
As the pace of change in the world of work continues to accelerate, so does the need to adapt, upskill and reskill with purpose.
More leaders are acknowledging that vital skill gaps are holding their organisations back and are looking for a solution that will help them remain relevant and impactful while building a culture of supported success for the future.
Lucy Thompson, Head of Learning Solutions at AGSM @ UNSW Business School, helps develop highly customised programs, so organisations can overcome challenges while influencing organisational behavioural and cultural change.
“Organisations come to AGSM with either a specific challenge in mind, a clearly defined problem or something vague that they can't quite put their finger on. It’s our job to suggest a program of learning we think they will benefit from. We then work together to co-design a solution that is made for their business,” Lucy says.
AGSM @ UNSW Business School is ranked 1st in Australia and 40th globally for Executive Education according to the Financial Times 2023 Global Executive Education Custom Rankings.
AGSM also ranked 28th in the world for the “New Skills and Learning” section, which strengths our position as a global lifelong learning partner, especially in a post-pandemic world where there is an increased need for leaders and organisations to be equipped with the skills to effectively lead through disruption and face challenges successfully.
Here are five ways life-long learning can contribute to a positive organisation.
1. Uplifting capability and embedding change
AGSM’s carefully constructed learning solutions enable organisations to support their teams in a targeted and purposeful way.
“Our programs are designed to actively change behaviours and practices. We support that change to be embedded back into the workplace, so people don’t just attend a course and then forget all that they have learned. They live it every day,” Lucy says.
The Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC) turned to AGSM to co-design a program for their executives and people leaders to ‘Lead Through Challenging Times’. Commissioned when the pandemic hit in 2020, over 700 participants have completed the 10-week learning journey, comprising of webinars, small group coaching sessions, self-paced learning and action learning tasks – all delivered virtually through AGSM’s Online Navigator platform to meet VPSC’s immediate needs and requirements.
By interacting directly with AGSM faculty and subject matter experts, senior public servants and managers were able to take on challenges with enhanced capability, bringing new skills and frameworks into their teams.
2. Innovative co-designed learning
AGSM is known for its suite of MBA programs and Short Courses for individuals, and we can draw on this expertise to deliver innovative bespoke programs that are designed to give organisations precisely what they need.
Through an in-depth discovery phase, we understand the problem, why it is happening and co-design a solution that is fit-for-purpose to the unique situation and learning development goals.
“It could be a retention problem, or a group of leaders that can’t manage difficult conversations. There may have been an incident that indicates deeper organisational issues that need to be addressed, or they might want to focus on increasing women in leadership positions,” Lucy says.
“We listen to what organisational and industry partners are telling us and understand what they want to achieve. Because knowing what success looks like helps guide the program co-design.”
Relevant programs on strategic and adaptive leadership, how to be an authentic communicator or developing general management skills, for example, could be used as a framework, adapting to the specific needs of the organisation through contextualisation.
South-Eastern Sydney Local Health District and The Sydney Children’s Hospital Network have worked collaboratively with AGSM to re-design their ‘Leading with Impact’ programs to align to their individual organisational needs.
Formally designed as one program, both organisations have retained similar content that focuses on developing self, leading teams and complex systems, but differ in face-to-face vs virtual delivery and personalised coaching support for individual participants.
Ausgrid
3. Whole organisational impact
Team members may need different program content to suit their experience levels, however, this doesn’t mean the core principles and messaging cannot permeate throughout the entire organisation.
A thoughtfully designed program will ensure participants at all levels are challenged by engaging content, while receiving a value-led message that will be felt throughout the organisation. Lucy calls it the ‘golden thread.’
“We connect these experiences all the way through our learning solutions. We have executive and senior leaders undertaking programs that are appropriate to their needs and the information explored within their facilitated experiences cascades into the next program focused upon lower-level leaders,” she says.
“That continues throughout the organisation. So, the whole business is enabled to understand the value or change piece that is at the center of the development piece.”
This is how AGSM works with Ausgrid to co-design a multi-layered leadership development program. This is how AGSM works with Ausgrid to co-design a multi-layered leadership development programs that are connected with one common leadership capability framework to support senior leaders, frontline and people leaders, and emerging leaders.
Programs vary in duration and structure depending on the leadership level, but all cover components relating to ‘Managing Self’, ‘Managing a Team’ and ‘Managing a Business’.
Organisational change is most successful when everyone is on the journey. By delivering a consistent message across all levels, you arm both the decision makers and the everyday operators with the knowledge to take the plan and implement it.
“You’ve got people who will now be able to challenge improvements to everyday practices because the program has given them an awareness that they didn’t have before.”
4. Value beyond the program
Organisations and industry partners see executive education as an investment in their people, which helps with their talent retention. For people interested in completing an MBA one day see real value in being offered the AGSM experience beforehand, with the ability to accumulate credits that build towards other formal certifications such as an AGSM MBA, Graduate Certificates and/or other UNSW degree programs.
“A higher education pathway is increasingly important to many people. Our content provides individuals with the skills and capability uplift unique to their current needs and builds towards the achievement of the Certificate in Executive Management & Development (CEMD). This can also enable progression into the AGSM MBA programs as the CEMD is recognised as prior learning,” Lucy says.
When participants see the opportunity to advance in their organisations, they see value in participating. AGSM is currently working with a large financial services firm on their ‘Become a Business Banking Analyst’ program.
Now on its fifth cohort, this online 12-week program includes a mixture of webinars and self-paced learning materials, and feedback received indicates that some participants have successfully moved to other parts of the organisation upon completion
“When rolling out bespoke programs of learning, we want people to come ready to learn and be enthusiastic. If they see being involved in the program as a real bonus, that they’re being invested in a way that offers a real benefit which can be recognised for further study, it can make the outcome even better.
5. Learn your way
One important factor of a program’s success is delivery. With the option of delivering in person, hybrid or fully online customised programs, content can be delivered consistently across the country, regions, or the world.
Your team can also access all learning content via AGSM’s e-learning platform Navigator anytime, anywhere – so they can make learning work for them.
This is how we helped a large global energy company roll out a codesigned leadership development program in 2022 - 2023, delivered via hubs at their headquarters in Western Australia, and in other cities nationally and overseas.
Delivery can be a mix between set classes, self-paced, residential on-campus at AGSM or include other experiential learning activities such as Action Learning Projects. There’s even the opportunity to get out of the classroom, and test people in a completely different way.
“We can go up to the Blue Mountains, take you rowing or bushwalking, and experience all the leadership theories and constructs in an innovative and simulative way. And then show you how to apply these key frameworks successfully back into the workplace because you've lived and breathed the problem firsthand,” Lucy says.
By investing in people to address business challenges and drive meaningful organisational change, you’re looking at making an impact that is felt long after the program has been completed. And by using AGSM’s experience and expertise to co-design innovative and impactful solutions, your return on investment will be felt throughout the business, its people and the way it presents itself to theworld.
About AGSM:
AGSM @ UNSW Business School partners with businesses, government and for-purpose organisations to co-design learning programs to address industry challenges that hold teams back from reaching their full potential.
Based in Sydney Australia, AGSM has over 45 years of leadership experience and our Short Courses are designed and facilitated by industry thought leaders and faculty to build individual and organisational capability. Combining the latest thinking and best practice within an outcome-focused problem-solving environment.
Find out more about AGSM’s Executive Education for Organisations here.
Find out more about AGSM’s Executive Education for Individuals here.