Hack:
Bring your school to work day

By Akash Sah - MBA Candidate 2012 at University of California, Berkeley - Haas School of Business

September 21, 2010 at 12:14am

Moonshots

Embed the ethos of community and citizenship

Summary

Bring the classroom/school to work and make your colleagues your classmates. Hold "classes" at work where employees can enroll and learn together. These classes will be graded by classmates(anonymously, if preferred) based on the quality of discussion/participation. This environment will create a culture where employees try to learn from each other rather than be in a cut-throat competition over budgets and functional priorities.

Problem

As I go through my part-time MBA program, I have realized that majority of my fellow colleagues have joined the school for one of three reasons:
i) To change careers.
ii) To "grow" within their chosen career.
iii) To start a company.

This made me wonder, what is it that these people are not getting at work that they choose to come to school for? I mean, it is a severe burden to work full time and go to school at the same time. Some could argue that it is for getting a certificate or a brand name. Through numerous discussion with my peers I have come to believe that most of these people are here to satisfy an intellectual curiosity.

This brings an interesting question to the fore - If this intellectual curiosity could be satisfied at work, how much value would it add to the corporation? The problem statement then becomes

How do the corporations channel the intellectual curiosity of their employees into productive outcomes for the company?

Solution

The success of the company/organization depends on collective learning. A wide variety of courses can be offered - from Finance to innovation management. It may be even possible to team up with some other companies to start a joint class/training session.

Decide on a course offering for a semester (or a quarter).
Schedule a regular class (say every other week) where employees can enroll by choice (not through management directive). They have to enroll for the entire course and not just one class.
These classes should be led by experts within the company. For instance, Finance classes can be led by the Corporate Controller.
The class will be graded by the peers (anonymously, if preferred) based on the quality of contribution to the class. For instance, a student can bring a real life case to be discussed.

Practical Impact

Greater co-operation and cross-functional participation as colleages spend time together discussing challenges and issues not directly related to their own functions. Hence, the functional agendas don't get in the way of an objective discussion. This will increase trust between the colleagues from different groups and make for a more cohesive organization.
The performance doesn't have an impact on the job, salary or position. This allows the employees to be creative and inventive in their approach to solving problems.
Since not all employees sign up for going to school, this allows broader workforce participation in learning and development.

First Steps

Find a small group of participants interested in developing a common skill (say communicatons/project management) set.
Start by setting up a weekly lunch/after hours "class".
Determine the value of the class and improvements required through peer feedback.

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September 22, 2010 at 2:32pm

David Sims

Akash, thanks for this. It is a neat idea, I think. Let me throw out a few questions to extend the conversation. One question that you pose, but isn't really answered is, how does the company measure the value it gets out of this education investment? Classes will vary as to how much they are directly related to increasing productivity at the company and how much they are about employee enrichment. For example, a class on advanced Excel skills would obviously benefit the company, but it also makes the employee more adept and marketable. Ditto for a class in a programming language, which could benefit the company if the programmer sticks around, but will also make the programmer more competitive in the talent marketplace. I guess a pilot program would include a period to evaluate improved productivity from employees who have gone through the class. Another hesitation I have about is whether this education is within the company's core competency. Is it more efficient for companies to send employees to a school (or bring the educators into the school) and let professionals do the teaching, rather than assigning it to a manager or another employee? Finally, I have to wonder with an MBA program, other than those whose MBA is being funded by an employer (particularly common in EMBA programs) certainly one of the main goals of MBA students is to reach beyond the bounds of their current employer, meet MBA students in other companies and industries, and extend the reach of their network. In-house education could have a similar result within a large organization, but the employee is still "inside" the organization.

September 23, 2010 at 9:09pm

Akash Sah

Hello David

Thanks for your comments. Your questions are thought provoking and I don't think I have clear cut answers to them. Hopefully, someone in the MIX can build on it. My first thoughts are written below

About the measurement of the value - I am actually not sure how that would work. I like your idea about the pilot program. Although, I would like to think that the company would value it the same way as they value an education when they hire someone. I think if the employees become more marketable then that's ok. If the company is so insecure about an employee leaving because they are getting better at the jobs, then the company needs to provide them with more opportunities for growth within the company.

Regarding education being a core - It probably isn't a company's core. However, I like to think that it will allow those employees that facilitate the discussion to stay abreast of the latest developments in their field. Moreover, a course doesn't have to be taught by just one person. It can be more than one. In order to expand the participation and create more diversity, company's can invite their business partners to participate in these sessions.

The intent of my thought is not to replace the MBA programs, it is to expand the thinking and learn from our peers in the company. I think more often than not, we are too functionally oriented and competitive to pause and learn from those around us. I say this because almost always, I see that one of the key skills that needs to be learnt is " How to influence others". How come no one ever talks about "How can I allow myself to be influenced by others"?

I am not sure I really answered any of your questions directly but hopefully this provides some insight into what my thought process behind the article was.

September 22, 2010 at 8:16pm

Matt Shlosberg

Akash -

Great post! It reminds me of Henry Mintzberg's IMPM program. He essentially gets people in the room and gets them to learn from each other. Two years later they get a Master's degree in practicing management. His program has been running for 14 years now and is extremely successful!

September 23, 2010 at 9:10pm

Akash Sah

Thanks Matt. I will check out that program you mentioned. I hadn't heard about it.

October 3, 2010 at 12:29am

Dhiraj Gupta

Dear Akash,

The core problem the Knowledge workers are struggling with is shortage of time, energy and volition. Your holding of classrooms that all are expected to attend denies this basic problem. I believe collective learning in the professional context pertains to shift of mind on real problems. More than anything else this demands a System for teamwork and an effective means to deal with interactions. It may not refer to the pre-disposition of personnel.

Regards,

Dhiraj

October 3, 2010 at 12:29am

Dhiraj Gupta

Dear Akash,

Regards,

Dhiraj

April 1, 2015 at 3:13am

Ramon George O. Atento

What we are doing now is learning through an LMS site we built through Canvas Instructure. There is discussion points every week, people comment on the articles, videos (you can embed the videos at managementexchange.com) and of course, these are encouraged by top management. What is good about our organization is our president is very innovative and he loves these things. instead of going to a physical classroom at certain times, we have to whole week to do it, and the class is virtual. Nothing beats experience and collective learning.