How we discover and solve corporate challenges

“There can be a lot of wasted time and energy trying to solve problems that aren’t the real issues.”

For a corporate educator to truly transform an organisation for the better through a customised leadership and learning program, the two need to collaborate to expose and address a company’s blockers and weak links, Professor Richard Hall, Monash Business School’s Deputy Dean, Leadership and Corporate Education, says.

Internationally ranked for excellence in education and research, Monash Business School is well placed to not only evaluate where transformation in corporations is needed, but also execute it at multiple levels, Prof Hall says.

“We're a business school that is as good at listening as we are talking,” Prof Hall says.

“I think that being responsive to and leading the world of business, in partnership with the concerns of business leaders and changemakers within organisations, is what we should be known for,” he says.

Business schools are not just ‘visionaries of the future’

“What sets us apart is that capacity to listen and take the time to discover with the client what's really going on in their management and business,” Prof Hall says.

It is a fallacy that business schools merely  “need to only be visionaries of the future,” he says, arguing that the business school’s corporate education function is also capable of much more grounded and practical corporate impact.

“It's not about predicting or creating a new future, it's about helping organisations do lots of little things smarter and better and more effectively over time, which adds up to big sustainable change.”

In this way, Monash Business School is significantly transforming the corporate education landscape through its innovative and adaptive approach to customised organisational teaching and learning, and unique benefits and insights, Prof Hall says.

By blending rigorous academic research with real-world business insights, Monash Corporate Education is transitioning from a traditional academic institution to a hub of innovation and practical learning, he says.

The Clear Leadership short course

Prof Hall has extensive experience in the design and delivery of leadership development programs for managers, professionals and senior leaders, most notably the Clear Leadership short course, which aims to transform participants’ leadership, emotional intelligence, self-reflection and communication skills.

Drawing on the university’s broad research excellence

Monash Corporate Education also draws upon the extensive research capabilities and insights of the School and more broadly the University, via various hubs with close industry links. They include:

• Impact Labs: Six multidisciplinary research labs with expert networks of industry change-makers.
• Monash Data Futures Institute: Using data-driven AI, MDFI are enhancing health sciences, governance and policy and sustainable development.
• CDL-Melbourne: This partnership employs an objectives-based program for massively scalable science and tech-based companies.
• Monash Sustainable Development Institute: The MSDI builds capacity and leadership of people, sectors and organisations to drive effective action in sustainable development.

As of 2024, Monash Business School is internationally recognised for excellence in research and education in Australia, the Asia-Pacific and around the world, ranking #1 for the Best Global Universities for Economics and Business (Australian Ranking) 2023.

Underpinning the School’s rankings excellence, it has also received Triple Accreditation from three global accrediting bodies, and is one of only 124 business schools in the world – and the only Victorian institution – to have achieved this.

Prof Hall says Monash Business School has evolved into an institution underpinned by education and research excellence, which had greater relevance and impact in the fast-changing corporate landscape.

“Now we have a far more diverse faculty working with a broader range of associates who have a pracademic background or a mixture of industry skills and business experience, as well as academic and research discipline and rigour,” Prof Hall says.