Kroes and Lee drive hands on learning for local executives

When the College of Business and Economics was approached about leading a process improvement workshop for a regional agribusiness, Rocky Mountain Agriculture, the request was clear: deliver something practical in a short period of time. For Jim Kroes, professor of supply chain management, and Tracie Lee, lecturer in supply chain management, that meant rethinking their traditional classroom approach and compressing meaningful learning into just a few hours.

"We asked ourselves, how do we give them value in just half a day?" Lee said. "What's a tool they can take back and immediately apply?"

Rather than starting from scratch, Kroes and Lee designed a multi-week lead-up to the workshop. They assigned attending executives "homework": selecting a real process from their organization, mapping it, identifying pain points and analyzing bottlenecks.

"Add to it, add to it, add to it," Lee said. "By the time they walked in, they were already getting value from the tools."

The result was immediate engagement. With representation from across the organization, participants arrived prepared and invested.

"It was super positive," Kroes said. "They were a really motivated group… open to trying new things and learning, and wanted to immediately benefit from what we were doing."

From theory to application

"Jim and I don't know their business," Lee said. "But we could facilitate the conversation. That's where collaboration with academia brings value."

The workshop culminated in a collaborative exercise built around a real operational process.

"What was powerful was watching them question their own system," Lee said. "They'd ask, 'Why do we do this?' or 'Is there a better way?'"

Despite their deep expertise, many participants had never stepped back to examine the full process from demand to delivery. The exercise revealed opportunities for improvement that had previously gone unnoticed.

Devin Peterson, Chief Financial Officer at Rocky Mountain Agronomics, felt collaborating with Boise State staff provided a fresh approach. "Having knowledgeable instructors like Tracie and Jim walk us through real-time challenges allowed us to implement practical tools that have already improved our operational efficiency," he said.

The experience also highlighted a key distinction in teaching across audiences. Students often need to be convinced of the value of what they're learning. Executive learners, on the other hand, already understand the importance since they're investing time away from their businesses to be there.

"With executives, it's not about convincing them the topic matters," Lee said. "It's about proving that you have something valuable to offer."

That shift requires preparation, context and relevance - tailoring content to real-world use cases.

"It's like a comedian learning about a city before going on stage," Lee added. "You need to understand their world."

Kroes, who brings years of consulting experience to his academic role, noted that this outside perspective is often where the greatest value lies.

"It's great to see companies that want to work with academia," he said. "We have ideas they maybe haven't thought about - a different perspective to people who are in it every day."

Expanding the College of Business and Economics' community impact

The workshop also reflects a broader connection: strengthening ties between academia and the business community.

"The process improvement workshop was an invaluable bridge between academic expertise and local business needs," Peterson said. "It was incredibly valuable to have instructors who understand the realities of today's business environment. They didn't just teach theory; they gave us a toolkit of resources to succeed."

By offering targeted training, colleges can create opportunities for organizations and faculty to engage and deliver meaningful value to both parties.

Kroes noted that the College of Business and Economics already has deep expertise in areas like supply chain and process improvement, resources that many organizations are eager to tap into.

"Between our faculty, we've got expertise that people want," he said. "It's just about finding the right opportunities to connect."

By Morgan Reah

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