It Is All About Expertise

Think

of an IT company and the importance of training there and the first thought that

comes to mind is that of freshers going through programming and operating

systems fundamentals. Think ahead and the image changes to technical training

areas, learning new technologies or retraining to move to a new domain area. And

in a way, this is what is expected. The primary expertise a software engineer

needs for doing a good job is technical expertise.

An employee with good education, who has already gone through a battery of

entrance tests and examinations, is an intelligent person who picks up new

skills fast. He is used to competing with peers, and this makes him learn

quickly. A lot of newcomers are also driven by a fear of obsolescence of their

knowledge base, and by the need to have the right skills on their resume.

Research has it that techies get their satisfaction mostly from work-related

success. Obviously, therefore, they focus all their energies on learning new

technical developments. Send them to a technical training program and they jump

at the opportunity. There is so much of a clamor, in fact, that all you have to

do is announce the program and your halls are brimming over.

But is technical expertise enough for an employee to succeed on the job?

People also have to work with other people effectively, they have to have good

communication and presentation skills–both verbal and written, as business

becomes international–and there is need for some grooming or basic survival

skills when dealing with outsiders, and much more. One of the other things that

we have recently realized is that it is the MTV generation that works in the IT

industry, or GenX.

As many as 75% of the employees are in the age group of 21-26 years. They are

highly independent, mobile, intelligent, ambitious and have high expectations of

themselves and the company. They focus on themselves and a low need of

communication with others. Excessive communication through e-mail also makes

things more impersonal. Shortage of software engineers worldwide has created a

seller’s market, with engineers being chased by scores of companies and

headhunters all the time. US-based companies are now coming to Indian

engineering universities to hire freshers! This was unimaginable even a couple

of years ago. This has made the GenX pros aggressive, almost mercenary when

evaluating career options.

Ask line managers or HR chiefs or even the employees–most of the time, self

development training focussing on behavioral development is seen as low

priority, something that the human resources department is pushing. People don’t

sign up for it, and managers send those who have some free time, rather than

those who need it! No one wants to go for these, whereas self-development in

behavioral terms is something that is needed most.

Let’s take the following situation. In the IT industry, companies grow at a

rate of 50-100% every year in terms of revenue as well as number of people.

Combine this with attrition in the range of 20-30% each year, and you realize

that you are creating a new company each year! In a way, the company seems to be

perpetually new. At any time, approximately 60% of the employees have been in

the company for less than a year! How do you build culture in a fast-flowing

river like this? How do you develop strong relationships amongst people? How do

you create bonding?

Most employee induction programs end with an orientation program where there

are joining formalities, overview of the company, and policies and systems. What

they miss is something more important. A well-rounded new employee induction

program must have sections that help employees understand the culture of the

company, provide opportunities for self development, help them realize all the

roles that an employee has to play effectively. In short, the idea is to help

them understand what is expected of them–employee-ship, understand their

personality style and that of others, and how to effectively work with others,

team building insights, the vision of the company and their own, and how there

can be a win-win relationship.

Another thing that is key, especially today, is to help employees be secure

about themselves. This is crucial since most are young, and for quite a few,

this is their first job.

They think they are not good enough if their colleague gets even 1% more

increment. If their friends are going for jobs abroad, they get pressured to do

the same. There is a need for them to be on their own, drive their own destiny,

and live in the present, rather than be anxious about the uncertainties of the

future and spoil the present in the process.

Each industry, and each company within that, has specific needs for training

and companies need to identify these needs and develop suitable programs. We

must also recognize that the needs themselves change from time to time.

Recognizing that most employees and managers do not see behavioral training as

important, a special effort has to be made to put this in high focus.

Then there are constraints related to time available and the money that can

be spent on training. One must work with these constraints and use imagination

to develop something that would succeed. Working on the ideal big budget program

will only lead to frustration.

Aadesh Goyal is vice-president of

human resources, IT and corporate communications at Hughes Software Systems.