Henley Germany Christmas Message

Director's Thoughts: December Edition

Merry Christmas from Henley Business School Germany.

Director's Thoughts

Dear Henley Community

This past year was different. As a first for many of us, we saw our lives fundamentally transformed, and not of our own choosing. New challenges arose, both negative aswell as the positive. Old structures were challenged and needed urgent re-evaluation in a race for relevance and purpose.

Also Henley Germany was among the organisations that needed to fast rethink its ways of engagement and delivery mode of high-class learning content. Having already started the year with an internal transformation, it was only natural that the external impact of the pandemic was going to accelerate this process. As a silver lining around the COVID-19 cloud, the pandemic’s impact highlighted what audiences appreciated from the school’s offering and what needed to be reorganised to remain one of the top providers of management and leadership education. As part of this month’s Director’s Thoughts I would like to point out and commend the enormous efforts that our small team in Germany undertook to keep steady on the road and cope with the increased workload that was the result of all the changes that we implemented.

All of these efforts resulted in our certificate programmes being filled and waiting lists created. The Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching is now being offered in two options: live onsite and live online. Both version with the dedication that Henley alumni can and know to expect. The Executive MBA, after a positive start with a first intake in March, was facing some harder challenges. Having been launched late last year in a new version, the increased face-to-face moments of the programme proved difficult to guarantee in times of lockdowns and social distancing. The core elements that make this programme so special, and that are most appreciated by those studying on it, were working against a continuation of a successful recruitment trend from the beginning of the year. The October intake had to be postponed, giving us the possibility to make the necessary arrangements that March 2021 will be adjusted appropriately, taking into account the challenges that our programme members are facing. This means, the Henley Executive MBA Global has become more flexible and focused, taking into account individual participant’s personal situations. A relief grant was launched for next year to help support those who, while having the talent and fulfilling the eligibility criteria for participation, were facing financial adversity and job insecurity. The programme structure now allows for participation from literally anywhere and extra effort is being made to connect and engage participants also with each other, as part of the executive coaching and mentor support that are now part of the MBA programme at Henley.

Looking forward, we are all relieved to see that while the approaching holiday period still sees adverse trends in the development of the virus, not that vaccines are becoming available giving us a way to counter the challenges the pandemic has presented us with, the new year will bring new opportunities. Henley Germany is ready to take them on and we are confident to continue to (re-)engage with our community on a broader scale. For example, the international alumni community will be organising more events shared between local and national chapters. The Henley Centre for Leadership is looking to organise shorter events and training programmes targeted at those that cannot devote themselves to a full Masters programme. The Henley Centre for Coaching has launched a new bite-sized online coaching programme and will be – together with Henley Germany – organising a coaching conference in September in Germany. As with everything, we are prepared to be flexible and will continue to have a hybrid option available for participation. Certain changes are here to stay. For Henley Germany, this means adaptability and customer focus via the creation of flexible working and study environments.

At this point we would therefore like to thank our entire community that has stood by our side, supported us and given most valuable feedback in times when we needed it. It is with these words of gratitude that the entire team at Henley Germany wishes you a peaceful, healthy and safe holiday period. We look forward to continuing our journey in the new year.