WHICH is more effective: experience or education?"

The answer to this age-old question: a blend of both. This explains why businesses worldwide (across sectors), are investing millions of dollars in executive education programmes.

They want to provide top-level managers up to C-level executives (CFO, Head of marketing etc), up-to-date training in leadership, economics, management and industry-specific skills.

"Executive development objectives are best met with a multi-dimensional approach -- mentoring, real-world experience, and formal education," says Ajay Goel, Senior Vice President for Industry Business, Strategy and Operations at Cisco Systems in India. Goel is also an alumnus of the Stanford Executive Education Programme.

"Executive education is a small but critical component. And unlike other forms of executive development, it offers the opportunity to engage with peers," he adds.

Why executive education rules
Different reasons. For those of you who want to make key transitions within your organisations or change careers, it can jumpstart your success.

A company, on the other hand, may be looking to build certain competencies that support its overarching corporate strategy, or wanting to fill its leadership pipelines.

There's also an emerging trend among companies of investing in executive education to help cultivate skills that are not readily available in the labour market. This is particularly true for a country like India, whose growth has been fueled by global outsourcing, which relies heavily on incipient skills.

With a population of more than 1.1 billion people, there's plenty of raw talent but it's not necessarily market-ready. That's why companies are turning to executive education to transform their skilled workers into more innovative, creative thinkers and leaders.

Executive education programmes help these companies polish their 'diamonds in the rough.' Regardless of the specific needs that companies rely on executive education to fill, there are some steps that will aid in the selection process.

How to choose the right programme
Conduct a 'needs assessment' to determine what competencies are lacking or require further development will help in identifying a list of universities that offer programmes best suited to your needs.

Most companies have a talent management process in place to conduct the assessment, or, they may hire an outside consultant. What's more important is how the process is handled. There is no one-size-fits-all approach; it should be tailored to the organisation.

Key development areas:

1. Technical competency (ie, accounting, finance, IT, etc)
2. Leadership competency (vision, behavioural changes, inspiration)

Once you've made this distinction, your long list of universities should be divided into two shorter lists -- one for each category, based on what you want to achieve.

For instance, a manager who's been promoted to a the role of a senior executive, may need to build competencies in leadership. On the other hand, an IT director may be more interested in sharpening his technological skills. Some of the best executive education programmes even conduct an assessment of their participants when they enroll in the course itself to further tailor the class to their specific needs.

Photograph: Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images
(Photograph used for illustrative purposes only)

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e-mail: Priya Singh

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