Training, the unique way
An organisation that is willing to invest in training and gives importance to learning and development effort is sure to succeed in the long run. Organisations have lately started conducting training programmes through unconventional methods at locations away from the distractions of the office.
Offsite training is the process of coaching employees at locations such as resorts and hotels away from cubicles, meeting rooms and better still, the faster than quickest snail kind of city traffic. "Learning is an on-going process that we take up in the duration of our entire lifetime. There's something new to learn everyday even in our daily rigmarole lives and it is only by keeping our mind open to such lessons that we can grow and reach unprecedented heights. Thus training an employee not only helps in enhancing an entire organisation but also develops his own capacities; it opens new doors and unfound opportunities for him that is beneficial for him as well as us, as his employers. Thus the significance of training is seamless and must not be ignored if one wishes to create a progressive and open-minded organisation that adapts to dynamism with ease," says Parteek Tandon, head events, Aamby Valley City which is independent India's first planned hill city and one of the most preferred locations by corporates looking at conducting off-site training.
An important question to be asked is about the driver for change in training methodology. Though it can be concurred that such an initiative would definitely uplift the employee's perception on training and development and the return of investment for organisations, what actually has ushered this change? "Employees go through a lot of stress in order to ensure that milestones are met on time on budget. Having a training session in the same work place, however comfortable and convenient you make it may not always fetch the optimum result that we expect. An off-site training reduces distraction. The urge to get back to the desk and complete the work is reduced significantly since you are in a different location. Interruptions will be minimal; instead interactions during breaks are more. An offsite triggers the inherent curiosity of the new place and helps employees to take their mind off their regular work, that way making the training much more effective," says Rajalakshmi Sivanand, director – HR, Pegasystems India.
Adding further reasoning and speaking on the benefits of such programs, Puneet Mehra, vice president, Kooh Pvt Limited says "Corporate gatherings and off-sites are not an excuse to have a good time on the company budget; it is an essential tool for any business in the modern world. Done correctly, and with the right levels of attention to detail, it is an opportunity to engage with existing employees, understand different facets of their personalities and forge strong relationships.."
Sharing inputs on the training programs conducted in their organisation, Sanjay Kamlani, co-CEO & co-Founder, Pangea3 states "In our continued focus on making Pangea3 as a learning organisation in the past years we have organised an exclusive ‘Train the Trainer' Program, ‘The Winning Facilitator' among others. The intensive five-day program focuses on cherry-picking individuals from within the organisation, and providing them with the mentoring and coaching required to hone their facilitation skills, further empowering them to offer internal training within the organisation on varied topics."
Inspite of listing down all the benefits and advantages of conducting such programmes, the ultimate result would be successful depending on how an employee perceives such opportunities provided to them. "For an HR initiative to succeed it becomes essential that the employees receive these sessions with enthuse and accept them. All our endeavours to motivate our employees are thus made keeping in mind their needs and how far these exercises would benefit. This forward-looking attitude helps us remove blemishes from our practices and creates the apt environment for learning and open-mindedness among our employees," adds Tandon.
As the dynamics of the corporate world is changing radically, companies will need to re-invent their training strategies to stay ahead in this competitive environment. For employees, well, they can look forward to some rock-climbing while learning to understand customer behaviour.
- Manoj Reddy
