New course empowers participants to learn how to design and accelerate inclusive local talent development programs
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- MIT Sloan Executive Education announces a new course, 'Businesses for Inclusive Local Thriving (BILT) Lab', a first of its kind executive education and peer learning program at a major university designed for company leaders who want to tackle their own talent needs, help advance their region's competitive economic innovation strategy, and create inclusive thriving. This 13-week program will be conducted in a hybrid model with two in-person sessions on the MIT Sloan campus in Cambridge and the remaining sessions hosted online.
"The purpose of BILT Lab is to provide participants the opportunity to develop a blueprint for company decision makers who are ready to build bridges and deepen community engagement," says Tom Giordano, Executive Director, Partnership for Rhode Island. "It is fundamentally designed to bring together business executives and other leaders from education, government, non-profit, and communities to build a sustainable, diverse workforce pipeline by learning how to work with organizations outside of their office jobs to create greater change in their communities."
Co-founded by Giordano and Kate W. Isaacs, Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan, participants will learn how to diagnose their region's readiness to supply a diverse, future-ready workforce with relational and technical skills aligned with regional economic strategies. Additionally, this course will help participants identify their company's pain points and opportunities to train, hire, retain, and continually upskill its labor force and drive inclusive prosperity.
"We have a significant talent gap across America," said Isaacs. "Talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not. For America to remain a competitive innovator on the global stage—we need to give everyone the chance to develop their potential. Many Americans have been left behind; because they struggle with mental illness, trauma or substance use; because they live in places that investors tend to overlook, or because they are in underrepresented demographics. As a country, we can't afford to leave anyone's talents unseen or undeveloped. We can't afford to build anything less than healthy, resilient communities that enable all our people to prosper. In the BILT-Lab, we want to enable business leaders to advance their region's competitive future-forward innovation strategy by training a workforce of the future, and America must follow suit."
Ideal BILT Lab participants include executives that are invested in building the prosperity of their local communities and are ready, willing, and able to analyze existing initiatives and identify programs that are ready to scale. Companies are strongly encouraged to send teams of three to five participants, either from a single company or from different companies in the region with similar talent needs. In addition, company leaders are strongly encouraged to bring workforce development partners to attend BILT-Lab, including leaders from: nonprofit, education, government, and Chambers of Commerce in order to get the "system" in the room. Participants should be prepared to approach problems with curiosity, and to share experiences openly with peers to support shared learning.
Upon successful completion of the course, participants will earn a certificate of course completion from MIT Sloan School of Management and will leave with an understanding of:
- Best practices for shaping local and state policy; piloting and scaling change interventions; attracting state and national funding; engaging other business leaders in a vision for change; building trust with diverse local stakeholders; connecting their personal purpose and legacy to their present-day change goals; and identifying common stumbles to avoid in their change project
- Exploring pathways for successful partnership at the intersection of business and policy
- Developing and strengthening a network of like-minded business executives and other leaders from education, government, non-profit, and community
- Interacting with key leaders from across sectors, including prominent special guests
- Exploring business challenges from a policy lens and government programs from a private sector's point of view
- Critically examining and evaluating their own region's workforce strategies and advising others on overcoming challenges and avoiding common mistakes
Participants will leave with the following outputs:
- Strategic plan and initial steps taken by individual companies on pain points and opportunities in workforce and wraparound support (e.g. childcare, housing, healthcare, transportation).
- Industry alignment and execution plan for collective action priorities to accelerate a regional workforce of the future strategy aligned with their region's economic innovation strategy.
- Funding strategy and early identification of funding sources for collective action.
To learn more about the course or to enroll, click here. For a complete list of upcoming Executive Education courses, visit the MIT Sloan Executive Education website.
About MIT Sloan Executive Education
MIT Sloan Executive Education's non-degree executive programs are led by senior MIT Sloan faculty and provide business professionals worldwide with a targeted and flexible means to advance their career development goals and position their organizations for future growth. The cutting-edge leadership training includes more than 90 short courses, executive certificates, online courses, custom programs for organizations, and the flagship Advanced Management Program.
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SOURCE MIT Sloan
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