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HUMAN CAPITAL
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realising business strategy through people
Best practices in learning

Learning with
business impact
Innovative models
in training delivery
Quick fix take-aways for

learning organizations
The concept of
Vol.15 No. 1 June 2011
June 2011
June 2011
14th Anniversary issue
Contents
June 2011
Volume 15 Issue 1
16
FEATURES
SECTION I
The concept catches on
10
14
16
22
26
32
The changing face of learning

The litmus test
What the future holds
Demystifying learning organizations
A partly realized ideal
Vision for 2020
22
SECTION II
Learning with business impact
38
42
46
50
54
58
62
66
Diversity training on the agenda

The question of pay offs
Make the right moves
Training to support market leadership
Training for profits
Enabling business through learning
For learning, culture is key
Poised for the future
SECTION III
Innovation in training delivery
70
74
80
Blended learning beckons

Me towe in 100 days
Learning needs of Gen Y
62
4
June 2011
June 2011
FEATURES
70
SECTION IV
Best practices in learning
86
88
90
92
94
Google
Dr. Reddy's laboratories
Bharti airtel
Paypal
Fedex
SECTION V
Quick fix take-aways
100 E-learning pitfalls & how you can avoid them
102 Training trends that are here to stay!
104 Classic training trends to hold on to...
REGULARS
8
80
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June 2011
June 2011 Volume 15 Issue 1

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To our readers
This June, as Human Capital completes yet another year, and we step into
our 15th successful year of publication, it is time for new beginnings and
new awakenings. A time to count our accomplishments and a time to
make new promises. A time to bask in past glory and a time to welcome
future challenges. A time to consolidate and a time to evolve.
This year, on the ocassion of our 14th Anniversary Issue, we bring you an
exclusive collectors edition on Learning Organizations. The issue
progresses section by section, starting with
uncovering the concept of the learning
Journey of joy
organization, going on to the inevitable connect
A dedication by Arva Shikari
between organizational learning and business
impact, moving on to innovations in training
Year by year
It's been developing...
delivery, best practices in learning and finally,
And now Human Capital enters
some very useful quick-fix takeaways for learning
Its 15th year of publication!
professionals to implement in the workplace.
Year by year It's been growing....
Experts have predicted that 2020 will be the
learning decade... and only those organizations
who have the foresight to invest in learning will
lead! We hope that, in its own way, this issue of
Human Capital, will help create a buzz in this
direction...
Surprisingly, all the articles, each painstakingly
conceptualized and written independently by
various HR leaders from a cross-section of
industry, reflect a myriad of insights and
perspectives, which, somehow seem to be
converging harmoniously as part of the overall
integrated theme.
A deep, hearftelt thank you, to all
contributors, for playing such an invaluable
role in the success of this 14th Anniversary
issue!
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June 2011
With HR pros sharing practices

Columnists supporting
Advertisers backing and
Readers appreciating
As Human Capital steps in
Year by year It's been nurtured....
By its talented team
Marketing increasing brand value
Advertising involving advertisers
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Editorial keeping readers' interested
And assisting all is Customer Service
As Human Capital goes into
Year by year It's making history
With new concepts & stories
quenching thirst of its readers
Appealing to advertisers & industry experts
As Human Capital comes into
Year by year It's aspiring...
To bring insightful coverage on vital topics
To maintain reports on real life HR
And refusing to compromise on core values
As Human Capital makes a grand opening in
Year by year the HC team thanks all...
Readers, HR pros, columnists & advertisers,
As Human Capital jumps to
Its next year of publication!
PUNITA MALHOTRA
P.S. Look out for Human Capital e-magazine,
now available on I-Pad and I-phone too!
Year by year everybody shall witness...

As Human Capital achieves
Many more milestones!
June 2011
SECTION I The concept catches on
the changing
face of learning
..........................................................................................................................................................................
The next 20 years will pose serious

challenges to the very relevance of building
learning organizations.
..........................................................................................................................................................................
BY DR. SRIPADA CHANDRASEKHAR
eter Senge and his seminal work

"The Fifth Discipline. The art and
practice of the learning
organization" made the whole
topic of 'learning organization'
very popular. Today, 21 years after this great
work was published, we are still learning
about how organizations learn. At times, as
we see Lehman type failures, we wonder if
organizations learn at all. Organizations that
demonstrate equal competence in all Senges
five disciplines of learning, viz: systems
thinking, personal mastery, mental models,
shared vision and team learning are rare.
Much is changing in the world of work
and organizations. The next 20 years will
pose serious challenges to the very relevance
of building learning organizations.
For most people, learning is all about
knowing and not about doing. We believe
10
June 2011
students are learning and professionals are

doing. By the same token, colleges are for
learning and companies are for doing. Most
learning programs are about acquiring new
knowledge. What is more, in the action world
of quarterly corporate pursuits - learning is
actually considered a big distraction. I hear
many top leaders and CEOs say in private:
'we don't have time for these learning and
reflection programs, let's move on, let's do
some thing on the ground, execution is
what matters.' I hide my Ph.D lest my
corporate colleagues think I am theoretical
and incapable of action because I am
'learned'! In our daily work world action is
macho and learning a useful distraction.
This misconception is popular because
of our faulty understanding of what is
learning. Learning is not complete without
action. If you have learnt about the value
of walking and do not take a regular

walk - your learning is incomplete. A
corporate example: If you have learnt
about 'risk assessment' and do not
use that learning in avoiding risks,
then your learning is incomplete. This
is what all those bright MBAs did in
some famous financial Services
companies and many collapsed. If
you attended a Harvard program on
leadership, learnt how important is
'listening and dialogue' and in your
day to day life you can not listen,
your learning is incomplete. That is
why, in best of companies learning
programs are measured by the
results they produce and the changes
they engender (over a a period of
time) and not by the end-of the class
euphoria over how nice the program
was or worse still the lunch was. So
if we understand learning it as a
'knowing-doing continuum, we will
have the mental capacity to

understand grander concepts such
as 'learning organizations'.
Building learning organizations

Incidentally, Peter Senge provides us
with a useful framework to do this.
First he says, organizations must
have 'systems thinking'. This means
they should have the ability to
understand the connections and
interdependencies of all their actions
on the larger organization system.
In practical terms, this means you
should know what impact your
decisions have on all other aspects.
So if you reduce price, your sales
will increase but your brand may be
compromised. If you pay some
people extra because they are
threatening to leave -you risk many
other groups black mailing you soon.
If you do not spend on training for
future skills you may have to pay a

lot more to hire from a market of
'shortages'. Every decision we take
has a spiraling impact on many other
connected parts of the company.
Some of these are apparent and some
are not. Learning organizations are
those that understand these connects
almost intuitively and take wellconsidered decisions. Now go and
check in your companies how this is
working. Do your leaders know what
impact their decisions have on other
parts of the organization?
Second, Senge asks for 'personal
mastery'. This means people of the
company are deeply committed to
learning and take responsibility for
learning. And this is a continuous
act - not flashes in the pan. We all
know successful people have mastery
over themselves and continuously
learn. We actually use master as a
word to describe an expert - an
accomplished musician or a great
sportsman (Sachin our little master).
Imagine companies full of masters
in their respective fields - people
continuously engaged in learning and
using their skills to render virtuoso
performance. Ideal, isn't it? However,
we know that most people work in
companies to earn and not to learn.
We have not managed to link
earnings to life-long learning. Most
societies work on a model where
people learn for the first 20-25 years
and secure their right to earn forever.
Few professions demand mid-course
certification and renewal. You do an
MBA at 22 and now you are ready to
be a manager for ever - without ever
having to prove again that you
remain capable of managing. Those
who learn obviously do better but
many who do not too do well. Now
go and find in your companies how
many people have personal mastery
including you.
The third discipline Senge talks
about is about mental models. This
refers to the 'assumptions' from
which we operate. All of us make
assumptions and worse still, we stay
stuck to them. Some salesmen
assume that their big accounts should
always be retained - till someone tells
them that their small accounts are
more profitable than the big ones.
June 2011
11
DR. SRIPADA
CHANDRASEKHAR (CHANDRA)
Vice President & Head - HR
IBM (India & South Asia)
Chandra is presently the head of the
human resources organization at IBM for
the India/South Asia region. An industry
veteran with over three decades of work
history, Dr Chandrasekhar brings a rare
blend of experience across India's leading
firms in public, private and multi-national
sectors - both in the early economy areas
of steel and manufacturing as well as in
the more recent domains of Telecom, IT
Services and Consulting. Chandra has
done his MBA at the Leeds Business
School, United Kingdom and has a Ph.D
in Organizational Behavior. He is among
the first few Indians who have been
accredited by the International Coach
Federation - world's leading Coach
Certification body - in the professional
practice of Corporate Coaching. Chandra
has abiding interest in poetry, philosophy,
civilization and culture.
12
June 2011
Some CEOs think that if an IIT/IIM

or equally pedigreed young leader is
hired their revenues will improve till they find that inspite of the
credentials this man was a poor
people leader and caused more
problems than results. Our mental
models around market and business
trends are even more dangerous.
Some companies think that the next
new gadget is a big technology break
through. Some think operating in
certain countries is just not done.
Some can't get out of past businesses
even as they are making losses. This
is the tough choice that IBM had to
make when it decided to sell its PC
business and bet on software
services. Go check what the mental
models of your leaders are? Are they
hurting or helping? Can they change?
Fourth is about shared vision.
Shared vision is different from
sharing your vision with others. Only
when the vision is evolved, through
deep and wide consultation and
dialogue involving cross-sections of
employees, can you arrive at a shared
vision. Companies that enlist their
employees in building a shared vision
create a climate of learning. People
understand the value and rationale
of learning collectively when they
have a shared vision of their future.
Many companies do not have a vision
to start with. Those who have a vision
may not have evolved them through
genuine dialogue. If yours is a
situation like this, chances of learning
in your organization are dim.
Fifth and final discipline that
Peter Senge talked about is team
learning. Personal mastery may not
guarantee team learning. Teaming for
anything is hard. Teaming for
learning is harder. We all assume that
we can't learn anything from people
like us. We need gurus and pundits
to learn from. Bosses have taken over
those roles. Since we respect
hierarchy and are willing to assume
that if some one is a big boss - he
must know, we do learn form bosses,
trainers and gurus but not from
peers and other teams. This is
changing with Facebook and other
on-line media. Today Software
programmers ask coding advice
form peers. If we want to go on a
holiday we don't go to a specialist

but we check out what did friends
do. Team learning is enabled by social
media. So we need to go and revisit
the learning deployment strategies
in our respective companies and see
if they are promoting team learning.
Using wide spread dialogue and
discussion is surely a powerful of
generating team learning.
This is how, simply put, we can
use Peter Senge's five principles to
build and sustain a learning
organization. There is of course
much more to do. I have deliberately
simplified this at the cost of being
accused as a dilettante in the art of
Will 'learning organizations'

last into future?
As most organizations are struggling
to get these five principles right, the
world is changing - throwing up new
trends, challenges and issues.
Build to sell: The intention behind
building learning organizations is the
same as building companies to last.
For a while now, corporate longevity
and if possible immortality, have
been popularized as desirable. Many
management thinkers have put forth
a lot of their advice assuming
shareholders, founders, and
investors are fundamentally
interested in perpetuating the
company and make it weather proof.
But we must look deeply at another
emerging mental model which is
paradigmatically different. There are
many now who build a company only
to get a target valuation and then
sell. The whole organization building
effort is focused merely on readying
the company to be sold at a lucrative
price. We saw this a while ago among
many Silicon Valley start-ups. I believe
this is a fundamental view which will
be pursued strongly by a new
generation of investment and private
equity ventures. In all such
organizations whose sole aim is to
get ready to be sold - the mental
model required to build a lasting
learning organization can not exist.
Hence we must question if all of us
really want learning organizations. Or
we merely want fleeting companies
that learn only to deliver an expected

value and disappear happily.
Speed is a major organizational
asset. We all want organizations to
respond with speed. In fact one of
the triggers to build learning
organizations is to make companies
ready to respond with speed. But
the speed we knew and continue to
deal with is still very synchronous it exists in a time sequence that we
can grasp. But as I see it, this very
linear understanding of speed is
giving way to a new type of speed.
This is a new kind of disruptive speed.
Here changes happen at different
unpredictable times in different time
and geographic zones, all of them
having unmanageable impact on the
learning
processes
of
an
organization. Walk man could have
perhaps learnt to fight Ipod - for we
are still talking about music on the
move. But a whole new possibility to
download, store and retrieve music
through a private cloud can be so
disruptive in time that no normal
learning organization can cope with.
In future organizations may not have
to the time to learn, change and

cope. They may have to simply die
and resurrect as new avatars without
memories.
Learning organizations can move
from being good to being great. That
in fact is one of the aims of a learning
organization. But who wants to be
great? If the sole purpose of a
company is to create a huge
shareholder value by en cashing a
'window of opportunity' in time -why
should
they
be
learning
organizations? What do they have to
learn? Instead once they have learnt
to be in a niche -where competition
is less - they simply continue as long
their niche position continues and
then cease. This is another model where the desirability of being great
is questionable. In this case, the urge
for being a learning organization does
not arise. A lot of undiscovered niches
still await the sharp entrepreneur to
exploit and move on. All such
enterprises will not be learning
organizations.
Finally, many of the tools and
methodologies of building learning
organizations assume employees and

employment as we understand nowtime bound (9 to 5), career oriented,
benefits dependent, provider of social
esteem - paid for by chunks of time
- week, month, year etc. All this is
going to change. We are going to see
many more freelancers who do not
want to be organizational. They are
not interested in employment. They
are interested only in a piece of work
at their convenience and on their
terms. These new age super
specialists, for whom work for earning
is a small part of life, will question the
very notion of an employment based
organization. They will negate learning
organizations, as we understand them,
in a fundamental sense by moving
the onus of learning from the
collective and community to the
personal and the individual.
Learning may continue to be a
human need. But 'learning
organizations' as we envisaged and
idealized them may not be things of
future. As learning moves outside,
learning organizations may be
HC
dinosaurs of future.
June 2011
13
the
litmus test
BY ADIL MALIA
he human capital markets

are perennially understocked on 'talent', even in
populous India. Every
employer
brand
is
surrounded by alternatives fiercely
competing for the mindshare of
prospective talent. Competing
employer brands need to be clearly
focused in their positioning to win
this war of talent seduction.
Employer brand positioning, in this
context, represents the art and
science of targeting the right talent
segments with the most compelling
benefits and brand messages and
gaining buy-in.
To be compelling, most employer
brands need to emphasize what
makes them different and better at
fulfilling these value propositions
compared to others in the same
space. And this is where the tricky
part comes in. Value propositions of
most employer brands are imitable
at least for marcom and
broadcasting purposes... 'being an
equal opportunity employer', being
'performance centric - highly
incentivized',
having
an
'entrepreneurial family culture', et al,
to name a few brand positioning
statements that have become so
bland as to be banal.
14
June 2011
............................................................
Scanning for certain

symptoms and traits
can help assess
whether your
organization is truly
an authentic learning
organization.
............................................................
Most employer brand gurus

without flinching advise their eager
clients to position themselves as being
a 'learning organization', whether by
nature they are authentically a
learning organization or otherwise.
And that is perceived as being a very
powerful and attractive brand
statement in the human capital
market...it has an easy cut through,
has a strong emotional connect, and
signals a few values that appeal to
the target audience. It also sounds
professional and the Investment
Bankers and PE funds just love it!
Being a learning organization
signals a belief in a value creating
business model that is based on

knowledge and unique capabilities of
that organization. It subtly signals an
open organization which has built a
bank of unique contextual knowledge
and values processes based on adult
psychology to transmit knowledge
and develop competencies of the
new managers. It tacitly signals
'objectivity' in the culture and an
opportunity to fast track careers of
young professionals who are on the
look-out for fast paced growth
(rightly or wrongly). For all these
reasons, talent stakeholders love the
"Learning Organization" label and
easily bite the bullet of choice.
Sometimes, over a sustained
period of fake brand broadcasts,
imitation learning organizations tend
to deceive themselves and start
believing that they truly are above a
learning organization. Narcissus-like,
they may start investing inordinate
amounts of organizational efforts,
time and scarce resources in
Learning like activities laboring under
an infatuation that is not based on
facts. But they certainly do not end
up reaping benefits commensurate
with
their
efforts
and
resources...kabhie khusboo aa nahee
saktee kagaz ke phoolon se!!!
This is when the million dollar
question needs to be posed - is your
organization truly an authentic
learning organization? Garvin
suggests litmus tests. If you are an
ardent observer, you will notice
organizational symptoms and traits
that a wise leadership will watch out
for. This will enable them to draw
their own conclusions (or
reassurance) particularly when costly
funds and critical time and efforts
are involved. A leader will have to be
on the watch out for this.
WATCH 1: An authentic learning
organization ideally has a unique
body of distinct knowledge, based
on its past experiences and
successes. Such an organization
builds energy around transmitting
this unique body of knowledge to its
new lot of managers. The presence
of such a distinct body of knowledge
(e.g. capability frameworks, core
values, etc.) and systematic programs
to transact the same is a key sign to
look out for.

WATCH 2: Authentic learning entities
have clarity built around the body of
knowledge that it needs to acquire
for future success of the business
and the plans they have in the
organization in active pursuit of its
acquisition. Such knowledge could
be in the domain of markets,
customers, new technology, new
relationships, research, etc. Elearning comes in handy to this end.
Activities indicating focused research
in these areas, is something that the
leader should be looking out for.
WATCH 3: Learning organizations
are open systems. They have
successful operating business
models. However, they are not
arrogant or closed nor insulated
from discordant information which
is not in line with their past
experiences. Imitational learning
systems are pretentious and
therefore hostile to learning. They
do not take discordant information
positively. To that extent, Learning
organizations align and harmonize
their corporate culture with
employee learning. A leader's keen
observation on how his/her senior
leadership team treats discordant
behavior and information will aid
him in his diagnosis.
WATCH 4: Unauthentic learning
organizations never learn and
therefore keep repeating their
mistakes. By contrast, authentic
learning organizations learn all the
time....they know the cost of failure
and therefore distill all experiences
whether they are positive based on
successes or negative based on their
failures, into all season 'lessons
learnt'. The type and repetitive nature
of mistakes is what the leader should
be mindful of.
build knowledge banks around their
critical knowledge. Such knowledge
is institutionalized. Naturally, the
business does not lose out on its'
intellectual properties or its critical
knowledge when employees working
on its' key processes leave the
organization.
are action oriented and do not end
up becoming only repositories of
knowledge and information. Their

coaching programs to convert their
knowledge into actions at the grass
root level, makes them succeed all
the way. The level of energy and
presence of measurements in KRAs
of senior leaders reflects actions and
result orientation. This could be the
observation field for the leader.
WATCH 7: Learning in organizations
is built into the working rhythm of
the business. It is deep-seated in the
business percepts. It is not a specific
event or a seasonal activity distinct
from its business. Their imitating
country cousins see learning as a
scheduled event and generally tend
to become focused on a syllabus or
a rigid content. A training calendar
where programs are merrily
conducted without linkage to the
business goals and plans speaks
volumes - to the discerning leader about return on investments.
Lo and behold, if your leadership
conclusion is that your organization
is not an authentic learning
organization, please don't over-react
and place an immediate embargo on
all activities by your learning team.
I'd suggest an alternate route for
you: start to identify your unique
organizational strengths and
capabilities...build
your
organization's distinct knowledge
bank based on stories and
experiences of people in the system
around these capabilities...design
operating strategy for your 'go to
people' strategy and knowledge
delivery system...work on andragogy
(learning strategies focused on
adults) and systems for knowledge
mining and logistics...and work
towards measurement of knowledge
anchored actionable performance in
your organization.
Do this and hey presto...you will
be on the journey to building a
Learning organization. The ensuing
enhancement in your employer brand
(from authentic Learning) is as certain
as is your commitment to building a
learning organization. Not only will
authentic learning organizations be
able to bank roll their brand value,
they are the only organizations which
will be able to survive and thrive the
HC
challenges in 2020.
ADIL MALIA
Group President (HR) Essar Group
Adil is Group President-HR, Essar Group,
is a multinational conglomerate and
leading player in the sectors of Steel,
Energy, Power, Communication,
Shipping, Ports and Logistics,
Constructions, Mines & Minerals. Present
in 20 countries across five continents, the
Group employs 70,000 people, with
revenues of USD 20 billion. Prior to Essar,
Adil was Sr. VP - HR (South - West Asia)
with Coca-Cola for 11 yrs. Adil has also
been associated with Al Futtiam Sons
,Marks and Spencer's, GE Appliances and
the Godrej group Adil is a trained facilitator
and a certified trainer having done
extensive work in areas of HR, Strategic
leadership and Organizational
Development in multi cultural business
environments with large MNC's and
Indian organizations. Adil is an avid reader
of management literature and writes for
several business magazines. He is a key
note speaker at several business and
leadership forums.
June 2011
15
what the
future holds
BY MOHINISH SINHA
n IT organization that I consulted for recently was

surprised by the sudden rise in employee attrition
rates. When they examined the reasons, they came up
with the usual "suspects" e.g. better salary, poor levels
of engagement with work, going for higher education
etc. But then they also came across instances, mind you, very
few instances, of some of the employees leaving to change
tracks in career for e.g. one programmer who was tired of the
routine programming work, now wanted to chase his dreams of
becoming an entrepreneur; another employee was leaving to
take a break and travel the world.
It is easy to ignore these cases and treat them as isolated.
The HR team in this company, however, refused to treat these
outlier examples as minor ones, and took it upon themselves to
investigate this "desire to do something different" in the existing
employees. They were rather surprised by the high prevalence
of this desire in the current workforce. Fast forwarding to the
end of this story, the company came up with an innovative
career rotation policy that saw many takers. This went on to
become one of the most highly valued policies by the workforce.
What's the point of this story? Two points, really. One, that
the clue to the future is hidden possibly in the outlier of the
present, and one has to be patient enough to look for it and,
two, have the orientation to examine it and courage enough to
act on it. These two points together form the elements of
learning orientation - though this may not be the most complete
definition of it. The HR function in this example demonstrated
a learning orientation.
.....................................................................................
Is your organization geared

to evolve as year 2020's
quintessential organization?
.....................................................................................
16
June 2011
The learning organization

Now picture this: What if everyone
in your organization acted this way?
How would you react? Would you
feel: excited, cynical, afraid?
Theorists and practitioners argue
that whether you like it or not, if the
rate of learning of your organization
and its members is faster than its
competitors or (more importantly)
than the rate of change in its
environment, your organization is
more likely to be consistently
successful and hence sustainable. An
organization that operates like this is
referred to as the learning
organization.
Let us go back to the story above.
What if the career rotation policy
mooted by HR did not work and
had no takers? It would be an utter
failure, creating the perfect setting
for the blame game, much finger
pointing and cynicism in some
organizations, resulting in people
with closed minds unwilling to try
out new things.
Learning organizations, on the
other hand, are never disheartened
by the failures. In fact they anticipate
them and prepare and
plan accordingly. World
class companies, for
example, actually look for
high failure rates in new
product development as
a sign so that the
optimum effort goes into
creating the most future
ready products. In fact
companies thrive on this
opportunity to improve
their product, testing its
failure earlier rather than
later.
World
class
companies demonstrate
innovation by minimizing
the time from concept, to
prototyping to market.
bicycle or project management or

the best way to retain employees.
The process is cyclical. It moves from
observation, to building a concept,
to initiating an action, followed by
experiencing the act by way of
feelings, leading back to observation,
and so on. The learner goes through
the learning process as long as he
wants, improving his capabilities
each time he completes the loop.
The learning process varies from
individual to individual. Some
learners stop going through the
learning process earlier, some later
and some, almost never. The
learners' decision to stop is critical
from the organization's point of view.
In mediocre organizations, learners
tend to stop when they feel that the
skills they have acquired are "good
enough" or worse, enough to get
through the current problem
situation. Some quit when they
perceive the process of gaining
expertise as tough.
Now, imagine what the
organization can gain if every learner
stuck through the entire learning
process to deliver world class
standards. Learners tend to mimic

prevalent ways of the organization
when they make such choices.
Today's managers, business heads,
OD/learning heads and CXOs are
sometimes unaware of this practice
in the workforce. What about
tomorrow? Learners dropping off
early in the learning journey and not
sticking through is the equivalent of
leaving "money on the table". What
can managers / business heads and
HR do? Essentially, two things:
1. One, become a role model.
Demonstrate their own learning
orientation of being lifelong learners,
of willing to make mistakes or fail in
order to succeed later.
2. Two, demand world class quality
of work (mind you, different from
just delivering organization's goals
and results) from everyone all
around. No issue is small enough to
demonstrate this world class
orientation.
The learning ecosystem

Just tinkering with the learning
process to help everyone practice is
not enough. Organizations need to
The learning process

