Feature

A learning culture linked to business needs

Faiz Askari writes how HR can create a business-focussed talent development platform.

Organisations today put additional pressure on their HR department to prepare their workforce as per their business needs. Any strong learning and development opportunity linked with its business delivery, can be very attractive for every organisation. In simpler words, employee training and development initiatives can transform organisations by providing extra skills to employees to not only increase productivity, but higher job satisfaction, which shows up in better corporate performance.

Strategic function

The changing role of HR is aimed to make the function a strategic partner in business growth. Being a strategic function like any other function in the industry, it is impacting the business from the standpoint of talent acquisition and talent management in view of the ‘global war’ for talent. Satish Gupta, Executive Director responsible for HR, JK Technosoft states, “In a technology and people-driven industry, HR function’s prominence is vital from the point of human capital management and RoI. HR can drive a business-focussed talent development platform by creating a learning culture in the organisation linked to business needs. It can facilitate towards building a learning environment through various developmental tools.”

Emphasising on the need for training employees for business benefits, Sridhar Kota, Head-HR, Pramati Technologies says, “Employee involvement builds upon training, empowerment and teamwork. Through training, the attitude or culture change also occurs because the teams are given more responsibility and decision-making capabilities.”

Achal Khanna, Country General Manager, Kelly Services India acknowledges that corporate training helps in ensuring that the talent pool gets an exposure to the learning tools and the environment necessary for improving their technical, business and leadership skills. “It also provides an excellent platform to network, share experiences and learn from (potential) mistakes in a controlled environment,” she adds.

Satish Gupta asserts, “Through training (technical and behavioural), competency gaps are bridged to obtain organisational objectives and hence developing the employee gives the business an edge. The widening gap between the demand and supply of talent, accentuated by the shortage of specific skills and vast employment opportunities highlight the growing need of training.”

Induction stage

This business-focussed training is included in the induction stage and later. Chandra Ponneganti, Director of Marketing, SITI Corporation says, “Business-focussed induction training is important for the employee to understand the company, its business, competition, customers, values and other aspects of the business important for him to know and focus on to be successful. Without business-focussed induction training, companies may or may not realise the full potential of the talent the new employee brings in.” Further, continuous grooming on the company’s business environment, makes the employee more successful on-the-job.

An effective business-focussed talent development induction programme can help the new employee channelise his efforts in a manner that can make a good contribution with a shorter ramp-up time than those who do not go through the programme. Ponneganti says, “Most new employees are eager to put in the right efforts to prove themselves on-the-job with the new employer. Such programmes can boost employee confidence on-the-job and also motivate them to contribute in areas they can make a difference.”

Successful HR departments work closely with other department heads and management team members to build the induction programme aligned with business focus and talent development. Ponneganti says, “HR can motivate business leaders to participate actively in shaping the programme as well as to keep it updated with changing business priorities.”

Talent development

The prime driver for talent development is business. Generally, the training programme calendar is an outcome of performance appraisal and new business need generated from business units.

Every business unit should draw a clear-cut annual target for their business area, and identify the people required to meet the same. CV Prakash, Director-Human Capital, Team Computers, says, “The profile of candidates is based on the skill sets required for a particular job. Performance appraisals should be carried out (maybe on a monthly basis) to evaluate whether the organisational requirement is being met or not. There could be five-six parameters on which you conduct performance appraisals, and each parameter should be rated.” However, it is possible that on some parameters one will score high and on some low. The gap between the expectation and actual performance on any particular parameter calls for initiation of a training programme.

The HR or the training division in any organisation needs to develop in-house and external training roadmap for its employees, based on the organisation’s goals and vision. Khanna states, “These would generally be classroom and virtual training that would enable employees to contribute more specifically towards the organisation’s goals. The training plans usually include skill-based training, technical or subject matter specific training, financial training, managerial and leadership training, depending on the role and vintage of employees.”

Training benefits

Training initiatives advance the organisation’s image by demonstrating the employer’s commitment to the personal and professional well-being of employees and exemplifying a business climate of continuous learning.

It enhances employee-employer bonding. Strong business-focussed talent development programmes make the employee an integral part of their strategy and execution thus empowering them as well as making them more responsible. Ponneganti states, “For most public companies, employees are also its share-holders and educating them on business environment and its challenges, imbibes higher sense of responsibility to driving value to the organisation.”

An organisation can have the greatest business model in the world and the best systems, but if the employees can’t handle the growth, it will lead to major problems. If the company is not investing in training, think about all the companies you admire as models for doing business right.

Employers not only find that they have got a good training programme, but it is a part of their culture.

Kota feels that if an organisation wants to breathe some life into their operations, it should start by investing in its people by giving them proper training.

Changing scenario

Organisations understand that the workplace and workforce are changing rapidly and that to keep pace, their employees must continually acquire new skills.

Kota says, “Today’s environment presents numerous challenges, including new technology, global competition, and company right-sizing. Providing and supporting relevant training for employees confronts these challenges head-on and clearly creates a more competent workforce, and ultimately profit increases.”

Many advantages

"Training is viewed by the employees as an explicit indicator of the firm’s commitment to their long-term success" - Sumeet Sabharwal Managing Director Navisite India

The benefits to the organisation are manifold, including increased productivity, higher retention, and increased morale. Sumeet Sabharwal, MD, Navisite India adds, “The first and foremost is a well-skilled talent base that can put the newly acquired skill set to deliver tangible value for the business—be it solving a complex business problem, or creating a solution that enhances the organisation’s top-line or bottom-line. In addition, training enhances retention, and is viewed by the employees as an explicit indicator of the organisation’s commitment to their long-term success.”

Khanna gives her views on how employees can be benefited from the training programmes that are focus-sed on business activity of an organisation, “Employees have obvious benefits from training as it adds to their professional skills and knowledge. Training helps them to achieve their goals and enhances performance in their roles.”

Human resources: The foundation

There cannot be more significant times for HR than now and in the foreseeable future. HR shall continue to remain a strategic business partner by literally moving out ‘transactional’ HR to outsource vendors.

Discussing the state of training among Indian enterprises, Satish Gupta says, “Any organisation has several key pillars like sales, marketing, etc. But HR remains the foundation that supports all these pillars in creating a powerful organisation. Indian enterprises have started investing into employees in terms of training and developmental exercise, as it is only the people in today’s industrial scenario where the enterprises can leverage upon.”

Given the strong demand of skilled talent base and the rapid growth rates witnessed by most Indian companies, training is of special importance. Sabharwal says, “Companies have invested actively in building a strong training engine driven by the growing needs for specific skills, and enhance the value proposition to the employee base.”

This has resulted in an internal and external training and development curriculum, geared towards growing the next generation of leaders, and grooming today’s workforce for tomorrow’s challenges.

CV Prakash says, “The trend is definitely popular among Indian enterprises. Almost all companies now understand the importance of skill upgradation. Companies are also realising the importance of building skills in-house, rather than hiring expensive skill sets from outside.”

Technical skills change as technology or processes evolve. Hence, if the organisation wants to gear up to meet market challenges and be at par with competitive companies, it is necessary that their employees are trained on identified skills, and frequently updated.