Celebrate Success Together
A few weeks ago, we celebrated the graduation of eMBA2013 group after they finished their journey in the eMBA Turku programme. In addition to the eMBA2013 participants, the graduation event was filled with proud family members, friends and colleagues or managers who had all come to celebrate this important milestone. A milestone not only in the lives of the participants, but also in the lives of their families, who had provided their support throughout the studies. The smiles, the excited clapping of hands, and the little feet that would have been eager to run around Mercatori, created such a warm atmosphere for the ceremony that it really felt like a shared family event. For what is success if we cannot celebrate it with the people who matter the most?
One graduating father had brought his son to celebrate his successful completion of the eMBA programme, when only a week before he had attended his son’s end of school year event where the little boy had successfully completed his first grade – an important step for every child! There was a huge agreeing smile on the little boy’s face when I asked him if he was proud of his dad also getting a transcript for his studies. The smile got even wider when I told him that he himself must have studied really hard as he got his first transcript and graduated a week earlier than his dad….
It’s all about the people
In the speeches at the graduation ceremony, the participants reminisced about all the different events and learnings that had been part of their eMBA journey. In addition to all the practical takeaways into their working lives as leaders, a big importance was also given to the people aspect. Networking, connecting, peer mentoring, and getting to know the other participants in the programme was said to be one of the most valuable takeaways from the programme. The feeling that they, as a group, had together gone through and shared an experience that they will most likely never experience again in their lives, had clearly left a lasting impact.
In this current world of digitalization and virtuality, I was excited to see that people centricity and true togetherness in experiencing life situations with other people is as strong as ever. As a sincere believer in leadership development, I was equally excited to see and hear about the personal and professional development that the eMBA Turku participants have gained from our programme. The picture below demonstrates some of the key highlights in the programme that the participants have listed:
Ready for your own learning journey?
eMBA2016 kicks off in February 2016, and as the programme manager for the upcoming programme, there might be a slight bias if I just listed all the benefits that the programme can offer. So instead, I will let the comments from our recent eMBA2013 graduates indicate why the eMBA Turku programme would be such a great opportunity for any leader:
“I have been able to bring in new ideas and viewpoints to an organization that is undergoing changes.”
“eMBA Turku improved mine and my colleagues’ capabilities in leadership, financial understanding and strategic thinking. In many ways, but the most important contribution this far has been my improved skills in strategic foresight and visionary leadership, which have affected positively in my work.”
“The thesis I made was for our company and it will bring value. As all the assignments done were done reflecting the issues from my organization’s perspective, I myself have gained a lot of valuable understanding of my organisation and also have been able to pinpoint some issues and matters which have required resources and further development in our organization.”
“I have more insights how to manage people. Taking them into decision making, enhancing their career development and motivation and following their performance. I have confidence to propose development ideas for top management on the issues that I see important.”
“It has helped me not only to deepen my strategic and visionary thinking, but also to take better into account the context in which I’m a leader and different personalities I’m leading.”
“I have gained understanding on different levels of leadership and through the various lectures and assignments done on leadership I can say that I now know myself better as a leader and understand how I have so far built my leadership and also know how I wish to develop further as a leader.”
“I was more focused on the daily issues and routines before, now I realize the importance of the future outlook better and that I need to find time to think ahead: I also feel that I have the confidence to do so more than before.”
Welcome to join the eMBA2016 journey – let’s celebrate together!