Thinker Trainer Mentor Partner

The training industry in India has grown in the past couple of decades to a multi billion dollar industry today.

If there is one company that is responsible for creating structured skill based organised training industry in India, it has to be NIIT. The founders of NIIT had the foresight to understand that if they did not develop a well trained and knowledgeable bunch of people on the user side of their fledgling business, the business itself may not take off.

In their venture of IT training, NIIT struck a gold mine which also led to the growth of copy cat companies as is always the case. But that is how the pie size grows and product / service penetration happens.

The fact that India today is known for its IT capabilities is largely due to companies like NIIT, APTECH and a handful of others like them who have literally trained and inculcated IT skills among the young aspirants who later on either migrated to other countries or stayed here and built great careers or companies.

NIIT was also able to identify another skill gap area – selling skills. Thus they founded another training business under the banner of National Institute of Sales which taught selling skills in the class rooms as well as to corporate.

In the mid 90s, India was opening up and the need to actually sell was being felt. Unfortunately for the organisations, but fortunately for companies like NIIT, the so called sales force which were actually in the business of distribution and in many cases rationing their products, desperately needed to be re-skilled to be able to survive in the changing economic environment.

Companies like NIIT, NIS, APTECH and a host of others not only started the skill development movement in India, they also created a huge number of trainers who expanded the training business pie by venturing out and setting up their own training academy. In all probability, many of the senior trainers in India today may have had their initial breaks as trainers in these organisations.

Training today is becoming a key differentiator for companies who care to retain their competitive advantage. Most organisations are finally realizing the strategic advantage their workforce provides them and that their skills and knowledge need to be constantly sharpened so that they can see around the corners.

Having said that, I must also admit that not all organisations give training the importance it deserves. For some, it is a bucket list that needs to be ticked. Managers must realize that all behavioral training loose their impact within a few days of the training unless employees are helped and handheld to cross over the difficult path of forgetting the old and adapting the new. Few manages have the time and the resources or even the willingness to do this. It becomes convenient to shift the blame on to the trainer or the training organisation when no measurable change is observed in the learner’s behavior.

Trainers, L&D professionals, HR and the business manager in reality should work as a team. The actual implementation of the training starts after the trainer leaves. If the rest of the team members, supervisors and support departments don’t actively engage the employee in adopting new skills and new behaviors, the ROI of training would be dismal.

India, where there is a huge gap between skill requirements by the industry and those taught in the school and college classrooms, skill training has a crucial role to play. The need for acquiring new skills to tackle new jobs of the future is reason enough to treat training as a key function in all organisations. Many new age training & education companies are already in India, excited by the huge opportunity India provides. Agreed, the training pedagogy has gone through huge change and it will change even further and adapt itself to learning preferences of the individuals. That is the natural process of evolution.

In spite of the advent of technology based training, the trainer /mentor / facilitator still plays an important role that other members of the organisation can’t execute for various reasons. It is therefor important to choose your training partner carefully and engage him / her in the role of a mentor rather than an occasional visitor.

Life Lessons

There are more things in heaven and earth Horacio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy – Hamlet (1.5.167-8)

Life’s lessons are incomparable to anything you can find in books or what the algorithms can throw up. The earlier the situations are experienced, and lessons learned, the more equipped one is in handling the vagaries that life throws at us.

This is not a wish list. It doesn’t happen automatically. The more sheltered life one has, less are the chances of encountering the ‘aha!’ moment. So, go out and experience life as it is happening. Get to know people. Talk to them. Volunteer for tasks no one is willing to undertake. More difficult and complex the task, stronger is the learning experience. If you are still pursuing your academic career, volunteer for managing various student activities that happen in your institution. Join internship programs whenever & wherever possible.

Travel if you can. There is no activity that is more pleasurable to me than travel despite the unpleasantness that are sometimes inevitable. It is character building and at the same time gives an insight in people’s lives and thoughts. Different philosophies, varied perspectives and learning.

