|
 AM
Thimmiya examines the changing demands in executive education
and advises how training providers can gear up to meet the new challenges
“We
can no longer promise you employment for life; we can, however,
promise you employability.”
In
today’s wired world successful corporations need to change
the rules of the game. To be a leader in the information age one
has to be equipped with the best training that cuts through the
competition and reinvent their jobs, work practices and processes
by embracing new technologies and developing new solutions.
Corporations
that can constantly reinvent themselves will drive the future. Today
a company has two major sources of growth, namely knowledge and
human resources. Knowledge becomes very important as we are living
in the information age and human resources to help access and utilise
this knowledge. A corporation must have both these resources at
peak condition all the time in order to succeed. This article identifies
the shift in organisations’ demands for executive education
and how the training providers can gear up to meet the new challenges.
We’ll examine how these new imperatives will influence the
selection of executive education providers.
UNPRODUCTIVE
PERIOD
The user has just attended a course and what he will have gained
from it is relative to his own work situation. But in general most
participants will come out confused, unable to apply what they saw
in their training room to their day-to- day work, asking themselves
whether the course was really worth the effort. If the course has
been designed and customized around the TNA model, then even though
he may think that too much information was given to him in a short
period of time, he will slowly begin to see the application within
his work environment, some may see it during the course itself.
Initially
the users’ knowledge will be minimal but hopefully his ideas
for possible ways of using the course material should be numerous.
PRODUCTIVE
PERIOD
Following the initial period of mystification which every beginner
goes through, he can begin to apply his newfound knowledge to specific
jobs. It is now that he really starts to understand and begins to
learn how best to use the acquired knowledge for himself and get
the desired results.
STAGNANT
PERIOD
Once he has reached the limits of the knowledge, or his own capabilities,
he then goes into a state of disenchantment. This inactive period
may have come about because he may have tried to apply his knowledge
to an area not designed, or because he now needs more advance information
on how to continue. In every case an antipathy towards training
develops, where he then believes that what he has undergone is worthless.
The emphasis should be on the ‘stagnant period’ of a user’s
learning course and counter it with either advanced courses, revision
courses, new courses or updates. Alternatively regular seminars
can be held which act as revision courses.
Although
good training early in the user learning curve will do away with
a lot of trivial questions, a fair amount of guidance and assistance
will be needed. A clinic and surgical approach can be a superb way
of providing support. Hopefully training, consulting and the helpdesk
can play a major part in executive development.
(The
writer is Vice President & Head- Aptech Corporate Training Division
)
To
be continued next week
-
|
People
