NSU Horizons Spring 2017

18 NSU HORIZONS NSU’s H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship is working to enhance students’ career potential from the moment they begin the M.B.A. program. The college partnered in 2015 with Korn Ferry, a highly regarded executive search, advising, and consulting firm, to conduct an assessment (during orientation) of each student’s leadership skill levels. The assessment tells students their strengths, as well as what skills they need to develop. Each student is paired with a faculty coach, who guides them on how to enhance their skills and prepares a development plan. The program is intended to ensure that students have the skills they need to get the job they want when they graduate and to help them succeed and advance in their chosen careers. “We are trying to set them up to be successful in the business world in the setting they choose,” said assistant professor of management Eleanor Lawrence, Psy.D., D.B.A., M.S. “It is real world, not just an academic exercise.” So far, 39 faculty members have been trained by Korn Ferry to interpret the assessment results and function as coaches. About 1,900 students have taken the assessment. Within a year, most faculty members will be certified and all of the business college programs are expected to have incorporated it. “The faculty members who have done this have said it really makes a differ- ence in how they understand their students and how they work with their students,” Lawrence said. The Korn Ferry Assessment of Leadership Potential identifies capability by evaluating people based on seven measurable signposts that predict future performance. They include learning agility, formative experiences, self-awareness of strengths and weaknesses, and drive and desire to be a leader. For example, if the assessment shows that a student has several strong leader- ship traits, but limited leadership experience, the faculty coach could encourage the student to take on a leadership role in a stu- dent organization to begin to fill that gap, Lawrence said. Katherine Barrios, 28, who will graduate in May with an M.S. in Human Resources Management, has used the assessment results to bolster her leadership skills. She sought out a leadership role in class group projects to give her experience in delegating responsi- bilities and meeting deadlines. “It has been very helpful to me,” she said. “This was such a great assessment to evaluate where I am on skills I need to develop and others I am already great at.” Barrios had begun job interviews at the beginning of the year, and let prospective employers know about what the assessment ident- ified as her strengths. She believes that gave her an advantage. Employers, she said, were familiar with Korn Ferry and “were actually impressed that NSU offered this.” Marchar Charite, 36, expects to complete an M.B.A. with a con- centration in human resource management in the fall. She, too, has put the assessment results into action. She took an entry-level job at NSU before taking the assessment. The results, as well as the advice of her coach, motivated her. When a challenging position opened up, she applied, and now is executive assistant to the vice president in public relations and marketing communications. “Go for it. Just do it,” she had told herself. “You don’t have some of those skills, but you can obtain them by being in a (leadership) role.” Visit kornferry.com for more information. n Program Assesses M.B.A. Students’ Skills BY MARY HLADKY