The Crucial Blend that is Totally Ignored!
Suresh Namboothiri M.Tech, MBA
When he resigned his job to become an entrepreneur and mentor, he was a Chief Operating Officer at USD 80 billion Tata Group . Before that he was Deputy-General Manger-Design at BPL-Sanyo (Now Panasonic).
He has conducted over 5000 interviews - engineers to senior management cadre - for over twenty years, and has mentored over 1000 professionals.
Creative Director & Chief Mentor*
Domain Knowledge & Personal Smartness
He is passionate about Innovation, Product Development, and Business Excellence.
In 2011 alone, twenty-seven IT professionals committed suicide in the Indian city of Pune. The root cause is the same: They felt sidelined in their companies. Reason? Lack of English skills!
I regularly speak to professional college (Engineering/MBA) students, and realize their insecurity feeling. They know their seniors are yet to find right jobs. Why? They could not sell themselves to an interviewer!
Similarly, 97% of working professionals gradually fall into the shameful situation of working under a junior, who is better in ‘people skills’!
The fact is all of them attended soft-skill training programs, and English and Communication Programs. Yet, they didn’t gain anything. Why?
Click the Arrow on Your Right.
Recently I met a woman trainer, who had conducted a training program on “Innovation”. Tragedy is that she has not even seen the doorstep of an innovative company, has not interacted with creative people, can’t list-out few innovations from her own life.
Why failure Has Become the Norm?
But, she has a PowerPoint downloaded from the Internet. And she has the charm to entertain the participants to get an excellent feedback immediately after her training sessions!
When I questioned the Training Manager, who hired her, he answered, “Who is going to innovate here? For our company, she is enough. Haven’t the participants enjoyed the session?”
But, There Are Roads That Leads to Success…
“A particular way of behaving” has now become natural, easy and comfortable. Also, that behaviour pattern has become extremely efficient!
I agree, these roads are innovative, and conventional minds don’t even see them. As we know, by the time people reach adolescence, they already have their interpersonal behaviour patterns thoroughly ingrained in them.
Failure has become the norm. Therefore, nobody even mentions success! The thought, “Whoever conducts this program, results will be same”, leads to unethical practices. Suicides on the increase!
In a recent survey, 94% of Global CEOs said that they look for Smartness even above Technical or Functional skills!.
In most industries, ‘Technology’ has become a commodity that can be bought. What they need is smart people, who builds relationships, and relationships brings business.
The news that “employers looking for the key skills such as Ability to get along with others, Sell ideas, Manage time, Bring a project in under budget and Create an enjoyable workplace environment etc”, is shocking for most candidates!
It is desired & expected by others,
It is crucial for survival…
…otherwise, it won’t even to get noticed at brain cell level!
Behaviour patterns are physically established at the brain cell level. Any new pattern must convincingly prove (at brain-cell level) that:
Teaching a new hard skill - like Technology, Science or Accounting - is easy. Replacing an old existing, practicing behaviour (soft skill) is challenging.
What to Do to Replace an Old Behavioural Pattern with a New One?
The brain may be an information processor, but it doesn’t work like a digital computer. There is no “delete” key for unwanted programs.
Co-founder of MGM Studios, Samuel Goldwin once said, “We want a story that starts out with an earthquake and works its way up to a climax."
Four Essential Pre-Requisites:
In the beginning, the participant should get a shock about his/her current state. This realization should be powerful enough to set fire in the belly.
“A lighted lamp only can light another”. Participants should get confidence in The Trainer, Facilitator, Course Material, Methodologies etc.
Program should be highly interactive. It should challenge the participant. It should engage as many senses as possible.
The program should have powerful evaluation methods. It should allow infinite follow-up, reinforcement opportunities.
For a transformational soft skill program to be successful, it should follow this principle.
Click the Arrow to see how Ordinary Programs Function.
