Media Releases

New Rotman program prepares executives for success in senior management roles

February 13, 2014

TORONTO, ON — A new pro­gram from Exec­u­tive Pro­grams at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toronto’s Rot­man School of Man­age­ment is designed to help senior man­agers devel­op new cross-func­tion­al and cross-enter­prise skills to help them and their orga­ni­za­tions excel in today’s com­pet­i­tive envi­ron­ment.

Par­tic­i­pants of Rotman’s Senior Man­age­ment Pro­gram will devel­op con­cep­tu­al frame­works to set strat­e­gy and improve the qual­i­ty of their think­ing and deci­sions to lead effec­tive­ly as suc­cess­ful senior man­agers.

“We’ve heard over the years that mak­ing the tran­si­tion from func­tion­al to senior lead­er­ship can be hard and at cer­tain career points many feel pigeon-holed, even stuck in one func­tion­al area,” says Hugh Arnold,  a for­mer Dean and adjunct pro­fes­sor at the Rot­man School,  who is the program’s aca­d­e­m­ic direc­tor.  “At its core, this program’s objec­tive is to pro­vide senior func­tion­al man­agers with the skill sets required to suc­ceed in more senior gen­er­al man­age­ment roles.”

The pro­gram includes a strong focus on trans­fer of learn­ing to the work­place. Par­tic­i­pants will com­plete a five-day in-class com­po­nent of the pro­gram with an action learn­ing plan.  Par­tic­i­pants’ ongo­ing learn­ing is sup­port­ed in its real-time imple­men­ta­tion through a pro­fes­sion­al man­age­ment coach­ing ses­sion, a series of fol­low-up fac­ul­ty videos that rein­force the key pro­gram themes and a fol­low-up half-day ses­sion.

Two unique aspects of the pro­gram, mod­el-based prob­lem solv­ing and design think­ing, draw on con­cepts pio­neered at the Rot­man School.  Par­tic­i­pants will learn to lever­age the pow­er of design think­ing across all aspects of their orga­ni­za­tion which can estab­lish and sus­tain their unique com­pet­i­tive advan­tage. Design think­ing is a meth­ods-based approach to inno­va­tion that helps par­tic­i­pants arrive at big­ger break­throughs faster.

The pro­gram is led by inter­na­tion­al­ly-renowned fac­ul­ty includ­ing Prof. Arnold. Oth­er instruc­tors include Prof. Bill McEvily, Prof. Glen Whyte, Adjunct Prof. David Dunne, Exec­u­tive-in-Res­i­dence Delaine Hamp­ton and Scott Ruther­ford of the Desau­tels Cen­tre for Inte­gra­tive Think­ing.

The first pro­gram will be offered in March 2014.  Pro­gram details are online at www.rotmanexecutive.com/srmanagement.

Rot­man Exec­u­tive Pro­grams is Canada’s lead­ing provider of exec­u­tive edu­ca­tion. Ranked #1 in the world by the Finan­cial Times for new skills and learn­ing and for fac­ul­ty, Exec­u­tive Pro­grams at the Rot­man School of Man­age­ment is com­mit­ted to deliv­er­ing pro­grams for indi­vid­u­als and cus­tom pro­grams for orga­ni­za­tions which impact busi­ness lead­ers world­wide.   Rot­man Exec­u­tive Pro­grams inspires and empow­ers lead­ers to devel­op the capac­i­ty to trans­form them­selves, their orga­ni­za­tions and their com­mu­ni­ties.  For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it www.rotmanexecutive.com.

The Rot­man School of Man­age­ment at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to is redesign­ing busi­ness edu­ca­tion for the 21st cen­tu­ry with a cur­ricu­lum based on Inte­gra­tive Think­ing. Locat­ed in the world’s most diverse city, the Rot­man School fos­ters a new way to think that enables the design of cre­ative busi­ness solu­tions. The School is cur­rent­ly rais­ing $200 mil­lion to ensure Cana­da has the world-class busi­ness school it deserves. For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it www.rotman.utoronto.ca.

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For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact:

Ken McGuf­fin
Man­ag­er, Media Rela­tions
Rot­man School of Man­age­ment
Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to
Voice 416.946.3818
E‑mail mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca
Fol­low Rot­man on Twit­ter @rotmanschool
Watch Rot­man on You Tube www.youtube.com/rotmanschool