If we are open to such divergent views and do not reject them since they seem to contradict whatever we have been exposed to so far, it has the potential to make us much better human beings as well as a better adapted global manager.

Success at a young age without the benefits of life’s lessons can be very dangerous and at the same time detrimental for the individual.  

I remember, as a rookie manager heading one of the most profitable regions of the business, I mistook the relationships that I had with channel partners to be life long and true. Not realizing that the for many, their investment in the relationship was a convenient way of maximizing mileage only to relegate it to indifference moment the occupant of the ‘chair’ moved.

Before you make any hasty conclusion, let me assure you that in the course of business, I did form some very strong relationships that have lasted even today. They have moved from the business domain to that of personal. I am grateful to the various people and organizations that I keep coming across for helping me become a better human being; for being able to develop a better understanding of people and situations and for helping me become more empathetic.

I hope I was able to give as much I took from each of them.

Of Nationalism and being Nationalistic

The concept of nationalism is a haunting topic for both governments as well as citizens of every country on earth. For obvious reasons, the views are as diverse and extreme as they come – sometimes leading to xenophobia.  

Very often, nationalism is freely equated with the leading religion of the region or community involved. Many in power intentionally and surreptitiously encourage this merger for their group’s benefit. In the recent past we have witnessed political leaders across the world, either through commission or omission, indulge in such behavior that is leading to mass shootings, hate crimes and lynching mobs. Every accused group or instigator believes they are acting in the best interest of their community, society, religious belief and the country in general.  

The key word here is ‘belief’. Where does this belief come from. A cursory glance at history of anywhere indicates that such beliefs are a manifestation of an interested few who in order to preserve their power and position in the hierarchy of things, propagate their own narrative of how things should be. The masses of people who execute this version of nationalism is rarely well read, informed or with a higher perspective. They trust the powers to be and therefore believe every word said or unsaid. They are given to understand that their deliverance from all their problems in life lies in executing whatever has been said or unsaid by their leaders.  

The leadership amplify this as the ‘people’s will’ and continue their play with people’s mind.  

One example of achieving this mind bending exercise in the long term, is through the process of formal education. Successive governments of different political hues try to rewrite and insert their own version of history through NCERT. Life of most text books can now be measured by the tenure of the current government.  

I would like to believe that I am as nationalistic as they come. But I have a different opinion. Individuals can contribute by trying to be as law compliant as is possible - be it traffic rules or tax rules. I am not saying that I like all the rules, but as long as they are in place, I believe they need to be followed. I also believe that there are many facets of life for which there are no statues in existence but need to be practiced for the greater good of society. In my personal as well as professional life, I try to be as inclusive as possible and practice sustainability at every option. Be as much concerned about others’ needs as I am of my own needs.That, I believe, is one of the ways we build a strong country. 

Nationalism to me is not only about participating in protest marches and candle light vigils, though sometimes that is necessary. Thankfully such issues are few and far between. It is more about how we live our lives everyday. How we ‘behave’. How we act. What we do that should be done and don’t do what is not to be done. I believe every citizen can and should embrace the concept of nationalism. My only fear is that each one has their own view of what nationalism is. And that is where the danger lies. 

The Perfect Coffee Shop 

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

My love affair with coffee started in the ‘dosa’ joints of Calcutta during my college days. The hot sugary liquid, served in a steel cup placed in a matching steel tumbler, was the best coffee that a college allowance could buy. The ‘filter coffee’ that they served was way better than any instant coffee that was available then or even now.  

I had the real taste of coffee much later on my business trips to Europe and the US. The coffee shops attracted me more for their ambiance rather than the coffee. They were places where one could just sit and watch the world go by.  As the years passed, I realized that I savored the coffee aroma more that the coffee taste. The smell of freshly brewed coffee is stimulating as well as refreshing. I made it a point to visit a coffee shop at every opportunity. I would choose small family run coffee shops because I thought the coffee and the food was authentic and so was the conversation. 

