1.
Giri ‘Pickbrain’ Balasubramaniam on quizzing & TATA Crucible
In this interview, we talk about
learning agility and the culture of corporate quizzing
The TATA Crucible Corporate Quiz is one of
India’s largest and most widely telecast business quizzes. It draws
participants from diverse companies and sectors. Atul Agarwal, Vice President –
TATA Sons notes that “The main objective of Tata Crucible Corporate Quiz is to
bring together bright minds from across the country on a common and challenging
knowledge platform, promoting out-of-the-box and innovative thinking”. In
this interview, we talk to Giri Balasubramaniam, the quiz master for the show
about the quizzing in India, talent trends and the opportunities available for
employees and companies.
Q. If you had to give an elevator pitch to
a business leader about TATA Crucible, what would it be?
Every business leader wants to see some form of continuous
learning trajectory in their employees. And TATA Crucible is a competition that
helps employees stay in touch with what’s happening in the real world. Most
people tend to go through their career with what they have learned in their
college.
Q. What have been some key changes in the
quizzing landscape in the last few decades?
Earlier, success in quizzing was directly proportional to the
amount of time one spent in the library. But today, technology has democratized
information. A lot of new information is also now easily available. Anyone
previously winning a quiz in Visakhapatnam (Vizag) would not be known
nationally. Today, teams from Raipur and Vizag are able to compete with teams
from Mumbai or Delhi.
Q. Are there any talent related trends that
stand out according to you?
In terms of cities, smaller cities do extremely well.
Vishakapatman, Ranchi, and Jamshedpur are a few examples. There could be two
reasons for this. One – there aren’t many national level events. So when
something like this comes up, they take it very seriously. Perhaps it
also has to do with the fact that there are fewer distractions when compared to
the bigger cities.
Q. What is the role that such
competitions play in the career graph of an employee?
As far as recruitment is concerned, candidates have used their
participation to pitch for a better job or for a higher education course.
People who engage in any cerebral activity, not just TATA Crucible have a huge
talent advantage. That’s because you’re just taken a little more seriously.
Q. What is your advice for someone
preparing for a competition like TATA Crucible?
Honestly, I don’t think one can prepare for a quiz anymore just
because of the vastness of information. As a quizzing company, we operate with
a team of 30 people who are researching. So, if you are a team at TATA Crucible
that means the ratio is 2:30 people.
In terms of advice, well, when you look at things in your normal
daily life – say when you’re reading a newspaper or a magazine, you need to
absorb those few things that are of value and has the chance of becoming a
question. Here’s an example: When you read a news item about Dr. Raghuram
Rajan getting replaced by Urjit Patel, a good quizzer would look up to see if
there are any books Mr. Patel has written because that’s likely to be a
question. So, it is the things that go beyond a headline that gets you prepared
for a quiz like this.
2.
Learning &
Development Trends Study 2016 – Setting the building blocks
This L&D
Trends study 2016 that surveyed 122 respondents across industries provides
exclusive insights on the L&D landscape in India.
As the aspirations of the workforce are changing and the
workplaces are revolutionizing, the way people learn in an organizational
set-up is also changing – presenting unseen challenges to the L&D professionals.
The function today is evolving as “growth partner” that does not just focuses
on current performance improvement but also is an integral part of long-term
strategic capability building. Therefore, forward-thinking L&D teams are
those who are striving to stay on top of the domain trends in this volatile,
uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment. To help the L&D
leaders make meaningful decisions, the People Matters-BITS Pilani L&D
Trends Study 2016 was conducted to uncover some of the most pertinent trends in
the domain. The study surveyed 122 respondents across industries to gauge their
perceptions on what is driving the L&D function, its role in the whole
organization and how is it being executed on the ground.
What should be the biggest L&D priorities? What should be
the key metrics to track successful conversion of these priorities into
business outcomes? How are ways of reaching out to learners evolving? What are
the top higher education programs that support continuous learning at organizations?
3.
A checklist to
measure learning & training
Finding a linear correlation
between the training to their employees and its effect on the business is a
struggle organizations face.
At
the Adobe Round Table conference at the Workforce Analytics Conclave,
representatives from leading organizations across various sectors, came
together to discuss this challenge of measuring the learning and development of
their employees. The concern of ‘measurement’ was ubiquitous, but surprisingly,
the challenge wasn’t restricted to measuring the outcomes of learning.
A
fundamentally flawed assumption, which the L&D programmes unknowingly
operate under, is that L&D strategies are independent and exist in
isolation. However, this assumption was denied by everyone during the
discussion and it was agreed upon that this must be integrated with the
workforce strategy and should be a function of the business strategy of the
organization. In practice, learning interventions today are compartmentalized,
wherein the employees are trained in a set format, for different tangents like
sales, operation, service, product etc. – in the hope that something will
deliver the result.
Going back to the drawing board to have more clarity
on the following is essential before setting the processes in motion.
- Identification & Definitions
- Self-Assessment
- Checks & Balances
- Documentation
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