Ryder School
- The Ryder School
- An exciting new project to build skills, implement strategic thinking and foster unity. The Ryder School: our very own corporate university.
- What is a corporate university?
- The corporate university is a neat invention. What is it, exactly? You can think of it as a system of learning programmes developed by a company for job-specific and company-specific education. It makes good sense because it allows training to be more structured, more targeted and more strategic in design and implementation, so that skill-development is adapted to present and future needs. Employees benefit from better-designed learning programmes and more opportunities to learn, and the company benefits from employees with highly relevant skills and knowledge.
- In the USA, corporate universities proliferated fast through the 1990s. Now, they have spread across the Pacific to China, where many well-known companies have introduced them in recent years.
- Why is Ryder setting up a corporate university?
- Ryder started thinking about setting up its own corporate university in 2007, when a number of learning and development needs in the organisation were emerging.
- Firstly, there was the need for more learning and development opportunities. Staff had been showing stronger and stronger desire to study and improve their skills, and the company was keen to engage more closely with their lifelong learning goals, and actively contribute to their professional development.
- Secondly, the company needed a mechanism to systematically organise, store and share knowledge and experience accumulated over many years in the industry. Until now, the individual staff member has been the reservoir for such information, but this meant that the loss of personnel represented the loss of all the valuable expertise they had gathered during their time at the company.
- Thirdly, management felt strongly that they needed to improve the penetration of company Vision, Mission and Values through all levels of the organisation. It has always been part of Ryder's philosophy that the whole workforce should have a shared understanding of what sort of company we are, and where we are going; this shared understanding forms the bedrock of effective teamwork and job satisfaction. Management wanted a way to make company Vision, Mission and Values explicit, and provide channels through which they could be properly communicated to the workforce.
- At the same time, management were keen that the company should become more effective as a learning organisation, that it be responsive and progressive; and top-notch training is absolutely vital to attaining this goal.
- The setup of a corporate university represents a big challenge and a significant investment, particularly for a mid-size company like Ryder, but a study performed in 2008 convinced management that this would offer the best chance of meeting evolving needs.
- So Ryder has taken on the challenge.
- What will the Ryder School look like?
- The Ryder School will be quite unique among corporate universities. Rather than building it around any pre-existing model, management are tailoring it to company requirements.
- There will be no caps and gowns, manicured lawns, or school football team... rather, the central pillar of the university will be an online database and knowledge repository. Here will be stored a rich resource of case studies detailing experiences from which the company has developed or changed; technical information; industry information; and information about the functions of various roles within the company, designed to help members understand and perform their jobs better.
- The ethos of this database is to drive continuous learning and continuous knowledge-sharing. Staff will be able to refer to the database whenever they need to, reducing dependence on specific mentors.
- The second major function of the University is as a forum for training. While the majority of corporate universities’ programmes are directed specifically at management personnel, Ryder's intention is to use its school to expand the reach of training, providing programmes for all levels of staff, from the factory floor through to the management committee. Whether it be the induction of new recruits or continuous development programmes, all the company’s educational needs will be met through the University, with purpose-built courses, regularly updated.
- Courses for lower levels of staff will be developed internally, by department members with the support of the Learning and Development department. Courses for higher-level leadership will be developed with outside consultants.
- As for the teaching staff, look no further than the desk next to you! Teachers will be colleagues: the aim is for courses to be delivered to workers by a member of their own work-group or department. Candidates for teaching positions will be assessed by a committee for their technical and professional knowledge, and for their presentation skills. Once in the job, they will be subject to regular re-assessment and training. Not a job for the faint-hearted, but enthusiasm is already strong among the colleagues.
- Training will take place on the job and in classrooms, and eventually, the university will also develop links with external learning partners, taking trainees on learning visits to other companies.
- Looking to the future
- The University is still in its preparation phase; it will take another five years’ hard work before it is fully operational. Staff are in the process of working out the complex details of how to organise such an enormous store of information, and how to structure the University.
- It’s a hard slog, but hopes are high that the University will be the key to better communication, better awareness of corporate values, and clearer understanding of strategy: in short, the key to a swifter, leaner, stronger and more confident Ryder.
