REVAMPED MBA PROGRAM INTRODUCES PROFESSIONAL EFFECTIVENESS CORE

When Capella launched its newly revamped online MBA program in October of last year, it introduced a unique component to the program called the "professional effectiveness" core. Its development was based on a market study conducted in 2001 of 37 companies from across the country. "We went out and asked these corporations about their needs for future managers and leaders within their organizations," says Director of the MBA Program Barbara Butts Williams. "They told us that they need managers who have a broader set of skills, [including] managers who understand how to manage the human side of an enterprise, and people who can lead major change and help lead teams."

Management Needs

The professional effectiveness core addressed these perceived corporate management needs with courses that focus on such issues as building relationships, leading and facilitating change, leading teams, negotiating for results and leveraging workplace diversity.

Professional Effectiveness CoachingSM

In addition to the new course-content focus, the professional effectiveness core has a patent-pending Professional Effectiveness Coaching process. Historically, in the corporate world, coaching was reserved for top executives as a way to help them identify weaknesses and polish strengths. In recent years, however, "the whole notion of coaching has become pretty popular," among a much bigger audience of corporate employees, says Williams. "A lot of companies are hiring external coaches to work within their organization with employees [on all levels].

One-on-One Coaching

There are two forms of coaching at Capella. One is an in-course process where learners do peer coaching with each other; the other is one-on-one coaching where each learner has the option of choosing a coach who has been hired by Capella to, according to information on the School of Business Web site, "provide objective guidance" to help learners improve their "management effectiveness and apply new behaviors on the job." The one-on-one coaching service is an option open to MBA learners who have completed three core courses.

"Coaches are all certified business coaches who have their own businesses," says Williams. "They spend time with the learners and have at least three major contacts or have one hour of direct coaching with a learner every quarter."

Williams explains that when choosing a coach, learners review coach bios and actually listen to audio-taped descriptions of a variety of prospective coaches’ personal philosophies on coaching. The learner then identifies their top three coach preferences, and based on the coach’s load, a selection is made and confirmed with the learner.

The learner and coach then develop and establish an agreement for how they will work together, with the relationship intended to last as long as the learner is actively enrolled in the MBA program. Williams adds that "the intent of the personal coaching relationship is to help learners stretch their skills in key areas of performance improvement, and apply what they learn right away, so they can demonstrate an impact on results within their organization and help reposition themselves for success."

Peer Coaching

The peer coaching process is done through an online class, titled "MBA90101 Professional Effectiveness: Stretch, Impact, Reposition." Williams notes that in addition to a variety of weekly assignments and discussions over a period of six weeks (which is the length of all MBA courses), learners conduct coaching sessions back on their jobs with colleagues who have agreed to be "coachees."

According to the MBA90101 course description, "learners identify and prioritize their professional development goals. . . Learners will use the experiences in the course to clarify what is truly essential in their life (values), what they want their life to be about (purpose), and what they want to achieve in their life (vision). When values, purpose, and vision are aligned, it is easier to make decisions and set goals that are congruent with whom you are."

Overall, Williams explains that one of the primary roles of the new MBA program is "to take people who are already motivated, people who want to stretch and develop and reposition themselves, and help them get to a different place."