1.
Learning to
Learn – Building a Learning Organization
The first thing
that every organization needs to do is to "un-learn" and
"re-learn" on how to build a 'Learning organization'.
Every organization talks about learning and development as one of their
key focus areas. There are big budgets allocated, training team set-up and all
the boxes are ticked, yet, learning happens to be one of the most under-worked
and deficient area for most organizations.
It’s no irony that most of the top talent leaves for better growth opportunities
and new learning experiences. Important question to ask is, “why are most
organizations not able to leverage this aspect?” Inspite of spending crores,
why do people experience lack of learning and exposure? Why are there questions
about most companies’ capability to build a strong learning base that can
prepare leaders for the future?
As a Head of HR, one of my focus areas is to build a great talent pool.
This can not be achieved only by hiring the top talent. However, even before we
jump on to the popular/legacy models that may have worked in the past, the
first thing that every organization needs to do is to “un-learn” and “re-learn”
on how to build a “Learning organization”.
While I am challenging believer in the key principle of 3Es of learning
(Education, Exposure and Experience), I also believe in innovation in ways of
executing these 3 principles by most organization. I’m talking about resisting
the bias against doing new things, examining the horizon of progression, and
urging yourself and the teams to acquire radically different skillsets - while
still performing your job. That requires an inclination to research and become
a beginner again and again: an extremely uneasy thought for most of us. “A
beginner’s mindset” is the new normal for not just the high-profile start-ups,
but also legacy organizations.
2.
Best in L&D Re-Engineering: Jindal Power
Presenting the People Matters L&D League Awards
Winners - Part 3.
When internal and external threats begin to reflect on key company
metrics, sweeping changes are needed to reverse the damage. That’s precisely
what Jindal Power realized in the midst of severe turbulence that the power
industry has been through in the recent past.
The Challenge
The last couple of years have witnessed several disruptions in the
external power business environment like policy regulations and penalties,
slumping demand and escalating expenses.
The Intervention
A process-based working model named ‘Nipun’ was designed to serve the
current business need of eliminating practices which caused mediocre
performance, encouraging optimal people utilization, building an agile
workforce besides reducing on the time lags and progressing as a resilient
organization.
The Impact
The revamped model of working and learning delivered better operational
results, and created a well-knit fabric of processes.
3.
Best in Redefining Technology in Learning: Bajaj
Allianz
Presenting the People Matters
L&D League Awards Winners - Part 1.
Making learning technology implementations a success is not easy. The
rapid advancements in technology are compelling HR and L&D professionals to
implement learning technologies in some form or the other, and yet we see that
some problems keep cropping up. Most of these problems are avoidable. Often,
they crop up because the L&D team is asked to come up with a technique to
make learning technologies work, and they have little first-hand experience.
Rather than make mistakes as a first timer, we must aim to share best practices
and learn from other’s mistakes. This approach is likely to make your next
implementation a success. But to achieve that, one must know what success looks
like, in the context of learning technology implementations.
This special feature contains People Matters L&D League Annual
Conference 2017 Award Winners — organizations with the best learning practices
and ground-breaking approaches towards solving learning challenges; and also
features People Matters and BITS Pilani research, “Learning & Development
Trends Study – 2017” that investigates the changes in the priorities, drivers
and the strategic role of the L&D function while examining the top areas of
skill gaps that need to be bridged in the next 12-18 months.
The People Matters L&D League Annual Conference gave a platform to
organizations with the best practices in learning and development to showcase
how L&D is creating an impact to their respective businesses across five
categories. The organizations that bagged the top honors were:
·
Best in
Re-defining technology in learning: Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd.
·
Best in
Culture transformation: Alkem Laboratories
·
Best in
L&D reengineering: Jindal Steel & Power Ltd.
·
Best in
On-boarding Solution: Concentrix Daksh Services India Pvt. Ltd.
·
Best in
Accelerating Leadership Development: Infosys BPO
Best in Redefining Technology in Learning: Bajaj Allianz
As a large private player in the general insurance industry with an
ever increasing Salesforce in the remotest corners of the country, building
sales & technical capability brings its own set of unique challenges. Bajaj
Allianz General Insurance recognized that improving sales proficiency would be
one of the key levers to growth. However, identifying the challenge was the
first step to a long and exciting journey, as an innovative and creative
solution was needed.
The Challenge
The two core challenges faced by the organization were to have uniform
product knowledge across geographies and increasing conversion rates of
potential business to actual business in the retail lines by employing
effective selling skills.
The Intervention
To effectively handle such organizational challenges, Bajaj devised a
first-of-its-kind gamified Insurance Sales Simulation, “Wolf of Park Street”
that combines learning, engagement, social and gaming mechanics.
The Impact
Good sales figures
are a combination of multiple variables working in harmony with each other, of
which sales capability is an essential one.