When a learner engages
in the process of learning,
he demonstrates a
learning orientation. The
learning process typically
proceeds in a similar way
regardless of what you are
trying to learn - riding a
June 2011
17
MOHINISH SINHA
Director
Hay Group
Mohinish's core expertise is in

organization transformation, leadership
development and coaching & setting up
and assessing learning functions. He
works with clients to identify and address
their needs for organizational
transformations, change, learning by
helping turn their business strategies into
the results they desire. He is also a
leadership coach and has coached and
facilitated hundreds of senior and top
management executives within India and
outside. Mohinish works with a variety of
clients in sectors of Education, Oil & Gas,
Banking and Financial Services and IT. He
has also worked extensively with the
government, public sector and UN
organizations, multinationals, Indian
family owned businesses and start ups.
Mohinish holds an MBA from XLRI
Jamshedpur and a graduate degree in
Physics from Delhi University.
18
June 2011
create an enabling ecosystem to

sustain the learning orientation in
every
member
within
the
organization. Here is an ecosystem
that, in my experience, has resulted
in high impact learning. While I see
most of the elements of this
ecosystem consistently in place in
many organizations today, I believe
that all of these will become essential
for the learning organizations of
tomorrow.
a) The power of purpose and
intent. This tells the learner why he
is engaging in the learning process.
When the learner takes ownership
of this intent, he makes the extra
effort to continue with the learning
process no matter what. If there is
no ownership, he might quit when
he is bored or feels afraid of the
learning process. To illustrate: One
organization focused on making sure
that everyone was well versed with
the organization's tenets of quality.
One particular production manager
felt that it was "unnecessary" for him
to go for this program as there were
very few quality issues related to his
quota of production deliveries. To
convert him, the "trick" that helped
was demonstrating that the "very few
quality issues" was not acceptable
and that a production manager has
to completely eliminate all quality
issues.
I have observed that when a
learner does take ownership of the
right intent, he will not engage in the
learning process passionately.
Unfortunately, I have also seen that
organizations tend to pay very little
attention to the intent behind the
learning by way of setting
expectations with the learner.
Organizations of tomorrow will raise
this intent to go far beyond just
improvement, to a fundamental
personal and organization purpose
level. Mutually exploring the long
term purpose of the learner and then
aligning the learning opportunities to
it is the way the future will roll out.
The good news is that it is already
happening in pockets.
b) The power of reflection.
Teaching learners to ask reflective
questions is a critical skill. It provokes
fresh and original thinking, opening
up the opportunity for newer

perspectives. For example, in one
organization I noticed that the
quarterly MIS report does not
comprise of performance reports
alone; it also contains a collection of
reflective questions polled together
by some of the colleagues ("What is
the sales report not telling us for
sure?", "what should we be really
unhappy about in this result?")
c) The power of repetition. The
opportunity to practice of a skill
repeatedly (technical, functional or
behavioural) helps make the skill
natural to the learner. This is similar
to the way one learns to drive a car
through practicing the movements
of the accelerator, brake and clutch,
until these actions become intuitive.
For example, one organization built
a certification process to build
expertise in any function that
institutionalized practice. Here, when
the learners practiced the skill for a
specified number of hours, they
moved closer to certification for that
skill.
d) The power of the whole mind. I
am using the coinage of the noted
writer Daniel Pink. In his book "The
Whole New Mind" he suggests that
the senses of Design, Story,
Symphony, Empathy, Play and
Meaning are necessary for the
complex world that emerges.
Organizations are designed for the
"left brain" that values logical,
analytical process over sensing,
creativity etc. However, as the world
becomes more and more complex,
there is never enough precise data
to make accurate sense of the
situation or the issues and it is clear
that newer senses need to be
employed by the workforce and
fostered by the organization.
e) The power of personalizing
knowledge. The learning of any
subject within the organizational
context begins with an existing pool
of knowledge that may be explicit or
implicit. It is vital for the learner to
gather the available knowledge
through various sources such as
classroom
training,
books/
periodicals or through interviewing
colleagues and then apply this newly
acquired knowledge with what he
June 2011
19
Changing trends
in e-Learning
E-learning has been around for many
years now; however its importance in
India has increased tremendously in last
two years given the huge demand for
world-class talent across sectors. As
India takes the centre stage in global
business, there is a need for employees
to continually acquire new skills and
raise the work standards to match up to
the dynamic business environment. Elearning and training is touted to be the
only solution that will pave the way for
building India as the Talent Destination
of the World. Besides, it is the most
efficient and cost effective mode to
impart training in a diverse country like
India with multiple office locations and
dispersed workforce that would
otherwise lack effectiveness of face to
face and personal contact.
Drawing a parallel, e-learning can do
wonders to the training sector in India
the same way as BPO industry helped
shape the IT industry. The major
advantage of e-learning is that it is selfpaced and learning is done at the
learners pace. As low cost PCs and
broadband penetration become a reality,
more and more professionals would be
interested in learning the e-way because
of flexibility it offers. Not only this, elearning also offers customized solutions
like serious game based learning, story
based learning, simulations, etc.
depending on the requirements.
With increased adoption of technology
with gadgets like tablets, smart phones,
etc., more and more youth entering the
job market will be able to take advantage
of elearning and align their skills to suit
their job roles making on boarding easier
and faster for employers. .This is what
we need to create a ready lineup of
young leaders that will define our
countrys growth and progress in the
longer term.
By Rajesh Jumani, Executive Vice President &
Chief Marketing Officer, Tata Interactive Systems
(www.tatainteractive.com)
20
June 2011
needs to accomplish at the

workplace. This helps the person
critique his current know-how about
the subject and increases his desire
to acquire new knowledge.
f) The power of communities of
practice. On-going sharing and
contributing via feedback and
suggestions with a view to helping
colleagues - individually or as a group
- helps create the right climate for
learning. Organizations take
advantage of technology to help
colleagues connect and collaborate,
sometimes including suppliers and
customers in the process, virtually
using conferences, blogs, wikis. For
example, one technology-savvy
organization run its promos by its
community of practice and obtain
vital feedback before sending it to
customers, thus strengthening the
offering significantly.
g) The power of developing
scalable programs. Organizations
devise institutionalized learning
programs to address critical issues
or opportunities (e.g. foundational
technical program for new recruits).
This signals the importance of the
issue to the wider workforce.
Further, organizations also realize
that such programs are more
effective when they are on-going and
spread over a period of time rather
than as a one-time effort. Smart
organizations tend to customize such
programs for their unique audience
e.g. One pharma organization
completely customized their sales
development program to suit staff
whose familiarity with scientific and
medical language was low. This
company eventually developed this
program to such an extent that it
effectively groomed "non-Pharma"
sales people into making top-notch
pharma sales persons predictably.
h) The power of rewards,
recognition and incentives. A
critical question facing the
organization which, in my
experience, rarely gets the attention
it should, is this: Does the reward,
recognition and incentive support the
learning behavior or obstruct it?
Strangely I have seen organizations
unwilling to change existing reward
programs even though they know
that it dissuades employees from

learning. One organization actually
hoped to encourage employees to
be creative and innovative, without
doing away with the "penalty for
failure" incentive scheme.
i) The power of a mentor. One of
my favorite questions I ask a client
is (I refer to cricket - but please feel
free to substitute "Batsman" with
what works for you): If you were
trying to become a top notch
batsman and you had one
opportunity to be trained by the
master batsman, Sachin Tendulkar,
would you prefer to have him as a
trainer in a classroom lecturing you
on the finer aspects of batting or
have him stand with you at the nets,
watching you bat and giving you
feedback on improving your game?
Every time, people chose Sachin at
the nets. In some sense, that is the
power of the mentor or a coach to
a learner. One great example is
Mindtree, which leveraged its leader,
Subroto Bagchi's talents and time,
full time, to coach and mentor
colleagues in the organization.
Subroto Bagchi aptly saw himself as
a "gardener" of talent.
The year 2020 is already here in
2011 - in dribs and drabs though.
But that's immaterial. What matters
is that the workforce of tomorrow
will be very different from what exists
today. For a start, a large part of the
workforce will have been born after
the internet revolution in 1995. While
we have no experience with this
group as yet, the little we know tells
us that their orientation will be very
different from what we are currently
used to. It is already clear that they
are more comfortable expressing
themselves online rather than face
to face. Consequently, they may be
more comfortable expressing
themselves in terms of "left brain"
as well as "right brain" etc.
The challenge in the learning
orientation where such a young
workforce co-exists with employees
who joined the job market in the
late 1980's is obvious. With the right
learning orientation, organizations
will be able to harmonize these
diverse talents and build a very
HC
potent workforce.
June 2011
21
demystifying
.........................................................................
How do you recognize a

learning organization?
How is it different from
organizations that deliver
relatively structured
learning programs?
.........................................................................
22
June 2011
BY DR. SUJAYA BANERJEE
rganizations that have the capacity and capability to

transform themselves into intelligent, proficient engines
of changesuch that the learning inside the
organization is equal to or greater than the change
occurring outsideare learning organizations.
These organizations possess greater knowledge, flexibility,
power, speed and learning ability to better manage the shifting
needs of a new environment, more demanding customers, and
smarter knowledge workers. The conclusion is that organizations
that learn faster will adapt faster and therefore achieve significant
strategic advantages in the global world of business.
Learning organizations are able to harness the collective genius
of their people as individuals, as groups and as an organization.
Needless to say, this capability combined with technology,
knowledge management and people empowerment can become
a truly sustainable competitive advantage for organizations seeking
a significant presence in global

markets.
Learning organizations are often
mistaken to be organizations that
have structured learning programs,
on those which invest resources in
training and offer development value
propositions to their employees.
Learning organizations are all this
and more. At the heart of a learning
organizations is the need to change,
adapt and enable knowledge to be
deployed through organizational
processes such that the organization
- like individual is able to remain at
the cutting edge of knowledge that
has organically evolved and
processed within the organization,
when used in conjunction with
constantly emerging new knowledge
this enables the organization to
adapt, change and develop a
sustainable competitive edge.
The emergence of learning

organizations
Today organizations are increasingly
wary of becoming extinct, the
knowledge strategies, hardships and
technology of yesterday will not had
to success in tomorrow's world.
In an environment of continual
mergers, rapid technological
advances, massive societal changes
and competition, it is obvious that
organizations must increase their
corporate capacities to learn if they
are to continue to succeed. They
would have to learn better and faster
from their successes and failures and
continuously transform themselves
into organizations where everyone
would increase their productive and
adaptive capabilities only by
enhancing their capacity to learn.
From the early 1990s a number
of organizations embarked on their
journey of becoming learning
organizations: Corning, Federal
Express, Fords, General Electric,
Motorola, and Singapore Airlines (in
Asia) are some examples. These
companies put organization-wide,
systems-wide learning with the
resulting service and product
improvements as the best route to
not just servicing but succeeding.
Learning organizations reflect,
learn, change, adapt because they
believe the process of constant

transformation will give them their
differentiated value proposition. They
have some identifiable common
features:
a. Learning organizations have a
clear picture of future knowledge
requirement. Efforts are constantly
made to predict skills and capabilities
required in the future so that the
organization invests resources in
developing these capabilities for a
competitive edge.
Practically, this means having a
structured
learning
needs
identification process that leads to
the development of a calendar of
Learning Programs that are relevant
and aligned to the business plan and
strategy of the organization.
Learning organizations invest in
extensive development dialogues to
keep their employees at the cutting
edge of knowledge, skills, and
capabilities that can make the
organization future ready, assessing
the strategic relevance of having
programs is key with strong learning
mechanisms which ensures that
"training" converts to learning.
Calwich and Roy Pollock in their path
breaking book called "6-Disciplines
for
Breakthrough
Learning"
describes the Define, Design, Deliver,
Drive, Deploy, Document process for
enabling Learning to convert to
Business Results.
b. Learning organizations invest
in knowledge transfer and create
platforms to manage knowledge so
that critical knowledge does not
remain tacit in the minds of people
who may eventually leave. The
learning organization knows what it
knows.
Investing in a powerful coaching
and mentoring program is a
meaningful way of ensuring knowledge
transfer within organizations. A formal
program developing mentors who can
share their teachable points of view
(TPOV* ) can speed up knowledge
transfer within organization efforts
succession
planning
and
development can also enable critical
knowledge to remain ensuring
business continuity and prevention
of loss of knowledge when people in
key roles leave.
DR. SUJAYA BANERJEE

Chief Learning Officer
Essar Group
Sujaya Banerjee heads the learning and
organizational development function for
the multi-national conglomerate
constituting Essar Steel, Essar Oil, Essar
Shipping, Essar Construction, Essar
Power, Essar Telecom and Aegis the Essar
BPO. She holds an MBA with a
specialization in Human Resources and
holds a Doctorate in Organization
Development and Performance
Management. In her previous assignment,
she was Director-HR at British Gas in
India. Before that Sujaya was working as
Senior Vice-President HRD & Personnel at
Lowe Lintas & Partners, a leading
advertising multinational, where she was
responsible for introducing several pathbreaking HR initiatives in the area of
employee engagement and also set up
Northpoint Centre of Learning.
June 2011
23
HR PRACTICE
Identify
learnability
At the core of successful learning
organizations lie employees that are high
on ability and adaptive to changes in
challenging business environments. The
learning organization must have a clear
roadmap for creating and nurturing
such a workforce by instituting a careful
recruitment and selection process,
periodic assessment of skills, and a
transparent process of leadership
selection and training. Learning
organizations will look into higher order
thinking skills of individuals such as
critical thinking, as well as understand
the personalities of candidates as they
make hiring decisions. The personal
values and workplace motivations of
employees will collectively determine the
culture of the organization and need to
be identified as well. Those who are high
on learnability and able to master new
skills on the job will contribute more to
the knowledge build up and transfer,
than those who are low on the learning
quotient. There are tests such as the
Ravens Progressive Matrices that will
assess this learnability of a candidate
without the influence of factors such as
prior education and language
proficiency. Leadership training
programs in learning organizations focus
on selecting and coaching high
potential employees for leadership roles.
Future leaders need to have the right set
of behavioural skills that will be applied
towards fostering learning in their
organizations. There are assessments
such as the Golden Personality Type
Profiler that organization can use to
identify the training needs of future
leaders. Good leaders are essential for
any learning organization as they will
take forward a culture of learning, bring
in change where required and in general
be able to tap into the knowledge base
of the organization to fulfil organizational
goals.
By Sushil Eapen, MD, Pearson Clinical & Talent
Assessment, (www.talentlensindia.com), which helps
organizations identify and develop talent using
assessment solutions that build more effective
workforces.
24
June 2011
Investment in technology,
platform for knowledge management
and building communities of practice
are also innovative ways of ensuring
knowledge remains and grows within
the organization.
c. Learning organizations have
mechanisms for working on issues
and problems; they do not shoot
the messenger and have the ability
to reflect on feedback with a problem
- solution orientation.
Using survey feedback is a
powerful mechanism to get
information
from
unhappy
customers, problems with new
processes or technology that can be
addressed and would on Learning
organizations invest extensively on
open communication platforms such
as town halls, Open Houses, Focus
Group Discussions, etc.
to
understand and manage discordant
information so it can constantly act
on feedback.
d. Learning organizations reflect
on past experiences, distill them
into useful lessons and share
knowledge internally.
They have a "Lessons Learnt"
culture where leaders, teams,
individuals reflect on mistakes,
dialogue about them and document
learning extensively so that the same
mistakes are never repeated. Building
a 'Lessons Learnt' practice within the
organization where at the end of
important milestones, there is a
practice of reflecting on the lessons
the team has collectively learnt is an
important practice to enable the
organization to avoid repeating the
same mistakes. Action Planning
workshops announcing survey
feedback,
performance
and
development reviews, business
reviews, are all important
opportunities to internalize 'Lessons
Learnt'.
e. Learning organizations have the
courage 'to change behaviours and
not just remain repositories of
knowledge'. They have processes to
seek feedback from customers,
employees, other stake holders but
few develop organizational renewal
mechanisms to act on and implement
actions related to feedback and
display the humility to change.
This would acquire internal

mechanisms that enable action,
follow through on insights, gear the
organization
into
action
(performance contacts, action
trackers) and most importantly
would require an incubating
environment that values action
orientation and achievement, acting
on knowledge and insights requires
a leadership that has a gumption to
correct the course and the humility
to learn from the past. Learning
organizations constantly strive in
their need to keep the internal flux
of change equal to or more than the
change in the macro environment
making
their
organizations
differentiated with their constant
fervor to improve and succeed.
This humility to accept what is
not working, adapt and change is
what finally accrues as a competitive
advantage. In case your organization
fulfills (say) two of the five
dimensions mentioned above, it
means it is on its' way to becoming
a learning organization: intentional
efforts to address the other areas
are probably required.
Fortunately, the same forces that
created changes in the business
environment also serve as a
foundation for building learning
organizations. Competition and
technological forces mandated a
flatter seamless organization,
knowledge workers with greater
mobility and choices force
organizations to empower them.
Customer expectations and options
require companies to continually
learn ways to delight the customer.
Rapid and ongoing changes in skills
required compel employees to
become continuous learners.
Undoubtedly the organization that is
able to capture these multiple forces
and synergize them will advance on
the evolutionary ladder to become
the learning organization.
Like Einstein once said, "No
problem can be solved from the
same consciousness that created it;
we must learn to see the world anew".
Learning organizations constantly
renew structures, mindsets and create
knowledge that seeks to find answers
HC
for the future.
June 2011
25
a partly
realized ideal
.....................................................................................................................................................................
Learning organizations, one of the most revolutionary

concepts in management thinking in recent decades has
had an underwhelming effect on organizations. It is
worthwhile to spend time in bringing out the reasons
why the concept did not live up to its promise.
.....................................................................................
BY SUBEER BAKSHI
he concept of learning
organizations as separate
from organizational learning
was brought about by the
seminal work of Peter
Senge. Senge's model for the 'fifth
discipline' required organizations to
use systems thinking to 'dissolve
outdated ideas that focus on
fragmentation, competition and
reactiveness'. Highlighting systems
thinking as a meta discipline and the
emphasis on 'dialogue' and its
considerable merits to the process
are the two aspects that mark out
the path breaking contribution of
26
June 2011
Peter Senge to the study of

organizational learning.
The book and the following work
have redefined the concept of a
learning organization. As a concept,
it is all encompassing and requires
organizations to make radical
departures from current ways of
operating. It exhorts organizations
to evolve as a 'living' community that
interacted with other living systems
(like society) in a manner that was
efficient.
The concept of learning
organization had been around much
before the highly influential book by
Senge was published. It was only
after this book was written that
purists began separating the concept
of organizational learning from

learning organizations. While a lot of
practitioners continue to use the two
interchangeably,
management
thinkers are tracing divergent paths
in the direction of the two
philosophies.
The thinking and research on
organizational
learning
has
concentrated on the body of work
involved with the gathering, collation
and analysis of the activities involved
in learning inside organizations;
whereas the learning organizations
literature is geared towards using
specific diagnostic and evaluative
methodological tools which can help
to identify, promote and evaluate the
quality of learning processes inside
organizations. This subsumes the

ideas of organizational learning as
activities that go into making a
learning organization.
Shortly after the book was
published Peter Senge along with a
group of researchers established the
Society of Organizational Learning
(SOL) at MIT that worked with some
of the leading companies in trying to
discover a breakthrough approach
that harnessed the power of the
concept. The companies that showed
an interest ranged across sectors and
included prominent names like Ford,
Harley-Davidson, Hewlett Packard,
EDS, FedEX, AT&T, Shell, Herman
Miller and Intel.
Despite all the initial enthusiasm,
and the focus on the long term view
well over a decade later, it is still
difficult to identify reliable examples
of where the concept works. This is
probably because the idea had been
floated well before the current
environment and society can accept
it or because it doesn't fully
appreciate the realities of
organizational dynamics.
The only companies that come
close to being learning organizations
are the ones that predominantly
operate closest to consumer
markets. In all other cases, the
attributes of a learning organization
are confined to a few functions

(generally client facing or the ones
closest to value creation) or for a
very short period of time (in highly
dynamic sectors) as seen by the
meteoric rise and fall of many
technology/ telecom companies.
Challenges with the concept

Systems thinking
Some of the challenges that frustrate
current efforts of building a learning
organization, in hindsight, were
obvious in the way learning
organizations were getting defined.
"The learning company is a vision
of what might be possible. It is not
brought about simply by training
individuals; it can only happen as a
result of learning at the whole
organization level. A learning
company is an organization that
facilitates the learning of all its
members
and
continuously
transforms itself said Pedler.
The challenge with learning
organizations, if we were to go with
the above definition, is that the high
level of sustained 'change readiness'
needed for the model to succeed is
quite unrealistic. We know that
people are inherently resistant to
change and they like to work in
organizations that offer stability. Let
us look at another definition;
Learning organizations are

characterized by total employee
involvement in a process of
collaboratively
conducted,
collectively accountable change
directed towards shared values or
principles. (Watkins and Marsick
1992: 118)
In the above definition again we
can see an unrealisable ideal (total
employee involvement) being used to
explain the objective and the
expectation from a learning
organization. For those in the
profession of figuring the human side
of an enterprise, total employee
involvement is desired, never realized.
Total employee commitment is really
not a characteristic of a company,
but of a cult.
This brings us to the first challenge
for a learning organization. The idea
is too idealistic to be practically used.
The concept of systems thinking
doesn't mean that companies have
simple structures; it actually requires
the organization to educate every
employee in every role on how the
entire organization works! Or if we
were to take a more liberal
interpretation, it at the very least,
expects that every role in the firm
can clearly see how its existence
impacts the organization. In HR
hardware terms, all employees must
have a 'line of sight'. In the
modern, fast-paced and
highly complex organization,
integrating such systems
thinking
to
business
environments is either
impossible, or it is next to it.
Leadership & cultural
dimensions:
Leadership is a challenge to
learning organizations as they
are
tasked
with
the
development of learning
organizations. It may be easy
for the leadership to attempt
this in a new or a small
business, but it doesn't fully
make allowances for the
mental models and the
attendant politics that
animate all mid to large sized
organizations. Even if we
assume that we were to
overcome
the
major
June 2011
27
SUBEER BAKSHI
Business Leader - Talent and Rewards
Towers Watson India
Subeer Bakshi is the business leader for
the talent & rewards segment of Towers
Watson in India. He works with clients
across a range of talent issues. His
interest lies in linking people processes to
business performance. He provides talent
and rewards assistance to clients across
India. He also works with global
companies looking to align global
practices and cultures to Indian realities.
Subeer has worked with companies
across multiple sectors, with diverse
ownership and across all stages of
organizational life cycle. Prior to entering
consulting about a decade back, Subeer
worked in multiple roles in the HR
department of Cognizant Technologies, a
US Head-Quartered technology company.
28
June 2011
challenges of getting incumbents in

leadership positions to abandon
obsolete or competitive mental
models and stop guarding their turfs,
the smaller aspects too will be
frustrating in their magnitude.
It will require such organizations
to allow every employee, even the
entry level professionals, to
understand the impact of every major
change in the market and question
the leadership on how it should
impact their mission, values or
strategy. This expectation will make
colossal demands on the amount of
time leadership will be required to
spend
on
clarifying
and
communicating to employees and
stakeholders. It could also be said
that the level of thinking expected
from managers and leaders involved
in development of a learning
organization is significant and not all
members of a leadership team may
be up to it.
On the cultural dimension, while
it receives fair treatment in concept,
the focus on culture comes at the
cost of other aspects. Massive reengineering of processes and
structures will be required to serve
as a foundation that supports the
collaborative culture/ mental models
needed to power the learning
organization. For example, time is
the key linkage in organizational
systems of manufacturing, sales and
distribution. In order to speed up
decision making and reduce time,
fundamental changes will be required
in the way a company accomplishes
its work and serves its customers.
The current framework doesn't
provide adequate guidance that
addresses the challenges related to
the re-engineering.
Organizational memory: To a large
extent, learning systems depend on
an organization to learn from its
mistakes. The emphasis on the long
term was to ensure that
organizations learn over business
cycles, which can span a generation
or more in certain industries. And
that's where the necessity of
knowledge management and
organizational memory becomes
apparent. A dynamic, constantly
evolving change friendly organization
will require very advanced

technological tools to retain
knowledge. The challenge with this
technological requirement is that
business intelligence software is yet
to evolve to the intuitive levels
required to make effective knowledge
management systems. Thus most of
the information collected by
companies becomes fairly unwieldy
warehouses of information that are
difficult to use.
Additionally, and this is truer for
emerging markets, the concept
doesn't fully make allowances to the
fact that people fill roles and
organizational memory resides
predominantly with people filling
those roles. For companies, where
due to internal (reorganization/ role
changes) or external reasons
(attrition) there is frequent churn of
employees, organizational memory
gets significantly impaired. The
primary feature of this impairment
is that organizational memory is
available on tap only when churning
employees stay in positions long
enough to let relationships
(information-bridges) to be formed.
Early (and prior?) successes: The
underlying
and
practical
fundamentals of most interpretations
of the learning organizations are
derived around the postulation that
'learning is valuable, continuous, and
most effective when shared and that
every experience is an opportunity
to learn' (Kerka 1995). If we abandon
the high ideals of the learning
organizations that were cited earlier,
and focus on the fundamentals, then
the burden of implementation of the
concept becomes more bearable. By
this definition, a lot of organizations
(with more misses than hits) are
clearly on the (long term) path to
becoming a learning organization.
Going deeper into the upsides of
building a learning organization,
among
successful
business
enterprises, the few places where
characteristics
of
learning
organizations are evidently working
are also enterprises that are closely
aligned to customers or need to have
a strong focus on innovation to
succeed.
The characteristics that are
June 2011
29

common to every organization that
the champions of the model cite as
examples of learning organizations
are
listed
below.
Learning
organizations:
Provide continuous learning
opportunities.
Link individual performance with
organizational performance.
Foster inquiry and dialogue,
making it safe for people to share
openly and take risks.
Embrace creative tension as a
source of energy and renewal.
Are continuously aware of and
interact with their environment.
The interesting thing here is that
these were aspects were seen in
highly successful firms even before
the concept of learning organizations
was voiced. These are also
characteristics seen in organizations
following uniquely different
management concepts, like P-CMM
among technology companies, total
rewards, or companies following the
balanced scorecard approach.
Among recent advances that have
been made by researchers in the field,
the link to social capital and literature
surrounding trust in organizations
has been an interesting development.
Social capital can be seen as
consisting of 'the stock of active
connections among people: the trust,
mutual understanding, and shared
values and behaviors that bind the
members of human networks and
communities and make cooperative
action possible', (Cohen and Prusak).
Social capital draws people into
groups.
The sublime educative power of
well organized communities and
groups is being recognized quite
belatedly. And organizations are
quickly trying to harness the power
of their social capital and
amalgamate this into their efforts of
building learning organizations. Here
the argument is that social capital
makes an organization more than a
collection of individuals.
This kind of collection supports
collaboration, commitment, ready
access to knowledge and talent, and
coherent organizational behaviour.
This description of social capital
suggests appropriate organizational
30
June 2011
investments - namely, giving people

space and time to connect,
demonstrating trust, effectively
communicating aims and beliefs, and
offering equitable opportunities and
rewards that invite genuine
participation, not mere presence.
In this conceptualization, we can
see many of the themes that run
through the commonly proposed
approaches to building the learning
organization. The significant thing
about the use of the idea of social
capital is the ease and speed with
which interventions organized
around the theme are accepted and
absorbed!
On a lighter note, approaching
change management using and
talking up the learning organization
as a theme has made impending
change less intimidating, and
contrary to most change initiatives,
very often yielded healthy outcomes.
Considering the stakes involved, this
'side effect' by itself is a perfectly
good reason to embark on necessary
and significant change initiatives
under the overall theme of building
a long term change organization.
Lastly, this note has approached
learning organizations from a purely
commercial standpoint, but there are
instances of the concept working in
set-ups whose primary pursuit is not
commercial. Researchers, including
Senge have gone on to produce a
large body of work that refines and
extends the concepts and attendant
analysis to specific fields such as
schooling and the concept is seen to
work better in partly closed systems
like academia, government related
institutions
like
police
or
administrative systems and public
health.
In summary
The idea of the learning organization
provides managers and leaders with
a view of how things could be within
an enterprise. Researchers in the
field (like Peter Senge) introduced
remarkable approaches and a range
of options and dimensions that could
be developmental at an individual level
while,
debatably,
increasing
organizational effectiveness - most
expectedly if it operates in the
environment of a 'knowledge
economy'. However, as has been
illustrated, there are several macro
level shortcomings to the concept it is theoretically underpowered and
the jury is still out whether the idea
can be realized within the dynamics
that are intrinsic realities faced by
organizations in a globalizing world.
It might well be that 'the concept is
being oversold as a near-universal
remedy for a wide variety of
organizational problems' (Kuchinke
1995)
Management
theorists,
consultants, academic institutions
and organizations have struggled to
come up with a template for a
learning organization that was
commercially viable and well over a
decade later, are still not close to a
tangible outcome. This has led to
attempts
by
a
concerned
'management community' to go
'beyond' the learning organization.
After all there is a lot of money at
stake for whoever 'discovers' the
path to the ideal. Which is why we
find guides and texts with titles like
'the developing organization', 'the
accelerating organization, and 'the
ever-changing organization' etc.
The truth about the notion that
'learning organizations hold the key
to consistent competitive advantage'
is yet to be validated. Despite many
years of research, there are still no
clear guidelines or proven
management practices that can help
managers on the journey to build
Where we go from here is a matter
that's open to conjecture. The growing
number of cynics and skeptics may
outshout the champions in claiming
that 'learning organization' has had
its 'fifteen minutes of fame' and a
new fad is needed to keep
management theorists in employment. Yet, that wouldn't entirely be a
fair conjecture and there does seem
to be life in the notion yet. The idea
of a learning organization holds within
it a number of important possibilities
for organizations seeking to sustain
themselves and to grow. It is far too
valuable to be abandoned. The more
virtuous an ideal, the harder one must
HC
work to realize it.
June 2011
31
vision for 2020

..........................................................................................................................................................................
Only learning organizations would be capable of

meeting the challenges that lie ahead as we hurl
towards the end of this decade - 2020.
..........................................................................................................................................................................
32
June 2011
BY G. INBAVANAN
irca 2020: Organizational realities
Scenario #1: A customer requests for a

particular service that is currently not in the
portfolio of the company. The employee
interfacing with the customer explains the
current situation. However, he also assures the customer
that a more detailed analysis will be done consequent
to his request and the decision conveyed to him in a
specified time frame.
The interfacing employee does some research on
the request and gathers more information and
knowledge on the subject. The employee then presents
the findings in the weekly 'Emerging Ideas Forum'. A
small group of employees interested in the area decide
to work together to take it further. It then gets socialized
in the monthly 'New Business Offerings' Newsletter.
The interfacing employee keeps the customer
proactively informed of the progress.
The Idea then moves into the 'New Offerings Group'
which then puts out an action plan to bring it as a new
offering to the customers at large. The time lapse from
the first customer request to the development of action
plan is 45-60 days. With a 90-Day action plan, the new
offering is in the market place in a maximum of 150
days.
Scenario #2: There is an emerging situation in the
environment that will dramatically alter the competitive
position of a specific team. The team discusses this is
its weekly 'team sessions' and details the SWOT of the
emerging situation. A sub-group within the team
undertakes a quick market research and presents to the
team. The team leadership has a detailed 'Situation
Analysis' and brings back to the Team alternate
approaches and the decision to pursue a particular
decision. Time lapse from the start till decision point is
30 to 45 days. An action team develops and implements
a 90-Day action plan. Total time to change to a new
competitive position is a maximum of 150 days.
Scenario #3: An employee desirous of pursuing an
original idea sends in his formal request to his manager
detailing the time commitment and the process he
would be adopting. He would also detail how he will
handle his current responsibilities and deliverables. This
becomes his development initiative. The pursuit of the
original idea results in an IP and a new product /
service line that is led by the employee opening up a
new revenue stream.
The above scenarios would be the norm in 2020 if
the organization has worked to transform itself into a
'learning organization'. What will direct and drive the
organization would be Purpose -> People -> Process
with leadership in the forefront of the organization
'Walking the Talk'.
Cutback 2011: Current realities

