C&WH&B’s young professionals are being sent on a one-year MBA programme to gain the all-round business knowledge that their managers feel clients demand. Helen Osborne looks at what the course has to offer
Today, surveyors must be more than just the professionals who do the deals. They must apply property knowledge to all aspects of business. In short, they must think like businesspersons.
Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker, determined to train their staff to be business all-rounders, has for the past few years sent employees to INSEAD, one of the world’s largest business schools.
Asset management partner Simon Elmer explains: “We’re not just agents, we are more a business-to-business consultancy and we are being more explicit about it. People are our greatest asset and it is important they have knowledge.”
C&WH&B is the only real estate firm to belong to INSEAD’s corporate affiliation programme, which includes companies from sectors ranging from engineering, to business and administration and law.
One-year MBA course
The property company sponsors two fellowships for the one-year, full-time INSEAD MBA course, which typically requires six to 10 years’ experience in business and comprises eight electives. Students agree to present two of these to a business audience at a seminar organised by C&WH&B.
Two members of staff have also attended the school’s Young Managers programme, a three-week course. But Elmer says: “We were the oldest people on the course, so we needed to catch up. Some people were under 30.”
Course lecturers prefer industry examples, rather than academic ones. The marketing lecturer, for example, is on first-name terms with the founder of Benetton.
Elmer says: “Doing the course makes you ask better questions, such as what’s at the root of the problem for the client. It doesn’t mean we will stop doing deals but we need an integrated strategy. It will affect the people we take on.”
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INSEAD’s MBA |
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The INSEAD MBA Programme is an intensive one-year masters degree in international business administration, offering 15 core courses and more than 85 multi-disciplinary electives. Jennifer Walton, senior director of development at INSEAD, acknowledges that the property sector has generally been under-represented in business schools. She says: “It hasn’t been a conscious decision. But I’m glad C&WH&B has taken the initiative,” The programme discusses business issues and includes topics such as marketing and entrepreneurship. Walton says: “I don’t think the property industry has any issues different from other organisations. Like many other professions, it is people intensive.” So what are INSEAD’s most potent business issues? Customer focus is one. “Client focus touches everyone and as a result we have client focus modules. Therefore we need to look at how we can train staff who are not just front-line people,” says Walton. In order to obtain the best-quality candidates, the one-year MBA course fees are set at 842,000. 25% of candidates applying to INSEAD apply only to that course. Walton says: “The course is intense but people are very motivated, so they can sustain the concentration for a year.” Students are encouraged to both compete and collaborate and are given grades as a group, so that nobody has the opportunity to slack off. Groups are chosen with maximum diversity of languages and backgrounds in mind. This is all taught while maintaining a close relationship with business. The school’s corporate affiliation programme involves 75 companies. Other events include five-year reunions; the 15,000 MBA graduates and 10,000 executives are encouraged to stay in touch. INSEAD also runs shorter courses, such as a four-week programme for seasoned general managers, which costs 824,750, a Young Managers programme that costs 816,050, and company-specific programmes. |
