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.
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