HONG KONG: DDB Hong Kong is sending more of its staff to DDB
University following the success of its inaugural participation last
year.
In 2000, 33 employees from a broad cross-section of the agency - account
executives to account directors and creative to strategic people -
attended courses to hone the skills they require to be effective leaders
in their area of work.
The number for this year has been set at 40, with the agency spending at
least HKdollars 2 million (about USdollars 257,000), which takes care of
travel costs and study materials.
DDB Greater China president and chief executive officer, Aaron Lau, said
the philosophy behind the university is to train a core group of people
who would later go back to the agency to train their colleagues.
"When they come back, programmes are organised to pass on the knowledge
they have learned to a broader group of people," he said.
Courses at the university are intensive and the participation time
varies from a few days to a week. There isn't a set place where students
meet; instead classes are held in different locations around the world,
which is "part of the training for staff to see the DDB global culture
as well", Lau said.
The teachers are mostly senior DDB executives, mainly business
development and planning directors.
In addition, professors from the Harvard School of Business have also
been invited to tailor-make special study programmes for the agency. Lau
is participating in one such two-year programme and is due to graduate
in June.
"There's no degree you earn like a masters," he said, but added that the
agency felt it is important that staff continually upgrade their skills
to match the rapidly-changing business climate.
DDB University was established in January 2000, after 18 months of
surveying best practices among international companies and assessing the
network's training needs.
Lau estimated that hundreds of DDB employees worldwide have benefited
directly from the programmes of the university, running up an annual
cost of between USdollars 5 million and USdollars 10 million.
Lau said the university aims to help DDB achieve its mission more
effectively, with courses shaped by the network's heritage, values and
goals.
But while one of its main aims is to act as the custodian of the
network's collective knowledge, the university stresses in its manifesto
that everyone working at DDB has the opportunity to attend courses, not
just the top segment of the agency.
