Babson Executive Education Honored by Chief Learning Officer Magazine for Excellence in Learning and Development
Babson Executive Education has received two prestigious Learning In Practice awards from Chief Learning Officer magazine, a publication of Human Capital Media.
Babson Executive Education has been recognized with Gold for Excellence in Academic Partnerships award and a Silver for Excellence in Executive Education awards for transformational work in organizational learning and development at a special awards ceremony on Tuesday, Oct. 3, at the Fall CLO Symposium+PLUS event in Huntington Beach, California.
The Learning In Practice awards are given annually to learning leaders and providers who demonstrate excellence in the design and delivery of employee development programs. Awards were presented to practitioners and providers in 16 categories including CLO of the Year, the industry’s top honor.
“Since 2003, the Learning In Practice awards have been a benchmark for exemplary enterprise learning and development,” said Mike Prokopeak, vice president and editor in chief at Human Capital Media. “This year’s group of winners is no exception. From CLOs at large, multinational companies to learning leaders at small and midsized businesses as well as progressive vendor companies, they are all examples of the powerful personal and organizational impact that learning creates.”
The full list of winners is available at the Chief Learning Officer website. Winners will also be featured in the December issue of the magazine.
BEE was recognized for its two-year collaboration with McGraw-Hill Education (MHE), Leaders’ Quest and 3D Leadership Group. The collaborators and facilitators, including Babson College Professors Anirudh Dhebar (Faculty Director), Andrew Corbett and Mark Potter, crafted Catalyst L&D—an experiential learning initiative designed to facilitate an MHE culture transformation that would help develop the traditional textbook publisher into a modern learning science enterprise.
Catalyst L&D Initiative
When David Levin was appointed CEO of McGraw-Hill Education in 2014, he took charge of a business facing severe industry disruption and needing to transform from a traditional textbook publisher into a learning science enterprise. To drive that change, Levin recognized that MHE’s leadership and corporate culture would need to transform as well.
The Catalyst L&D initiative was designed to facilitate that culture transformation by providing leaders with the interpersonal skills, an entrepreneurial mindset, and enterprise perspective to transition to a new environment that fosters collaboration, action, and influence.
MHE worked closely with Babson Executive Education and Leaders’ Quest to craft Catalyst, which would feature both individual and group components with objectives and outcomes tightly aligned to enterprise core competencies and business strategy.
Through collaborative efforts on needs analysis, program design, and delivery execution, the providers and client forged a balanced and sustainable partnership that endured and strengthened through five cohorts over two years.
To start, all participants completed a 360-degree assessment and met with a coach to interpret results and set objectives. Cohorts then spent three days in a Leaders’ Quest—an experiential learning journey that immersed participants in a series of diverse environments that disrupted physical, mental, and emotional comfort zones.
At Babson, MHE leaders wrestled with issues related to an industry characterized by change, uncertainty, and ambiguity. After exploring the implications of the changing world of learning, participants were introduced to the entrepreneurial mindset through Babson’s methodology of Entrepreneurial Thought & Action®, and wrapped up by learning about value creation where innovation meets financial discipline.
Quantitative and qualitative indicators demonstrated that Catalyst impacted MHE on multiple levels:
- Enhanced leaders’ mindsets and skillsets,
- Drove gains in collaboration and enterprise activity,
- Enabled improvements in business operations.
By allowing each person to learn in his or her own way, mixing individual insight with group experience, Catalyst gave MHE leaders their own immersion into the blended learning future they were charged with creating and further informed how they should lead and steward the organization’s transformation.
About 3D Leadership Group
3D Leadership Group is an executive coaching firm that delivers a high touch, high impact experience through coaching and leadership workshops. Angie O’Donnell MBA ’92 and Sue Williamson MBA ’92 are the co-founders and received their MBA from Babson’s F.W. Olin School of Business.
To learn more about the Learning In Practice awards, visit CLOmedia.com/learning-in-practice.
About McGraw-Hill Education
McGraw-Hill Education (MHE) is a learning science company providing customized educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education in nearly 60 languages in more than 135 countries.
About Leaders’ Quest
Leaders’ Quest develops leaders capable of leading in fast-changing, disrupted environments with competing priorities and interconnected challenges. Immersive experiences open people’s eyes to new realities and inspire them to think differently and move to purposeful action.
About CEB
CEB is a global, best-practice insights company that manages talent assessment.
About Human Capital Media Group
Human Capital Media Group is an industry leader in the human capital management industry, delivering award-winning editorial content, events, research and awards and benchmarking programs that give organizations the tools and insights necessary for success. The group’s brands include Chief Learning Officer, Workforce and Talent Economy. For more information, visit humancapitalmedia.com.
About Babson Executive Education
Babson Executive Education (BEE), offers a dynamic learning laboratory where faculty and staff work together with corporations, business professionals, educational institutions, governments and NGOs, small business owners and entrepreneurs from around the world to address real-world objectives and challenges. Featuring Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® (ET&A™), Babson’s one-of-a-kind methodology for turning ideas into opportunities, our targeted programs are designed to empower individuals and organizations to be entrepreneurial leaders that create economic and social value globally.