“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”
Dr. Seuss
Archives for July 2020
Celebrating Milestones: The 10th Anniversary of the MBA(FS) Class of 2010
Class of 2010 MBA (FS)
Class of 2010 MBA (FS) BMO
CEGE Connection would like to recognize the contribution of the MBA(FS)Class of 2010 as they commemorate their tenth-year anniversary. All our best goes out to these graduates on this very special milestone year. Thank you for your commitment to excellence, life-long learning and the communities in which you live and work.
The CEGE Team
Friday Reflection
“We learn from our gardens to deal with the most urgent question of the time: How much is enough?”
Wendell Berry
Advance Your Career Through Blended Online Learning – MBA(FSL)
DRIVING YOUR DEVELOPMENT
Through our blended online MBA programs, working professionals can stay focused on their career while advancing their management and leadership competencies. Developed and delivered by Rowe School of Business professors and world-class academic and industry experts in close collaboration with employers and industry associations, each program is delivered with the internationally recognized academic excellence on which Dalhousie has built its reputation.
MBA FINANCIAL SERVICES
In the accredited MBA (FS) program, Financial Services professionals will develop practical and relevant skills and knowledge for the workplace. Financial Services professionals will develop advanced critical analysis and decision-making skills and deepen their understanding and ability to have positive impact in managerial and client service roles. The combination of our exceptional faculty and the real-life experience of our affiliates has created the best MBA program in the country to meet the needs of working financial services professionals seeking an advanced degree.
MBA LEADERSHIP
The MBA (L) program is designed to enable mid-career managers to enhance their Leadership management capabilities and to become exceptional leaders and managers in a broad range of organizations. Our faculty specializes in leadership theory and practice and will help you develop advanced competencies, skills and behaviours required to lead people and organizations through complex issues. This program will enable you to respond strategically to management challenges and work towards your career goals, without leaving the workforce.
MBA PROGRAM FLEXIBILITY
For dedicated professionals, conventional graduate programs can be difficult because they require regular on-site attendance. Our MBA (FS) and MBA (L) programs overcome this dilemma with blended-learning experiences, which are available through state-of-the-art online learning. You study when you want, where you want. This gives you the opportunity to continue to work full time, focusing on your career goals, while simultaneously achieving a graduate degree.
BLENDED/ONLINE LEARNING – THE DALHOUSIE EDGE
Online learning is enhanced by asynchronous educational resources including readings, videos, discussion posts, blogs, and audio files. The real time elements include Live Classroom, tutorials, Collaborate, Adobe Connect and Skype sessions ensuring rich personal connections with your professors and class participants. At the end of each term, course participants meet for a three-to-five-day F2F sessions in selected cities across Canada.
CONTACT US
We are here to assist you every step of the way.
Apply Now: dal.ca/blendedmba
EMAIL: cege@dal.ca I TEL: 902.494.6391
TOLL FREE: 800.205.7510
Centre for Executive and Graduate Education
Faculty of Management I Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4R2
Friday Reflection
“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”
Elie Wiesel
Wales Coastline
Morven Fitzgerald: Transitions & Transformations
“Over the years, technology and new ways of sharing and exchanging knowledge kept CEGE’s programs innovative and relevant. It has been exciting to look back at what we have accomplished, but it is even more rewarding to look forward to new on-line/blended learning possibilities that are waiting for us in the future.” Morven Fitzgerald, Integrated Learning Coordinator MPA (M) & MIM Programs
Morven Fitzgerald, Integrated Learning Coordinator MPA (M) & MIM Programs
Over the years, technology and new ways of sharing and exchanging knowledge kept CEGE’s programs innovative and relevant. It has been exciting to look back at what we have accomplished, but it is even more rewarding to look forward to new on-line/blended learning possibilities that are waiting for us in the future.” Morven Fitzgerald
Morven Fitzgerald, Integrated Learning Coordinator for the Masters of Information Management and Master of Public Administration Management programs, was there from (nearly) the beginning of the MBA(FS). From its genesis to present day, Morven has been a witness to the remarkable transformations that have occurred at the Centre for Executive and Graduate Education (CEGE) within the short time frame of 21 years.
I have been with CEGE since 1999,” Morven recalled in a recent FaceTime interview. “It seems so very long ago! But it all comes back with a fresh perspective, especially as we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the MBA(FS) program. I tended to work in the background to facilitate and coordinate student activities and requests. I did not travel as much as Michelle; instead, I was engaged in creating and shipping intensive materials, plus receiving assignments by fax and getting them returned to students and support for whomever needed whatever.
Looking back, what we accomplished was remarkable. Delivery was through a formal web board that today we would call a “blog” (long before blogging was a term). Lesson notes were created to fill the gap created by no formal lectures in a classroom. Any electronic documentation was attached to the blog and viewable by all within the course. Private communication necessitated the use of external email. Assignments were returned by fax. As outdated as this sounds, it was well ahead of its time all those years ago.