If we were to indulge in some deep dive analysis of why
organizations today are challenged to perform to their
inherent capabilities or continue to enhance their
June 2011
33
G. INBAVANAN
Founder & Chief Practice Officer
People Dimensions@Work
Inbavanan has over 29 years of experience
in all facets of people practice from
organization development and
effectiveness, learning & development,
personnel management to industrial
relations domains. His last corporate
assignment which concluded in endMarch 2009 was with Hewlett-Packard,
where he was Director of Learning &
Development function of a Global Delivery
vertical across the world. He has worked
in Polaris Software Lab Ltd., BPL
Innovision Business Group, GE, GEC
Alsthom, L&T, and Britannia. Since July
2009, he and his wife have set up an
independent consulting practice, People
Dimensions@Work. Inba has a post
graduate degree from Madras University
specializing in Personnel Management,
Industrial Relations, and Labour Welfare.
He is an accredited Business & Executive
Coach of Coaching Foundation India and
a member of International Association of
Coaching. He is certified in MBTI, FIRO-B,
and PI.
34
June 2011
performance, I believe that we will

come up with the following three
core issues 1. Sub optimal capability to
perform in an ambiguous
environment which is dynamic and
constantly changing.
2. Perpetual challenge to engage
employees through providing
meaningful work in an environment
which leverages one's strengths,
provides for personal and
professional growth, and is fair and
transparent.
3. Imbibe customer centricity as a
value and provide rich customer
experiences through innovation and
proactively foreseeing changing
customer aspirations.
The above are a result of the
thinking process that we adopted in
an economic environment that was
pre-dominantly manufacturing
oriented, geographically distinct,
fairly separated with a low level of
inter-relatedness. This era was
typified by the robust Management
techniques propounded by the
father of modern management, viz.
Peter F. Drucker. It is also this period
which was driven by the axiom "Strategy -> Structure -> Systems",
which effectively relegated the
'People' in the organization to the
backyard.
With rampant globalization
brought on primarily by the IT and
Communication revolution, the
world has not only shrunk beyond
recognition, but also become highly
inter connected to make it look
more like a 'global village'. The
World Wide Web has put the access
of information and knowledge at the
finger tips of Generation 'Y'. It is no
more a source of power and
competitive advantage. While the
management techniques can
definitely manage and maintain
performance
in
a
given
environment, context, and time
span; it is challenged to address the
three core issues articulated in the
beginning. It is in this scenario, that
the 'Learning Organization' with its
foundation in Systems Thinking first
conceptualized by Peter Senge in
his path breaking book, "The Fifth
Discipline" attains prominence.
David Skyrme Associates have

developed a 4-Level model of
learning, understanding of which
will facilitate our discussion on
learning organizations. According to
them, learning is not about 'more
training'. While training does help
develop certain types of skill, a
learning organization involves the
development of higher levels of
knowledge, skill, and understanding.
The 4-Levels of the model are as
follows:
Level 1: Learning facts, knowledge,
processes and procedures. This
applies to known situations
characterized by set policies,
systems, and procedures with very
minimal incidence of changes
happening. This is predominantly
individual based.
Level 2: Learning new job skills that
are transferable to other situations.
This applies to new situations that
emerge in the business environment
where existing responses need to
be altered. Bringing in outside
expertise will facilitate the
achievement of goals. This is
predominantly team based.
Level 3: Learning to adapt. This
applies to more dynamic situations
where the solutions need developing
based on 1st Principles established.
Experimentation and deductive
lessons from success and failure is
the primary mode of learning. This
is applicable both at the individual
and team level.
Level 4: Learning to learn. This is all
about innovation and creativity. It is
more to do with designing the future
than merely adapting to it. This is
where current assumptions are
challenged and knowledge is
reframed based on emerging
environment and contexts. This is
predominantly
team
and
organization based.
Contours of a learning
organization
A learning organization actively
creates, captures, transfers, and
mobilizes knowledge to enable it to
adapt to a changing environment.
Thus,
the
key
aspect
of
organizational learning is the
interaction that takes place among

individuals. A learning organization
is then the term given to a company
that facilitates the learning of its
members
and
continuously
transforms itself. The four key
elements of a learning organization
are - individuals, leaders, teams, and
organization. A learning organization
has five main features - systems
thinking, personal mastery, mental
models, shared vision and team
learning.
Systems thinking: Systems thinking
state that all the characteristics must
be apparent at once in an
organization for it to be a learning
organization. If some of these
characteristics is missing, the
organization will fall short of its goal.
Learning organizations use this
method of thinking when assessing
their company and have information
systems that measure the
performance of the organization as
a whole and of its various
components.
Personal mastery: The commitment
by an individual to the process of
learning is known as personal

mastery. There is a competitive
advantage for an organization
whose workforce can learn quicker
than the workforce of other
organizations. Research shows that
most learning in the workplace is
incidental, rather than the product
of formal training. Therefore it is
important to develop a culture
where personal mastery is practiced
in daily life.
Mental models: The assumptions
held
by
individuals
and
organizations are called mental
models. To become a learning
organization, these models must be
challenged. Individuals tend to
espouse theories, which are what
they intend to follow, and theoriesin-use, which are what they actually
do. Similarly, organizations tend to
have 'memories' which preserve
certain behaviours, norms, and
values. In creating a learning
environment it is important to
replace confrontational attitudes
with an open culture that promotes
inquiry and trust.
Shared vision: The development of

a shared vision is important in
motivating the staff to learn, as it
creates a common identity that
provides focus and energy for
learning. The most successful
visions build on the individual
visions of the employees at all levels
of the organization, thus the
creation of a shared vision can be
hindered by traditional structures
where the company vision is
imposed from above. Therefore,
learning organizations tend to have
flat, decentralized organizational
structures. The shared vision is often
to succeed against a competitor.
However, Peter Senge states that
these can at best be short term goals
and suggests that there should also
be long term goals that are intrinsic
within the company.
Team learning: The accumulation
of individual learning constitutes
team learning. The benefit of team
or shared learning is that staff grows
more quickly and the problem
solving capacity of the organization
is improved through better access
June 2011
35

to knowledge and expertise.
Learning organizations have
structures that facilitate team
learning with features such as
boundary crossing and openness.
Team learning requires individuals
to engage in dialogue and
discussion; therefore team members
must develop open communication,
shared meaning, and shared
understanding.
Learning
organizations typically have
excellent knowledge management
structures, allowing creation,
acquisition, dissemination, and
implementation of this knowledge
in the organization.
The important characteristics of
learning organizations would then
be:
Are adaptive to their external

environment
Continually enhance their

capability to change/adapt
Develop collective as well as

individual learning
Use the results of learning to

achieve better results
The main benefits experienced by a
learning organization are;
Maintaining levels of innovation

and remaining competitive
Being better placed to respond

to external pressures
Having the knowledge to better

link resources to customer needs
Improving quality of outputs at

all levels
Improving corporate image by

becoming more people oriented
Increasing the pace of change

within the organization
While every organization would
be desirous to transforming itself
into a learning organization, they
will have to successfully overcome
some of the realities of the current
day organizations that can
effectively
inhibit
the
transformation. These are some of
the most common obstacles to
becoming a learning organization:
Preoccupation with operational

/ fire fighting issues - not creating
time to sit back and think
strategically
Too focused on systems and

process, eg., BPR, TQM, etc., to
exclusion of other critical factors -
36
June 2011
bureaucratic vs. thinking.

Reluctance to train or invest in
training, other than for obvious
immediate needs
Too many hidden personal

agendas.
Too top-down driven, tight

supervision, resulting in lack of real
empowerment.
Challenges of sustaining a
learning organization
Even within a learning organization,
problems can stall the process of
learning or cause it to regress. Most
of them arise from an organization
not fully embracing all the necessary
facets. It could also be the lukewarm
acceptance in certain critical
managerial levels as it significantly
alters the role and responsibilities
of managers, who are more
comfortable managing in a given
paradigm. Once these problems are
identified, work can begin on
improving them.
1. Some organizations find it hard
to embrace personal mastery
because as a concept it is intangible
and the benefits are difficult to be
quantified. Personal mastery can
even be seen as a threat to the
organization. This threat can be real,
as Peter Senge points out, that "to
empower people in an unaligned
organization
can
be
counterproductive". In other words,
if individuals do not engage with a
shared vision, personal mastery
could be used to advance their own
personal visions.
2. In some organizations a lack of a
learning culture can be a barrier to
learning. An environment must be
created where individuals can share
learning without it being devalued
and ignored, so that more people
can benefit from their knowledge
and the individuals becomes
empowered. A learning organization
needs to fully accept the removal of
traditional hierarchical structures.
3. Resistance to learning can occur
within a learning organization if
there is no sufficient buy-in at an
individual level. This is often
encountered with people who feel
threatened by change or believe that
they have the most to lose. They
are likely to have closed mind sets,

and are not willing to engage with
mental models. Unless implemented
coherently across the organization,
learning can be viewed as elitist and
restricted to senior levels. In that
case, learning will not be viewed as
a shared vision. If training and
development is compulsory, it can
be viewed as a form of control,
rather
than
as
personal
development. Learning and the
pursuit of personal mastery needs
to be an individual choice, therefore
enforcement will not further the
cause of learning organization.
4. In addition, organizational size
may become the barrier to internal
knowledge sharing. When the
number of employees exceeds 150
- 200, internal knowledge sharing
dramatically decreases because of
higher complexity in the formal
organizational structure, weaker
inter-employee relationships, lower
trust, reduced connective efficacy,
and less effective communication.
As such, as the size of an
organizational unit increases, the
effectiveness of internal knowledge
flows dramatically diminishes and
the degree of intra-organizational
knowledge sharing decreases.
Hence, while transforming to a
'learning organization' is a
challenging task in itself, sustaining
and growing it is a significant
challenge that can be overcome only
if a significant majority are
passionate and committed to it.
Moreover, learning organizations
are more organic in nature and
hence, there has to be a significant
appreciation for 'process' and 'Time'
elements.
Hamel and Prahalad in their book,
"Competing for the Future" state
that organizations that achieve a
Level 4 Learning Capability will
"reinvent not just their organization
but their industry. It is well worth
the vision to strive for becoming a
learning organization. It is clear that
only such organizations would be
capable of meeting the challenges
that lie ahead as we hurl towards
the end of this decade - 2020.
Is your organization ready for such
HC
a 'learning' journey?
June 2011
37
SECTION II Learning with business impac t
diversity training
on the agenda
.....................................................................................................................
Deutsche Bank's innovative diversity

awareness initiatives form the roadmap
towards a 'very global yet very local'
strategy. At the heart of this diversity
agenda stands leadership accountability.
.....................................................................................................................
BY ANU SARKAR
he big question confronting

today's
multi-national
companies is to what extent
they should embrace local
sensitivities in their global
initiatives especially for a diverse
region like Asia. With evolving societal
and cultural paradigms the human
architecture and dynamics in firms
is also getting complex, triggering the
debate around whether corporates
can or should play a role in
influencing the mindset of the society.
When it came to such questions,
Deutsche Bank was no exception.
Indeed we often faced these
crossroads during the evolution of
our Diversity Agenda. With Asia being
a region of contrasts and diversity as
a theme, being so encompassing, the
journey of creating a business case
and the evolution, thereafter, has
been truly exciting. And the impetus
38
June 2011
is not an outcome of any "mandate".

Our agenda evolved to address the
need to have access to the diverse
talent pool, to match the expectations
of a global and sophisticated client
base, to be as diverse in our
composition as our clients in order
to better understand their needs and
to establish the Bank as a responsible
firm and thereby an employer of
choice. Our simple premise is
"diverse teams are winning teams".
We view diversity in its broadest
sense and endeavor to create a
culture where everyone feels valued
and can give their best. Our strategy
towards diversity is "very global yet
very local". Sure, we do have our
global priorities but at the same time
we have the flexibility for each
region/country to define what these
priorities mean to them and what
additionally, needs to be focused on.
The diversity agenda

At Deutsche Bank, our diversity
agenda revolves around Gender,
Generations and Enabling Inclusion
with leadership accountability at the
core. For us, diversity is a businessled agenda as opposed to an HR-led
programmatic initiative. However, we
understand to make the diversity
agenda succeed, we need an
organizational mindset. And our
endeavor is to embed this mindset
in whatever we do, today and over
the days to come.
Integrating employees
Despite Asia being incredibly diverse,
the concept of diversity in the
workplace is nascent here. Our
journey starts by creating awareness
through a multi-method framework.
Diversity training: This "theatrebased" workshop is one of the most
successful awareness interventions in
this region. This unique delivery
format stood out as a platform to
make leaders aware of the
unconscious bias they may have and
its implications. For the first time, in
Deutsche Bank - APAC, more than
1200 leaders debated and shared their
experiences on this issue.
It enabled us to start the debate
on why women find it difficult to
progress beyond a certain level,
different leadership styles across
gender, unique preferences of
generations, issues around sexual
orientation, disability and a host of

other areas.
This platform surfaced powerful
insights, innumerable perspectives
and real life experiences of many. I
still
remember
fascinating
discussions around -"Do Indians
behave like Asians?" "Do women
need to emulate male traits to
succeed professionally?" "Is there a
need for firms to redefine the existing
leadership models considering Asian
culture?"Also, sensitive issues like
using the word "locals" for Asians
and the connotation it has in
people's minds, differences in
communication styles, differences in
Asian's preference for networkingover-lunch vis--vis western
inclination towards eveningnetworking were candidly discussed.
These sessions had tremendous
impact in putting diversity at the
forefront and surfacing the
underlying issues that people were
uncomfortable discussing. The
insights of the workshop became the
fountainhead of a series of afterinterventions and provided breadth
and momentum to the agenda.
Leadership led discussions: We have
organized a number of panel
discussions comprising our senior
leaders to discuss the importance of
various diversity dimensions. Leaders
from other firms, who had been
instrumental in creating a step
change through diversity, were
invited, to share their experiences.
The explicit support of our
leadership
team
and
an
understanding of how diversity, as a
business priority, has been nurtured
in other firms has helped our leaders
to take ownership for this agenda.
Diversity video series: We also share
videos on real life stories of our
employees
from
diverse
backgrounds, with targeted diversity
messages. Employees have found this
series particularly impactful because
of the personal connect it establishes
with experiences of their colleagues.
Diversity
blog:
This
blog
communicates various diversity
initiatives across the globe. We also
leverage this as an informal training
platform and a trigger to practical
ideas which employees could
consider practicing.
Sponsoring
researches
and
conferences: At Deutsche Bank, we
constantly endeavor to obtain fresh
insights
and
deepen
our
understanding which will not only
help us on this agenda but also the
industry. Therefore, we host various
conferences where we invite eminent
speakers to explore various diversity
issues. In addition, we are active
members of professional networks
and partner with them to co-sponsor
various researches. We also
participate regularly in benchmarking
exercises to understand where we
stand in different markets. These
data-points enable us to create
awareness amongst our leaders, seek
To translate our strategy into action,

we deployed a multi-intervention
architecture. This grid indicatively
reflects some of our initiatives.
The foundation principle was to
create platforms which are impactful
and exciting! Therefore, the
intervention-mix varied significantly,
considering the cultural context,
learning styles, demographic mix,
and above all, potential to impact
the 3 key pillars of our strategy:
Pillar 1) Gender: Our engagement
with employees surfaced a diverse
range of challenges faced by women
in Asia and hence required different
solutions. The issues vary from work
life balance challenges, cultural
pressure, elder care and child care
responsibilities, lack of mentors and
networking opportunities, lack of
assertion, not being heard to
perception of not being ambitious.
Based on the feedback, we
initiated maternity coaching,
enhanced maternity benefits,
child care benefits on one hand
and on the other side,
their buy-in and co-explore the

opportunities and the actions
required.
designed some targeted interventions

sponsored by senior management.
ATLAS (Accomplished Top leaders
advancement strategy) is one such
initiative for our senior-most women
population. A recent study from
Catalyst shows that more women
than men have mentors - yet women
are less likely to advance their
careers. That is because they are not
actively sponsored, the way men are.
Sponsors go beyond feedback and
advice; they advocate for their
mentees and help them get projects
Awareness to action
Our leaders have actively leveraged
the foundation laid out by a planned
and purposeful diversity awareness
programme. They took ownership
and created Diversity Councils, at a
country/functional level which have
been instrumental in designing and
rolling out strategic interventions,
making a difference of substance.
June 2011
39
SECTION I I Learning with business impac t
ANU SARKAR
Regional Lead Diversity (APAC)Talent
and Development Deutsche Bank
AG, Asia Pacific Head Office
Anu is the Head of diversity (APAC) at
Deutsche Bank for and is based in
Singapore. She has been instrumental in
establishing the diversity function in the
region. As a member of APAC diversity
council, she works with the leadership
team to design and deploy the regional
diversity strategy. She joined Deutsche
Bank in 2005 to head the Talent and
development for South Asia and was
based out of Mumbai. Prior to this, she
was with HSBC and was a member of
the leadership development team for
South Asia.
40
June 2011
and assignments that help the

individual gain visibility . ATLAS is a
show-case programme, based on
this insight. One third of the women
who participated in this program
have already moved into significantly
bigger roles.
Another such intervention is
"Women global leaders", a leadership
program for our high potential
women, run in partnership with
INSEAD. The objective is to increase
the flow of female talent to senior
positions. We also have "Women
Induction programs" aimed at newly
promoted women to support careers
transitions. This provides a platform
to discuss common challenges and
act as peer coaching group.
These initiatives have not only
impacted the participants but also
played a crucial role in building the
organization for future. In our
discussions, we discovered that
absence of female role models is a
constraining factor and hence
women find difficulty in identifying
themselves with success. A number
of the participating women in the
programs, mentioned above, have
become diversity champions,
actively engaging with diversity
councils, participating in hiring
programmes and mentoring women.
Some of the participants have also
played an active role in establishing
and grooming women networks to
make them strategic and relevant.
Our "Women in India network" is a
live example.
Pillar 2) Generations: Changing
demographics landscape and coexistence of multiple generations at
work today have thrown up
considerable complexity. Tripartite
Alliance for Fair Employment
practices in Singapore highlights this
complexity in their research -"Baby
Boomers find it most difficult to work
with Gen Y for they are impatient,
overconfident, inflexible, job
hoppers.. whereas Gen Y finds it
most difficult to work with Baby
boomers because they are not open
to ideas, , stubborn and not willing
to change old habits"
Whereas research from Centre
for Work Life policy states "Overall,
the two generations work well
together, and this exciting synergy

provide fertile opportunity for robust
mentoring
and
sponsorship
programs. In China Gen Y is highly
respectful of Boomers and
appreciative of opportunities to work
with and learn from them"
This is just a snippet of how
preferences may vary across
different countries. This is because
each generational cohort is a product
of its times and reflective of its
environment, so it is difficult to
stereotype and create one common
definition for each age group. Hence,
a need for developing a country
relevant agenda. Research from
Deloitte explores - "Claiming that
"millennials are millennials"
wherever they are in the world is
tantamount to blithely saying that
"customers are customers" the world
over."
Our strategy is based on the
premise that generations do not
compete with each other and each
generation has something unique to
offer, hence, the need to cultivate
"Ageless thinking". Our awareness
sessions therefore, are aimed at
sensitizing employees on intergenerational
inter-play,
the
importance of being sensitive to
different preferences and the need
to adopt different leadership styles
We have spent significant time in
profiling generations at Deutsche
Bank, how they differ across
countries and understanding their
unique expectations through our
annual employee survey.
Increasingly HR and businesses
is proactively reviewing practices
from a generational lens right from
the hiring practices, graduate
programs, benefits approach, worklife programs to job mobility,
opportunities for international
assignments,
and
the
communication platforms used by
the leaders. These discussions have
led to several 'generational work
groups" assigned with responsibility
to create business/ country specific
strategies. We have also set up "Junior
advisory boards" to involve Gen Y in
the decision making process.
The more we discuss this issue,
more we realize that in reality, our
efforts on generational diversity

complement our gender diversity
program. In nutshell, both require a
shift in the management styles,
recognition of different styles of
work, need to transition from
traditional linear career models to
more unconventional career tracks
and higher need for flexibility.
Pillar 3) Enabling inclusion:
Though our key focus areas are
gender, generations, we are equally
committed to other dimensions of
diversity like culture, sexual
orientation, disability.
The issue of culture is very
complex for Asia. There are
underlying dynamics of sub cultures
within countries. Our diversity
awareness sessions reinforced the
need of acknowledging culture as an
important diversity dimension. To
understand the culture dynamics, we
co-sponsored a research on
"Bringing out the best in Asian
talent". This highlights that Asian
employees working in multinational
firms operating in Asia, face serious
cultural challenges which sometimes
limit their career progression.

Though this report was focused on
China, Hong Kong and India, some
of the common challenges were lack
of leadership representation of Asian
employees at regional/global level,
Asians often feeling disempowered
to influence decision-making, less
direct communication style, lack of
proficiency in English. This research
highlights the need for managers to
be culturally sensitive and redefine
their leadership models.
Recognizing the need to develop
global managers and help them
effectively handle matrix/ cross
cultural teams, we designed a
blended curriculum on "Managing
in a global environment". This
curriculum is a combination of
classroom, e-learning sessions and a
number of advanced tools that
enable participants to understand
their own cultural profiles and a
comparison with the profiles of the
individuals they interact with.
Inclusion for us means an
environment of respect for all. The
importance of authenticity and
bringing one's whole selves to work

is reinforced through multiple forums.
However, we are also sensitive to
different levels of readiness of
countries on acknowledging issues
like sexual orientation as an important
dimension of diversity. Considering
the unique cultural nuances, we
recently sponsored a virtual LGBT
(lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender) network across APAC.
This network aims to promote a
productive work environment for all
LGBT employees and act as a support
group to each other.
That's been our diversity journey
so far. A journey which started with
more questions than answers,
continues to be so, only the
questions have changed and there
are more minds at work to find
answers. Today we are more
equipped to handle complexity and
magnitude, than ever before. Whilst
we know that we have got a way to
go and as a firm we are committed
to continue with this, till diversity
becomes a part of the way we do
HC
business, a part of our life!
June 2011
41
.................................................................................................................................
Why should evaluation begin only after the

training is over?
.................................................................................................................................
the
question of
pay
offs
42
June 2011
BY VIKRAM BECTOR
hy are you planning to get into a complex

return on investment or pay-back
calculation? If it is to 'justify your job' and
gain budgets for your favourite leadership
development program, one would have to
agree with Paul Kearns that you might be getting into
ROI evaluation for all the wrong reasons.
Is the objective of the ROI study to prove that a
specific learning intervention worked or is it to transform
the whole learning process and significantly raise the
probability of a learning investment providing a good
return? These are very different objectives. According to
Kearns, the justification objective generates substantial
amounts of bureaucracy in terms of reaction
questionnaires, tests, and observational surveys. In
contrast, the improvement objective increases the
likelihood that training will deliver the desired results.
The three box system

Paul Kearns has an extremely pragmatic approach to
ROI. His three box approach to classifying training
programs is a useful first step to ROI evaluation. Kearns
also offers a 5-step evaluation model, which is an extension
of the Kirkpatrick model. This is an

easy tool to check the level of
organizational commitment towards
learning. Think of any learning
intervention which you may have
worked on or are planning to launch
and attempt to classify them into
these three boxes.
BOX 1: 'Must Have': This box
includes all the mandatory training
programs that the employees must
undergo to stay compliant with legal
and ethical business requirements to
prevent potential litigation and
provide continuity of business. It is
the training needed for them to keep
their head above water. It is the
training which helps them cater to
the basic needs of all internal /
external customers.
The must have trainings create a
'Basic Value' that is required to
maintain a status quo or a minimum
standard in the organization. For
instance, Deloitte places great
emphasis mandatory training
programs for all new hires on
Professional
Independence
Standards, Ethics in Action,
Communication
Excellence,
Preventing workplace harassment,
Social media etiquette, privacy in
practice
and
independence
representation to name a few. As the
world's number one professional
services firm the organization expects
each individual to be a standard of
excellence and help the firm maintain
its stellar reputation.
Another example: In one of
Deloitte's businesses we hire
chartered accountants and train
them on the U.S. accounting
principles and tax laws. The cost that
goes into this training can be seen
the cost of doing business in India.
In our opinion, these kinds of
programs do not lend themselves to
an ROI evaluation because it is not
worth the ROI on ROI. The key
reason for this opinion is that these
kinds of training programs helps us
mitigate any risks in business or are
aimed at educating professionals in
an emerging area, where no
competence currently exists.
A test for this Box is to ask a
question, what would you do if the
trainees do not meet the required
standard on the training programs

listed under this box. If the answer
is that you will take strict action then
it can stay in Box 1, instead if you
feel they can carry on in their job
regardless, then it must be classified
in Box 2.
BOX 2: 'Added Value': This is the
box for training programs which
would enhance the capability of an
organization and facilitate a state of
future readiness. The training
programs mentioned in the figure
above show that these will directly
have a bearing on the ROI either in
terms of cost reduction, or in terms
of higher revenue or an
improvement in the product or
service. It is typically this type of
training that contributes to progress,
spark new ideas and improvements
in the organization.
Since this kind of training is
expected to have a direct correlation
to the bottom line of the business it
can be designed with the clarity of
pre-determined
criteria
for
evaluation. For instance, an
organization conducting TQM
Training came up with results such
as after 3 months of training, the
number of defects dropped to 80
units per day. For this they must
begin evaluating the data prior to
the training commencement and
compare the number of defects after
the training.
In another example, we observed
a 25% increase in sales by volume
and a 10 % increase in the order size
post an intensive negotiation skills
training program. So it is clear that
these kinds of programs lend
themselves to an ROI evaluation.
However, we need to be careful in
claiming credit for all the benefits.
In the above example, we discovered
that during the period of study a
new sales incentive scheme had been
launched and as a result, there were
probably two or more variables
responsible for an increase in sales.
Regardless of the number of
factors responsible for business
impact, it is important to recognise
that there has been an impact. The
ROI study then becomes a part of a
cycle of continuous improvement.
ENSURING LMS IMPACT

A Learning Management System (LMS)
manage all aspects of training by
automating and managing the
administration, management, delivery, and
end user experience of blended learning
programs. Here are 5 key tips to achieve
success from your LMS initiative.
Tip 1: Link employee development to
learning delivery
Development plans help employees expand
their skill sets to improve in their current
role, better prepare them for a future role of
interest (which is important in the context
of succession planning), or both. While
employee skill gaps are typically identified
during the performance assessment
process, the delivery of online learning
closes the gaps and helps the employee
become more proficient.
Tip 2: Align learning activities to business
objectives
The promise of integrated talent
management is improving alignment
between workforce activities and overall
business strategies and objectives. This
alignment is typically achieved through
performance management and goals.
However, to successfully execute this, it is
often the case that employees need
specific training to achieve their goals.
Tip 3: Maintain regulatory compliance
Learning management systems (LMS) are
an important mechanism for managing
compliance and certification training within
an organization. Without a central tracking
repository, and no way to report globally,
organizations can quickly fall out of
regulatory compliance.
Tip 4: Track learning effectiveness
throughout the organization
Within many organizations, there is no
systematic way to track the impact of
learning programs on organizational
outcomes. These outcomes may include
workforce productivity or even individual
performance.
Tip 5: Create seamless onboarding plan
for employees
An effective new hire orientation and onboarding program is essential to ensuring
the long-term success of new employees.
In fact, lack of an effective onboarding plan
can waste time and cause frustration early
in a new employees career within the
organization, which can lead to an early
engagement deficit or even increased
turnover.
By Rishi Rana is General Manager-India & APAC,
SumTotal Systems, Inc. www.sumtotalsystems.com
June 2011
43
BY VIKRAM BECTOR
Chief Learning Officer
Tata Motors Limited, Mumbai
Vikram has over 22 years of experience in
diverse business functions and
geographies. He has led the HR function,
led a corporate university and the talent
development function and has been in
frontline sales and sales management.
Vikram is an executive coach, credentialed
by the International Coach federation
(ICF) as an Associate Certified Coach
(ACC). Vikram has recently moved into
this role after serving as the CLO for
Deloitte U.S. India offices for two years.
He led the Satyam School of Leadership,
where he was responsible for developing a
pipeline of global leaders. He has worked
with the Aditya Birla Group at Mumbai.He
is very passionate about developing
leadership skills among children. His
interests include reading autobiographies,
trekking and yoga.
BOX 3: 'Nice to Have': Box 3 is

reserved for any training that is not
'must have' and where no one knows
its potential value in monetary
terms. It could also be called the
'take-it-or leave-it' box. Take the
example of team building. To put
teambuilding into Box 1 would
require an assessment of the team's
performance. In addition, managers
who could not build effective teams
would no longer be managers. To
put it into Box 2 someone would
have to describe what an effective
team could achieve, in monetary
terms. While it sits in Box 3 it is
more likely to be regarded as a 'fun'
event with some very indistinct aims
(for example, improved team
cohesion?.
The whole point of the three-box
system is to have a dialogue with
managers and trainees using a
common language. Everyone
involved in the learning activity must
agree which type of training it is and
accept the consequences. If the
managers and the trainees accept
that product knowledge is in Box 1,
they also have to accept a test to
check that the desired standard has
been reached. Their agreement to
this is a clear sign of their level of
personal commitment. In the same
way, if they are happy for it to fall
into Box 3 they are clearly signalling
very little, if any, commitment. The
three box system is a simple way to
establish and reinforce the right
attitudes
to
learning
and
consequently to ROI evaluation
In this example, we mentioned
only the participant and the manager.
However in a typical ROI evaluation
there could be over half a dozen
stakeholders such as the leader of
the function who will release the
resources for training, the finance
department, CEO, vendors involved
in training and evaluation etc. So we
recommend that an ROI evaluation
should not be attempted if all the
stakeholders are not aligned.
Extension of Kirkpatrick model

