'Training Has Become More Lean And Commercial'

The topic of the Panel Discussion at BW Businessworld's 3rd HR Excellence Awards 2017 was 'Adopting Successful Training Development Programmes.'

Participating in the discussion, Venkataramana B, Group President - HR, Landmark Group, observed that the young generation is not patient enough to go through classroom training programmes nowadays. "Earlier, the competency of an individual in an organisation was measured on the basis of leadership and other qualities. Nowadays, it is measured on the digital competency of a person," said Venkataraman.

Warren Stanley Patrick, Senior President & Chief Learning Officer - Human Capital Management, Yes Bank explained the changes in training now and in the past. "Today, the budget for training is lesser, teams have become smaller and the technology has emerged in a big way," he observed. The merits of yesterday of an individual are not going to be relevant for tomorrow for any organisation. "Training has become more lean and commercial," added Patrick.

However, Ketan Dewan, Co-Founder & CEO, Talocity felt that there should not be any restriction for the budget for training.

"Training in an industry which is not organised is very difficult," observed Shubika Bilkha, Business Head, Real Estate Management Institute. Everyone from top to bottom needs to get re-skilled in today's environment. "Training in our segment is based on probabilities and not necessarily based on past experiences," she said and add that it is really challenging. About online learning, she said that the online learner is well disciplined and the pace of learning is equal to the pace of the course.

"In the insurance sector, we try to put together summarised training based on applications and we give classroom training only for our managerial staff since we operate in a low margin segment," said Sunil Warier, CHRO, Future Generali Insurance. At the same time, we do a lot of digital training for our sales teams and it is really challenging, he added.

Sanjay Singh, Vice President - HR & Corporate Communications Crompton Greaves Limited felt, "Digital is bringing people and technology together and makes things easier and faster." Adaptation of digital has become the way of life. "But still, people at the top level in organisations still need personalised information and are not able to adapt to technology beyond a limit and it is a challenge in training, explained Singh. "Faculty for online training is very important since we look for the best," he added.

"The problem with offline training is the shortage of experts to teach," said, Harsh S. Bharwani, VP, International Business, Jetking. He observed that there is a lot of youngsters still wanting to learn offline while mentioning that virtual training is still a challenge.