Building a Corporate University: Planning for the Future
Summary: Planning for the future takes much more than a University-centric view. You must go out into the world around you to see what’s going on – and create a proactive communication path that keeps you informed as things change.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make after successfully building the University is to become isolated. Even with the best assessments and surveys, you still have to keep your pulse on what’s going on within the organization and in the industry in general. If things are running smoothly, it’s easy to forget why the University exists – and all of the hard work you’ve put in to get it where it is.
Corporate University: Buy In and Marketing
If you’re ready to build your corporate university, one of the next best practices revolves around creating sponsors, obtaining buy-in, and building a marketing plan. This is an important best practice, as a corporate university with no traction is basically going to be a training department in an ivory tower. The idea here is to get people involved, get them talking, and get them excited about what the corporate university will have to offer. And you can do all of this with a well-planned marketing campaign.
The first step is to create sponsors, or the people who will drive the corporate university’s public face. It’s understood that your Learning and Development department will be a major sponsor, but we are talking about people outside of L&D. This group of sponsors can be your stakeholders, learners, and executives, and preferably a mix of all of these groups. But how do you “create” sponsorship? Show each group how the corporate university will benefit their departments, the organization, and their careers. Tailor this message based on the group you are courting. For example, career benefits are perfect talking points for learners, because the discussion starts on a personal level. When you line up sponsors who will “talk up” the university, you’ll see how the news catches on. (more…)