Paul Kearns presents an interesting
extension to the Kirkpatrick's
evaluation model which includes a
first phase referred by him as
44
June 2011
Baseline Level.
The original model of Kirkpatrick
mentions the importance of
measuring both pre and post training
measures. Paul, however, felt that in
practice people often ignored it. As
a result, establishing a Pre-training
Baseline Level specifies how the
proposed training would add value
and lay down specific and
measurable performance measures
for each trainee before the training
begins. Skipping this would make
organizations start the rest of the
process at the wrong stage and any
subsequent training will not then be
directly linked to the business impact.
For instance, at the time of writing
his article, one of Paul's clients, a
large communications organization,
was attempting to evaluate a
leadership program that will cost in
excess of $8 million per annum. The
client asked how they could evaluate
the leadership program, which had
already been designed and was being
run on a pilot basis before being
rolled out organization-wide. Using
Step 1 required that the client
articulate the value this program was
expected to add. As could be
expected, the initial answer to this
question was a vague reference to it
as helping the organization achieve
its strategic objectives including a
cultural change. Obviously, this was
not an adequate statement of
expected value. Furthermore, there
were no performance measures in
existence that assessed leadership,
other than a 360 instrument, which
was part of the program design.
Thus here was an all-too-common
scenario of an organization
embarking on a leadership
development program with no
means of gauging improved
leadership performance, before or
after the program, yet prepared to
incur significant costs with no clear
idea about how it will add value or
determine ROI.
The baseline assessment requires
having a clear answer on 'What does
your business need - more revenue,
lower costs, more productivity,
greater margins ? and these needs
must be translated into hard figures
so that all stakeholders have the same
START
THE LEARNING
CYCLE:
It starts and ends
with evaluation
development, its business impact,

will not be a problem if the whole
cycle is designed with this end in
mind. In this case, for example,
choosing to use sales figures one
month after launch as the main
criterion for success will close the
loop when these figures are available.
It would be disappointing if the target
figure was not achieved, but the
whole purpose of the learning cycle
is to learn from the experience
regardless of the actual results. This
just sets up the start of another turn
of the cycle.
Summary
understanding about how important

these objectives are and their relative
priority. So, a one point increase in
market share from 5 per cent to 6
per cent (a 20 per cent increase in
real terms) with existing sales of $10
million will be equivalent to an extra

$2 million in sales (assuming the total
market does not increase).3
The last phase of evaluation,
which is often viewed as the most
difficult aspect of training and
Training evaluation is a lot more

meaningful when all key stakeholders
are aligned and are able to establish
how the proposed training is to add
value to the organization and obtain
performance measures for each
trainee before training begins. This
enables trainers and stakeholders to
address known criteria throughout
the training and the evaluator(s) to
measure them subsequently to
HC
validate adequate ROI.
June 2011
45
make the
right
moves
BY ANAND DEWAN
ush sales strategy using

skilful communication
and persuasion developed
through rigorous training,
was extensively used in
the late 70's and early 80's by office
automation and door to door sales
organizations. In my personal
opinion it was very useful & very
relevant, however in those times &
for those products. In those times
we had product innovations like the
copier, water filter, air curtain, etc
which were basically new concepts
and customer did not have any
explicit need for them like he had
for a car/ scooter/telephone and
they were not required to be sold.
So we imported selling techniques
along with innovative products to sell
them as well. Most of these
techniques or sales programs
focused on developing seller's ability
to convert implicit need into explicit
need and bring purchase of that
product on the priority list of
customer.
46
June 2011
Over the years concepts became

necessity just like washing machine
became an integral part of a
household and no longer required
the push it required once upon a
time. However we saw emergence
of sunrise industries like telecom,
insurance, banking and finance which
were in urgent need for numbers to
expand operations thus generating
huge demand for talent. This
demand enabled migration of
stagnant talent from overcrowded
industries to sunrise industries. This
was a Win - Win situation for people
who migrated as well as companies
that got ready talent, talent that could
....................................................................................................................................
Financial services need to move from push to

pull strategy in acquiring customers by training
people on consultative sales process.
....................................................................................................................................
be unleashed on to the customers.

Yes I am saying unleashed & have
strong reasons to say so. Let me
explain: Talent in concept selling was
trained in Push sales strategy, very
useful for products having latent
need that required sales people to
skilfully establish explicit need for the
product and then bring the same on
priority to purchase. However, in
sunrise industry like telecom,
banking, insurance etc. explicit need
was always there. There was never a
necessity to create it. I am sure we
all recall the times when a telephone
connection was booked with an
expectation of three to five years
waiting period, a time where people
would distribute sweets once their
loan was passed by the bank, or our
parents reminding us to pick up an
insurance policy the moment we
came under the tax bracket.
So what happens when we use
the same skills to sell to a market
already having explicit needs? We get
tempted to make the most of it, we
don't achieve targets but we get used
to beating them. Year on year we
only see growth in numbers and all
seems to work absolutely well. Until
an old business saying "Anything that
is too good to be true will not last
long" comes true once again. Soon
customers realised that they were
being taken for a ride their explicit
need was being explosively exploited.
. Customer dissatisfaction was on the
rise, mis-selling became rampant.
But the party had to end. It got
over as the regulators took the reigns
of the industry. In the last three
years, in fact post the meltdown we
have seen regulators across the globe
come into action. And India was no
exception. So be it SEBI or the IRDA
or the RBI all are keeping a close
watch on this love-hate relationship
of customers and sellers of financial
products. The key question for
businesses in this industry is, would

we want to leave it to the regulator
alone to ensure customer satisfaction
or is there something that we too
can do. Well at end the answer is a
big yes!
Though the scope of yes is indeed
quite large, I will stay focused on
what training can and should do. First
things first it is high time we
differentiate between push sales vs.
pull sales & the skills required for
them being different.
Push Sales: Push Sales Strategy is
useful for products that do not have
clearly established explicit need,
where customers do not have
multiple choices or solutions to
address their need (irrespective of
implicit or explicit). Take for
example whether it's using
environment friendly construction
material, energy saving products or
closer home dish washers. If you
were to look closely they all require
fair amount of pushing before one
can convince a customer to buy.
Pull Sales: This strategy is useful
for markets where customers are
informed to well informed. They
have established explicit needs with
multiple choices to address them.
But require advice / consultation /
guidance before they can close in on
a best suited solution for them.
Examples are mobility solutions,
investment,
saving,
loans,
automobiles etc.
Hence there are no second
thoughts in my mind that its time to
go the consultative way when it
comes to financial services business.
So what is this consultative way and
how is it so different from how
people sell today.
Now this is very tempting one
for me, being certified in both the
methodologies. So let me make an
attempt to build a case of later in
financial services.
June 2011
47
Consultative sales
ANAND DEWAN
Sr. VP Sales & Management
Development Training
Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life
Insurance Limited
Dewan is responsible for ensuring that the
investments in training are optimized and
training strategy is aligned with current
and future business needs. He is also
working with his team to develop
customized and real-time training
solutions to impact business objectives.
Dewan is a Certified Training &
Development Expert from Raytheon
Arlington Texas with a rich experience of
18 years. Before Kotak Life Insurance, he
worked in the capacity of Vice President,
Talent Transformation at Reliance Retail.
he has trained people in a host of diverse
organizations like Coca Cola, Microsoft,
American Express, Merrill Lynch and India
Today. In the financial services space, he
has been associated with ABN Amro Bank
and Citibank as a Training & Development
Consultant. Apart from the financial
services industry, Mr. Dewan has also
worked in the office automation, telecom
and consulting sectors.
48
June 2011
Consultative sales process at the core

starts with the focus on customer
rather than seller. Along with Skills,
it requires a high degree of focus on
reorienting ones belief. A belief that
has customer at the centre and this
is reflected right from the way this
process defines sales to the key
principles of CSP.
Selling as per CSP is defined as
"Identifying the needs of a potential
customer and satisfying those needs
a through win-win situation".
According to CSP philosophy there
are three key ingredients in a sales
interaction need, buying power &
confidence. The sale can not happen
in case any one is missing. If one
were to observe most sales calls in
context of Financial Products, they
have the initial two key ingredients
very clearly present need and buying
power however to generate
confidence is key to success but often
missing. Confidence whether this is
the right person / company to buy
from? Can I trust them to give me
the right solution? Are there better
products in the market? Have they
understood my needs correctly?
With such uncertainty customer
either ends up taking a bold decision
of buying and experimenting himself
or delays his/her decision, which
happens quite often. This is reflected
in the conversion ratio in this
industry where one has to meet 10
prospective customers before
making a single sale. Unfortunately
confidence is something we cannot
ask open question about. E.g. we
cannot ask "Mr. Customer are you
confident about my commitment to
this sale?" I am sure such a question
would be close to impossible for
many front line sales professionals
to ask a prospective customer.
So how does one really focus on

building customer confidence?
Amongst other things what one
needs to do is to know and
understand your product market,
what you have to offer and
understand yourself as well as you
can. At the same time one needs to
do a similar exercise with
understanding the customer. This is
also referred as 8+1 model. What this
essentially leads to is a more
informed and knowledgeable sales
professional one who does not keep
telling every customer how he has
an excellent product for them. This
"we-have-a-good-product" record is
played without even knowing the full
name of the customer leave alone
understanding customer needs. At
this point I must remind readers to
pause for a moment and step back.
Imagine a conversation with a
specialist doctor who would have a
series of questions even before
remotely suggesting next course of
action. Now that's a professional
isn't it? on the other hand if one
were to recall any of our last
conversation with sales professional
from financial industry I am sure
you wouldn't want me to get into
more details that this .. need I say
more?
This is easier said than done. Like
I shared earlier, CSP is about
reorientation of one's belief towards
profession of selling. A strong belief
that my role is to enable my
customers in making a right choice
for them.
Let me share with you a case
study of how we went about
implementing CSP @ Kotak.
As first step in this direction we
handpicked set of 200 hundred
people whom we identified as change
agents across the organization.
Increase in Productivity
3 months
Post Program
6 months
Post Program
Average Orders Per Month
15%
46%
Average Size of Orders
35%
205%
Performance was not the only criteria for their selection.

In fact it was the lowest rated amongst the parameters.
So what did we look at? We checked their sales
orientation, profile of customers they interact with,
current level of knowledge and experience. Post that
we put them through rigorous training on knowledge
which was not restricted to not only our products but
also knowledge that was more holistic in nature. This
was knowledge that would make them semi- experts if
not experts on the subject, irrespective of any specific
area that's connected to their day to day work. This
helped them to see the complete picture. Post this they
were put through a special session connecting
knowledge to implementation. As part of this session
they were explained how each of the topic covered in
knowledge session relates to their day to day customer
interaction.
For example if the participants have understood the
importance of portfolio rebalancing how will they use
it in proposing it as a solution to the customer? Post
this they were given dummy case studies to work on in
class which helped us take a stock of knowledge transfer.
Now came the time to take the ship in to the sea for
which we used a coaching methodology. Each of the
participants had to send 10 live customer case studies
of developing financial solution based on methodology
taught to them.
Once these were analysed by the program
management team they were awarded certification for
the same. Out 200 potential agents 169 got certified.
Did this exercise impact the business?... Yes, and in a
very positive way. Let us see what the numbers say.
To measure business impact we captured their three
months performance prior to the program covering
volume, conversation, quality of business and on same
parameters we monitored them post three and six
months after the program. Here are the numbers.
As part of the certification process, a team of people
had to interact with random customers of the trained
team members. Here's a snippet of what they had to
say about our sales professionals who were CSP trained
(officially I cannot share the details of feedback)
They were more focused on achieving an overall

Win-Win situation as against most that I have
experienced who focus on their win.
They created a sense of confidence based on their

knowledge and preparedness for the meeting.
They could help me identifying & clarify my needs

and understood them very well
I can definitely say they helped me make a choice

and not pushed me into one supporting the customer
It's imperative to remember that in financial services
product the customer is not only investing his money,
but also his trust and faith in the sales person and in
the company. I have said it once and I will say it again
(and again) that Consultative Selling is the need of the
hour. But I must highlight that not just a skill, but a reorientation of a strong belief that what is good for
HC
customer is good for the company.
June 2011
49
BY AMRITA BHALLA
he Oberoi Hotel Group was

formed in 1934 and has
maintained a leadership
role in the hotel industry in
India and Asia ever since.
The need to maintain this role and a
market position based on excellent,
memorable and some say simply
astounding levels of guest service led
the late Founder Chairman Rai
Bahadur M.S. Oberoi, to establish in
1966, the company's own internal
training and education centre. This
initiative was designed to provide a
capable and reliable group of young
executives whose performance could

be predicted and directed to the
benefit of the Group's guests so that
standards could be maintained and
enhanced. It was also partly a
strategic move to support the
Group's growth by generating a
stream of young talent; eager and
very able to meet the challenges of
defending and improving on the
Group's market position.
When The Oberoi School of Hotel
Management (OSHM), was opened
in 1966 there were very few such
institutions anywhere in the world,
especially when looking beyond
Switzerland and North America.
There were technical training schools
but nothing with the curriculum,

structured approach, managerial
orientation and deep corporate
commitment that OSHM enjoyed.
The Founding Chairman recognised
very early in his career that hotel
buildings were just that, buildings. It
was the people serving in those
buildings that gave them life,
character and, in today's terms,
competitive advantage.
In 1996, in further recognition of
the role of professionally designed
and delivered undergraduate, post
graduate
and
professional
development courses, the name of
The OSHMwas changed to The
Oberoi Centre of Learning and
training to support
market leadership
50
June 2011
.........................................................................................................................................................
To meet the learning needs of current and future

employees, the Oberoi Hotel Group is evolving its
learning mediums with an interesting blended learning
approach to include e-learning, classroom and
experiential learning.
.........................................................................................................................................................
Development (OCLD). OCLD and

OSHM before it did not just train
young people in the myriad details
that must be addressed to achieve a
truly remarkable level of guest
service. These institutions acted as
the conduit to transfer corporate
culture, company values and
philosophy. The current Chairman
of the Oberoi Group and its listed
parent EIH Limited Mr PRS Oberoi
has been deeply involved in the
strategies, operation and student
recruitment at OCLD. Most executive
chefs and top executives in The
Oberoi Group are OCLD graduates.
The Oberoi Group refers to these
key characteristics of their
organization and way of doing
business as their Dharma. This group
philosophy was formulated as a result
of
internal
meetings
and
consultations. Oberoi has always had
a strong culture and respect for the
Founder and all members of the
Oberoi family have been hallmark of
the Company's culture. This respect
is based largely on the vision,
leadership, "hands on" management,
hard work and tangible shared
success of the Founding Chairman,
the current Chairman, his son
Vikram and nephew Arjun.
The Oberoi Dharma includes the
following guiding principles:
Conduct which is of the highest

ethical standard.
Conduct which builds and

maintains teamwork, with mutual
trust as the basis of all working
relationships.
Conduct which puts the customer

first, the Company second and the
self last.
Conduct, which exemplifies care

for
the
customer
through
anticipation of need, attention to
detail, excellence, aesthetics and style
and respect for privacy, along with
warmth and concern.
Conduct which demonstrates that

people are our key asset and that
communication should be two-way.
Conduct which at all times

safeguards the safety, security, health
and environment of our customers,
employees and the assets of the
Company.
Conduct which rejects the shortterm quick fix for the long-term
establishment of a healthy precedent.
These principles are not imposed
from the top down but are
acknowledged by new employees as
a result of internal orientation and
education, with some peer pressure.
The people of The Oberoi Group take
the Oberoi Dharma seriously. For
many people living in a society where
such principles are not always
apparent, the Dharma is the main
reason why they join the Company.
A knowledge of and commitment to
the Oberoi Dharma is just as
important as proficiency in technical
skills required to deliver the unique
style of service, for which the Group
is renowned around the world.
Does this make the Oberoi Group
a learning organization? If you
consider a learning organization to
be one in which, "employees
continually create, acquire, and
transfer knowledge" and in doing so
help their organization to adapt to
change, especially unpredictable
disruptive change, faster than their
competition, then the Oberoi Group
definitely qualifies.
Today OCLD is a small but elite
centre of learning that covers all
aspects of hotel operations,
management and marketing. Today,
most senior managers - Vice
Presidents, Corporate Directors and
70% of General Managers at The
Oberoi Group (Oberoi Hotels and
Resorts and Trident Hotels) are
graduates of OCLD. A substantial
group of students in training and
graduates are running restaurants,
kitchens, housekeeping departments
and lobbies of hotels operated by
The Oberoi Group, and growing into
the next level of their careers. OCLD
enjoys the full support, commitment
and involvement of Mr. Oberoi, and
the entire management team.
Oberoi Hotels and resorts and
Trident Hotels have been renowned
for over 70 years for providing a
level of guest service which is
exceptional. This high standard of
guest service is the basis of the
Group's competitive advantage and
drives each hotels bottom line on a
day to day, week to week and month
to month basis. There are now very
high expectations on the part of
returning and first time guests. In
this sense, the training and education
delivered consistently over many
years by OCLD provides not just
operational training but also forms a
solid platform from which the Group
can market its various services.
The approach
OCLD has a modern very well
equipped centre located at the site
of The Maidens Hotel, Delhi in India.
The Associates (as the executive
June 2011
51

trainees are designated) are based at
the Centre for two years under the
close supervision and mentorshipof
a dedicated faculty who use
interactive methods of teaching,
learning and assessment to develop
the Associates both personally and
professionally. Of the academic
members of Faculty at OCLD, 50%
are graduates of the Centre and
most have additional academic
qualifications and extensive hands on
practical experience.
Programme structure
AMRITA BHALLA
Executive VP - HR
Oberoi Group
Amrita Bhalla is responsible for The

Group's global HR function including the
Oberoi Centre of Learning and
Development. She has rich experience in
global HR. Most recently, Amrita was the
Director, Recruitment and Development
for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts,
based at their Corporate Office in Toronto,
Canada. She has worked with
Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Lewis
Companies Inc., a boutique executive
search firm based in Toronto, Canada.
Her areas of expertise include HR strategy
and technology, organisational
development, performance management,
recruitment, learning, compensation and
employee relations. She graduated from
Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
with a Masters degree in IR & HRM. She
has also obtained the Global Professional
in Human Resources (GPHR)
certification.
52
June 2011
The programmes are divided into

three stages, each of which has 14
weeks of theory and practice at
OCLD followed by a lengthy period
of professional experience at hotels
and resorts operated by The Oberoi
Group. Associates come from diverse
backgrounds: university graduates;
hotel management; overseas
education or prior work experience.
The Associates work on their
individual attributes motivations and
behaviour with help from the Faculty.
This unique component rounds off
their 'journey of personal and
professional development'.
Knowledge of a third language
(other than the mother tongue and
English) is an important asset for
hotel professionals. To this end, our
Associates can choose a language
elective to study throughout their two
years. The options include French,
German and Spanish.
Alternating with their stints at
OCLD, the Associates have three
blocks of structured and supervised
professional experience for a total
of 52 weeks spread over 2 years.
Since most of The Oberoi Group's
senior executives are OCLD
graduates themselves, there is a great
willingness to mentor, teach and
facilitate learning.
Programme objectives
The ultimate test of whether the
training, education and program of
practical experience havebeen
effective is whether graduates can
meet the following objectives:
Perform effectively and efficiently

in the core departments in hotels of
The Oberoi Group.
Recognise and differentiate

between various issues, concepts,
theories and patterns of data.
Demonstrate team leadership

competencies relevant to core
departments in The Oberoi Group.
Understand and apply subject

knowledge and skills.
Take charge, plan and control

various available resources to achieve
department and organization's
objectives. This includes integrating
creative thinking and ideas.
Evaluate and monitor progress

towards achieving complex personal
and professional goals and
objectives.
Awareness of their role in the

community and support of local
social and environmental needs.
Curriculum and training design

OCLD follows a robust and
systematic curriculum with equal
emphasis on academic learning and
practical training in the authentic and
demanding
environment
of
operating hotels. Modern and
current teaching and learning
methodology and mechanisms for
assuring quality throughout the
program have been adopted and
implemented. For example, students
are assigned a series of complex
Food and Beverage projects where
they integrate their operational
knowledge and skills with insights
into planning, organizing, control,
marketing, sales, information
technology,
accounting,
communication and teamwork. In
addition, students are coached and
mentored on their individual
attributes, motivations and behavior.
Recruitment and selection

The recruitment process is complex
and involves all The Oberoi Group's
hotels and resorts in India. In
recruiting Associates for OCLD, one
of the key qualities we look for is a
'service ethic'. We need people who
can demonstrate that they have a
passion for helping people, for
solving their problems, for
anticipating their needs, for
exceeding their expectations and for
delighting and 'wowing' guests.
People who have the service ethic at
their core are able to deal with

situations with confidence and the
correct degree of assertiveness. They
can turn a negative encounter into
something positive. We are in the
search of those candidates who
understand that 'service' does not
mean 'servant', that being a service
provider enables you to touch
people's lives in a positive way and
that enormous job satisfaction can
be derived through such interactions.
The role and function of OCLD is
to develop talented young people to
become executives within The Oberoi
Group, and as they contribute to the
growth and development of the
Company, as they also grow and
develop in their careers. Hence our
first selection criteria is to look for
people who have the right attitude,
determination and motivation,
tempered with pragmatism and
realistic ambitions. After that we look
for people who have the potential to
become senior managers with the
Company, we are looking for the
General Managers, Executive
Housekeepers and Executive Chefs
of tomorrow. We look for people to

whom we can entrust our most
precious asset: the 'Oberoi' brand.
Systematic Training and

Education Programmes (STEP)
The STEP programme, originally
begun in 2004 by our current
Chairman Mr PRS Oberoi, is
managed by The Oberoi Centre of
Learning and Development (OCLD)
and conducted in hotels within The
Oberoi Group. The STEP programme
is for students who are between 17
and 20 years of age and have
successfully completed, or are
completing, Class XII and who are
interested in the hotel business.
It is three years in length and
offers practical, comprehensive, and
systematic training in hotel
operations running in parallel with a
distance-learning education course
that leads to a degree of Bachelor of
Tourism Studies (BTS) from the
Indira Gandhi National Open
University
(IGNOU).
This
combination of training and
education offers a meaningful

alternative to qualifying through an
institute of hotel management.
Applicants have two choices: The
Hotel Operations Programme,
which consists of Food and
Beverage, Front Office and
Housekeeping; and the Kitchen
Operations Programme involving
training in Indian and some Western
and Asian techniques together with
specialist operations such as bakery,
pastry and cold kitchen.
While OCLDs mission remains
constant, the techniques used to
achieve that mission and associated
outcomes have evolved. Technology
is playing a greater part as is the
need to adapt to the preferences and
learning styles of technologically
savvy "Generation Y", with their own
ideas about how they want to learn.
To meet the learning needs of our
current and future employees, the
Company is committed to evolving
learning mediums with a blended
learning approach to include elearning, classroom and experiential
HC
learning.
June 2011
53
BY RAJIV BURMAN
ife insurance is a customerfacing industry. Therefore,

there is a need to stay on a
constant learning curve to
adapt to the dynamic
services environment and customer
needs as well meet individual and
organizational goals. Learning and
development at Max New York Life
(MNYL) is categorized into employee
and agents training.
Agency is the biggest distribution
channel in the organization and there
is very sharp focus on training over
4000 front line employees in the team
as well as agent advisors who are the
end-distributors of our products to
the customer. For all categories of
employees and agents, structured
learning roadmaps are defined that
correspond to a set of training
programs. These training programs
have specific objectives to meet
knowledge and skill levels pertaining
to insurance domain, insurance
selling, sales management and
company's products. Customized
induction and ongoing training
programs are conducted to meet the
training needs of both employees and
training
At an organizational level, we
have mapped employee learning
54
June 2011
training for
needs to their roles and organization
learning needs. Employees undergo
training in various stages that include
Induction, Domain/Function training
and leadership development spread
staggered over 12-18 months. We
ensure that all employees get 4
unique mandays of training.
Learning needs of every
employee are mapped to their
specific roles. Our front line sales
team undergoes training based on
results of gap analysis identified

between relevant and existing
competencies and the strategic
business goals of the organization.
We also create training programs
based on emerging needs in
insurance and ensure learning
opportunities to keep employees and
our sales teams updated with trends
and relevant skill needs of the
industry. There is strong focus on
both functional and behavioral skills
skills and product orientation targeted

at sales managers. Most of our
training programs are conducted
inhouse and varies in duration
depending on the specific needs.
For our experienced agent
advisors, we have introduced several
new programs like Career For Life,
Certified Retirement Planner and
Client Portfolio Management. For
our employees, we have introduced
My Development Dose, Professional
Patterns of Management and a series
of leadership development programs
- across levels - with an objective to
create leadership competence and a
pipeline of managers ready to take
on higher positions of responsibility.
profits
during training.
360 degree learning approach