In 1999, while I was engaged with the MBA(FS) students, in another part of the building, the Master of Public Administration (Management) students attended school every other Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. There was a two-week hiatus between classes for assignments and hand-ins, readings and research. There was a 3-hour exam at the end of each course. Unlike the MBA(FS) program there were no formal “lesson notes.” The sole means of communication at that time was email; the only classroom equipment were whiteboards and projectors (when they worked, if they were there). The on-campus MPA moved under the CEGE umbrella. With the final cohort of students due to graduate in a couple of years, new means of delivering the program were being explored in order to reach a larger, more diverse, audience. WebCT, a learning management system (LMS) software application for the delivery of on-line/blended education, was the next iteration in technology.
I was selected to bring the Master of Public Administration(M) program online with WebCT. Shortly thereafter, I moved the MBA(FS) program onto the same system as it had tested so well with MPA(M). The Master of Information Management was a natural addition to CEGE’s program.
The Centre for Executive and Graduate Education is known to respond to the ever-changing business environment by offering degree programs specific to the sector and the audience it will serve. In addition to the MBA(FS), professionals have the choice of an MBA that specializes in Leadership, Master of Public Administration (Management) and Master of Information Management.
Over the years, technology and new ways of sharing and exchanging knowledge kept CEGE’s programs innovative and relevant. It has been exciting to look back at what we have accomplished, but it is even more rewarding to look forward to new on-line/blended learning possibilities that are waiting for us in the future.
Friday Reflection
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
Albert Einstein
Lisa Colangelo: Recognizing the Individual Journey
“One constant exists in today’s work environment – change. In the past three years, the typical organization has undertaken five enterprise changes: cultural change, restructuring, market expansion, leadership transition, or a merger or acquisition. Two-thirds of these changes fail to deliver against their stated goals, and they are also not happening quickly enough.”
Lisa Colangelo, Dalhousie MBA Leadership Candidate, 2022
Lisa Colangelo, Dalhousie MBA Leadership Candidate, 2022
Lisa Colangelo, SVP Retail Banking Coast Capital Savings Federal Credit Union, is currently in the MBA Leadership program. In a recent virtual interview with CEGE Connection, Lisa shared her thoughts on leading change within a complex business and social environment.
Lisa Colangelo
What does change look like for people in an organization? Think of a ‘curve’ as the process we go through as individuals, and the process in an organization that creates sustainable support for a new process over time. Individuals ascend this curve at different times; some, like sponsors, go through the process early; others commit to the process once they confirm that their leaders embrace change. The responsibility to set the pace rests with the leader. Supporting and believing in the change process will encourage your teams to actively participate and thrive during transitions.
How does this play out for individuals within an organization? Initially, we are simply aware of a change. As we gather more information, we start to understand that change; then if conditions are right, we may decide to accept the change. For change to be successful in the long run, that acceptance shifts even further, into feeling fully committed to or even taking ownership over the new way of being. Does this connect for anyone on a personal level?
The most valuable takeaway may simply be for leaders to be conscious that they are going through a process themselves personally, and that it is okay to struggle or need specific things to get to the next stage.
Moving up the curve can require various things: more information, more encouragement, connecting the dots on individual benefits, even having a chance to kick the tires. The watch out: just like walking uphill, it is easier for groups or people to slide back down a curve than to progress up it! Be sure that you get what YOU need to move up the curve if you feel yourself sliding back or feeling stuck.
Once a leader is up their own curve, then they can help move their teams from awareness to understanding, then from acceptance to ownership. So as leaders, we use this model to help ‘clue them in’ to warning signs that teams or individuals are sliding back down.
There are some clues to recognize where you and your team are located on the curve. As well, there are also reliable clues when people are ‘coming back down!’
When you become aware of an impending change, be curious and open to innovation. Of course, there is always uncertainty with transitions. There may even be cause for concern if people seem unaware that change taking place. But once individuals become aware, they generally move to understanding by asking questions and integrating fresh information. Training is essential to highlight how roles and workflow will change. Confusion is a natural part of the process as we sift out the right information from myths and assumptions. This is the time when you can bring clarity and purpose to the discussion, thereby positioning individuals and your team for success.
Once we understand a change, we have a choice: we can resist it, or we can accept it. Now, one of the watch outs here is our tendency to believe that no news is good news or worry if we hear a lot of questioning and feedback (i.e., “road noise.”) On the contrary, this questioning is a crucial part of what is needed for individuals to fully acknowledge and accept a change.
Once people accept that a change is really happening, there are two ways: actively oppose it or actively support it. Active support means that the change is the new normal, and we even see individuals show that they believe it is here for good, suggesting improvements and wanting performance measures to be based in the new way. That is when you know the change can be sustained over time.
Lisa Colangelo
Dalhousie MBA Leadership Candidate, 2022
Friday Reflection
“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.”
Vincent Van Gogh
“Fisherman’s Monument” by William Edward deGarthe Peggy’s Cove Nova Scotia
Happy Canada Day
The Landscape of Grand Pré
O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
Car ton bras sait porter l’épée,
Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee