EMBA success: applying knowledge

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How can you bestapply and transfer the knowledge acquired during the MBA academic program? What skills are particularly useful to the EMBA student, the EMBA graduate and the EMBA professional? Completing an EMBA program is a challenging undertaking, but what comes after?

These questions should be at the core of every prospective EMBA student’s consideration as to whether they will benefit from an EMBA or not. Carol Stephenson, Dean of the Richard Ivey School of Business, believes EMBA programs should be designed to ensure every aspect of the knowledge acquired is transferable. “Critical to achieving this goal is selecting participants whose experience, skills and goals fit the program’s design. Well-designed EMBA programs respect the experience that senior leaders bring to the program as well as the time constraints they face when adding an EMBA to their already busy schedules,” Stephenson says.

Application of knowledge

The EMBA is a comprehensive learning experience in which students have the possibility to apply knowledge within their immediate work environment as they learn new skills and methods. And it is in the application that the greatest value of an EMBA lies. It is all well and good to have learned the theories of a host of new business practices, but without actively applying and implementing new skills, the learning process is incomplete.

Oliver Matthews, Head of Marketing and Admissions at the St. Gallen MBA and EMBA programme in Switzerland says the most important aspect of the EMBA qualification is the being, not the end of the journey. “They [EMBA students] have learned tools and techniques, but implementation is key,” he says. “This will determine how their career develops over the coming years.”

Long-term gain

Not all skills taught on an EMBA program will be practical and relevant straight away to the EMBA student. At the beginning and during the program it is likely to be the hard skills (specific methods and techniques) that are most relevant to the student’s immediate working environment. These new methods and techniques are immediately available to be implemented in smaller projects or as part of day to day business practices. Professor Michael J. Gibbs, Faculty Director at the EMBA program at Chicago Booth School of Business, says this is what EMBA students tend to focus on most. “Students are often focused on direct, practical functional skills while still in the program.” However, this focus changes over time.

Upon graduation, the expectations of the employer and colleagues of their EMBA employee and workmate will have risen. By this stage, many EMBA graduates have often been promoted to oversee more complex projects and areas in which greater levels of leadership skills are required. It is in this phase that a more comprehensive approach to implementing the skills and tools acquired come to bear. “After graduation, many of our students are promoted to run large organizational units, or start their own firms,” says Professor Gibbs. “Strategy, entrepreneurship and organizational design will be more important at this phase as they become responsible for an entire piece of a firm.”

Professional progression

However, the relevance of the various aspects of knowledge acquired by the student during his or her EMBA experience changes - it is generally the soft skills that prove most beneficial in the long run. Strategies and techniques for personal development, leadership and the management of personnel is what alumni value most, according to Professor Gibbs. “Alumni see the benefits of improving their ability to work with and lead people as they progress and move into more senior roles,” he says.

The skills, tools, techniques and knowledge acquired during an EMBA are invaluable, but make even more of an impact on an EMBA student’s career if they are continually applied throughout their professional lifetime. How and whether these skills are applied can make a tremendous difference on the path to greater career heights and should not be underestimated.