My Learning Blog

Scenario $80 million triple platinum account—the largest in the organization 450+ employees Broad technical groups: Three—SAP, Datawarehousing/BusinessIntelligence(DW&BI) and Telecom Roles: Diverse and in many cases overlapping—team member, module lead, team lead, project lead, project manager, program manager, account manager, analyst, delivery manager, director, consultant, senior consultant and principal consultant. Employee distribution: -Onsite:Offshore = 40:60 -Billable:Non-billable = 85:15 -Telecom:SAP:DW&BI= 25:35:40 -Permanent:Subcontractor:Contractor = 80:10:10 -Team member, module lead, team lead, project lead account form almost 50 percent of all billable workforce. Problem statement Training a diverse technical workforce Success Parameters Global reach Number of associates trained Time taken to fill the skills gap based on changing business requirement Ability to transfer training knowledge to work environment Learning Solution I am following a multipronged approac...

At times senior leaders come to my desk and list the set of trainings they need for their teams. I recognize this as venting of the project pressure or a tough conversation with the client. To handle such outbursts, I first take down the list. Then later in the day or the next, I meet them to further discuss the training requirement-business reason, associate profile, objective, what do they want to accomplish, urgency etc. The requirement typically gets less urgent or important in this conversation.

Result is the factor of the scenario in which change is being initiated. Some initiatives take longer to mature despite the best efforts. Some others die young. Don't be hard on yourself—be patient, alert, flexible and move on.

Today, I am in one of those moods when I just want to oversimplify. The generalizations below are convenient derivatives of my very limited experience. I have to confess that I am embarrassed about this posting — I just want to lock these generalizations in this posting and then forget about it. I cannot allow these thoughts to interfere in my interaction with clients. Preconceived notions can be expensive. Finance : Paranoid and finicky—stickler for details and content accuracy. Their typical mindset—no one knows how to represent our facts better than we do. They seem to be paranoid about legalities—given a choice, they would probably follow each sentence with one disclaimer and two exceptions. They expertise in making straightforward thought/sentence seem complex. Pharmaceutical : Similar to Finance. Paranoid particularly about the content—how the formula is written and explained, chemical compositions of the drugs, application of the drugs, the physiological impact of the drugs on h...

Impact mapping This format is used to collect data pertaining to the strategic competencies of the account from the account leaders. This format also assists the learning consultant (LC) to have a focused and effective discussion with the leaders while at the same time assists the leaders to think through/justify their training requirement. The LC asks leaders questions like—“Why is this competency important for you”, “How does this competency link with the overall unit objectives”, “Where do you see your group headed in the next 6-12 months. What competencies would your team need to meet this requirement?” Click here to view the format. Competency rating by leaders Once the LC collates all the data collected during impact mapping, a a comprehensive list of comptencies is identified. The leaders now rank the competencies in order of its importance for their group. This allows the leaders to not only view list generated after inputs from all leaders within the group but also communicat...

Support and commitment of senior account leaders and managers Atmosphere of trust: It is important to encourage honest self/peer evaluation Communication: Reiterate that this is an initiative for employees' learning and professional growth. These competencies empower the employees to take charge of their careers, direct their own personal development, continually self-evaluate and improve Communication: Emphasize that the initiative is not connected to the performance appraisal. If it is felt necessary to link this initiative with appraisal, consider evaluating performance only on delta improvement the account member exhibits as an outcome of training Note for the learning consultants: Evaluate leadership’s commitment to the initiative. Tailor the solution based on their level of enthusiasm or commitment towards competency development. That means, if your understanding is that the account leadership might not be able to commit to the time for the above process, reduce some substep...

Qualitative improvement For each competency, what is the gap between the star performance and desired performance reduced? How many competencies have we brought to acceptable performance within the organization? Success Criteria Bridge gap between the star performance and desired performance for 70 percent of all competencies Improve the skill competency by 50 percent i.e. 50 percent of all account members show improvement their skill rating Targeted Result In 12 months, the ratio of planned:need-based training for the account would be 85:15