Partners in Performance helps INSEAD develop online course
Business school INSEAD has teamed up with management consulting firm Partners in Performance for the development of its just launched ‘Leading Continuous Improvement’ course.
With campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi, INSEAD is one of the globe’s leading business schools – according to an annual ranking by the Financial Times the globe’s third most prestigious, behind just Harvard and Stanford, the US’s top two business schools.
Over 11,000 executives participate in INSEAD's executive education programmes each year, which spans a curriculum of over 100 courses. This curriculum has now been extended with a new 14-week online learning course, focused on helping executives expand their competencies in the area of continuous improvement.
Originating in the manufacturing industry, continuous improvement is a term coined to describe a company’s continuous – as opposed to one-off – efforts to improve products, services, or processes. Its grassroots lie in lean, where continuous improvement is known as Kaizen – Japanese for “change for better” – following the pioneering role Toyota played in developing the approach.
Today, continuous improvement is being applied across practically all functions in all industries as a means of remaining competitive; being agile in services and operations and capable of fending-off the mounting threats of digital disruption. Its large-scale adoption by organsiations rests on the belief that combined, a steady stream of diligently executed improvements provides the foundation for transformational results.
One key aspect of delivering continuous improvement is leadership commitment and involvement. INSEAD’s ‘Leading Continuous Improvement’ course provides leaders with the building blocks to do so. “This programme combines online learning with problem-solving to equip managers and business improvement specialists to make critical decisions and implement effective change management programmes in their own organisation,” explained Chengyi Lin, an Affiliate Professor at INSEAD.
The first phase of the programme examines power and influence dynamics in organisations. It helps managers and change leaders acquire skills for discerning the organisational culture they really have – not just the one they wish for – and how to shape that culture. The second phase provides participants with a set of tools to build alignment and ownership around a shared outcome, and with implementation best practices.
Highlighting the need for blending the hard and soft parts of change together, Lin said: “In a time of change, leaders need both the technical know-how and the leadership capabilities to shift mindset, manage the transformations and generate impact. We hope our participants will be able to integrate both sets of skills through this programme and apply them to their business challenges.”
The ‘Leading Continuous Improvement’ course was developed in collaboration with Australian management consultancy Partners in Performance. “We excited to be partnering with INSEAD on this distinctive capability building approach. The programme brings together the best of INSEAD’s knowledge about leadership and Partners in Performance’s track record of helping clients deliver lasting operational impact,” commented Wilhelm Schultz, a Director at Partners in Performance in South Africa.
Schultz, who holds an MBA from Saïd Business School in the UK, and previously worked over a decade for McKinsey & Company, added: “This course will also provide valuable skills and tools to our clients – both at an individual and organisational level.”
