Kelley Executive Partners offers workshops in management

In a suite on the third floor of the Kelley School of Business is a place of which most students have never heard. Day in and day out employees of Fortune 500 firms and multinational corporations pass through the doors of one of the most top ranked business schools in the nation.\nFor more than 40 years, the Kelley Executive Partners has offered programs in executive management and leadership in Indianapolis, Louisville, Ky., and right here in Bloomington. A diverse list of clients ranges from employees from IBM, managers from Rolls-Royce and a custodial supervisor from IU.\nKEP's open-enrollment programs range from "Financial Accounting" and "Business Modeling" to "Thinking Strategically" and "Influencing Your Boss." Courses last from two to 10 days depending on the program.\nThe next program, "Financial Accounting: Introduction to Financial Statements & Analysis," is Tuesday and Wednesday in Bloomington.\n"The way executive education is set up is that it tends to run in short, very intense periods," said KEP Chairman Thomas Lenz. \nThe programs' unique structure is built to accommodate executives' hectic 40-hour-a-week work schedule.\nPrograms are also customized to fit the specialized needs of large corporations, Lenz said.\n"We really bend over backward to serve the client," he said. "If they need a course that we don't offer, we'll start the course for them."\nThe benefits of taking courses though KEP stretch far beyond its design, said KEP teacher Timothy Baldwin. Simply getting away from the pressures of the workplace is one positive aspect, he said .\n"(It's) a chance to learn new things and reflect on what they are currently doing," he said.\nInteraction with people from different companies is one the most beneficial aspects of the program, Baldwin said.\n"Our courses are designed to be very hands-on," said KEP teacher Carolyn Wiethoff, who has a reputation for developing innovative courses. "People leave the classroom with skills that will be immediately applicable to their jobs."\nThe main benefit of taking courses with KEP is the opportunity to be trained in the latest knowledge and analytical techniques of the time, Lenz said.\n"Knowledge becomes dated," he said. "To try to stay on top of new developments in business is extremely difficult because it moves so quickly."\nExecutives and managers come to Kelley to enhance their careers, improve their potential for promotion and run their businesses better, Lenz said.\nCorporate employees are not the only ones to benefit from the KEP -- the faculty who teach the courses profit as well.\n"(KEP clients) are there because they want to learn," Baldwin said. "(They) expect a great deal from their instructors."\nThis demand forces Baldwin to be at his best and bring to the class timely, engaging and useful information.\n"I personally learn something from every KEP course I teach and I regularly bring that learning back to my campus courses," Baldwin said.\nInvolvement with KEP reminds Weithoff how vital her role really is.\n"It reminds me that what I teach is important in the real world," she said. "I feel as if I am helping real people solve real problems in their work lives. And that's not something a teacher gets to do everyday."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Brad Keist at bkeist@indiana.edu.