Training programs range from
developing functional competence to
developing skills to manage and lead
teams. Frontline sales force are
trained on High Performance
Behaviors like Influence, Customer
Focus,
Concept
formation,
Proactivity which we feel are critical
to run a large complex business like
..............................................................................................
Front line sales training in Max New York Life

is an industry benchmark today. Sharp focus
on training for new agents has allowed the
organization to create a more productive and
effective agent force.
..............................................................................................
ours effectively. The intervention is

holistic and includes experiential
workshop followed by action projects
where participants have to apply
their learning's on the job and
demonstrate the impact of the same
to Graduating from the course.
During the entire course participants
are engaged using Group Coaching
and Learning Community connects.
This is complemented by
extensive training for our agentadvisors who are the real front line
face of the company to most
customers. The programs are
designed after a thorough need
analysis and range from basic
induction to continuous knowledge
and skill development. In the first
year of agent-advisor joining the
organization, he/she is expected to
attend more than 250 hours of
training. This extensive training
program focuses on laying a strong
foundation on insurance, product
portfolio and nuances of selling.
For experienced agent-advisors,
we have special programs that build
on the foundation and the experience
of the agent-advisors. These
programs focus on strengthening
agency career, advance selling skills
that include targeting niche customer
segments and helping customers
manage
their
portfolio
of
investments. For example, Client
Portfolio Management is a 3-month
specialized program for experienced
agent advisors that equips them with
strong functional expertise and helps
build long-term credible relationships
with customers through effective
portfolio management.
Different learning interventions
have been identified for our sales
team across various management
levels. We use a variety of mediums
that includes classroom and
experiential learning activities to
ensure continuous competency
development. For junior management and middle management, we
several structured classroom/
experiential learning interventions.
This is complemented by Just-InTime need-based learning programs.
For example, we have recently
introduced a program called
'Professional Patterns of Management' that focuses on building a
competent and healthy agency for
Sales Managers and Associate
Partners. The training program has
10 modules to be covered in 6 months
and involves self-paced learning. 'My
Development Dose' is an ongoing
monthly training program focused
on sales management, recruitment
June 2011
55
Driving learning effectiveness
RAJIV BURMAN
Senior Director & Chief People Officer
Max New York Life Insurance
Rajiv Burman is Senior Director & Chief
People Officer at Max New York Life
Insurance. He is responsible for
developing and implementing successful
Human Resources strategies that support
long term growth and transformation of
the organization. Rajiv is a post graduate
from Xavier Labor Relations Institute,
Jamshedpur and carries a rich experience
across diverse sectors of HR. He has
worked for companies like Griffith,
Accenture and American Express at
country and global HQ level. Prior to
joining Max New York life in his
assignment at Jubilant Life Sciences, he
designed a North American HR
Integration Strategy to improve employee
engagement, attraction and retention of
high performing talent. Rajiv is known for
his ability to design, implement, review
and monitor effective People Strategies to
achieve business outcomes.
56
June 2011
The focus is on driving holistic

training. There is strong emphasis on
the insurance domain and the Max
New York Life portfolio of products.
However functional training and
focus
development
of
key
behavioural competencies of both
employees and agents is considered
equally relevant to the learning needs
of the organization to meet longterm business goals. We include
modules on selling skills, sales
management, products in addition
to development of key behavioral
attributes like communication,
interpersonal skills, among others. A
gap analysis of existing skills with
relevant skills for a role helps us
identify learning needs and devise
appropriate learning interventions.
For front line sales executives, we
look at a combination of inhouse
training through experts and
consultations and external training
in leadership development from
leading management institutes and
consultants. For our agent-advisors,
all training is done in-house by
Agency trainers on the payroll of the
company, who receive specialized
training for the role. A formalized
approach based on train-the-trainer
focus ensures that we are able to
deliver high value training and keep
the organization on a high growth
learning curve.
MNYL is a performance driven
organization and we believe that
professional enhancement has strong
positive correction with individual
productivity and organizational
performance. Our commitment to
learning and development of our
employees is our organizational
commitment and a strategic
differentiator. The training programs
contribute to professional growth of
the employees in terms of building
and honing functional, behavioral
and leadership competence. MNYL
measures the effectiveness of its
programs by checking their impact
on key business parameters and
productivity standards.
Our strong focus on front lines
sales training and training of agent
advisors have helped Max New York
Life create a successful and admired
life insurance organization in the last

decade. Our strong sales force and
agency distribution, which is our
primary distribution channel, has
helped us garner a customer base of
over 48 lakh policy holders and offer
a life cover of Rs 140,000 crore.
Impact
Front line sales training in Max New
York Life is an industry benchmark
today. Our sharp focus on training
for new agents allows us to create a
more productive and effective agent
force. Success rate in mandatory life
insurance examination has seen an
upward trend in the last one year at
85% in 2010 from 80% in 2009. This
is also significantly higher than the
industry average of 55-60%. This
allows us to create incremental
returns on our training investments
at the earliest.
Our 2-month training program is
an industry benchmark. This has
helped us increase our front lines
sales from retention significantly in
the last one year and create a more
productive sales force. A structured
approach ensures that a sales
manager works closely with the agent
team to ensure right-selling and sell
to customer needs.
Knowledge
and
people
development is core to our long term
growth strategy. The future of life
insurance clearly belongs to the
CUSTOMER. The evolving industry
environment drives customer
centricity and enhances the
consumer value proposition in life
insurance. In a changing regulator
environment front line sales training
and agent training will play a key
role in driving need based selling and
enhancing the role of the agent to
drive better value for both the
customer and Max New York Life.
We will continue to invest in people
development across all levels in the
company to help our drive the next
phase of growth.
Max New York Life has over 8000
employees. Given our strong focus
on agency as a primary distribution
channel, we have over 450 dedicated
trainers who train both external
agents as well as our internal
HC
employees.
June 2011
57
enabling business
through learning
.........................................................................................................................................................
The HR function has finally evolved from supporting

to enablingbusiness.. and so has learning.
.........................................................................................................................................................
BY ANJALI CHATTERJEE
hose days are pass when

HR had to set a standard
classroom training calendar
for all training, based on
what
the
employees
mentioned in their Performance
appraisal Forms. While classroom
training still continues to be a good
methodology for many learning
sessions, especially skill based
learning, a significant amount of
memory loss occurs within the first
few of hours after being exposed to
new information. Hence the overall
impact is pretty much dissolved. Also
in today's competitive and a very
vibrant environment we need to
enable learning through innovative
means that enable the employees to
learn and more importantly apply
these learning's to achieve Business
Goals. Here, Kolb's model is
particularly useful, since it offers, a
way to understand individual people's
different learning styles, ie Concrete
Experience, Reflective Observation,
abstract Conceptualization and active
58
June 2011
Experimentation. Based on this

model, organizations can plan their
content / learning styles to the target
segment and not just apply to every
content.
My colleague also reminded me

of the 70:20:10 rule. About 70 per
cent of organizational learning takes
place on the job, through solving
problems and through special
assignments and other day-to-day

activities."Another 20 per cent occurs
through drawing on the knowledge
of others in the workplace, from
informal learning, from coaching
and mentoring, and from support
and direction from managers and
colleagues. Only 10 per cent occurs
through formal learning, whether
classroom, workshop or, more
recently, e-learning. But most
organizations invest at least 80 per
cent of their training budgets in
formal learning, where little of the
learning takes place. And formal
learning is also generally less effective
than informal learning. So the need
to formalize the informal learning is
definitely the need of the hour and
it is gaining rapid momentum
We felt the need to innovate the
learning styles in our organization,
since we were dealing with a Global
Enterprise Sales force team whose
individual productivity was extremely
high. Their ability to sit through 3
days of "lecture" was pretty low, and
more so since the International team
were distributed across many
locations globally. This would also
have put pressure on the Travel costs.
So
the
following
learning
methodologies that have been
introduced in a phased manner,
across different sets of employees
have given with some excellent
feedback and amazing results
evident.
Bite sized modules: We recently
started training the sales team in this
new format. So instead of making
them sit through 2-3 days tied to a
class room - we just gave them 7590 minutes of session each week, for
about 10- 11 weeks . The best part
about this was that after each
module, they went back to their job
and actually implemented that ONE
thing they learnt and came back the
following week with their inputs. Its
important to note that learning
happens best when there is a clear
use of a concept very near to the
learning intervention. At the end of
the 11 weeks the leaders are very
optimistic about the overall outcome
of being able to show a better sales
pipeline for the participant at the
end of 2 quarters. Here care had to
be taken to ensure that the content

is completely customized and we
execute the sessions flawlessly .
Cross functional projects and
assignments: One of the most
effective ways for learning is for
employees to be involved in business
led CFP'. Here while they bring in
their own expertise, their learning's
on collaborating, leading and
managing the project is very high.
They also get to look at a larger
picture, plus they get noticed in the
organization maze. We used this to
develop some of our senior
management teams and along with
the business benefits, the incumbents
got more avenues of growth and it
also increased his visibility across the
organization. Cross functional
projects and short / medium term
assignments also help t build greater
appreciation of different roles while
at the same time developing new
dimensions to the role. The
participant also get to work under
different circumstances, cultures and
this becomes a valuable part of the
overall learning and grooming.
While managing such a learning
intervention, special focus needs to
be on (1) Clear deliverables defined
(1) Regular reviews of the project.
Mentors and coaches: One of the
best ways to develop leadership.
There is a definite difference
between a mentor and a coach. A
mentor serves a very important role
for you; they do indeed open doors
and tell you where the landmines
are. They check in with you from
time to time, and you should check
in with them. What can be a better
way than to learn from a mentor,
and someone we look up to. The
learnings are based on real life
experiences. It helps in career
growth and succession planning and
also for grooming employees to fill
key roles. It provides an avenue for
employees to find resources and
answers to problems and empowers
them to resolve their problems
themselves.
Seeking out a coach, however, is
more important. Your coach watches
your progress and makes course
corrections. The types of coaches
you need may vary based on the
ANJALI CHATTERJEE
Vice President - Human Resources
Tata Communications Ltd
Anjali is heading HR for the company;s
Global Data and Mobility Business Unit,
based out of Mumbai. She has over 20
years of HR experience across
consumer durables, consulting,
hospitality & services and telecom. Her
previous experience has been with
companies like Zip Telecom, Jet Airways,
LG Electronics, and ABC Consultants.
Her understanding of different cultures
and talent profiles helps her in a deeper
understanding of the overall work force
behaviors and responsiveness to
interventions. Though she has managed
roles in talent acquisition, talent
management & development and
business HR, it is talent and organization
development that is closest to her heart.
June 2011
59
Why Mobile Learning

is the next big thing
Most effective and accepted forms of
learning (listen, observe, question,
imitate, repeat, try, estimate,..) are all very
well supported by Mobile Phones.
Mobile subscriber base in India alone

is 811 million by March 2011 and is
projected to cross 1 billion in 2014.
Mobile broadband to cross 100 million
3G subscribers in 2015.
Post-recession companies have

become more thoughtful of their
investments in training & development;
and have been keen on unleashing the
power of informal learning.
Social communication and

collaboration combined together as
informal learning has become a more
widely recognised and distinct discipline.
With number of Tablets hitting the

market each day, and given their larger
than smartphone form factor & screen
size but less bulky/expensive than
desktop/laptop indicates more adoption
and significant development of on-thego learning culture.
Videos, podcasts, collaborative

online writing, on-the-movement
research, group learning, conversational
language learning, mobile social network,
mobile blogging, gaming have all being
accepted as part of learning &
development and all are very well
supported by Mobile Phones.
Businesses today seek Smartphone's

aid for performance support.
With more than half the workforce on

field by industry standards, mobile offers
just-in-time information for performance,
development, support, safety.
Mobile learning offers maximum ROI

for learning & development investments
with low costs comparative to classroom
and e-learning mode.
Time-pressed employees, on-themove students most prefer mobile to

enhance their skills/knowledge when
they are curious & receptive.
By Kinjal Vora, Marketing Head, Deltecs InfoTech
(www.deltecs.com), an organisation operating in
enterprise mobility space with special focus on learning
and executive training.
60
June 2011
particular challenges that you are

facing.. A coach needs to be tough,
and you need to listen. A coach
might be internal, external or
someone you hire. Your coach may
be a family member, a colleague
from a professional organization or
even your boss.
Coaches and experts are best
used for aiding senior and top
management. In fact we put about
15 senior management team within
the Business through a mix of
coaching sessions, which were lead
by leadership experts and coupled
with that mentoring sessions, where
we chose mentors from within the
company. This combination did
create a flur in the short term, but
in about 10-12 months of focus, the
actual results began to show up. I
have to say that the actual outcome
was different for different people.
Some did show great turn-around,
while some average. But its definitely
worth the investment of time and
resource.
Social media, community blogs ,
wiki's and mobile performance
tools are here to stay: With the GenY
employees, organizations cannot
afford to miss out on these learning
tools. The impact of social media,
social networking and Web 2.0 tools
on the Internet, organizations and
individuals is well-documented. A
social networking platform is a tool
that lets participants collaborate
online. With Internet and social sites
continuing to grow, the future of
learning will vest highly with these
tools. And remember that GenY is
used to this since a lot of time at
home and in colleges is spent on
social media and also on mobile
tools. And its just not mobile phones,
buy mp3 players, smart phones and
portable gaming devices which will
show high growth. So this definitely
is the way forward
Simulation and gaming refers to
tools that use elements from
simulation and gaming. Simulation
and Gaming can be done with board
games, computer assisted board
games, or fully computerized
environments. A simulation is a
replica of reality, and it enables
participants to learn through
interactive experiences. Its therefore

useful in complex environments and
also where data is unavailable and
incomplete. Also useful in situations
where problems are unfamiliar .They
are highly experimental and promote
creativity among participants . They
tend to produce a more integrated
view of the broader context and also
promote individual discovery in
learning from the learner's own
perspective . With a simulation, you
create a safe environment in which
people can experiment with learning
a new skill or seeing how they
operate. There are two critical pieces
to the simulation: (1) Creating a safe
environment in which people can
work. No one can learn if they feel
unsafe. 92) Debriefing the simulation.
If you don't debrief, you can't tell
what you learned.
What I love about simulationbased training is that people are
never wrong. Whatever happens in
the simulation reflects their reality.
Because people recreate their
behaviors in the simulation, they
(and the instructor!) get immediate
feedback on what happens in their
worklife.
Interactive e-learning is a critical
piece of the entire online training
world, along with short Videos which
is very effective. After all, people are
used to gathering information and
being entertained by 2-3 minute clips
on YouTube. These short video
courses are perfect for our busy and
hectic work environments. The short
length of the videos fits into
schedules easier, and many
employees find the ability to "watch
instantly" the content they want to
make learning more effective than
traditional "classroom styled
training." These videos can be standalone training pieces, or a series for
use in classroom sessions,
Collaborative learning" refers to
an instruction method in which
learners at various performance
levels work together in small groups
and here the learners are responsible
for one another's learning as well as
their own. Thus, the success of one
learner helps other students to be
successful. The active exchange of
ideas within small groups not only
increases interest among the

participants but also promotes critical
thinking.
Some areas we took great care of
in all of the above methodologies to
ensure business outcomes are:
1. Flawless execution of the learning
sessions. Its important to project
manage and drive this through
effectively, since it involves a very
high level of planning, follow through
multiple sessions and regular
feedback and impact analysis. A fair
amount of course correction was
required.
2. Quality of content, interactions
and the audio/videos to be top of
the class for the interactive modules.
It needs to attract the learner and
keep them glued
The fundamental purpose of
learning and development is to help
employees develop skills which, when
applied to work, enhance job and
organizational performance. While
this is widely acknowledged, how we
measure the success of learning is
not often in alignment with this idea.
In fact, popular models for evaluating
learning and development has many

"levels" devoted to measuring
learning outcomes, and 1-2
measuring performance outcomes.
This focus on learning outcomes,
rather than performance outcomes,
has also influenced how learning has
been designed and delivered for most
of our industry's history. By focusing
on business results, realigning
resources to support on-the-job
learning and making formal learning
more efficient, organizations can
deliver
greater
impact
on
organizational objectives.
The main factor that can have an
impact on performance is the extent
to which the participant is given the
opportunity to use the learnings and
perform trained tasks on the job. So
for example, If I decide to learn
Japanese language and however well
I study and get good grades, if I do
not practice it regularly, it will be
soon forgotten. The opportunity to
perform trained tasks can be
conceptualized as in three
dimensions: i.e., breadth, activity
level, and type of tasks performed
and these are related to supervisory

attitudes and workgroup support as
well as the participant's self-efficacy
and cognitive ability.
One of the most important
change that needs to take place for
better organization impact is to make
Leaders at all levels take responsibility
for the development of their teams
and drive the learning's and
applications. After all people
development is a very critical part of
a leadership function. Championing
and focusing on the development of
people allows leaders to better meet
organizational needs, to be more
efficient, and give them greater
satisfaction in their job.
Finally, there are three other
strategic steps that can assist in
helping organizations move toward
training effectiveness:
1. Focus on business results impact
rather than learning impact
2. Realign resources to support
innovative learning methodologies
and performance.
3. Formalize informal learnings and
make them efficient & tactical. HC
June 2011
61
for learning
culture is key
......................................................................................................................................................................................
For Taj Hotels, the journey of building a high performing, learning

organization begins with accepting the idea that an organization
culture is the well spring of sustained success.
...................................................................................................................................
62
June 2011
BY H. N. SHRINIVAS
t is a well accepted fact that most

organizations have to go through
fluctuations
in
business
performance in different cycles
owing
to
both
external
environment and internal changes
of structure, policies and people.
Few companies demonstrate
extraordinary survival instinct to
weather the storms of external
environment, and are on a steady,
consistent growth path and stability.
These are the high performance
organizations, which are rooted in
some fundamental human and
ethical principles, which enable them
to tide over crisis and continue to
deliver impressive results.
This journey of building a high
performance
sustainable
organization begins with accepting
the idea that an organization culture
is the well spring of sustained
success.
In our context of hospitality,
building sustainability and internal
strength, stems from our emphasis
on a service oriented culture, which
holds the human side of the
enterprise, as central to their
business success and seeks
opportunities to make a positive
impact for all the stake holders
through building strong and lasting
relationships. In other words, strong
processes of balancing the short
term needs of an organization with
the long term goals, vision and
purpose becomes imperative. With
committed
leadership
team
supporting this, we are able to
demonstrate clearly an improving
competitive edge that ensures
future success for the company.
Drawing from my experience at
Taj Hotels, I believe that high
performance learning organizations
have some common key features:
People centric culture

A strong people centered culture
relies on leaders genuinely
connecting with team members,
going beyond surface issues and
reaching out to the hearts and souls
of their people. Connected team
members
understand
the
organization's vision and mind and

demonstrate a passion and
selflessness to deliver them. Because
of this, they recognize the
importance of their specific roles.
In our business, we have thousands
of opportunities each day to make
a difference for guests. For example,
when we sell a birthday cake in the
Pastry Shop, the cake decorator
realizes that it is more than just
another cake request, but an
opportunity to breathe life into a
significant moment in someone's
life. The Florist understands that
each arrangement is special. The
Waiter serving in a Restaurant,
understands the uniqueness of each
guest and delivers service with a
special touch. Through this
empowered guest engagement, the
associate derives satisfaction in
service and not from posturing for
next promotion. Deep meaning and
job fulfillment can be found in
abundance if the organization
nurtures a culture of service and
empowerment.
We are on a continuous journey of
enhancing employee engagement at
work through several structured
company-wide initiatives.
Committed leadership
Leaders at Taj demonstrate a
connect with a higher purpose of
serving people at every step. So
much so, they comprehend and
demonstrate the importance to
issues like safety, training, wellness
and employee benefits. The so
called soft matters that are essential
for sustainability, but rarely create
a short term return investment are
not often viewed seriously in
organizations. This long term
approach engages people in a
manner meant to maximize their
contributions, makes a difference
for both the organization and its
people.
We strongly believe that in order
to create a strong bond with our
customers, we should pay great
attention to bond with our own
associates, which is practiced as a
fundamental core value. This is
amply demonstrated in the manner
the leadership of Taj responded to
H. N. SHRINIVAS
Sr. Vice President - HR
Indian Hotels Company Limited
H.N.Shrinivas has over 33 years of
experience in HR. He holds a Masters
Degree in Social Work from the National
Institute of Social Sciences, Bangalore,
and a Masters in Industrial Law from
Bangalore University. He has worked for
18 years with the Taj in HR, Learning &
Development. In 2002, he headed the HR
function in BPL and subsequently Tata
Tea. His last assignment before re-joining
Taj was with Hewlett Packard Global
Delivery India Centre as Director, Human
Resources. Under his stewardship, Indian
Hotels Company (Taj Group of Hotels)
has been conferred the international 'Best
HR Practices' award by M/s Hewitt
Associates and The GALLUP Great Places
to Work Global Award.
June 2011
63
Assessment
supports training
Companies can use the ACS model by
Centre for Creative Leadership
incorporates Assessment, Challenge and
Support for a cohesive approach to
training. Assessment involves diagnosis
of the existing state of the individual
leadership competency using
assessment tools, based on which
training needs to be customized.
Challenge involves giving experiences
which require stretch and move a person
out of comfortable and habitual way of
thinking and acting. Support is in form
of positive reinforcement from superiors,
co workers and broader organizational
environment.
Case in point : Viom Networks was
created after the merger of Quippo
Telecom and WTTIL to create Indias
largest independent telecom
infrastructure company. The company
grew both organically and inorganically
by around 400% in a span of one year. In
the merged context it was important to
have common set of behaviors leading
to growth and expansion. Viom identified
a set of competencies to communicate a
consistent language about desired
behaviors in an organization and serve as
backbone for future people related
activities. It decided to create its talent
management process around these
competencies. A robust assessment
centre process was created to assess
executives on the Viom competencies
and taking the performance ratings
employees were classified on
performance potential matrix in terms of
four categories, Maintain, Invest, Reliagn
and Divest (MIRD). In order to continue
the development process and ensure
Capability Building & Knowledge
Management Tower University was
created under which various
developmental programmes were
conducted. Employees created their
individual development plans and the
organization facilitated in its
implementation by providing
opportunities to implement the learnings.
By Yogesh Mishra, Head, Thomas Assessments Pvt.Ltd.
(www.thomasinternational.net)
64
June 2011
the unfortunate crisis of 26/11, we

had to cope with. We not only
implemented elaborate programs to
care for our employees of Taj and
their families but a detailed relief
and rehabilitation program for all
terror victims of Mumbai city was
implemented.
Talent management
Focused efforts in identifying key
talent in the organization, who bring
higher value to the table and make
a visible difference to our business,
is central to building high
performance work culture. We have
programs of recognizing and
rewarding them to enhance their
morale and engagement, which
includes senior leadership touch
time, financial incentives and
challenging growth opportunities. I
am happy to share that when the
entire industry was going through a
downturn last year, we delivered a
performance ahead of competition
and managed to retain our key
talent. Our retention of talent ratios
are far better than competition hotel
chains as we have detailed
development plans worked out for
these associates, aimed at
developing current and future
capabilities and leadership. These
emerging leaders in the company,
create a real sense of community
and commitment to a larger
purpose of making Taj a world class
hospitality company.
Team work
Extraordinary business results are
delivered through extraordinary
team work among all sections of
employees, particularly the senior
leaders. In an organization where
senior leaders are open to change
and demonstrate patience and
understanding while dealing with
other departments, extending
voluntary support to help them cope
with their predicament, one can see
its huge impact on business
perspective and results. This attitude
of camaraderie and support and
learning from each other,
particularly at times when the
company is going through business
pressures, can be a game changer.

This harmonial team work of senior
leaders, has a demonstrated effect
on other associates and teams have
put positive efforts to build greater
synergies across the organization,
which has helped deliver improved
productivity, speed and overall
operational efficiencies.
Communicate, communicate,
communicate
The
process
of
internal
communication in the organization
has been significantly heightened,
which provides assurance and clarity
to all sections of employees about
the direction the company is taking.
Different
approaches
of
communication have been used,
which includes News Letters,
Townhall Meetings, Round Tables,
Target Talks and Web based
communication.
With
this
transparent, open communication
about the business challenges the
company is handling and permitting
associates to participate and
contribute ideas, the morale of
employees is enhanced and they feel
motivated that they have a role in
finding solutions.
This Service Excellence Journey
at Taj, is sustained with renewed
vigour despite a major setback due
to the unfortunate 26/11 incident
coupled with the severe impact of
the economic slowdown in the last
two years. Taj's commitment to
forge progress leaving behind the
past pain has inspired the rank and
file of Taj associates across the
country and internationally. This is
demonstrated by the competitive
leadership of the company, in the
Hospitality sector, and impressive
results posted by Taj, both financially
and otherwise.
Winning people's minds is
extremely important if you wish to
create a high performance and
learning work environment. But,
what is even more important is to
win their hearts. J.R.D. Tata summed
this up beautifully in his simple
statement, "To be a good leader you
should lead human beings with
affection".
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June 2011
65
poised for the
future
BY R.V. BALASUBRAMANIAM IYER
here the mind is without fear and the

head is held high; Where knowledge is
free.Into that heaven of freedom, my
Father, let my country awake". We may
recall these often quoted lines from the
Rabindranath Tagore poem "Where the Mind is without
Fear" penned in 1910.
Surely, it reads more like a prayer than a poem. It is
really a plea. Not for the political independence that was
being sought early this century when it was written, but
for freedom from parochialness and dogma, a prayer
that is perhaps as relevant today as it was then. In every
walk of our nation - we can breathe the relevance of
these lines. Even more so - for the learning platform and
infrastructure we are developing for the budding citizens
of the world - who will govern and lead us into the
future.
What really ails the LTE function (Learning, Training
& Education) function today across India - if at all? Are
we not doing fine in all departments, save a few hiccups
in socio-political-economic circles - and 'India is shining'!
Or are we expressing a case of over anxiety - when faced
with the prospect of a tsunami called change.
We are led to believe that we are poised to be the
next super power. But, internally - we are not quite sure
if our collective competence is equipped to transform
our young population into globally acceptable talent.
What will it take for us to be prepared to meet the next
generation of learners who will rightfully come with
their 'head in the cloud'!
66
June 2011
Are we able to see the light at the end of this tunnel

- or is that a train approaching us at break neck speed?
To begin with, do we understand what we are
preparing our talent for? How do we know they are
ready for the world? That's easy - there are clearly
defined competencies, and all we need to do is to ensure
that the talent pipeline adheres to these stated
competencies. So far so good. But do we have a defined
and commonly agreed set of competencies - accepted
across our country? While some of the developed and
developing economies do have vocational skills and
competencies defined for some roles - at least they do
have some standards. We do have a National Skills
Development Corporation, which has been created with
the mandate for skilling workforce across various sectors
- but then who will ensure that the common
competencies across industry will speak the same
language?
We do need is a robust competency dictionary that
has clearly defined, measurable proficiency levels - that
is acceptable across all industries. We may argue that the
customer service competency desired in a hospitality
industry may be quite different from that of a
manufacturing business or that in the telecom space.
Sure, in which case - let us define these standards and
if each industry can stand up and defend the need for
unique competencies that are so vastly different from
each other - lets recognize the need and build the
competency standard. Else lets adopt the one that is
available.
..................................................................................................................................................
In the process of adopting new techniques

and ideas for education - let us not throw
out the existing good stuff that has helped us
build and shape civilization as we know and
enjoy today.
.............................................................................................................
We would need an authority that

can govern the definition and
updates of the competency
dictionary at the national level for all
industries - with adequate stature and
empowerment - and not a mere
toothless tiger that serves as a rubber
stamp. We can see the success of
NVQ, Singapore or City & Guilds, UK
and how they have helped their

respective
nations
build
competencies that has been accepted
by the learner community and
industry in a sustained manner.
Ok, so lets assume we have a
good competency dictionary that is
validated and is aligned with some of
the leading vocational and
competency standards worldwide.

We need to then have an
assessment tool, engine that is
capable of measuring the very same
competencies in a regimented
manner. Today, most corporates do
have
assessment
centers,
psychometric tools and other devices
by which we claim to have a handle
June 2011
67
R.V. BALASUBRAMANIAM IYER

Vice President - Talent Transformation
Reliance Industries Limited, Mumbai
Bala Iyer has been responsible for
developing and retaining talent at Reliance
Industries Limited since 2001. Bala heads
Learning function at Reliance Industries
Ltd - focusing on the launch of their
latest foray into 4G broadband
communications business. Bala has
successfully managed the talent
transformation for the launch of speciality
formats within Reliance Retail as well as
some of their joint ventures such as Apple
Inc, Hamleys etc. Bala was also
responsible in a similar role for the
successful launch of Reliance Infocomm.
Prior to Reliance, Bala has worked with
Amway as their Zonal Business Head;
Operations Marketing member at CocaCola India, Whirlpool, NIS (a soft skills
company, part of NIIT India) and Luxor
(Gillette) Pen Co.
68
June 2011
on the competency of the individual.

