Instead of subjecting their most promising managers to boring one- or two-day seminars to learn new marketing strategies and innovations, some companies are taking advantage of a new concept called “knowledge portals,” customized Web-based programs that give employees access to the latest information in their industries at their leisure.
In Chicago, the Roundtable Group, which consists of about 3,000 professors and strategists, is helping companies design these portals and filling them with content, such as digitally recorded lectures to help employees craft new innovations and strategies.
“The shelf life of information is shrinking. What we’re seeing is a trend in companies toward paying more attention to lifelong learning,” said Russ Rosenzweig, chief executive of the Roundtable Group.
“It is an extremely flexible program because you can watch videos and do readings when you want,” he said.
Consultants and strategists also are brought in to talk with the corporate students, he said.
For executives and managers who want to take the lifelong learning concept to another level, the Roundtable Group has partnered with the University of Chicago’s Graham School of Business to teach certificate programs in digital strategy and innovation. To complete the course, students must create a new innovation or strategy for their company.
“The companies are getting a lot of benefit beyond having trained the employees. They’re actually getting a plan,” Rosenzweig said.
Certificate candidates must attend an all-day course at the university once a month for six months.
The certificate program provides an alternative for post-MBA students who are otherwise limited to two- or three-day executive programs, where it’s hard to build relationships and write a business plan, Rosenzweig said.
Stephen Ban, 38, of Chicago, a self-described “dot-com casualty,” said the course allows him to see how experts would handle issues of strategy.
“It’s highly interactive. There are a lot of very smart people all over the world involved in this. You’re not only learning from professors, you’re learning from each other,” Ban said.
At the first session on Jan. 18, Ban, a new father who is currently unemployed, said he learned that analyzing any problem requires a disciplined framework. He said that knowledge will be applicable wherever he goes to work.
“When you have a framework through which to analyze things, you can get an answer sooner,” Ban said.
Information about the customized portals and Graham School certificate program can be obtained at the Roundtable Group’s Web site at www.round.table.com.
