How can businesses and business schools work better together?

Should business leaders spend more time walking?

Anthony Sturgess, professor of leadership and business engagement at Liverpool Business School, is embracing the concept of the flâneur. Chiefly associated with 19th-century Paris, the flâneur wanders with no destination in mind, but observes the streets and buildings they pass with a relaxed and philosophical outlook.

“We encourage business leaders to go for a walk,” Anthony explains. “We ask them to observe their surroundings and, when they come back, to think about what they have seen and what it might mean for their development. Maybe a thought has been sparked about how their progress has stalled or how to shift their company’s strategy.”

The intervention is part of a wider approach which Anthony describes in his book.

“The more learning is considered part of the workplace, then the less learning transfer is thought of as a separate activity. Transfer in effect becomes embedded as the interventions create space for new theories and ideas to be thought through, conversations to gain shared understanding, sharing of expertise and good practice, problem solving, idea generating and questioning of different possibilities and current practice takes place”, he continues.

It’s a strong example of how business schools and businesses can become more engaged.

How to address a sense of ‘disconnect’

“There is so much good being done between businesses and business schools, such as knowledge transfer partnerships and bespoke business programmes,” Anthony says. “But there is also a frustration, as there is so much more that could be done. How can we work better together and release this potential?”

This question underpins Anthony’s book The Engaged Business School, which was shortlisted for Management Publication of the Year 2024. 

“Two conversations were a wake-up call,” Anthony explains. “A business director told me that business schools don’t do enough ‘latest thinking’, even though it is our greatest strength. And after I did a business presentation, a non-executive director told me we were a well-kept secret. It was meant as a compliment, but it was also a concern!”

To address this disconnect, Anthony spoke to a range of businesses.

“They asked me, ‘Why should we work with you?’ I talked about the schemes we have at Liverpool, such as undergraduates working on projects with small businesses. I talked about how business schools can listen to their needs and introduce concepts they haven’t thought about yet. However, we aren’t doing enough of it and businesses are not realising the growth, productivity and competitive benefits.

“We found that businesses want relational engagement, not transactional. I was surprised by how much that mattered. They want to be understood.”

Relationship building is too often ‘organic’

The Engaged Business School includes a framework, which provides building blocks for effective engagement between businesses and business schools.

A non-executive director said we were a well-kept secret. It was meant as a compliment, but it was also a concern!

“With engagement, we too often only think of activities. What are we going to do with a business?” Anthony says. “But engagement needs to be more holistic. You need to start with a purpose – why are we engaging with a business? You also need to have people within your business school who see working with businesses as a vocation, helping to serve the community.”

Anthony argues that for engagement to be done well then “purpose/mission provides the direction to the energy and motivation of vocation, it provides the intention to the relationships which in turn bring to life, connect and shape activities.”

However, relationships between business schools and businesses often exist only at an individual level.