As the economy improves, organizations throughout the business community are once again concerned with attracting and retaining the right people for the right jobs. The reasoning behind this renewed sense of urgency is that if an organization hires the right person for the right job, then the individual is likely to perform well.  Because the individual performs well, he/she is likely to stay, which translates into a tenured and knowledgeable staff for the organization.  Retention of these top performers is instrumental to the success of any business initiative.
 
Hiring the right people is important, but this alone does not guarantee success.  Organizations must provide employees with the proper training to ensure that they are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform well.  Because of this need to hire and keep good employees, as well as to provide them with the tools to succeed, training departments are tasked with finding the best way to deliver their training curriculum.  Many organizations are turning toward corporate university concepts.
 
So what is a corporate university?  According to Merriam-Webster’s unabridged dictionary, “it is an institution organized and incorporated for the purpose of imparting instruction, examining students, and otherwise promoting education.”  Many organizations design their corporate universities to resemble an institution of higher learning based upon this definition.  Other organizations design their training institutions based upon other prototypes of corporate university concepts.
 
One of the initial challenges faced by management when considering corporate university concepts is deciding which one to choose.  It is essential to select a corporate university model that fits into the organization’s corporate culture.  It is also critical to gain buy-in from both Executive Leadership and Management.  Once this critical support is obtained, the challenges revolve around the selection of a training facility, the design and development of the curriculum, as well as managing and maintaining the training data.  And this is just the beginning! 
 
If your organization is considering the implementation of a corporate university, consider attending this year’s SMT annual conference in Boca Raton, Florida.  Our conference theme is “Customer Focused Sales and Marketing Training.”  In our quest to address the needs of the internal customer, we will present a conference session on “Effective Corporate Universities – A Shared Perspective.” 
 
In this conference session, presenters will share a brief overview of the Corporate University concept established within their organizations.  The presenters represent various size organizations from three different industries – Time Warner Retail, Steelcase, Inc., and Centennial Wireless.  All three corporate university concepts are very unique, yet share some similar qualities.  Some of the topics addressed in this collective presentation include: 

When it comes to corporate university concepts and the difference that these learning institutions can make in the organizations that they serve, the sky is the limit.  We look forward to seeing you in Florida.