Two decades ago, executive education at the University of Auckland began with a course about the world wide web. Today, the search is on for the best way to combine both digital and traditional face-to-face learning to keep New Zealand's business professionals up to speed.
The first university in the country to offer executive education programmes back in 1996, the University of Auckland Business School is designing new programmes to help executives deal with the weighty issues of big data, digitisation of business and artificial intelligence.
And although the digital economy plays a major role in modern business, how professionals find ways to deal with those challenges can't be exclusively learned online, says Ivan Moss, the director of MBA and Executive Education at the university.
"There are things that are un-Googleable. Experience, failure, managing people and managing risk that leaves you quaking on the inside - those are un-Googleable," he says.
"Learning online alone is inadequate for managers and professionals. It's still really important to have a small group environment, where people can talk about and compare their experiences, and synthesise it in the real moment.
"Globally, no-one has yet nailed how to blend digital online with face-to-face learning. So we have a wonderful opportunity to do that in an impactful way."
A recent survey of 10,000 global MBA candidates by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) revealed most students wanted a blend of classroom and online instruction - with the emphasis on learning in a group environment.
Digital learning still has its merits, with the University of Auckland's Business School using e-learning platforms and online resources. But Moss believes there must be an opportunity for people to "have thoughtful conversations with experts, and explore things".
Jacinta Clark, business manager of the Business School's short courses, says it's important for executives to remove themselves from their work environments to talk openly about the challenges they face. "They want to be in a room with other peers, sharing their war stories, and applying the theories to practical situations that have and haven't worked in similar situations," she says.
Over the past 20 years, Executive Education at the university has grown from one course a month, attended by around 12 people, to developing more than 2000 professionals in nearly 150 programmes a year. "It's a classic New Zealand business success story," Moss says.
Moss believes ongoing executive education can help address the biggest issues New Zealand businesses now face, with improving management skills heading the list.
The 2011 Management Matters research study by the Ministry of Economic Development found New Zealand managers were "average to middling" by global standards, and recommended New Zealand manufacturers improved management skills and capability for better productivity. "It found the rock we were tripping over was that we were managing our people and our resources imperfectly and we could get so much more performance out of our organisations," Moss says.
Developing professionals and sharpening their management skills mid-career is another issue, as well as the changing nature of work in New Zealand.
"Businesses are evolving faster because of the digital economy. And the nature of organisations is changing with fixed-terms, contracts, fluid hours and project-based employment. Organisations have to be agile," he says.
"Then there is diversity, in all its forms. We have an ageing workforce who are smart, intelligent and want to contribute, but who will encounter ageism. If we can't utilise their skills, we will be uncompetitive. And we have young workforce who are incredibly digitally savvy. Can we harness their capability, or are we too stuck in the mud?
"We need to help people to have the skills and the confidence to change regularly."
While business leaders need to stay up to speed in a rapidly-moving digital world, there are also core fundamentals that every organisation will always need, Moss says.
"There is a mix of new challenges for business and the eternal ones - finance for non-financial managers, project management, leading teams for new team leaders," he says.
Since 1996, over 52,000 professionals and business executives have taken part in the University of Auckland's Executive Education programmes, which have included over 3000 short courses, in-house, customised and C-suite courses for senior executives.
Two-day courses for "busy executives" have to make an impact, Moss says, so what they've learned can be applied immediately.
"They are practising managers with real jobs, who go back to work the next day and do things differently. They go back as a better boss, a better colleague, a better employee, a better customer or supplier."
Moss believes the two-to-three-year MBA continues to be valuable in today's business world.
"Recent studies of MBA graduates in the United States have shown more than 80 percent believed they would not have got the job they were in if they hadn't done the MBA. It gave them a richer understanding of organisations and of their role, and the informed confidence to take on new challenges," he says.
"Our MBA curriculum constantly evolves to stay relevant. The current class has looked very hard at workplaces in the future and what AI is going to mean to their organisation in the second machine age. There's a huge focus on requiring people to do real projects in their own organisations to make immediate change by using what they've learned."
The University of Auckland Business School will celebrate 20 years of Executive Education on August 9. Visit www.exec.auckland.ac.nz.