Those were times when the electronic appendages that are a dominant part of our life today were still in their infancy. Coffee shops were a great place to catch up with my reading, a habit which I sorely miss today.  

The coffee chains like the CCD and Barista started proliferating the metros in India right about the time I decided to give up my full-time job and set up a consulting practice of my own. Coffee shops offered the anonymity to work uninterrupted as well as set up meetings with clients. The added bonus was the constant wafting coffee smell. 

The ambiance in the coffee shops in India ten years back were a lot different than today. There were distinct categories of people for each of these chains. Barista and Costa had a more Business clientele whereas CCD catered to a younger crowd.  

The coffee joints, at least in Delhi, have changed a lot in the past ten years. Highs real estate costs have forced many of them to shut shop. The clientele too has changed over the years. And the coffee has got more expensive. 

Unlike their European counterparts, the Indian coffee shops do not offer an opportunity to ‘observe’ life as you sip coffee and catch up with whatever it is that you want to do. Umair Haque in his article ‘The Bistro and the Promenade - What We Can Learn from the French Way of Life’, has some very interesting observations gleaned from his own life in Paris and Montreal. A point in case is his observations about the way the chairs in the bistros are usually placed not across each other but side by side allowing conversations, laughter even falling in love. People gossip, share grief or in silence watch the world go by.  

Watching the world go by is therapeutic! It is fascinating to observe people. With my keen interest in marketing and therefore consumer behavior, I game the process challenging myself to predict the next move of the young couple or the old matriarch, with equal fervor.  

For me the Perfect Coffee shop allows me to work on my device if I need to. Read. Plug in my device to recharge if I need to (yes, I have been refused at a few places in Delhi). Watch life go by when I want to.  

There were a few places that matched my expectations. But all of them are gone. Or their coffee has become too esoteric for my liking. My need to ‘smell the coffee’ urges me stay in the hunt for that elusive Perfect Coffee Shop. Every day I keep looking. 

Selling is not an end game:

Selling is not an end game:

The Indian consumer is witnessing a massive up gradation in her lifestyle courtesy the highly competitive marketplace and the seemingly unending access to cash that the e-commerce portals invest in the form of product discounts to buy a huge consumer community.

This augurs well for the consumer community since they are now able to lay their hands on a whole range of consumer goodies including white & brown goods. Their new acquisitions drive them up the socio-economic ladder and gives them bragging rights over their newfound status. The frenzy around flash sales is a point to ponder over. Behavioral scientists are having a field day studying the new Indian consumer and her buying journey. Marketers are scrambling to up their game to be a few yards ahead of their competitors and grab market shares.

The problem lies in the next level of the value chain – service delivery. To keep costs low, firms are outsourcing a large component of the value chain. This is a segment where there is a huge opportunity to create brand experience and therefor brand loyalty. However, this opportunity is often missed out The outsourced workforce works on a cost-based model. Typically hires in this segment are not from the rururban SEC. Their concepts of the softer skills required to build brand image (time schedules, communication, presentation) are often not at par. Their environment many a time prevents them from comprehending these issues and why they are big for the customer and therefor the brand. 

The yellow boxes represent missed opportunities for the brand to create a superior brand experience and organizations need to closely monitor service delivery parameters.

I have myself had some recent experiences with a well-known electronic retailer. I have connected with the store, the customer support, sent them a detailed and long email. I even connected with them on twitter. All I got was another bored call-center voice asking me how I would rate their service on a scale of 1 to 10!

Outsourcing non-core and sometimes even core components of the value delivery process for a brand is a reality and is not going anywhere. It is at once an opportunity as well as a threat. An opportunity for entrepreneurs to offer creative and high-quality options at low cost. And this opportunity will continue to grow. The biggest threat for the brand is its inability to live up to customer expectations or competitive benchmarks.