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Two cultures collide To respond efectively, staf must embrace an entrepreneurial
While one college may difer a great deal from another, mindset: quickly learning new felds, taking calculated risks like
the organizational structure and culture of many colleges purchasing equipment and hiring staf based on their assessment
supports deliberative, layered decision making which is ofen of an idea’s potential, and delivering exceptional quality as
rooted in some form of shared governance. Colleges are defned by the paying customer. Staf must do all this while still
large and complex, and are further complicated by various depending on the support services of their institution, which
missions, accreditation standards, and multiple collective were designed for traditional college needs, not circumstances
bargaining agreements. Te power structure is shared between such as these.
administration and tenured faculty. Terefore, many colleges Te intersection of these two divergent cultures, then, is where
tend to move slowly. Some college faculty and staf may hold leadership matters most. In fact, how a college’s leadership team
philosophical sentiments of distrust toward the business world, structures, supports, develops, and implements a corporate
particularly with respect to its interactions with academia. training business within their academic institution goes a long
Consequently, the thought of operating a business to serve way in determining its ultimate success or failure.
corporate customers and generate a proft may seem out of What is corporate and continuing education?
place to them despite whatever value such a business might
bring to their institution or their own programs. Ofen operated as a self-supported business functioning within a
college, a corporate and continuing education department designs
Te conditions and culture described above refect the and delivers primarily non-credit workforce solutions. Te term
environment in which a college’s corporate training corporate training typically refers to training for an employer
business must fourish and grow! Unlike its institution, the which may be scheduled and tailored for their specifc needs and
training business must be structured for quick decisions and delivered on-site to a group of employees. Continuing education
characterized by efciency and fexibility in order to efectively has long been associated with fun, non-credit personal interest
serve industry needs. For example: courses ofered to the community (think basket weaving). Many
• A company may call requiring wire routing training to colleges, however, are now de-emphasizing or moving away
alleviate production delays that must be immediately from these types of classes in favor of short-term professional
addressed—and the training required may not currently exist. continuing education courses and certifcates that lead to high-
• An employer may ask for project management training for demand jobs and career advancement. Tese education oferings
100 project managers delivered in three diferent states and produce higher value for employers, generate more revenue for
customized to company-specifc goals. the institution, and can be linked with the economic development
needs of a college’s region (Van Noy, 2008).
• An aerospace manufacturing company may request the
creation of an electronics troubleshooting program to help Less about ideas and more about execution.
address a critical shortage of skilled aviation test technicians With these goals in mind, college presidents and other
(even though the college lacks the costly equipment and administrators sometimes send their continuing education
stafng infrastructure). leaders and staf to Everett Community College (EvCC) to learn

John Bonner, Executive Director of
Corporate & Continuing Education

32 LEADERSHIP Vol. 19.3 Winter 2014

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