Cutting-Edge Education
At IMD, we keep in touch with program participants after the formal conclusion of a program to ensure that what they learned has a long-lasting impact both on them individually and on their organizations. As part of our rigorous impact measurement, we conduct surveys four months and 12 months after a program, where participants reflect with the benefit of a longer-term perspective.
Ensuring Our Programs Deliver “Real Impact”
In a series of questions on impact, we also ask participants to evaluate whether they were able to leverage some of their learnings to create an impact on their communities, on society, and/or on the natural environment.
At the end of 2022, 1,300 alumni responded to our post-12-month survey, and 59% of these said that the IMD program had indeed helped them to leverage some of their learnings to create an impact on society and/or the environment. We will work on increasing the response rate and documenting the longer-term impact of our programs on societal outcomes, including by collecting impact narratives.
Leveraging Technology to Drive Learning
In 2022, 40% of our revenue was effectively technology enabled. Our substantial investments in technology have enabled companies to decide on whether an on-campus pedagogical learning experience is required or whether a learning journey facilitated over an extended period is better suited to the learning population and needs. And these same investments have allowed us to reach learners in new geographic regions and to penetrate deeper into organizations.
For example, one client partner is enabling leadership development for more than 10,000 employees through an innovative IMD program combining faculty-led liVe virtual, on-demand online, and peer-based learning interactions. These “Sprint” programs take place over two weeks and allow individuals to upskill fast in a personalized and highly effective way. Another example of driving impactful learning with technology is our increasing use of virtual reality (VR) simulations to enable experiential leadership development of geographically dispersed teams and cohorts.
Recognition for Innovative Technology-Mediated Sustainability Education
This past year, IMD won recognition for its online Winning Sustainability Strategies (WSS) program, which was awarded a Gold Medal at the 2022 Brandon Hall Group Excellence in Technology awards in the category Best Advance in Education Delivered Through Technology.
The five-week online program is for executives aiming to embed sustainability into the core of their business and create their sustainability plan for lasting change. Participants learn and apply a practical framework for identifying and evaluating the relative performance of sustainability programs, called “vectoring”.
This is a key strategic tool that enables executives to develop a sustainability plan specific to the personal context, embed the UN Sustainable Development Goals into the company’s core strategy, and assess the impact of sustainability programs on competitiveness.
The award recognized IMD for its engaging content delivery and effective pedagogy leveraging technology. Every keyword, graphic, icon, and animation sequence is carefully selected and thought out with the pedagogical end goal in mind. Visuals expand on the content rather than purely reiterate it, to cement the concepts in the participant’s mind.
The Winning Sustainability Strategies program elements.
30
Videos
11
Business cases
4
Group work Sessions
2
Pairwork assignments
7
Touchpoints with coach
“The program was an awesome experience. I took away so many things to implement at work, like understanding that organizations must now be purpose-driven, report on targets and progress, transform to a circular economy, and have sustainability as a key pillar.”
Vanessa Green, Director of Quality Control and Quality Assurance, Asku Berhane Investment Group (ABIG), Ethiopia