Institution: Melbourne Business School
Course: Senior Management
It is with great pleasure that I present to you a report on my recent participation in the Senior Managers Program at Mt Eliza Business School, and some general comments about the program.
Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude again for awarding me the grant in 2012, which allowed me to participate in the program and undertake my studies. I believe that the grant scheme is unique within Australia, and will give future leaders in South Australia a chance to broaden their horizons and skill sets.
Skill and learning outcomes
The senior executive management program at Mt Eliza is targeted at senior managers just under company board and chief executive level. As such, the program contained a large number of very senior managers, with sometimes more than a few hundred employees reporting to them, and budgets of multiple millions of dollars. Hence the program essentially had content mostly directed at general management problems at that level of organisations. As a direct result of my learning outcomes, I am now equipped with a number of new skills, and new knowledge that will serve me well in the future.
On an extremely positive note, I now have a cohort and network of peers, who I know have similar challenges and problems in their daily work life, and are happy to share, help and consult.
Outcomes versus grant funding
The application for the grant stated my interest in understanding how other professions think, argue and debate. I was delighted to find that a number of senior accountants and lawyers were within my learning cohort and I had a number of very frank discussions with some of them. The point that became clear very early on was the frustration of these professions; they are often only consulted towards the end of negotiations and discussions, and hence often are the scapegoats for adverse outcomes to the talks. Further discussions with these course participants have given me a new appreciation of the difficulties these professions face on a nearly daily basis.
