Ivey Academy launched three new Advanced Impact Certificates (Digital Leader, Inclusive Leader and Sustainable Leader) in late 2023. These certificates combine a core Ivey Academy multi-day program with targeted workshops on critical issues and the opportunity to work directly with an Ivey faculty member on an action learning project. What differentiates these certificates in the market is the focus on critical issues facing leaders and organizations and the opportunity to work one-on-one with Ivey faculty on a pressing challenge. This makes the certificates highly relevant and applied. More than 60 Ivey alumni have already participated in one of the new critical issues workshops. New critical issues-focused workshops will continue to be developed on an ongoing basis and alumni will have direct input into selecting the topics that matter most.

Our successful Livestream series continues to grow, with more than 800 subscribers and an average of 300 participants per session. More than 20 per cent of participants are Ivey alumni. We are pleased to consistently have participants joining from right across Canada as well as an additional 32 countries, contributing to the diverse and dynamic discussions. Recent topics have ranged from Neurodiversity and Blockchain to Responsible Leadership and Regenerative Agriculture. These sessions have featured many great industry experts, Ivey faculty, and alumni.

Building on the inaugural EMBA Lifelong Learning workshop (Navigating Uncertainty: Leading your organization and the people within it to embrace the unknown), the commitment to developing and delivering dedicated programming for Ivey alumni continues. The next events include:

• Career workshop (Ivey Early Career Connect) for HBAs to support building early career meta-skills within the first five years of a career;
• Virtual coaching series for EMBAs (Ivey masterclass: Leading for Resilience) – four x two-hour sessions over eight weeks that explore digital change, responsible decision-making and leading for resilience;
• Building digital resilience for an AI-driven future workshop in Calgary with an alumni roundtable; and,
• Communicating with confidence following a negative event workshop for Ivey and Western alumni in Hong Kong.

In an effort to accelerate Ivey staff development and embed a lifelong learning mindset and habit, we delivered two inaugural Ivey-dedicated staff leadership development programs. This was the first-time running Ivey Academy programming just for Ivey staff. The first was the five-day Ivey Leadership Program in December 2023. And the second was the three-day Ivey Emerging Leader program in January 2024. Both programs had more than 30 Ivey staff. Not only did this provide Ivey staff with an exceptional learning experience, it was an opportunity for staff to build relationships and connections across the School. Areas in which staff reported progress include: leading individuals and teams for exceptional performance, elevating strategic thinking, practicing interpersonal leadership, leading collaborative high-performance teams, navigating conflict effectively to create value, leading with candour, and managing relationships upward.

As the needs and expectations of leaders continue to shift and evolve, focused efforts are being directed to ensure programming is timely and relevant. Of note, more than 10 new workshops have been designed and delivered that are directly tied to critical issues. These include Digital Agility in Global Markets, Accelerating Leadership with AI, Neurodiversity and Belonging at Work, Leading People Through Stress, Sustainability and Digital Innovation. In addition, we continue to look for opportunities to enhance the learner experience. This includes the introduction of new Digital Learning Experiences. We also continue to host regular faculty workshops on topics ranging from Accessibility in Learning to Experiential Learning.

A strategic priority has been to measure the real-world impact of our leadership development programs and learning events.  In pursuit of a more comprehensive and meaningful evaluation framework, we began transitioning to an approach that includes multiple levels of evaluation, including longer-term impact. This covers pre- and post-program surveys to assess the immediate shift in confidence aligned with program learning objectives. In addition, follow-up surveys are now being used to measure organizational and community impact six months+ following the completion of programs. Key benefits include: validation of learning outcomes, alignment with organizational goals, facilitating personal and professional growth, driving continuous improvement, demonstrating social and economic contributions, and enhancing credibility and reputation.