We only need to scratch the surface
to know that this is a very superficial
approach - mainly adopted for HR
processes
within
respective
companies and with a term life not
beyond a few months / years. What
we do need is a robust competency
assessment tool that cuts across role
/ department / company and maybe
even country. There are local
companies who have made some
serious progress in the world of
competency assessments - but most
of them are tactical at this stage. Can
we stand up and confidently state
that we have an assessment
mechanism, which will provide us
with an inventory of competencies
that is revalidated periodically. Or
would we prefer to remain led by
past champions?
Why, we could even have a
individual competency passport that
could be interlinked to the UID
project that hopefully will see the
light of the day, soon. While we are
happy to share our financial and
social database for this project - why
not make this card a more useful
one which helps us know on a
foolproof basis - whether the
individual has competencies that have
been acquired and assessed recently
- which are valid for the role on
hand. In fact, even before meeting
the person, the database can actually
let us know the matching profiles so that the best talent can be
identified for each role - rather that
we having to compromise for every
role - which makes it even more easy
to source, hire and retain talent.
So now we are saying we have a
good competency dictionary, a good
assessment methodology and an
integrated system of tracking
individuals on their competence.
Against this backdrop - lets try and
imagine the endless possibilities we
have for the next version of talent
tracking through web based sites like
LinkedIn, Facebook and of course
the millions of job exchanges at the
grass root level. We can surely infuse
some discipline into the foundation
that will then define what the LTE
function will deliver. Lets now shift
gears into the space of how we will
develop the competencies that we

have created and can track.
To begin with the definition of
curriculum. Starting with syllabus
that we study at schools. We all grin
and bear the grudge of how grossly
irrelevant is our education syllabus
and how badly we are prepared at
the exit to face the real world. What
is the connect between the strait
jacketed approach to the few optional
streams of learning we experience
and the vocations we pursue.
If after decades of independence
we are still groping with restructuring
university level education system there must be something seriously
wrong with the way we prepared our
education professionals - leave alone
all the others. We are struggling with
having to define ways of updating
and upgrading curriculum (syllabus)
at schools and colleges. Today, we
are still operating in an environment
where the central universities decide
what will be taught and what
constitutes a degree or a diploma.
We are also at the edge of the
environment where we will soon see
learners choosing elements of
curriculum they wish to study - and
compiling a set of credits which will
aggregate towards a degree, which
would be interesting / engaging for
their learning as well as more
applicable for the careers they
choose.
And of course, this would mean
two big shifts. The first is the
partnership between academia and
industry. The second is where
academic bodies will now be far
more flexible in the way they decide
what constitutes learning. Both these
changes are coming - at high speed.
Hopefully this step will help
parents, students, industry and
academic bodies synergise to ensure
that the "qualifications" bestowed
upon students will be a careerrelevant education - which can be
continued either in academic or
corporate universities.
While the curriculum undergoes
a shift, what must also evolve would
be the methodology of learning. We
have experienced and survived the
age of learning by rote. Now its
blended forms of learning - where
media has evolved. Who and when the learner will accept
knowledge from is shifting from the expert at the pulpit
to the peer pupil at the class summit. Students are
willing to share and learn from each other that has been
demonstrated very well in the various forms of social
learning tools available today. What has also emerged is
the need for bite sized learning - small packets of
information that is packed with stories, with illustrations,
with color and with music and other games - that we
may have dismissed in the past as distractions to learning.
Today our learners are deciding the how of learning as
well, and many universities and corporate universities
are following suit.
Recognizing the need for the growing demand of
learners - there has been a spurt in vocational training
centers, community colleges, home-tuition sector,
coaching classes and so on. However, there has been no
valid certification of either the training methodology,
trainer competence or courseware adopted. What works
instead is the pedigree of successful candidates who get
"admission" to a reputed college / university.
The list of successful graduates from the very same
universities compromising with their careers on account
of poor readiness for the world and financial burden is
becoming an every home scenario.
So we need to ensure we integrate the need to build
competent administrators and educators - who are going
to help make the transition from teaching to learning
oriented imparting of knowledge. We do know of
foundations that have come forward to develop better
teachers in India. Great news. Do we wait for another
philanthroper to come forward and develop a pipeline
of good administrator? Do we realize that for a nation
of our size, we do have the IAS, IFS, IRS etc. - but no
IES?
Finally, we also need certification. Earlier we
mentioned the need for a digital passport that can work
for each individual to track competence from cradle to
grave. Now, I reiterate this at this stage - as a tracker to
gather all competence, certificates and notations and
references that can be collected and on request shared
with appropriate authorities.
Do we remember the age-old concept of Pitman's
shorthand? Globally valid single certificate - adopted
and worked anywhere in the world. Maybe the
smartphones and digital recorders have eliminated the
need to learn shorthand, but who knows - maybe
someday like all other fashion items, we shall see the reemergence of this useful skill. Why, I would be happy to
see children being taught this skill today before they
leave for professional college - where they need to take
down copious notes and listen to the long lectures at
the same time.
Well, this is just an illustration of how we have almost
thrown out the baby with the bathwater. We do have a
treasure of information - but in the process of adopting
new techniques and ideas for education - let us not
throw out the existing good stuff that has helped us build
and shape civilization as we know and enjoy today. HC
June 2011
69
SECTION III I n n o v a t i o n i n t r a i n i n g d e l i v e r y
blended learning
beckons
...................................................................................................................................
The future will favor blended learning models

over single delivery mode programs, since it
offers more choices to the learner and appeals
to the individual's learning style.
...................................................................................................................................
BY RAJAGOPALAN RAGHAVAN
earning
or
teaching,
whichever way you look at it
has probably seen one of the
biggest transformations in
modern days. This is in spite
of the fact that educationists and
policy makers have been one of the
slowest adopters of change. History
has various examples of how "show
and tell" methodology was the
predominant method to teach young
princes on warfare. This approach
was heavily focused on experiential
learning where the learner basically
followed the teacher and did what
he saw. Later on, as we progressed
in to the industrial age, we saw
introduction of "visual factories" that
basically helped factory workers
follow visual instructions while
implementingnew tasks in the
assembly line. The basic premise here
was that it was not essential for the
70
June 2011
learner to remember every task but

simply follow a pictorial guideline.
This model was later transferred to
office based tasks too, especially in
implementation of newer tasks. Then,
came web-based learning that
focused on delivering knowledge at
the learner's desk.The earliest
generation of Web-based learning or
eLearning programs predominantly
focused on presenting physical
classroom-based content over the
web. Additionally, these programs
were more of "repeating by
converting" online versions or standup instruction based courses. Even
now, lots of eLearning courses are
about turning pages, click-quizzes
and often limiting themselves to a
single mode of training delivery due
to limitation in design. Hence they
lack sufficient context needed to
facilitate learning successfully and
ensuring future performance. One
of the problems with eLearning in
the early days was that learners
worked on their own without any
interaction with an instructor or
other learners. It soon became clear
that social interaction was an
important ingredient in many
learning situations, and that it might
need to be built into some eLearning
solutions.
This was essentially the beginning
of the concept of what we now call
"blended learning". This term refers
to a learning solution that
incorporates a mix of online and
face-to-face elements. It has been
further refined to mean a learning
solution that contains a mix of
formats, media and experiences.
Anecdotally there are indications that
blended learning is more effective as
it offers more choices to the learner
and appeals to the individual's
learning style.
The concept of blended learning
has been around for quite a while.
As little children and toddlers, many
of us learned through various media,
although they were not as
fashionable or automated then. Our
early teachers always used different
forms of learning tools right from
storytelling and toys to using charts
and reading aloud to dramatics.
Further, the toddler's learning
progressed at home via stories and

anecdotes from grand-parents
during the non-nuclear family days.
It has been proved that infants and
toddlers learn best from a
combination of learning methods. In
the mid 90's, the western world saw
launch of spate of DVD movies
meant for infants and toddlers that
were supposed to have enhanced
their ability to learn. Examples such
as Baby Einstein, Brainy Baby etc.,
not only caught the imagination of
infants but their parents too!Baby
Einstein, for example, offered a wide
range of developmental and
entertainment products for babies
and toddlers. What makes Baby
Einstein products unlike any other is
that they are created from a baby's
point-of-view and incorporate a
unique combination of real world
objects, music, art, animals and
nature - providing the parent with a
fun way to introduce the baby to the
big, beautiful new world around her.
Learning requirements and
preferences of each learner tend to
be different. Most contemporary
organizations these days use a blend
of learning approaches in their
strategies to get the right content, in
the right format, to the right people
and at the right time. Blended
learning combines multiple delivery
media that are designed to
complement each other and
promote learning and applicationlearned behavior. They include
several forms of learning tools, such
as real-time virtual/collaboration
software, self-paced web-based
courses, and electronic performance
support systems, often embedded
within the job-task environment and
knowledge management systems.
At GE, we used blended learning
extensively. Across the various
training courses and curricula, over
the last few years GE successfully
used a variety of models that can be
classified in to Learning through
Information,
Interaction,
Collaboration and Classroom
Experiences. Technology can be put
to good use while learning through
the first three i.e., Information,
Interaction and Collaboration. Apart
from reducing costs, it also creates
reusable content and reiterates

correct messages and concepts.
Classroom training, on the other
hand develops interpersonal skills and
the ability to communicate face to
face.
Coming back to the topic, the
original use of the phrase "blended
learning" was initially associated only
to linking stand-up instruction/
training to eLearning activities,
typically to help learners outside the
classroom to learn at their own pace
and time. However, the term has
matured over time and now consists
of a richer set of learning strategies
and combines a variety of
dimensions by "blending" various
attributes of learning. For example,
there is an increasing trend in high
performance organizations to blend
self-paced eLearning activities with
that of live and collaborative learning.
How does this happen? Self-paced
learning is more often than not,
solitary, on-demand learning at a
pace that is managed or controlled
by the learner. Collaborative learning,
on the other hand, is more about
dynamic communication among a
set of learners that brings about
sharing of knowledge. The blending
of these two dimensions may include
review of important material/
literature; say on a topic such as
regulatory change or new technology,
followed by a moderated, live, online,
peer-to-peer discussion of the
application of such material. Often
the bias is applying the blend to the
learner's job and their customers.
Unstructured learning is also
something that most learning
organizations are now propagating.
Opposite of "structured learning",
unstructured learning often happens
at the workplace via meetings,
hallway conversations, conference
calls, mentoring, etc., A typical
blended program design to combine
both these methodologies may look
at capturing learning from
unstructured learning events in to
knowledge repositories available ondemand, supporting the way
knowledge-workers collaborate and
work. Examples of such blended
learning are plentiful in an
organization like GE where senior
June 2011
71
RAJAGOPALAN RAGHAVAN
Director - Human Resources
Amazon India
Prior to this role, Raj was HR Leader for
General Electric's John F. Welch
Technology Centre in Bangalore, GE's first
and largest integrated, multidisciplinary,
Research and Engineering Centre outside
USA. Raj joined GE in 1999 at GE Capital
International Services (now Genpact) and
was their Vice President & HR Site Leader
for their Global Finance & Accounting
Business and GE's India Treasury
Operations. Earlier, he was Vice President,
HR for Genpact's IT Services business
and later promoted to head HR for their
Technology Group. He has held HR
leadership positions at HSBC Global
Resourcing, Unilever (Brooke Bond
Lipton), Ford Motor Company and Eureka
Forbes. Raj earned his Undergraduate
Degree in Economics from the University
of Madras, India and Masters in Personnel
Management & Industrial Relations from
the Madras School of Social Work, India.
72
June 2011
leaders are invited to write columns,

speak at sessions without PowerPoint
slides or contribute in their own
blogs on specific areas of interest
often in leading and managing
businesses and people.GE Leaders
are encouraged to have a "teachable
point of view" and often seen
teaching a class at their Crontonville
campus in USA. Products like Cisco's
Virtual Collaborative System (VCS)
often help participants from different
parts of the world link up, not just to
seeing, talking and sharing desktops
but also sharing whiteboards that
often give the look and feel of being
together.
My personal and professional
view is that a single delivery mode
inevitably limits the reach of a
program or knowledge transfer in
some form or fashion. Combining
different delivery modes has the
potential to balance out and optimize
the learning development and
deployment costs and time. This said
we are fairly early into the evolution
of blended learning that little formal
research exists on how to construct
the most effective blended program
designs. Leading research in
Universities like Stanford and
Tennessee have given other
researchers valuable insight in to
some of the mechanisms by which
blended learning is better than both
traditional methods and individual
forms of eLearning technology
alone. The results of some of the
research conducted at these
universities have suggested a variety
of benefits ranging from halving the
learning time, at half the cost, using
a rich mix of live eLearning, selfpaced instruction and physical
classroom delivery. Of even greater
interest, a specific program named
"Physician's Executive MBA (PEMBA)
Program" for mid-career doctors at
the University of Tennessee
demonstrated an overall 10% better
learning outcome than the traditional
classroom learning format - the first
formal study to show significant
improvements from eLearning rather
than just equivalent outcomes. This
outcome was attributed by PEMBA
to the richness of the blended
experience that included multiple
forms of physical and virtual live

eLearning, combined with the ability
of the students to test their learning
in the work context immediately and
to collaborate with peers in
adaptation to their unique
environments.
The overarching point is how to
develop an effective blended learning
program. One of the most commonly
referenced blended eLearning
frameworks' was developed by
Badrul Khan, who served as the
founding Director of the Educational
Technology Leadership (ETL)
graduate cohort program at The
George Washington University. The
framework, often refered to as
"Octagonal Framework" enables one
to select appropriate ingredients
( h t t p : / / B o o k s To R e a d . c o m /
framework). Prof. Khan's framework
serves as a guide to plan, develop,
deliver, manage and evaluate blended
learning programs. The framework
suggests that organizations exploring
strategies for effective learning and
performance have to consider a
variety of issues to ensure effective
delivery of learning and thus achieve
a high return on investment. Without
going in to all their details, the
framework has eight dimensions,
hence the name octagonal
framework: institutional, pedagogical,
technological, interface design,
evaluation, management, resource
support and ethical. Each of these
dimensions represents a category of
issue that need to be addressed.
About the future of blended
learning and its usage, Prof. Khan
says "First, there will be an increased
interest in teaching and learning
theory that must guide the choice of
technologies used in e-learning. It's
pedagogy that guides technology in
eLearning, not vice versa! Second,
we'll see an increase in courses that
blend traditional learning with
eLearning components, and an
increase in stand-alone online
learning in academia, business, and
government worldwide. Third, there
will be increased concerns for the
accreditation of eLearning offerings
from academic institutions".
As the US and Western economies
pick up steam we will see increasing
integration of learning applications

with workflow, which means data,
tools, and collaborative software, all
in context, focused on the task at
hand. Instead of separate eLearning
applications, we will see increasing
blending of needed capabilities and
skills within the performance tools
required to do the job. Intellectual
capital will be identified and
directed-in bits-to people who need
it, as and when required.Higher
education will increasingly use
electronic meeting applications such
as Adobe Connect Pro to blend inclass and online learners in Live
Virtual Classrooms. Blackboard's
acquisition of Wimba and
Elluminate! certainly signals that
synchronous eLearning is seen as a
way for colleges and universities to
reach more students without losing
learning lan of the classroom. This
may just be true to businesses too.
It is amazing how the learning
organizations have changed just in
the last 10-odd years. When I started
my HR career at Eureka Forbes in
the late 80's, we developed what we
thought were the first "interactive"
sales training content. It was nothing
but using video based visual tools to
impart sales training to new recruits
in a standardized way. What we did
was to shoot various sales scenarios
and organized them in simple
learning modules. These modules
were then taught by certified trainers
to assimilate and induct new sales
people in the company. At a time
when the sales training function was
just about graduating from "show
and tell" methodology, this
interactive course was a huge success
in implementing personalized, yet
professional learning for a new sales
person. Furthermore, this had a
direct impact on the bottom line of
the company as a sale was its
fundamental business function.
From there on, the learning
function has moved leaps and
bounds. And, without a doubt,
technology has helped create this,
with eLearning being the foremost.
Like
any
"new"
complex
phenomenon, eLearning has been
attracting, over the past decades, a
lot of interest from different
stakeholders in a totally horizontal

manner with respect to education
and training sectors. Many labels
have been assigned to the act of
using some kind of Information &
Communication Technology (ICT) in
learning processes, from eLearning
to technology enhanced learning, to
ubiquitous
learning;
many
generations of eLearning have been
announced; many predictions have
been made on the future of
eLearning, ranging from the most
optimistic views to the most skeptical
views.
In parallel, the growing relevance
of the use of ICT in mainstream
education & training and the
increasing acceptance of the potential
of new technologies to affect learning
systems have brought attention to
the scarcity of reliable quantitative
and qualitative information on the
eLearning phenomenon. This is
hardly surprising, given the nature
of the two components of the
"eLearning mix": ICT, as one of the
fastest changing components of our
society, and education, a recognized
slower adopter of change.
This brings to focus another
significant dimension in blended
learning; that is how even technology
is changing so fast. So does cloud
computing. Many eLearning
researchers at leading Universities
firmly believe that applications will
be now placed in the cloud,
eLearning content will be shared in
the cloud and eLearning services will
be operated from the cloud. So cloud
computing is here to stay!
In the end, from the many
papers that I have read and people
that I have met, what seems relevant
is not how cost effective the blended
learning model is, although this is
important. What really matters is
achieving a way of learning that is
meaningful and enables the
acquisition of the most necessary
skills. In conclusion, while learning
technologies and delivery media
continue to evolve and progress,
one thing that is certain is
organizations, whether corporate,
government or academic, will favor
blended learning models over single
HC
delivery mode programs.
THE LEARNING
LANDSCAPE
New forms of content are coming to
market that engage learners with rich
media and interactive challenges.
Technology advances have made it
possible for learning to be tailored to the
needs of employees and delivered
directly to their work environments.
Markets have evolved with various forms
of learning like formal learning through
instructor-led training (ILT), self-paced
e-Learning, blended learning through
synchronous virtual classroom and
informal learning through Web 2.0 or
social media technologies.The
increasing demand of cost effective and
qualitative training delivery has enlarged
the scope of training solutions. With the
growing need of virtual training
environments companies will rely on
learning management systems (LMSs),
integration with business processes,
and real-time learning. The industry
acceptance for partnerships and
outsourced trainers has grown due to
the specialized training requirements,
access to knowledge, and reliability for
quality standards. Therefore, learning
has taken a more visible role in solving
key business issues.
The critical trends and demands of the
learners will be in the areas of:
Learning technologies
Virtual labs and virtual classrooms
The storage and exchange of

intellectual capital
Integrated business solutions

leveraging an on-demand LMS
Business focus and performance

measurement
Training and development through a

change model
Ensure return-on-investment and

high-quality training capabilities
By Andrew Tempest, Senior Director - Product

Marketing, Element K, a proven industry innovator in
the ever-evolving e-learning landscape.
www.india.elementk.com
June 2011
73
BY BHASKAR NATARAJAN
he leadership team of
medium sized IT services
company realized that if
they had to stay competitive
and win new and large
deals, they would have to work on
their image among existing and
potential customers. They were
perceived as good 'order takers' and
not as someone whom the clients
could look up to for guidance or
partnership. Often the client
organizations were found saying, "I'm
very happy with your delivery (on
time, on spec) team, but I don't see
much of value in this long term

partnership. By now, you should be
telling me what to do with my new
found capability or which technology
I should adopt to stay on top in an
ever changing market. Instead you
are asking me if you can increase
the billing rate or add few more
inexperienced resources to roll-off
the senior folks from this
engagement.
This
kind
of
conversation doesn't help build a
trust. I feel like the proverbial 'King',
who was surrounded by 'yes men
and walked around with no clothes
on. It takes a lot of 'guts' to say the
truth that the king has flawed ideas
and has to change! Engage me in

your discussions on how do I take
my business to the next level".
The account team leaders from
the IT organization had a different
side of the same story to share. The
delivery head recounts, "Customers
at times can be very demanding,
especially when they don't trust you.
My predecessor did a poor job of
managing my client's expectations in
the beginning. Also I couldn't get
good technically sound guys to start
with. I had to train them on the job
otherwise billability will get affected
if I send them for training and put in
long hours at work to manage
me towe
in 100 days
deliverables. The current team
doesn't seem to be good at taking
ownership for the results we commit
to the clients. I always find them as
set of 'individual stars' working in
'Silos'. The onsite team does not have
necessary information or even if they
have does not pass them on to
offshore at the right time. There
seems to be an eternal conflict
between these two teams. My clients
at times take advantage of this
situation and push us to do more
things beyond the initial scope and
that delays the timeline further."
The relationship manager has
multiple clients to manage and finds
it difficult to visit all of them very
often. She is caught up between her
'hunting' vs. 'mining' roles. She finds
no merit in delivery teams claim that
she is not available at the client site
to up sell or showcase their
capabilities in the right way to their
clients. She was not happy at the
74
June 2011
kind of poor performance reviews

6 months down the line, this place
work with to define teamwork,
working in different teams, their
with clients on quality of delivery
is different. Buzzing with energy,
definitions are often similar. A typical
and various issues with the team
celebrations, frequent customer visits
definition could be "A group of
(poor communication, lack of
to learn from this team. They won
people, contributing their individual
business understanding, not
the 'Innovative team of the quarter'
knowledge and skills but working
proactive, no periodic 'realistic' /
award from the customers. To top it
together to achieve a common goal/
accurate project updates, not having
task or an acronym TEAM:
right
skills
and
.............................................................................................
Together Everyone Achieves

understanding of the task
More". This definition
at hand, 'they don't speak
highlights three important
in meetings', they say 'Yes'
teamwork fundamentals.
all the time, they don't
Shared vision: a common
'push back' etc). She is
understanding of the goal/
wondering, "Why can't
task is also critical. People
these teams perform as
have to be clear as to why
expected? What more we
the team exists and what
should be doing to make
.............................................................................................
the purpose is. Alignment
them 'belong' to this
of the team's vision to the
organization?"
all a Customer Satisfaction Survey
overall business goal is very critical
The CLO was consulted to know
(bi-annual exercise) of 4.4 on 5.0! A
for building a high-performing team.
if he could train customer facing
big reason for the leadership team
Synergy: A team is a group of
teams to take more ownership, take
to take the entire team out for an
people made up of individuals who
the relationship with customer to the
off-site celebration! How did this
each contribute their individual
next level (Current Customer
happen? What did they do? The
knowledge and skills. Where
Satisfaction rating - 3.0/5.0), speak
answer: developmental coaching.
teamwork is working well, you'll find
the business language not that of
synergy, the collective whole is
technical jargons, create a training
Why teams?
plan for improving their skill levels
greater than the sum of the
and be trusted advisors of clients.
individual parts. Teams benefit
When you ask people whom you
Developmental coaching is a
strategic approach to transforming
teams and aligning them to
business goals and results
June 2011
75
because individuals often do not have
all the knowledge and skills necessary
to succeed.
From me to we: Working together
is essential. If the team is not working
together, then expected gains will not
become visible. One way to bring
about team transformation is to
break 'silos'. Conflict and negative
energy would hinder the progress.
Harmony and positive attitude are
critical.
In the absence of any of the above
three aspects teams may not
succeed. Managing a team could be
very challenging. With technology,
distance is less of a barrier. Members
from different time zones find
themselves in the same team and
work efficiently.
How teams impact

organizational effectiveness
BHASKAR NATARAJAN
Principal Consultant Organizational
Transformation Practice Infosys Consulting
Bhaskar has more than a decade of
experience in leading cross-functional
teams to achieve program objectives. He
has strong expertise in facilitating teams
to achieve higher workplace performance
across various industries. He is a certified
Coach - ACC from International Coach
Federation. As a 'Leadership Performance
Consultant' for one of the top IT services
companies in India, Bhaskar, was
engaged in various OD interventions for
high value customer facing accounts,
specifically to improve business
performance, team bonding and quality
of interaction between employees and
customers.
76
June 2011
In today's high-tech workplace, it is

impossible to not be part of a team.
Projects are too big, too complex,
too involved for a single person to
do it all. Yet teamwork is frustrating
and exhausting. Even when the team
successfully ships a product,
members feel burned out, frustrated,
or surprisingly unhappy with their
accomplishment.
Whether cross-functional or
intra-departmental, virtual or in the
same location, ongoing or adhoc,
teams are here to stay. "Teams fill
gaps, respond to crisis, plan for the
future, and ensure the success of
both short-term and long-term
projects that touch multiple areas of
the organization-internally and
externally. Teams exist so that
organizations may utilize their
resources to their fullest for
accomplishing tasks that require the
skills and experiences of individuals
from various places inside and
outside the enterprise."
As Katzenbach and Smith in their
book quotes, "Teams outperform
individuals acting alone or in larger
organizational groupings.Yet, as we
explored the use of teams, it became
increasingly clear that potential
impact of single teams, and
collective impact of many teams on
performance of large organizations
is woefully under exploited, despite
the rapidly growing recognitionof

the need for what teams have to
offer."
Building high performing teams

It will be instructive to remember
that 'Transforming organization' is
definitely NOT like taking the fish
out of muddy tank, polishing and
then returning to the same with filthy
water. It calls for a 'systems thinking'
- cleaning the entire tank, filling with
fresh clean water, adding adequate
food supplements for nourishment
and making sure the automatic
cleaning and water pump system is
functioning properly, i.e. studying the
whole system and plan/execute
sustainable change interventions.
Team transformation has to be a
holistic approach. Every leader
should ask himself/herself at some
point in time of their career, "What
can I do to make my team a highperforming team?"
Six team basics define the
discipline required for team
performance. Small number (fewer
than twelve) constrains the size of
groups that can effectively do the
work of teams. No team performs
without the complementary skills
required for success. Teams must
have a common purpose, common
set specific performance goals, and
a commonly agreed upon working
approach. Finally, teams must hold
one another mutually accountable
for their performance.
Developmental team coaching

