"We have a problem with the lack of leadership skills that we want to help us solve."
The challenge was made by a large company to the Nova School of Business & Economics Executive Education CEO. But when Nadim Habib visited the company, he found out that the real problem was another.
"People did not feel that they participated in defining the company's strategy. This is one of the main causes of anxiety that currently dominates many organizations because it makes people feel that their future does not depend on them".
For three months they worked with the company's board and concluded that they wished to be involved in shaping the company's future. One of the solutions found in the training was to create an internal program that allowed "any employee of the company to present a business or process proposal to the administration and receive, at that moment, from it, a no or a yes with a budget to accomplish it", describes Nova SBE Executive Education CEO. Result: "the company is teeming with new ideas". The recipe was to change the role of the company leader who became a facilitator or coach.
The school invests in these customized training programs to companies but also in open programs that are already part of the history of management in Portugal. This is the case of the General Management program, which already has 31 editions. "It is curious to see someone from a company say, my boss took this course three years ago, his boss nine years ago and the boss of the boss of my boss's boss 12 years ago and that's why I'm taking it", says Nadim Habib. A program that "is used by many companies as a transitional course for boards to assume leadership positions".
An example of this is the case of João Caldeira, currently Director of Companhia das Lezírias. Before the course he had responsibilities only in the financial area, the program gave him a more comprehensive view of the subjects, opening the door to more transversal functions. Today he is the administrator of the largest agroforestry company in the country. This entrepreneur does not forget "the interest and liveliness of Corporate Finance classes, commonly considered to be an uninspiring and boring topic". João Ribeiro also praises the quality of the faculty and networking as distinctive aspects of the formation of Nova SBE. "These open programs are our vision of the future. When I design a program, I think about what the manager will need in the future", summarizes Nadim Habib. But they are not static programs. "Six months after the course, students come back and say what they are doing and suggest changes to the course".
At this time customized programs are already dominant in the Nova SBE Executive Education's programs offering that has guaranteed the school's presence in the rankings of the Financial Times executive education in 58th position. As a result of its internationalization strategy, which led to the opening of schools in Luanda, São Paulo, and Maputo, Nova SBE achieved the field of reaching 16th place in the internationalization index, the best Portuguese school classified in the Financial Times ranking.
"Our main goal is to be relevant to the economies where we are", guarantees Nadim Habib. Inside doors, "what is relevant for a Portuguese organization today is productivity", which is a condition for those who want to go international. That is why all customized programs are designed in a long process of dialogue between the school and the companies, which is not always easy. The key to these programs is "to focus, to be very effective, to connect to the real world and to ensure that a day of executive education has to have four moments that truly surprise the participants and what they think about - I can use this in my day to day", says Nadim Habib.
The road is long. Companies are beginning to feel pressure from everywhere. Management speaks to human resources to launch initiatives that increase the resilience of employees. Normally, human resources contact Nova SBE and the idea of building a program begins to emerge. One way to motivate employees is to invest in their training. We believe that training has a very significant impact on a person's life if the person also believes.
The company must have a very clear strategy, a very focused effort, very focused productivity and know what to do and how to do it. When I make a diagnosis of a company, I discover that there are hundreds of projects that will never go well, but that startup, nobody really knows why. I find that they do reports because they always do and have no impact on the organization. We work 3 more hours a day than a German and therefore we have to find out what we are going to do to work at least two hours a day. It's simple.