The new economy has been one heck of a ride.
We are past the rise where we all raised our hands and shouted in anticipation,
past even the quick downhill plunge that took our collective breath away.
Now we head into the turns with a white-knuckled grip on the bar and clenched
teeth, not knowing exactly what comes next.
Rapid change in technology seems to be the only thing that stays constant.
Now more than ever, keeping one’s business and employees up to speed
with those advances can mean the difference between mastering the ride or
having to slip out the chicken exit.
If some see the Kansas City area as a technological backwater—less than
two percent of all venture capital funded in the second quarter of 2001 was
invested in the Midwest— those with a keener eye can observe that local
businesses, colleges and universities are joining forces in areas that will
soon define the way business is done.
“We don’t give ourselves enough credit for how innovative Kansas
City is. We are a unique example of partnerships and out-of-the-box thinking,”
says Rick Stilwell, president of IMCG, a management-consulting and corporate-education
firm. The KU School of Business and IMCG announced in October a unique partnership
that created a for-profit company—the KU Center for Management Education.
Although public universities traditionally are not known for flexibility,
the center has the freedom to move quicker in response to a fast-paced business
environment and the work-force training it requires.
In fact, the center is prepared to teach just about anything in just about
any way. From certificate programs to external certificates, from mini-MBA
programs to sophisticated management seminars to executive close-quarters
discussions with leading business authorities, anything seems possible. A
business can sign up its employees for an existing course, or a course can
be designed to address the needs of the business. “We’re aligning
corporate education with corporate strategy,” says Stilwell.
Such customized courses and counseling are something many local colleges have
made a key part of their business departments. Johnson County Community College’s
Center for Business Technology has established partnerships with such area
companies as Honeywell, Yellow Services, UtiliCorp and the American Family
of Physicians. Their classes cover everything from computer training to soft-skill
management and human-relations courses. JCCC has long-term partnerships with
companies that enable the college to meet on-going educational needs, says
Sally Winship, vice president of continuing education.
In 1995, the Metropolitan Community Colleges combined the business-training
courses and know-how of each separate campus into the Business and Technology
Center. The expertise of its faculty ranges from technology to manufacturing.
Entities as significant as Honeywell, Hallmark, the city of Kansas City, Missouri,
Harley Davidson, Colgate, Lafarge, KCP&L and others take advantage of
the center’s training and educational experience pool. Many of the classes
are open-entry courses or are the result of specific contracts with the companies,
says Chris Lewis, IT/IS curriculum developer and instructor. In order to stay
on top of current and future needs of corporate technology, Lewis and his
staff are completing a market analysis of over 780 local businesses.
One unique need that the MCC’s Business and Technology Center recently
filled was that of filtering potential employees for Harley Davidson. “They
sincerely refer to us as their adjunct human-resources department,” says
Jim Seaman, the college’s director of training and development. Before
Harley had even moved into town, the two groups got together to form a relationship.
In the end, that relationship was a big part of why Harley chose a Kansas
City location. The college developed and performs three assessment tests for
Harley—aptitude, team-orientation and skills-demonstration assessments.
If an applicant passes, then he goes on to Harley. “Every single production
individual has been through our aptitude test at BTC,” says Seaman. Excluding
those tests and courses requiring on-campus equipment, nearly 70 percent of
BTC courses are conducted off-campus.
A school that takes its courses on the road is not a new idea. Park University
has been teaching on U.S. military bases since the 1970s. Under these circumstances,
work-force training can be complicated, especially when entire classrooms
can ship-out overseas overnight. After Sept. 11, bases were closed to the
Park instructors who had been teaching on-site. “During deployment, we
worked out how all was going and what classes we needed to move from face-to-face
teaching to online instruction,” says Paul Gross, director of marketing.
“After 26 years of working experience, we’re positioned to respond
as necessary.”
Courses online are a large part of Park’s education program. Although
the school offers classes only in degree programs, it has 80 courses and six
degrees available online, and it is preparing to add graduate-level courses
as well.
That focus is just what some companies, like Citicorp, are after. Citicorp’s
education program allows employees to be reimbursed for 80 percent of their
tuition costs. “We pride ourselves on promoting the educational development
of our employees,” says Michele Biddison, performance and education manager.
For Citicorp, the major benefits of the partnership program with Park University
are the
enhancement of educational-development initiatives and job and career placement
opportunities. For Park, knowing the needs of Citicorp enables the university
to structure curricula that is well suited for experienced adults. “The
students are more prepared for what they will find in the business world,”
adds Biddison.
Lockton Companies has turned to the Business and Technology Center for its
technical training. “We didn’t have anyone on staff to teach Excel
or Access, and after looking at several other vendors, Metropolitan Community
Colleges was our choice,” says Amy Bodkin, director of associate development.
Every time she announces a class, it fills up within 15 minutes, according
to Bodkin. She credits enthusiasm for the courses in part to the professionalism
of the instructors.
“They understand the principles of adult learning,” she says. Course
and instructor evaluations filled out by the employees have averaged a 4.5
ranking out of 5. Lockton has also used JCCC’s soft-skills and human-development
courses for years, and JCCC consultants write the curriculum to Lockton requirements.
“It is all tailored to the philosophy and culture of Lockton,” says
Bodkin.
LabOne Inc. also uses JCCC for customized management training. The college
has done a good job working with employees’ work schedules and has even
let the company use its campus facilities for meetings and other events, says
Mike Asselta, chief operating officer. After recently completing an acquisition,
LabOne used JCCC’s staff to help the company navigate and deal with the
specific changes its managers were facing.
The partnerships of today have been tempered by the downhill swoop of the
dot-coms and the slowing economy. “Today there’s much less ‘rah-rah’
and more focus. We’ve recognized now that business models must lead to
making money and a return on investment,” says IMCG’s Stilwell.
Tech employees are being taught the soft skills of management and likewise
managers are learning more technology, says Winship. Seaman agrees that technology
has changed everyone’s position as IT has moved out of its department
and infiltrated every part of business. In Kansas City, “Ford has bought
every employee a laptop computer,” says Seaman. “That wouldn’t
have happened a year ago.”
As businesses continue to adapt and grow with changing technology, universities
must lend their expertise, says Tony Tocco, executive director of academic
advising for Rockhurst’s executive fellows program. “For any city
to be growing, its universities must be involved. We have to meet the needs
of business.” Out-of-state schools, like Columbia University, Kellog
and Harvard have long felt they held the monopoly in corporate education,
but plenty of local schools have the faculty and expertise to handle the job,
says Tocco. Both the need and the know-how are there, but who establishes
the relationship?
Building and maintaining business/education relationships is a two-way street,
says Stilwell. “On one side a business school needs to be a careful listener.
On the other it needs to say ‘this is what you need.”
The formation of KU’s Center for Management Education came about when
an IMCG client and KU alum introduced the two parties. “We would not
be in a strategic partnership if that alum hadn’t said “we need
to get you two together,” Stillwell says. “It’s that leadership
in the community that is the magic glue.”