Team coaching can be defined as
direct interaction with a team
intended to help members make
coordinated and task-appropriate
use of their collective resources in
accomplishing the team's work.The
distinguishing feature of the
developmental approach to team
coaching is that teams need help with
different issues at different stages of
their development and that there are
times in the life cycles of groups when
they are more and less open to
intervention.
SEEDS Model: The framework is very
intuitive and hence effective. This is
a 5 day intervention (typically from
Monday to Friday) - where the team
essentially meets for 90-120 min every day (during nonpeak hours / non-billable hours). The key phases of
SEEDS Model are as under:
Phase 1 - Sign-up: This phase is to ensure that the key
sponsor and is invested in the transformation efforts
and to decide on the focus areas and list of key goals.
All the necessary preparatory activities like - Sharing
information, pain points, challenges, customer escalations,
people issues etc, are part of this phase.
Phase 2 - Explore: In this phase the Coach meets the
team to understand their environment (to breathe-in
the 'same air' as the team), by meeting all the
stakeholders and collect data. Feedback is recorded from
- the customers (capture 'Voice of Customers); Leaders;
Suppliers /Support teams; Team members ('Voice of
Team members') and any other relevant stakeholders.
The coach observes the team while they are working
(silent observer of team meetings, customer
presentations, e-mails etc) and collect data of the current
practices. This provides rich amount of data about the
team. The coach understands the pattern and prepares
for the 'learning sessions', where she meets with the
team to share the findings.
Phase 3 - Engage: The heart of 'developmental coaching'
approach. During these learning sessions (typically 90
min every day for 5 days, preferably during their nonpeak work hours), it is vital to get the 'whole system' into
the room. Selecting participants for this initiative is very
important as it determines the inputs to the 'sense making
sessions (during Phase 3) subsequent transformation
efforts and action plan. The feedback shared is anonymous
- as the team is prepared to show interest in 'What is
being perceived about us?' and NOT "Whose perception
is this?" The key objectives are:
1. To engage the team in a meaningful dialogue to create
awareness about the 'Current' (As is)
2. To 'make sense' of the data collected in the previous
phase
3. To move the team into action
This can be represented as: 3As Awareness Acknowledgement Action
Metaphorically this phase can be summarized as 'Holding

the mirror', where the team will deliberate on the
anonymous feedback received. That gives them a sense
and picture on how they are perceived by various
stakeholders. They also get time to discuss on, 'What's
working? / 'What's not?'.Things that they should 'Start/
Stop / Continue'; What makes the team 'Mad/Sad/Glad';
etc
Learning Sessions (90-120 mins): This is a key
intervention in the developmental team coaching
approach, in which the coach and team members review
The team's goals: The team leader articulates the

business objective and team goals are derived from that.
Coaching questions / discussions: Team coach then

places few key coaching questions for discussions. This
is very intense experience for the participants. Social
bonding happens as a natural outcome.
Assess progress thus far, and
June 2011
77
AIMA BOSCH LTD 37th NATIONAL
COMPETITON FOR YOUNG MANAGERS
Theme : Building Sustainable Indian Multinationals:
Agenda for Action
All India Management Association (AIMA) has been
organizing annually the National Competition for Young
Managers since 1974. The Competition provides a
unique platform to young managers to exhibit their
talent and leadership skills and thereby win recognition
to excellence. It also provides an excellent opportunity
to young managers to demonstrate their knowledge,
creativity, experience, professional prowess to
become Leaders of Tomorrow.
The Competition is a theme and team based. The
theme for this years Competition is Building
Sustainable Indian Multinationals: Agenda for Action
A theme of National importance is given to all the
potential teams. A three members team of executive
within 35 years of age (as on January 1 of every
year) is eligible to participate. The team can either
be from one organization or individuals independently
from different organization can form a team.
The teams are required to first submit a written
presentation of 2000-2500 words to the regional
centers. One copy of the Report has to be submitted
to AIMA and six copies of the Report to the four
Regional Centres. Presentations should preferably
be based on innovative ideas backed by research
and analysis of data from pertinent sources, both
primar y and secondary, including the teams
experience of his/her own organization (wherever
applicable).
Teams then make the presentation before a panel of
judges in the four regional centers. Each Regional
Centre have their own Jury members. The Jury of
the National Competition is different from the Regional
Competition. Each team gets a total of 30 minutes
for the oral presentation as well as the discussion.
The members of the team use the first 15 minutes
for presentation and the subsequent 15 minutes will
be used for discussion with the Panel of Judges.
After first 13 minutes of the presentation by the
team, we give an indication of remaining 2 minutes
to complete the presentation. If any team stretches
the Presentation beyond the time limit of 15 minutes,
there is a provision of negative marking. At the
completion of 30 minutes time limit for total
presentation, there is an indication to wind up the
discussion.
Thereafter, Two best teams, from each Region are
selected to make final presentation at the Grand
Finale to be held at Delhi.
During the Grand Finale one best Young Manager is
selected. He could be any member from the best 8
teams. In addition, the best three teams are also
selected.
All the winning teams (Regional & National) are
awarded/ recognized during the National Management
Convention. In addition during the Convention, the
Champion Team of the Competition presents a paper
during Special Session - Connecting Across
Generations.
After the Competition, AIMA comes out with the best
8 presentations in a book form and CD.
78
June 2011
Action plan (for the next 3060-90 days): The action plan could
include regular skill training,
behavioral programs or leadership
development opportunities. Overall
growth of the team/organization
is the key output.
Some non-negotiables for the
learning session:
1. It is a 'Good to Great' journey.
No blame game is allowed in these
sessions. Most of the tools used
and techniques of data gathering
is designed to take away the
'person' from the 'problem'. (for
e.g. anonymous feedback)
2. Coach would time and again
remind the team to focus on
'moving forward' and
3. Generative questions (which
expands the possibilities for the
coachee) in a more appreciative,
life giving manner are encouraged.
4. The coach will guide the team
in focusing on the insights from
these sessions and encourage
documentation of these key
insights.
5. 'Why' questions are not
encouraged.
6. Encouragement and affirmations are the most effective
change methods. The coach would
find opportunities to celebrate
success big and small, during the
session.
7. Coach would LISTEN FOR the
potential and expressions for
positive emotions from the
coachee. These are brought to the
collective consciousness of the
team. The focus is more on
reflection on what could be better.
These two phases (Phase 2 & 3)
are iterative. Participants get time
to reflect on their environment,
goals, capabilities (individuals' as
well as the teams'), challenges, and
solutions
Phase 4 - Design: This phase
creates the required momentum
for the shift/transformation, by
creating 30-60-90 day plan for
transformation. At the end of this
phase, a voluntary 'Change
Champions' team (a taskforce
representing various subgroups /
projects within the team, is
identified and given special
responsibility of steering the whole

team towards implementing the
plan and hold them accountable.
The accountability structures and
rules are determined by the team.
The coach facilitates by providing
inputs based on previous such team
experience.
Phase 5 - Sustain: Coaching
schedule is agreed upon, where the
team would meet the coach at
regular intervals and take stock of
their accomplishments. One-onone sessions are also planned with
individuals on the team to work on
their goals. The focus is on
individual and team development.
The business outcomes are
measured periodically by the
sponsor.
Coaching sessions: Individual
coaching for executive leaders
happens in a parallel manner during
the intervention. The goals are
derived from the 'Learning
Sessions'. Action plans are drawn
up and followed meticulously until
the goals are achieved.
Measuring impact - The long term
impact of such development
coaching is evident from the client
feedback about the visible and
tangible improvement of the way
the team is functioning now. The
intent is to align teams towards
getting business results.
Customers are the right source
for feedback about team's
performance. There is enough
research evidence on how
improving 'Situational Awareness'
(SA) would directly impact team's
effectiveness, and teams with
'Shared Mental Models' (SMM)
perform better (function as 'one
single unit' than many small
dysfunctional 'silos'), which in turn
influences
Organizational
performance. 'Transforming Teams'
is a unique approach using
'Developmental Coaching' tools and
techniques, to align teams to
business goals and results,
specifically to improve the business
performance, team bonding and
quality of interaction between
employees and customers. The
good news is that it can be achieved
HC
in 100 days!
NHRDN
seminar on
HR value proposition
he NRHD seminar, held last

month in Delhi, received an
over whelming response of
more than 100
delegates and 16
eminent speakers from across
the industry providing
exchange of ideas for HR
practioners and HR business
leaders. The theme of the of
the seminar revolved around
the understanding the
business excellence model
which when linked to its how
people can help human
resource function play a
pivotal role in energizing and
engaging people who would
become the real game changer
in any business excellence
journey.
The seminar was divided in to
four sessions with discussions on
business strategy, employer of choice,
building excellence and performance

driven culture, and driving
operational excellence. Some of the
names of the panelist included,

Jayantika Dave, Vice president - HR,
IRCO ,Ratnesh Sharma - Vice
President & Head HR, Moser
Baer,,Renu Bidalia - Vice President -
HR, Tata Communications,Amit

Khurana - Executive Vice President Human Capital Management, Yes
Bank Ltd, Dr. Jitendra K Das
- Director- FORE school of
Management,Rajesh SehgalVice President- HR infotech
Enterprises etc. Each session
was followed by a Q & A
round where participants
asked different questions on
the concerned topics from
the speakers.
The seminar concluded with
an understanding that for
every organization its people
are the fuel of a company,
implementing an effective
employee
business
excellence model inside
their core business processes will
make companies create a sustainable
competitive advantage for company's
HC
future growth and stability.
June 2011
79
en Y today forms a
significant part of work
force and the number will
continue to increase. It is
impacting all spheres of
work and the learning function does
not remain untouched. The
difference in the Gen Y learning needs
hit me hard a few years back when
my team was involved in organizing
an induction program for a batch of
management and engineering
trainees. We organized an intensive
ten day induction program. We
brought in the senior leaders in the
organization including the CEO and
COO to interact with them and share
with them the knowledge that was
essential for their success in the
organization.
A lot of money, effort and
management time was spent. And
the response that we got at the end
of every day was, "Oh! It's so boring!",
"Why do you have to tell us?", "We
need a break." "We want fun!" The
list of complaints seemed endless!
We were disappointed, frustrated and
angry - we were giving them all that
they should ideally want. They had

the best of infrastructure, good
speakers, games, videos, team
building activities, entertainment in
the evenings so what was going
wrong? At that time, they seemed
like a bunch of spoiled brats who
got everything easy and never learnt
to appreciate and value things.
A few weeks later, I went to watch
a Power Ranger show with my son
who was in his tweens (pre-teen).
The environment was electric: full
of energetic music and action that
was quite contagious. Though the
music was loud for my taste and
the action was distracting, in a while
I began to enjoy. I tried staying in
rhythm with the music - by tapping
my foot, swaying - left to right, front
to back. Something was amiss! I
was not able to stay in rhythm while
the young ones were doing great.
That's when I noticed the difference:
they were jumping and moving from
one place to another while I was
trying to sway and tap, standing in
one place. The very perspective
seemed to be different!
It got me thinking and I was

determined to find out more about
this 'so called enigmatic Gen Y'. I
started observing the Gen Y at work;
spoke to quite a few members from
Gen Y, read various research work
done on Gen Y by individuals and
institutes. My purpose was to find
out more about them, their needs
and expectations. And most
importantly, how they want to learn.
Gen Y and their world

The world in which the Gen Ys were
born and brought up is very different
from that of Gen Xs. For one,
technology has advanced by leaps
and bounds. As a result, the world is
far
more
interconnected,
information sources are plenty and
easily
accessible
and
the
opportunities are numerous provided one is willing to exploit
them. Along with these positives
come far higher levels of
uncertainties in the world. This last
aspect probably has a bearing on
the desire of Gen Y to collaborate.
All this and several other social
BY PADMA RAJESHWARI NANDI
learning needs
of
Gen Y
...........................................................................................................................................
A combination of well designed formal & informal

learning tools would help Gen Y focus on
pro-active learning, actively connect with each
other and share knowledge.
...........................................................................................................................................
80
June 2011
and economic factors have made the

Gen Ys quite different from its
previous generations. This generation
seems to be full of paradoxes, it is
highly competitive in nature, but
prefers to work in teams rather than
working individually.
This is the generation that is most
tech savvy, is globally aware and
connected, and is absolutely
comfortable with diversity and
constant change. This generation
has grown with google, youtube,
myspace, facebook, hotmail,
yahoo. They seem to be multitasking all the time - sending a text
message, listening to iPod and
reading an article on iPad - all at
one time. Or listen to music, work
on computer and watch videos on
youtube, again all at one time. To
an older person they seem shallow,
not concentrating on anything. I
once delivered a speaking session
to a group of senior IT professionals
on this topic. They could relate to
all the points, still a question kept
lingering, "We understand all this,
but should we just allow them to
multi-task and get away with poor
quality work?" The answer is a nobrainer, of course not! It is not
about relaxing standards for Gen Y.
The answer lies in accepting that
they are different and valuing them

for what they are. And in making
efforts to understand them, their
perspectives, working style, learning
preference etc. so that all of us are
successful.
And
use
this
understanding to design and deliver
learning interventions for them.
Gen Y's learning needs

Since then, we have made quite a
few changes to our learning
interventions meant for the Gen Y
employees.
1. Increasing the pace and variety
without compromising on learning.
The attention span of Gen Y is quite
short and starts declining after 30 to
40 minutes. It is important to
understand this as it has a significant
impact on the way the sessions,
games, activities and exercises are
designed and delivered.
2. Making learning fun. Gen Ys
want to enjoy their learning. If it is
not fun, they tend to classify it as
boring and it will completely lose its
effectiveness.
3. Providing opportunities for
experiential learning, collaboration
and involvement through small
group discussions, team based
activities, in-class presentations, peer
reviews, field experiences, etc.
4. Allowing space for creativity.

Gen Y is creative and can think in
multiple dimensions. Usage of music,
pictures and games provide several
opportunities to them to be creative.
5. Allowing space for expression.
Gen Ys look for ways and means to
express themselves freely. So, it is
essential to provide them the space,
be it through an online social
networking group or through an
offline board.
6. Giving the big picture and
providing structure is important for
any adult learning intervention, but
is critical for Gen Ys, since they tend
to be goal oriented.
7. Providing continuous feedback
and also actively seeking feedback.
This helps the Gen Ys as they are
keen to know if they are progressing
in the right direction. And this is the
generation that does not hesitate to
give feedback if they believe some
course correction needs to be made.
We have extended these
guidelines to several interventions
focusing on Gen Y. A specific
example relates to the corporate
induction program that we organized
for the management and engineering
trainees the subsequent year. As we
applied most of the guidelines listed
above, it required a fundamental
June 2011
81
shift in the design, delivery and
assessment of the program. Here is
a snapshot of what we did differently:
Knowledge dissemination: We
avoided the overpowering desire to
download all the content at a time.
We used multiple channels to
disseminate the knowledge. We
pasted bright colorful posters
providing the highlights of the
knowledge. These were changed
every day based on the topic being
covered. After the essentials of the
content were covered through a brief
lecture, we conducted a team quiz.
And they had to hunt for knowledge
from the leaf lets / posters spread
out in different parts of the room.
Assessing knowledge gained:

Instead of conducting a formal test,
computer assisted or paper pencil
based at the end of module or day
or program, we used interactive
participant response system (PRS).
And almost all the tests were
conducted in a collaborative, but
competitive environment. We had
knockout quizzes that gradually
eliminated teams, and the winning
82
June 2011
team emerged. The PRS provided a

variety of visual and aural stimulus
that excites the Gen Y and made it
fun. The best part was that we got all
the scores in the backend! We used
the scores to assess the learning
transfer and take corrective action if
required: be it creating teams for
future quizzes or modifying content.
We included multiple small games

/ activities of 15-20 minutes rather
than one long game or activity. And
we brought in variety in games board games, physical games, card
games etc. And we used more props
in the games to make it tactile.
We showed several small video

clips rather than few long ones. And
if a long one was unavoidable, we
stopped at multiple points and
encouraged discussion.
We focused on giving the

participants a chance to move
around and if possible, to interact
with each at least 3-4 times in a day.
We used a lot of positive reenforcers for learning. Instead of

only giving chocolates or candies to
winning teams (which was the most
common gift earlier), we started

giving different types of badges
(smilie, star etc), red ribbons, winner
caps etc. And it hardly involved any
additional cost.
We encouraged group evaluation

- all the groups together decided the
best team and rewarded it. We used
this for evaluating flips charts that
were created as a part of session
closure.
To facilitate easy and free

expression on any topic, we put up
a large colorful graffiti board just
outside the classroom. This was
meant to be their space where they
could express themselves about
anything: the sessions, their
experience, to praise one of the
team's work, etc. The only condition
that we laid out is that it should be
positive, or at the least constructive.
We wanted the participants to

understand and get a real feel of our
products and how they are sold. So,
instead of just explaining, we
organized field visits. During these
field visits, the participants shadowed
the Sales Executives on their sales
June 2011
83
PADMA RAJESHWARI NANDI

Head of Learning and Development
Dr. Reddys Laboratories
Over the past 19 years, Padma has
enabled organizations and individuals
build capability across front-line,
managerial and leadership levels. She has
conducted leadership workshops and
worked with senior management teams
across Asia, America and Europe. Prior to
joining Dr.Reddys, she has worked with
large organizations like Infosys,
Flextronics and Larsen & Toubro; and
was the recipient of Chairmans
Excellence award at Infosys. Her areas of
expertise include succession planning,
leadership development, competency
assessment and development and OD
interventions. An electronics engineer
from NIT Durgapur, she secured her MBA
from the Anderson School of
Management, University of California, LA.
A passionate traveler, she loves to work in
different cultures and is based out of
Hyderabad.
84
June 2011
call. And observed what they did;

their interactions with doctors and
got a true picture of the benefits of
our products and how they are
perceived by the customers.
As an organization, we engage in
lot of community service and
development
through
our
foundation arm. Here again, we
focused on providing an experience
of this to the participants. They first
observed the activities of the
foundation in one of the centers.
After
which,
they
actually
participated in the volunteering
activities of the centre. This
experience gave them a true feel
which no amount of classroom
session could have achieved.
We adapted our learning solutions
to some of the fundamental needs
of Gen Y. It paid off very well in the
end. During the induction program,
the participants were engaged on all
the days and there was tremendous
learning. On the closing day, I
remember the statement made by
one youngster when I was talking to
him, "We are not rebellious, and we
are not spoiled. Our perspective is
very different from yours. You have
to understand us in order to be
successful with us."
Informal learning and Gen Y

As adults we learn all the time in
different settings. And most of this
learning actually happens at work through trial and error, reading,
internet
surfing
and
most
importantly interaction with people:
discussing with co-workers, manager
and work groups. Thus, people learn
almost 80% of what they need
through informal channels. Formal
learning - be it a structured elearning or classroom training caters
to only 15 to 20% of an individual's
learning. Learning preferences of
Gen Y make informal learning an
ideal choice for them:
Some of the adult learning

principles like relevancy and
autonomy get accentuated in Gen Y
learners. Gen Y learners want to learn
just what they need, when they need
it. Informal learning is effective for
them as it is personal, just-in-time
and completely customized.
Gen Y is tech savvy and is far

more comfortable (than other
generations) in learning without
human interaction. Video streaming,
podcasting, wikis and blogs work
extremely well for them. These
technology leveraged learning
sessions offer them an opportunity
to learn from the medium that they
are most comfortable with. For
example, when the CEO of an
organization shares his perspectives
through his blog, there are two
advantages: he will be able to reach
all the employees irrespective of
geographical location. And as
compared to some of the older
employees who may prefer to listen
to the CEO in person, the Gen Y
may find it completely effective.
Being tech savvy, he or she would
also take the opportunity to interact
with the CEO by using the
comments option.
Gen Y thrives on collaboration

and learning from each other.
Consider this situation, a young
employee wants a piece of
information or needs a clarification.
How many times does he or she
actually go to the boss or a senior
leader for help? Probably not many
times! Most of the times, he or she
would speak or write an e-mail to a
friend or colleague. Or check with
friends in an online network group,
or simply google.
Internal social network groups
can be created within an organization
by using tools like Yammer. These
enable the employees to create
relevant work groups in order to
collaborate and share information
efficiently. Community of practice is
another platform that can be used
to actively create functional
knowledge and depth in technical
areas that are critical to the
organization's success. These online
and offline groups provide the Gen
Y an opportunity to collaborate,
share and learn in real-time.
Thus, a combination of well
designed formal and informal
learning tools can be adopted to
stimulate Gen Y learning. It would
help them focus on pro-active
learning, actively connect with each
HC
other and share knowledge.
June 2011
85
SECTION 1V Best pra ctices in learning
ith one of the world's

best
educated
workforces, Google
simply decided to
enable these whizzes
connect with each other contribute
to their development. They have
created a host of self-directed
learning opportunities, ranging
from content subscriptions to
online modules to courses Googlers
teach one another in theirGooglersTeaching-Googlers (G2G) program,
which has already offered over 200
courses globally in the first half of
2009. They are also developing
G2GTV, which features short videos
in which Googlers teach one
another about a wide range of
topics. Examples of G2GTV
channels include Sales, Working
Smarter, Health and Fitness, and
Engineering.
Similarly, they have resources
such as GWhiz, where any Googler
across the world can register
himself as available for questions/
mentoring on any area of expertise,
allowing all other Googlers to
consult him/her. This further
fosters the concept of Googlers
teaching one another.
Google has one of the besteducated workforces in the world,
and they are a company that places
a high value on continuous learning.
They promote professional growth,
learning, and development for all
employees through a multitude of
formal and informal programs. At
Google, they believe that personal
development is an integral part of
the employee life-cycle.
Google is one of those
organisations where certain
development programs can be
directly mapped with their
immediate contribution to business
success as well. One of the most
talked
about
and
unique
development program for engineers
is the 20% project, where engineers
are encouraged to spend 20% of
their time on a project outside their
typical work responsibilities. The
20% project encourages continual
innovation by allowing engineers to
86
June 2011
google
At google, each one teaches many.
spend time on Google-related
projects of their choosing. By
allowing employees to recharge their
creative energies, they provide an
opportunity for employees to move
into new areas of work while
simultaneously broadening their
knowledge base. Some of the most
amazing 20% projects that have
eventually gone on to impact millions
of users are GMail, Google News,
Google Finance, Orkut and AdSense
for content.
Strengthened by their culture of
open communication and teamwork,
the mentor program provides
Google employees with a chance to
share their knowledge and teach
others. They have created a site that
provides Googlers with in-depth
information on how to be a great
mentor and how to get the most out
of a mentoring relationship.
Job Shadowing enables Googlers
to spend a period of time observing
what others in the company do at
their jobs. The program brings
Googlers together to help them
explore a potential career move,
network, share best practices, or
simply learn more about what others
do at the company. It's a low-cost,
high-impact way to help Googlers
connect and leverage one of their
most valuable resources-each other.
Taking their philosophy of
learning from each other to another
level, in addition to organising talks
from various luminaries from the
industry, they host regular Tech Talks
where speakers both internal and
external present their insight on
timely topics. Google's engineering
tech talk program is a vital part of
their engineering knowledge transfer
efforts. The program features worldclass engineers from both within and
outside the company, who share their
ideas, best practices, and technical
acumen across a wide range of

topics. Googler volunteers organise
several talks a week at most
engineering offices, and engineers
at other sites can attend these
internal talks remotely via video
conference connections. They have
made a large number of these talks
available to the entire world via
Google Video and YouTube. The
tech talk program typifies a culture
which encourages their engineers
to air their ideas in an arena
composed of highly technical
colleagues, who challenge them to
push the boundaries of their
thinking.
Google R&D in Bangalore has
significant
investments
on
innovative technologies and global
products that are strategic to India.
To build compelling products for the
Indian consumers, it is important
for Googlers to understand India
from varied perspectives.
They host the 'Understanding
India Speaker Series', wherein they
look to invite industry pioneers and
thought leaders from diverse fields
in India, to address their Engineers.
It is an attempt to create a platform
to encourage, enthuse and
empower their engineers to further
contribute towards India's progress.
A cultural tradition at many
Google offices including their
headquarters, the @ Google series
was brought to India in 2008. The
objective behind this initiative is to
have some great speakers share
their stories and experiences with
all their employees, thereby
facilitating learning and additional
development. The @ Google series
in India boasts of impressive names
like Mrs. Kiran Bedi and Prof. Ashok
Jhunjhunwala, till date.
By Sandeep Malhotra, Consultant Great Place
to Work Institute.
June 2011
87
dr. reddy's laboratories

Development is for all at Dr. Reddy's.
t Dr. Reddy's Laboratories
people are their DNA, and
it has been their
endeavour to develop the
talent pool. Our journey
towards people development is
inextricably linked with their
philosophy to make Dr. Reddy's a
"learning organization" and their
core values of Teamwork &
Collaboration, and Innovation &
Continuous Learning has helped
them build a culture of diversity, and
meritocracy.
The company strive to align the
learning needs of all the employees
with the strategic business goals of
the organization, and the changing
market scenario. Their associatebase (over 11,000 strong) is
conceptually divided into three levels:
Top X, Hipo and the Pool. This was
done in order to facilitate a
smoother learning process and
render appropriate learning needs.
Top X: Identified top leaders
within the company.
Hipo: Hipo or the High Potential
employees. These consist of
employees in the middle to senior
leadership levels, identified through
the Talent Management Board.
Pool: Core employees of the
organization, i.e. employees in the
executive and junior management
level. It also includes employees in
the middle and senior levels who
are not a part of Hipo.
The idea is to groom leaders to
take on leadership challenges as we
surge ahead and at the same time
build the core strength of the
organization.
Another factor that has
influenced their approach to the
learning interventions is ensuring
active engagement of the participants
throughout the learning process. This
is achieved through sending out preread, organization-related case
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June 2011
studies before a training program in

order to pique and sustain the interest
of the participant. Also following up
through a post training support
through the learning event, a constant
contact is maintained with the
participant for month through case
studies, tips on how to apply. The
learning programs offered at Dr
Reddy's focus on building the
functional,
behavioural
and
leadership competencies of all the
employees at Dr. Reddy's.
Dr Reddy's encourages its
employees to expand their capacity
to create the results they truly desire,
where new and expansive patterns of
thinking are nurtured, where
collective aspiration is set free, and
where employees are continually
encouraged to learn to see the whole
together.
The company believes that
Leadership is not a responsibility of a
certain level of employees. Inside an
organization, everyone should behave
like a leader, and that is why their
learning programs also focus on the
pool - the core strength, of the
organization. The programs for the
pool cater to diverse business needs
and focus on building the functional,
behavioural
and
leadership
competencies of all the employees at
Dr. Reddy's. The centralized training
programs are conceptualized,
planned, and organized by the
Learning and Development team in
collaboration with the Line managers
and Business Unit HR. In addition,
every Business Unit also takes up
training initiatives which are local/
specific to their own business needs.
The Learning and Development team
provides backend support to roll out
these initiatives.
Building on their philosophy of
delivering learning and development
initiatives across all levels, the
company understands the benefits of
leveraging technology to deliver, and

manage the learning process, all to
better support the business today
and in future. Their Learning
Webpage on the intranet is yet
another feat that helps them in
reaching and meeting the
development needs of their
employees across the globe.
Some of the key features of the
webpage include:
Disseminating
Program
Information: The webpage serves as
a tool to provide real time
information on programs that are
running in the academy.
Tool for Collaborative Learning:
This is done through a learning blog
which captures the learning needs/
queries of an employee. This query/
need can be addressed by any
employee across the globe virtually
on the hit of a button.
Virtual Learning Platform: The
webpage also serves as a virtual
learning platform for employees
across the globe. Employees can
access short videos of Global
leaders, sharing their valuable
insights on varied topics like
leadership, corporate values, trust,
sustainability, feedback, communication, corporate culture etc. The
videos are updated on a weekly basis
and old videos archived to
maximize accessibility. Besides the
video of Global Leaders, the page
also contains short videos of their
Board Members sharing their
leadership lessons and experiences.
They also have an online link on
the page which enables all employees
across the globe to access hundreds
of book summaries. These summaries
help us in keeping abreast of latest
books published globally and help
them keep up to date on topics of
their interest.
to Work Institute.
June 2011
89
bharti airtel
Building the leadership pipeline.
irtel believes in nurturing
talent across levels with
disproportionate investment on their top talent.
They have leadership
development programs for each
level which aim at building a
leadership pipeline to meet the
future challenges.
For senior management they
have training program offerings from
best in class institutes. In partnership
with institutes like CCL, INSEAD and
ISB they have created customized
programs to deliver trainings based
on their requirement. These training
programs cover aspects of both
leadership &general management.
Moving next to Middle
Management, they have developed
programs with IIM Ahmedabad, IIM
Bangalore and ISB for building
general management skills in their
high potential managers and
developing competencies.
They have also developed an
integrated program for hi potential
individuals for Junior Management
which looks at Managing Self,
Managing Others & Managing
Business.
The Indian talent market is hot
and competitive; hence attrition
remains high. Airtel being a market
leader is seen as a training ground
and hence stands the risk of losing
people to competition. To manage
the careers of their ambitious high
potentials as well as ensure continuity
of a leadership pipeline they have
designed a structured intervention
for identification & development of
our junior, middle and senior
management hi potential employees.
LeAP (Leadership Acceleration
Program)
In a fast growing organization like
Airtel; there is an increasing demand
for leaders who can head
businesses/functions/units. For this
purpose they have designed
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June 2011
Leadership Acceleration program

