HR IN MSME S
SUMEET VARGHESE
Leading the Leader
F
rom among the many human capital
challenges MSMEs grapple with on a day-
to-day basis, continuous upgradation of
owner knowledge and skill acquires
centrality of place for a host of reasons. As
the sole champion of the business, most
n ew firm-level initiatives in areas like strategy,
marketing, operations, finance and HR are completely
driven and owned by the business owner, especially in
the absence of a second line. Without doubt this
requires critical knowledge inputs at the level of the
business owner first. However, in the absence of a
formal owner-centered training and development
mechanism either supported by internal processes or
by external opportunities, the challenge of owner
development is often met in a half-baked manner. In
many cases, the impetus for training comes from a
strong personal interest in developing or upgrading
oneself or by the accidental availability of a training
opportunity in the area.
The Why of Personal Development
In a Community of Practice (CoP) that today comprises
250 MSME business owners based in Nashik, Sangli,
Kolhapur and Pune, owner interest and motivation in
personal development is fueled by a variety of factors.
While for a majority of members, one of the major
reasons for joining the CoP known as the Teaching &
Learning Community (TLC) was Access to Management
Best Practices (94%), the following also contributed
strongly to their attending developmental sessions:
● Reputation of the Group Founder as a business Role
Model in the area
● Visible improvements in businesses owned by TLC
members
● Peer group pressure from those inside or outside TLC
● Strong desire to learn and apply Manufacturing Best
Practices
● Solve problems faced on the business front
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● General interest in developing oneself continuously
● Prospect of community based sharing and exchange
of best practices with other entrepreneurs
● Poor experience with professional business
consultants and trainers
● Customer pressure to adopt best practices
● Desire to grow the business in a systematic and
holistic manner rather in a haphazard fashion
● Inability to implement management tools learnt
earlier
● Conflict with family members who have either
founded the business and/or who continue to play a
controlling role
● Access to a business network that provides
continuous consultation and guidance
● Day to day firefighting
● Lack of strategic approach to the business
● Employee attrition
While conflict with other family members who co-run
the business may seem like an uncanny reason to
support personal development, for entrepreneurs who
find their business pulled in different directions by
family members not open to change, streamlined and
uniform education in effective business methods and
techniques appears to be the only way out of unwanted
stalemate-like situations. A couple of business owners
that this author spoke to on the issue confessed that
they were trying their best to get the other family
members into the group to make sure that the similarity
in thinking, the common syllabi and the unvarying
instruction methodology would drive greater alignment
among family members.
Incidentally, this particular peer-to-peer learning
community was born because larger industry
associations like CII or ASSOCHAM or the local
management and industry bodies in the area could not
cater to the learning needs of second-generation
entrepreneurs who wanted to professionalize their set-
up further. Also some of the MSME owner upgradation
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 HR IN MSMES

programs offered by industry associations were
perceived to be simply too expensive, unstructured
and offered by experts with a doubtful record of having
actually implemented their teachings.
The What of Personal Development
As with any developmental institution/effort that seeks
to generate a value far greater than the obvious utility
value of its educational offerings, TLC teachings are
based on a well-worked out Value System comprising
4 powerful principles - Unlearn, Learn, Apply and
Teach. Member learning is incomplete till they don't
apply the learning and more importantly, till they don't
evolve into teachers in the system. As a matter of fact,
these principles are also applied internally to the
curriculum and the pedagogy to make sure the group
as a whole continues to learn and unlearn on a
continuous basis.
The TLC curriculum has gone through several
refinements in the last 5 years. But over time, the
group has evolved a stable syllabi and a pedagogy that
continues to be updated but revolves around a
constellation of critical
group leaders identified as Ripple Heads through
interactive training sessions featuring PowerPoint
presentations, audio-visual resources, group exercises,
role plays and where required, outbound training.
However, learning for a TLC member is not complete
till he/she comes up with some solid evidence to prove
his/her application of the principle or idea. This usually
takes the form of a Victory Presentation where a
member who has learnt and applied a concept/practice
in his /her business unit shares a presentation
documenting his/her experience before other members.
The When of Personal Development
For businesses spread across a wide area, it is always
challenging attending a training and development
session at a centralized location. And with 250 MSME
owners, the challenge acquires both scale and
complexity. The Teaching and Learning Community
meets this challenge by ensuring that each member
attends one session (known as Megasession) by the
Group Founder every month. For all subsequent
sessions - known as Ripple Meetings, ranging in
frequency from 4 to 2 per

“
business concepts that can be month, a Group Leader -
highly effective for an MSME. known as Ripple Head, is
Typically, in the first year of Business owners assigned the task of facilitating
joining, a small business owner confessed that they were sessions for some 6-12 business
goes through instructional owners in the area.
sessions on the following: trying their best to get the
● 5-S & Visual Factory other family members into The Where of Personal
5-Why
the group to make sure that Development
●
● 7 QC Tools
While the Megasessions are
●
●
Core Values
Mission & Core purpose
the similarity in thinking, the conducted in a large hall, the
● Vision common syllabi and the Ripple Meetings are conducted
inside the Ripple Head or a
●
●
Financial management
SWOT
unvarying instruction Ripple Member's business
●
●
●
Strategy
HR
Marketing 5-P's
methodology would drive
greater alignment among
“ premises. Of course, learning
does not end with the sessions
as Ripple Heads frequently visit
● Customer Satisfaction family members. Ripple Member companies for
various reasons and also invite
In subsequent years, the same
topics are either expanded or Ripple Members to tour their
drilled further to reflect increasing complexity and factories to have a closer look at the application of a
comprehensiveness. As a matter of fact, the choice of particular principle.
topics is based on the group's understanding of the For the many MSMEs that dot the length and
challenges faced by the businesses in the area and the breadth of the country today, the need and desire for
sector-specific knowledge requirements of members. critical technical and managerial inputs especially at
Since TLC member composition today is largely skewed the business owner level in a structured and systematic
in favor of manufacturing, some of the topics like way is even more urgent and pressing. And in the
Visual Factory and 7QC Tools reflect the need to focus absence of any support from organized industry
on manufacturing best practices. Interestingly, some of associations or government bodies, the potential of a
the IT and ITES companies that are a part of the peer-to-peer learning and sharing network like the
community are equally at home with topics that may Teaching and Learning Community at Nashik is huge.
have no application value for them as they have been Such selfless associations or groups or forums ensure
able to modify the learnings innovatively and adapt it that training and development of business owners is
to their business operations. not just beneficial to the individual but also sustainable
for a whole group. HC

The How of Personal Development

Learning is facilitated by the group founder and other Sumeet Varghese is an independent management consultant.

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