(LeAP) which consists of Business
Leader Acceleration program
(BLeAP) which looks at developing
senior management leaders for the
future and Emerging Leader
Acceleration Program (ELeAP) which
looks at developing middle
management leaders of the future.
Business Leader Acceleration
Program & Emerging Leader
Acceleration Program is a rigorous
and
ongoing
development
intervention that involves identifying,
developing and monitoring highperforming high-potential employees,
preparing them for advancement into
critical roles for effective execution
of the business strategy.
The objective of BLeAP or
Business Leader Acceleration Program
is to identify and develop high
potential middle management leaders
and prepare them for COO or similar
critical national functional roles in
future. This development journey is
spread over 15 months and facilitates
effective transition of an individual
from a functional team manager role
to a business manager role where the
individuals would have larger cross
functional teams and multiple
stakeholders across the business,
would manage a business P&L, etc
BLeAP is an inventory of highimpact leadership development
experiences, which provide highly
customized development programs
with a mix of on the job learning
activities, feedback as well as training.
Just-in-time (JIT) Action learning
is a core element of BLeAP; action
learning approach facilitates
development of leadership qualities,
skills, and strategic thinking by way of
experience-based exercises. Action
learning experiences not only
reinforces and emphasizes Learning
By Doing philosophy but can also
help in addressing company issues
by getting the best brains of the
company together to work on real

life business issues. Since High
Potential employees learn best
through action learning; hence Each
BLeAP participant is given exposure
to the an appropriate mix of
developmental experiences which
may include cross functional projects,
industry visits, workshops, strategic
reviews & planning exercises,
coaching employees, 360 feedback,
mentoring by a senior leader, etc.
This transition from an individual
contributor role to a management
role is difficult, challenging but
achievable. ELeAP is a development
journey spread across 15 months
which equips transition of their high
potential junior management
employees to middle management
i.eZonal Business Managers or
similar roles in future.
ELeAP or the Emerging Leader
Acceleration program looks at
building the critical skills of
Leadership, Conflict Resolution,
Effective Collaboration, Problem
Solving & Decision Making, and
Business Understanding & Effective
Execution though a mix of
workshops and action learning
activities. The JIT action learning
experiences provided to this groups
helps them assimilate their learnings
from the workshop and action them
in their workplace. These
experiences include unit reviews &
planning exercises, 360 feedback,
cross functional projects, mentoring
by a senior leader, etc.
Airtel goes further with their
Young Leader Program - this is one
of the major and unique initiatives
undertaken to institutionalize the
process of building future leaders.
Airtel, in this endeavor visits premier
B-School campuses to identify the
right talent. This talent is brought
into the company as Young Leaders
in the Assistant Manager Cadre. The
YLs are put through a year-long
orientation program on successful
completion of which they are
absorbed as Assistant Managers in
Band 1, the first managerial Band in
the Organization's structure.
to Work Institute.
June 2011
91
paypal
Learn on the job.
t PayPal development
opportunities begin on
the job. They believe that
their employees can learn
a great deal nearly every
day, and especially when they are
taking on "stretch assignments" that
are carefully aligned with their
development goals.
They have in place, a set of
resources to help managers be
more effective than ever when
having development conversations
with their employees, and when
delegating assignments that enable
their employees to learn and grow.
These resources also help
employees become even more
cognizant of the ways they can
pursue their development goals
while fulfilling the responsibilities
of their current positions.
Their employees are also
equipped with powerful online
tools for learning and self
development available at the click
of a button on demand at all times.
The Programme aptly called
iManage is a suite of self assessment
tests providing a flavour of
individual capability across more
than 72 types of behavioural skills.
The individual can then use these
evaluations as a benchmark and
work
on
their
Personal
Development Plans (PDP). The PDP
is a comprehensive plan document
consisting of the individual's goal,
feedback from personal board of
directors (Yes! That's what they call
the mentors and friends) and a plan
of action for closing the gap and
achieving the goal. The iManage
contains
over
40
online
development Programmes offered
in collaboration with Harvard
called the Harvard Manage Mentor.
Employees benefit from these
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June 2011
Programmes which include videos

with case studies and comments
from industry experts.
In addition to facilitating on-going
development conversations between
employees and their managers, they
have our formal Global Talent
Review. This is another way that they
look at people in their organizations
and match them up with the right
learning opportunities. Specifically,
it's a process that relies on
standardized, objective criteria so
their leaders can best identify,
develop and advance talented people
throughout the company.
They know that many of their
employees would like to broaden
their horizons and expand their skills
by working in different roles in the
company. Employees express their
desire to look at different
assignments including opportunities
across the globe, these are reviewed
and when there a suitable fit
between the aspirations of the
employee and the opportunity a
transition plan is put in place to
enable the move. This is certainly
one of their strongest moves for
employee development.
One of their signature learning
opportunities is Leadership eBay,
which is designed for directors and
executives in the company. For an
entire week, they say goodbye to
their meetings, email, BlackBerries
and other aspects of their day-today jobs and go to a comfortable
retreat site where they receive
exceptional leadership training.
Another offering is the PayPal
Emerging Leader Programme, which
is focused on helping managers grow
four key leadership skills: personal
leadership, developing a team,
collaborating across boundaries and
strategic execution. A fairly
exhaustive Programme facilitated

by some of the best coaches in the
industry incorporates real life
business scenarios relevant to
PayPal and eBay with extensive
academic inputs to provide a
comprehensive Programme. The
Programme is split into 3 phases
beginning with a four week prework, one week of the actual
Programme followed by up to 6
months of coaching and
mentoring.
To
further
their
own
development, their people can go
through a host of additional
Programmes that are need based.
PayPal also offers several
organization-specific new hire and
risk-management Programmes for
all PayPalians. These focus on
issues of special importance to the
PayPal part of the business such as
commonly used payment types, the
operations of payment networks,
and PayPal's distinctive risk
management processes and
systems.
In addition to these they have
knowledge sharing sessions
(Mindspa), customer feedback
monitoring (voice of customer),
public speaking and communication forums ( Toastmasters),
specialised program for women
colleagues, innovation workshops,
new employee orientation and so
on.
In PayPal they also encourage
employees who wish to pursue
academic
interests.
The
organisation sponsors employees
for part-time higher education
programs through the education
assistance policy.
to Work Institute.
June 2011
93
fedex
Training for long-term success

ecruiting great employees
is a science unto itself but
as important as hiring is,
it's only the first step in
the process of creating a
truly successful business. One might
be tempted to rest on the laurels of
a great hire, but developing and
nurturing those employees is just as
important as hiring them in the first
place. Creating a solid plan for the
continuous improvement and
advancement of employees is a vital
part of an organization's long-term
success; which is a strong belief at
FedEx.
The Learning & Development
department at FedEx provides the
mandatory as well as nonmandatory
trainings
or
development tools and the accesses
required for the same. The
management in turn is responsible
to ensure they recommend
deserving employees to attend or
enrol for such scheduled
workshops either online or
through classroom trainings.
Through the SharePoint, employees
can access the training schedule
and the pool of available trainings.
In midst of economic
slowdown, FedEx as a commitment
to their promotion from within
policy,
launched
Career
Development Workshops. The aim
of these workshops was to
encourage employees to utilize the
time of economic turbulence to
enhance and upgrade their
respective skills and knowledge, to
be prepared to take on internal
opportunities when they arise.
A computer based competency
development training has been
developed to deliver an interactive
session on how employees can
develop their competencies
required for their future growth
within the organisation. This has
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June 2011
been very well received by

employees as it is a computer based
training and employees based in
remote locations can benefit from it
to a large extent.
FedEx introduced a unique
concept through which they
provided functional trainings to non
functional employees. For instance,
they organised workshops like - Sales
for non-sales professionals and
Dangerous Goods Training for nonoperations employees. The objective
of providing these trainings is to
increase cross functional awareness
and increased team work.
Linking learning and developing
to one of their critical business
drivers, Customer Relations Learning
Hub is a portal of learning
opportunities that will develop the
skills, knowledge and behaviours
employees need to create great
customer experiences. The Learning
Hub
links
employees
with
professional development resources
(such as the Customer Relations
Competency Models and the
Competency-Based Development
Planning CBT), a variety of interactive
activities to use in their Development
Plans. The Learning Hub is a growing
resource. Activities are added to
support growth, and enhance ability
to achieve key accountabilities of
current or future roles.
Center for Employee Self
Development (CESD)offers custom
learning solutions targeted to specific
business needs. This website offers a
bundle of innovative resources and
tools to encourage self-development
initiatives and to drive use of untapped
skills. CESD is a new strategy to align
and conduct business with
departments
and
divisions
throughout the organisation,
addressing any combination of
human capital challenges. CESD
includes solutions that offer a path
leading to individual development.

Online seminars are founded on
the wealth of experience provided
by Subject Matter Experts. The
nation's leading experts present
their strategies and experience with
the full passion of a live seminar.
Access to these experts is limited,
due to their heavy travel and private
consulting schedules. And many
speak only at private engagements.
Through a special arrangement,
however, they have made these
experts available to FedEx
Employees in a dynamic and
interactive way.
The "30 Minutes With The
Masters" on-line seminar provides
on-line access to the experts' most
current speeches and conference
presentations. Through the power
of the internet, you can visit their
content anytime, anywhere, and as
often as you like for refreshers,
ideas, and inspiration.
In a unique program known as
IMFM (Is Management for Me?) a one day workshop facilitated by
FedEx line managers certified by
HR who make the learning exciting
by sharing with the participants
their real experiences of being in
Management role in FedEx. The
objective of the class is to help
employees make an informed
decision
whether
FedEx
management is for them.
To groom their future
managers, they have a program
called New Horizon which assesses
key skills, knowledge, and
behaviours and then provides a
structured development process to
improve those competencies
required by managers.
To encourage lifelong learning,
FedEx has a formal 'Acting
Manager Policy', which approves
the appointment of an individual
to 'act' on behalf of their Manager
in exceptional circumstances e.g.
long-term sickness, maternity
leaves. The policy stipulates how
the individual should be rewarded
for taking on the additional
responsibilities.
to Work Institute.
EVENT UPDATE
organizational learning
impacting business
changing the game.
he CLO Chief Learning Officers

TISS as the Academic Partner. The
Summit India is the premier
summit is steered by an Advisory Board
most platform for evangelizing
and Core Design Group consisting of
and promoting Organisational
luminaries who are leaders in the field
Learning & Development. The
of education, training and learning and
annual summit shall catalyze the
are passionate about the initiative.
creation and effective dissemination of
Initially, it was a 1 day program held
next practices across corporates,
at the International Convention Centre
institutions, NGOs, government bodies
of the institute with 16 thought leaders
and practitioners through effective
who shed light on the fledgling concept
interaction, debate and research.
in India and was also telecast on
That is the theme for the 3rd
Annual CLO Chief Learning
Officers Summit India to be held in
Mumbai on 25-26 August 2011. A
unique feature: The theme has not
changed since the last 3 years.
Here's why
"The multi-year overarching
theme reflects the ambitious and
important objective at hand for the
learning & development function
and professionals in order to make
a meaningful contribution to the
organization, more so in the
emerging Indian context.
A plethora of questions need to
be asked, debated and answered
Kumaar Bagrodia, Founder
in order for this to happen,
CLO Chief Learning Officers Summit India.
efficiently and continually. We
believe this is not attainable in a single
BloombergUTV.
event but has to be a long term
Strong content, carefully chosen
endeavour. Within the overall theme, the
speakers and uncompromising
summit shall focus on specific topics
'editorial' control - the summit is averse
every year which shall serve as
to 'selling' speaker slots have seen the
milestones towards achieving the longer
platform grow outside the TISS campus
term objective."
to a very successful 2 day summit in its
The Summit encourages dialogue
2nd year and now in its 3rd year the
and believes that given the quality of the
summit has over 30 leading Indian and
audience, it attracts, each one of the
global speakers, masterclasses and is
participating delegate has a lot to
introducing an industry first:
contribute to the overall learning and
Unlearning Expo India. The Expo shall
knowledge sharing experience at the
take place alongside the CLO Summit at
summit.
the same venue and dates. It is an
The summit was instituted in 2009
opportunity for the HR, training,
with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences,
learning and education community to
see the latest products and services in elearning, assessments, distance

education,
skill
development,
vocational and technical education. In
addition to the expo visitors, exhibitors
can also conduct special product
demonstrations for the summit
delegates at the expo.
There will be two exclusive
Masterclasses the day after the summit:
"Managing the Millennials: Discover the
Core Competencies for Managing
Today's Workforce" by Chip Espinoza,
Author, Managing the Millennials (
the book was featured in SHRM's Top
5 Human Resource Management
Books and was also featured in the
last ASTD Conference) and "Building
high impact, scaleable programs to
develop middle management
capacity" by Harvard Business
Publishing
The importance of learning and
organizational development in the
modern enterprise is undeniable.
From a small department in most
organizations to a full fledged
enabling function in many, the
learning and development function
as we know it has come through its
own path of evolution. The journey
though has just begun given the
emergence of the knowledge economy.
The so called demographic dividend
that India is set to reap in the context of
the global market for talent will shape
the entire economy in time to come. This
has significant implications not just for
corporates but for organizations across
all facets of the economy.
Organizational learning will not only
be a key differentiator but will also be a
source of competitive advantage in
terms of an organization's ability to
attract and retain talent, customers and
investors."
The role and position of

the Chief Learning Officer
whether designated or role
based is extremely crucial
in driving the next level of
organizational knowledge
creation, innovation, culture
and the very DNA of the
organization.
June 2011
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SECTION V Quick fix take-aways
e-learning
pitfalls
What sets it off: Flexibility to learn anytime, anywhere!

Why it happens: Learners follow their own schedule, are
not restricted to a timetable or accountable to a trainer.
Unless extremely motivated, learners may not finish the
course or take in the learning (estimates ssay 50% to 90%
web-based training are not finished). Also, self-directed
learning is effective for cognitive information and process,
as it operates counter to how people have been
conditioned to learn. Another issue: should e-learning
occur on organization's time or on learner's time. At
times, learners are not motivated to complete a webbased course, while facing work pressure. Employees productivity issues arise.
When and how can it be fixed: Corporates can address this problem at an early stage by asking questions
like: what will encourage learners to complete the e-learning course; and how they will be accountable for
completing training? Including an evaluation method and evaluating the e-learning program, establishing
enhancements and fine-tuning the e-learning process on an on-going basis will also help.
An electronics manufacturer installed ondemand learning at all plant workstations.

The machines deliver product changes and
modify instantly to production teams, but
training is offered anytime on most
subjects. If a person wants to know how
to reduce static electricity transfer to the
sensitive electronic equipment, he can look
for 'all curricula' for 'static' and locate a
fast 20 minute course to aid his
work. This is a direct connect
among employee, task, and
training i.e. more employeecontrolled on-demand training
where employee acceptance of elearning is significantly enhanced.
(Source: www.comproj.com)
& how you can avoid them
Overlooking limitations of self-directed learning
On-demand at the floor
100
BY ARVA SHIKARI
June 2011
Assuming that e-learning can do it all

Where it starts: E-learning program is under-capitalized
and budgets run short.
Why it happens: At times, companies overestimate what elearning can achieve. The assumption: scalability, wide
geographic reach, and supreme delivery pace of e-learning.
The myth: if all training is uploaded on the net, expenses
would decrease. Not true... Content and courseware has its
expenses. Added costs come from planning, setting up,
bandwidth, systems integration, and communications and
marketing required to get learners to utilize the system.
Escaping the pitfall: Plan meticulously, execute efficiently
and market e-learning system well. Involve major
stakeholders-learners, managers, IT partners, and
e-learning providers. Align e-learning program
to organization's values and goals, get support
of senior management, and be connected to
HR systems, like performance management or
succession planning or knowledge/skills
supporting significant company initiatives, like
product or technology development. Create
excitement and interest in learners, constantly
communicately and market the program.
E-learning is all about courses

What causes it: The propagation of having only job-related, technical and soft skills courses.
Why it happens: Industry experts estimate that only 30% of training gets truly transmitted at work...provided
training method and learning purpose are not constantly in sync, like for example, a manager who
undergoes an interviewing skills training, but, does not get a chance to conduct an interview for many
months. In different situations, the opportunity to apply the learning might not turn up at all.
How can it be fixed: E-learning can be structured in other ways than course delivery, for example, it can
be employed for apprenticeships and internships; or by using easy applications like online blogs to create
various communities of learning. Another non-course
e-learning technique is electronic performance
support system, where firms can leverage the web
or intranet to facilitate targeted learning for learners
as and when needed. For example, if a person needs
to know how to conduct a productive meeting, just
before the meeting, he can go through tips for a
successful meeting or if he had a bad argument with
a colleague, he can access data on how to address
that situation. Learners use this system like they
would use a reference book. Even blended learning
in e-learning is possible through knowledge
management systems, e-mails, podcasts, video
conferences, guided chat rooms, etc.
Failure to launch
Seeing content as a product

What brings it about: Some providers offer content filled with
indepth research and expert data, while others offer content
based on small investment of time and effort.
Why it happens: At times, script and instructional design quality
of content differ considerably. Sometimes content is not
sequenced appropriately and is difficult to use. Also, media
used can be different in quality and impact. For example, videos
can be significant and instructive or dull and inadequately
produced. When deciding content for use across geographies,
aptness to learners needs have to be considered. Content that
is suitable and effectual for European employees may be
unsuitable and unproductive for learners in Asia or America.
Fixing tips: Before buying e-learning courseware, organizations
can get informed about e-learning course modules from various
sources. This will help in making a clever investment. For
example, video can cover geographies and cultures; but its
success needs attentiveness, experience, and testing. Secondly,
e-learning courses can be evaluated in terms of how they fit
into the overall learning
and development plans.
To enhance the impact of
training, the e-learning
program
requires
balancing and reinforcing
through other training
initiatives. In this way, user
organizations can provide
learners with multiple
options based on their
choices and situations.
A big telecommunications company

employed a web-based learning for its
marketing team. The order fulfilment
division supplied content for training with
help from a vendor and the regional
marketing division hosted the class on
their server. When content and bandwidth
accessibility became an issue for the
marketing team as they tried to dial-up
the training, none of them had any idea
who can solve this problem and the
marketing team passed the problem to
the order fulfilment division since they
appeared to own the content. The order
fulfilment person did not have access to
the marketing server and was unable to
reply to technical questions. The in-house
computing and network teams were too
busy to look into the e-learning
accessibility issues immediately.
Companys oversight, divisional silos and
poor planning caused this e-learning
endeavour to die a fast and expensive
death. The marketing team was
discouraged to use e-learning and became
unenthusiastic about other company
initiatives.
(Source: www.comproj.com)
June 2011
101
BY ARVA SHIKARI
SOCIAL MEDIA: New
services will assimilate
to enhance online
collaboration, sharing
and discussions, and
especially aid people
from smaller digital
and location-based
communities.
training that are

trends here to stay!
'JUST-IN-TIME' LEARNING: The real value of learning at
workplace is to back present work problems. Self
development will be targeted like a 1-2 minute
concentrated hit of knowledge
customized to a specific
challenge.
LEARNING MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS: Some of the
LMS platforms will be
conver ting into broader
models where structured learning
will be a part of a bigger learning
community facilitating collaboration,
knowledge sharing, and social networking.
POCKET VIDEO TECHNOLOGY:

Over the years, gaps in the
video experience will be filled
with the integration of filtering,
tagging, editing and locating tools
into each and every video feed.
SELF-MANAGED PROGRESS: The future

of learning is all about self-handled
growth (63%), coaching/mentoring
(27%) and formal qualifications (10%).
A blended approach with formal
workshops to back self-managed
learning will be the mantra.
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June 2011
CONTINUOUS LEARNING: Flexible

learning will rise more. About 29%
of senior managers prefer to learn
at work, 9% during their lunchtime,
14% during weekends and 4%
during their commute.
AUGMENTED REALITY: AR
provides location-based services
where one gets data about the
place where one's phone camera
is facing like adding historical
objects to the picture of one's
surroundings when moving around
a city or informing one about the tenants of
a building. In the next five years it will be
used in learning and development area.
EBOOKS: Many forward thinking

training organizations will give print
materials in downloadable formats
for employees to study or reference
as needed. Also, in future books
will hyperlink to other sources of information,
providing a richer reading experience.
Mobile all the way

FORMAL & INFORMAL LEARNING: 70%
of learning at senior levels is gained from
experiential learning, 20% by introspective
methods like coaching and 10% via formal
learning. About 70% of growth is at work
(a project that develops), 20% is
relationship based (learning from a coach)
and 10% is by face-to-face learning.
Laptop or iPhone offers 24/7 acces s to
training resources, when learners want it,
not when their company says.
During the end of 2011 around 40% of executives

plan to integrate media tablets and smartphones into
their learning and development. And by 2015 HR
executives plan to leverage mobile devices not only
for learning and performance support, but, also for
coaching and mentoring
employees
(37%),
micro-blogging (27%),
augmented
reality
(14%), and mobile
gaming (12%).
3D VIRTUAL WORLDS: Companies use this by

building an environment that looks like
conference rooms or offices-to avoid
the mind numbing presentations. Also,
some have created enterprise-wide
portals where an employee at work
virtually logs on to access social
media tools, documents and other
applications from the integrated 3D
platform. Some others use it as multilearner simulations where many
people participate in a simulation and
work together on it while learning the facts,
knowledge and procedures needed to collaborate.
QR CODES: It is a type of barcode

that can be read by QR
scanners and mobile
phones with cameras,
using a QR reader app.
Librarians and educators
use them. QR codes
containing a hyperlink
are placed on shelves in
libraries and the code
links to additional
information about a
related subject. This has a lot of
potential in the future.
June 2011
103
classic
training
trends to hold on to...
BY ARVA SHIKARI
Ancient mentoring pratha' will continue

Why it will survive: Mentoring has been around since the time of guru-shishya. Companies like TCS and Mindtree
have successful mentoring programs. Different types of mentoring are on the rise. There are web based solutions
of mentoring like Open Mentoring which Cisco uses, Hi-Impact Mentoring, MentorMatch, etc which organizations
utilize. With explosion of learning technologies there is lot to learn from different generations like communication
techniques, social networking, or learning something new from a perspective
that is foreign. Businesses and nonprofits are reaping the rewards of mentoring
programs because they increase performance and organizational potential.
Future perspective: Companies will evolve by identifying new opportunities
for mentoring, and enhancing support for existing applications. Group
mentoring, situational mentoring and mentoring for performance reinforcement
are in demand.
Group mentoring is
exercised
by
companies that have
New joinees - This occurs at the time of on-boarding aiding
lack of experts to act
fresh employees to understand accepted rules of workplace and
as mentors or that has
reduces the learning curve period of new employees.
a requirement to
Skill transfer - This is used for cross training or attempting to
support group-based
build groups of expertise.
peer learning and
expert based learning. Here, group members share learning
Employee resource groups - These are for employees' career
that is centred on relational goals (like team-building), topical
advancement. These groups focus on enabling their members to
goals (like on-boarding) or procedural goals (like planning
link and share data on how to succeed in the company and
a project). Situational mentoring is good for people who
manage taxing circumstances.
want quick advice from one or more experts on a particular
Career development - This is set up by the HR under talent
subject. This accounts for employees seeking targeted
management program to ensure that high potential and budding
engagement. And, performance reinforcement mentoring
high potential employees attain the right set of experiences and
(coaching) aids employees in obtaining objectives set in a
visibility to move in the corporation.
performance review.
Reverse mentoring - A younger or less experienced executive is
Enterprise learning is moving from content to context, and
paired with a senior executive to gain insight into areas like IT
mentoring aids in contextualized learning. Apart from
technology, shifting mindsets and expectations of the younger
knowledge acquisition and skills development mentoring
generation, fresh business views, thinking out of the box etc.
can work in workforce diversity initiatives, certification and
Communities of practice - This is geared towards encouraging
apprenticeship programs. Several applications of mentoring
the development of advanced professional skills for participants
are as exclusive as the learning requirements of every person
in tech clubs and other matrix management type firm structures.
concerned, building personalized learning prospects.
Forms of mentoring
Succession planning - Mentoring selected people for their

transition into the C-suite.
104
June 2011
Classroom training holds its

ground
Why: Regardless of the rapid flow of
learning technologies, costly and
rigorous traditional classroom-based
instructor-led training (ILT) is still
pursued in today's learning
organizations, particularly for
important management and
leadership skills. Even for soft skills
development, the classroom is the
apt form. In fact, 65% of learning
executives adopt the classroom
delivery method while imparting
these kinds of skills. Even informal
learning on various topics in forums
is done through classrooms.
Future classrooms: In future,
classroom training will be more like
a learning lab with superior
explorations of various topics and
objectives driven by the viewers/
learners rather than the facilitator
or course design. It may also end in
instruction tips and tricks shared by
the viewers and facilitator.
There will be more learner
engagement and collaboration;

classrooms will turn into a studio
for capturing content and
broadcasting it; learners will design
courses according to their choices
and trainers will be facilitators; it will
enable project-based learning;
and will be on high energy with
learning activities by having
fun. Blended learning may instil
classroom flexibility. In terms
of infrastructure movable
furniture and separable spaces
that effortlessly shift from a
lecture format to one which is
apt for a discussion or group
work will be seen. New forms
of technologies will enter into
classrooms that will enable
interactive options for learners and
trainers. For example, interactive
whiteboards, wireless access to
learners, camera/microphone to
record class, multiple displays, tablets
for every learner, video conferencing
via webinar and desktop, and
audience response systems.
The future beholds many things, but,
Distance learning to stay

Why: The shifts in higher education, learner preferences
and the incidence of technology in everyone's lives, many
firms in association with educational institutions, present
their employees with distance learning. Also,
technological innovations in the learning environment
offers varied people with the training they require to be
successful in meeting their professional needs.
For learners distance learning means augmented access
and agility plus the blend of work and education as it
responds effectively to the rising demand of working
adults who face problems in attaining conventional
education may be because of rigidity
in timings and location of courses;
or provide opportunities for
disadvantaged people like the
unemployed, disabled, women and
ethnic minorities. Distance learning
also balances inequalities between
age groups; gives fast and efficient
training for target groups; it has the
capacity to expand education in new
and multidisciplinary subject areas;
people develop many competencies
through regular education; and people can get
international dimensions in education. Distance-learning
programs have significantly lesser expenses than
conventional institutions. Also, it has the possibility of a
more learner-centred approach, superior quality and
to make it happen, Elliott Masie

advises a few steps for organizations:
(a) to redesign their classrooms by
creating flexibility in class size,
format and design; have more
learner interactions; (b) blend
capabilities; (c) need to find impactful

uses of classroom sessions with a
focus on collecting facts to aid
technology investments and
instructional decisions; and (d)
companies can express the role of
classroom in their learning strategies,
setting it up for the best instructional,
collaborative and cultural results.
fresh methods of interaction.

For employers it presents high quality and generally a
cost effective professional development at the workplace.
It permits upgrading of skills, improves productivity and
develops a new learning culture. Additionally, it means
sharing of costs, of training time, and enhanced portability
of training. Nevertheless, this form of educational delivery
has come to stay, and many countries are looking at it
as a good strategy for learning.
Future classrooms: Distance learning is a vital element of
future education and training systems. It is approaching
acceptance in conventional education and training in a
way that it will make up part of the
repertoire of most educational
institutions in the future. Also, the
materialization of new forms of
distance learning established on new
information and communication
technologies, specifically those
supported by net and web has
important pedagogical, economic and
organizational benefits. Even
globalization has created a new
educational platform for networked
learning like accessing libraries, scholars, networks, and
data worldwide. The future points towards up-gradation
of skills on a continuous basis, thereby making distance
education a lifelong experience, and the technology being
used will be much more user-centric and flexible.
June 2011
105
CAREER TRACKS
106
June 2011
CAREER TRACKS
Oracle Financial Services Software Ltd.

Recruitment Coordinator / HR Assistant
Location: Bangalore
Job ID: 8311460
Description: Recruitment Back Office Activities Scheduling, Interview Coordination, Offer Letter
Generation, Data Entry etc.
June 2011
107
108
June 2011
June 2011
109
quotable quotes
HENRY FORD: Anyone who
stops learning is old,
whether at twenty or eighty.
Anyone who keeps learning
stays young. The greatest
thing in life is to keep your
mind young.
GOETHE: Knowing is
not enough; we must
apply. Willing is not
enough we must do.
JOHN POWELL: The

only real mistake is
the one from which we
learn nothing.
THOMAS J. PETERS:
Train everyone
lavishly, you cant
overspend on training.
TOM PETERS: Become a

learning organization.
Shuck your arrogance - if
it isnt our idea, it cant be
that good - and become a
determined copycat/
adapter/ enhancer.
June 2011
RICHARD BRANSON: My
biggest motivation? Just to
keep challenging myself. I
see life almost like one long
University education that I
never had.. every day Im
learning something new.
ALBERT EINSTEIN:
I never teach my pupils; I
only attempt to provide the
conditions in which they
can learn.
JACK WELCH: An
organizations ability to
learn, and translate
that learning into action
rapidly, is the ultimate
competitive advantage.
DALE CARNEGIE: Check up

each week on the progress
you are making. Ask yourself
what mistakes you have
made, what improvement,
what lessons you have
learned for the future.
110
DONALD TRUMP: The

surest way for an
executive to kill himself
is to refuse to learn how,
and when, and to whom
to delegate work.
BILL GATES: Learning

from mistakes and
constantly improving
products is a key in all
successful companies.
GALILEO GALILEI: You

cannot teach a man
anything. You can only
help him discover it
within himself.
SOCRATES: I cannot
teach anybody
anything, I can only
make them think.
PETER DRUCKER: We now

accept the fact that learning
is a lifelong process of
keeping abreast of change.
And the most pressing task
is to teach people how to
learn.
June 2011
111
112
June 2011

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realising business strategy through people

Best practices in learning

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Vol.15 No. 1 June 2011

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June 2011 Volume 15 Issue 1

With HR pros sharing practices

Year by year everybody shall witness...

SECTION I The concept catches on

The next 20 years will pose serious

BY DR. SRIPADA CHANDRASEKHAR

eter Senge and his seminal work

students are learning and professionals are

of walking and do not take a regular

have the mental capacity to

Building learning organizations

future skills you may have to pay a

SECTION I The concept catches on

Some CEOs think that if an IIT/IIM

holiday we don't go to a specialist

Will 'learning organizations'

that learn only to deliver an expected

to the time to learn, change and

organizations assume employees and

SECTION I The concept catches on

he human capital markets

Scanning for certain

Most employer brand gurus

business model that is based on

look out for.

knowledge and information. Their

SECTION I The concept catches on

n IT organization that I consulted for recently was

Is your organization geared

The learning organization

bicycle or project management or

standards. Learners tend to mimic

The learning ecosystem

The learning process

SECTION I The concept catches on

Mohinish's core expertise is in

create an enabling ecosystem to

up the opportunity for newer

SECTION I The concept catches on

needs to accomplish at the

that it dissuades employees from

SECTION I The concept catches on

How do you recognize a

BY DR. SUJAYA BANERJEE

rganizations that have the capacity and capability to

a significant presence in global

The emergence of learning

believe the process of constant

DR. SUJAYA BANERJEE

SECTION I The concept catches on