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Is
technical competency the only criterion for determining the professional
worth of an IT worker? In the fast-paced world of information technology,
IT professionals are hard pressed to keep their tech skills current
and relevant, with little time to develop the softer talents. They
are likely to hit a plateau after some time. It is a known fact
that those who grow the fastest are not necessarily the ones with
strongest technical skills, but those who possess the best interpersonal
skills and the right attitude. Very few IT professionals however
truly realise the significant role of behavioural competency in
their career progression.
Understanding
the significance of investing in behavioural skills, many IT organisations
in India have started investing in it as a part of their corporate
training initiative. Behavioural skills like motivation, communication
skills, team spirit and self-management, have witnessed a marked
transition in the last decade from being ‘generic’ and
‘good to have’ to be ‘defined’ and a ‘pre-requisite’.
“The shift in perception is not without reason. Organisations
across the globe have realised that professionals with just technical
skills only partly complement the essentials of being a ‘complete
professional’,” says Cyprian D’souza, CEO and chief
people officer of Kanbay India. D’souza adds that research
study has revealed that people skills outweigh technical skills
by a factor of 3:1, in deciding the long-term success of professionals.
The fact that IT professionals have to interact with people across
the globe makes it imperative for them to have effective communication
and other behavioural skills, and play a critical role in working
with global clients and in global teams.
Customer-sensitivity
“When
a customer first receives an IT professional for a sales presentation,
the non-verbal expressions make a greater impact than what is immediately
spoken as sales communication. Communicating value in ways that
the client understands is not always easy for the IT professional.
Worse still, a brand presented by a cold, ‘matter-of-fact’
employee may get tarnished if the professional does not exercise
basic sensitivity towards clients,” says Shabbir Merchant,
general manager HR of Wipro Infotech. Adding to this is the fact
that the client as an “IT user” does not easily identify
with “nerdy” or excessively technical professionals. Behavioural
training prepares IT professionals to handle customer needs in more
humane ways. Execution excellence, that is compliance in technical
and process standards requires more than technical knowledge. “Emotional
bandwidth and sensitive expression of the same is the implied need
of the client,” adds Merchant emphatically.
Whom
to train
In
most IT organisations behavioural training is imparted at all levels
irrespective of position. B Shiva Subramanian, manager-HR, TCS informs
that in the Initial Training Programme (ITP), it forms a part of
the curriculum. At Wipro, there is a plan to even deliver a training
model to service providers and channel partners.
Ullhas
Pagey, president and CEO of HR consultancy firm Competency and Capability
Enablers, points out that many a times even people occupying senior
management roles like managing director, president, COO and CEO,
lack people processes and behavioural skills as a result of which
the image of the organisation and the individual gets affected adversely.
“Their concept of behavioural and people skills fairly often
is more superficial and rather ill-conceived, like organising picnics,
get-togethers and partying around. This however does not help in
building authentic relationships. It is often said that there is
no problem employees but there are only problematic bosses, hence
imparting training in behavioural skills at senior levels is an
critical as it is at the junior levels.”
What
to train
At
Wipro quarterly training calendars have been drawn up to address
the behavioural development needs. There are more than 20 offerings
form the Employee Development Group (EDG), ranging from preparatory
skills for entry level engineers, to leadership themes for first-time
managers to generic skills like conflict management, influencing
skills, cross-cultural skills, etc. Performance-oriented skills
like presentation and communication skills are also covered. There
is also a leadership training series for all levels, apart from
a self-leadership programme. Merchant informs that EDG also facilitates
several workshops where employees’ learning is facilitated
as “incidental” to their problem-solving process. For
instance, if two functional groups are unable to resolve issues
over a long period of time, they are engaged in an internal customer
orientation workshop. Similarly, ideation exercises are offered
to help employees unfreeze from routine and draw out fresh thoughts
and approaches to business issues at strategic and operational levels.
“In such sessions, the influence of culture and behavioural
inputs find significant place in discussions,” adds Merchant.
TCS
has also chalked out a large number of programmes for behavioural
skills training—presentation skills, team building, personal
grooming, attitudinal change, cross-cultural management and consulting
skills. “Out of these personal grooming and cross-cultural
management are very significant. The first because it trains one
in personal hygiene, conversational skills, telephone skills, etc.
Cross cultural training helps the consultant move from a “mine”
is the only culture in the world to a multi-cultural outlook,”
believes Subramaniam.
Pune-based
Kanbay conducts behavioural skills training in wide variety of topics
and areas. “This is keeping into consideration the fact that
nearly all our technical staff need to interact with either clients
or with their teams overseas,” says Cyprian D’souza. While
some specific topics are defined based on roles, the majority are
common to all. The training is given through personal trainers,
WBT’s CBT and video training sessions.
The
trainers
At
TCS, most of the sessions are done inhouse by consultants and full-time
faculty engaged for the programmes. Wipro engages outside expertise
on a need basis. Management guru C K Prahalad of the University
of Michigan Business School, conducted the Stategic Leaders Programme
recently. Professor Sumantra Ghoshal of London Business School and
Dr Jagdish Sheth (from Emery University, US), are the other leading
management thinkers who had conducted training sessions in the past.
Senior faculty from the academia including those associated with
IIMs are also engaged, informs Merchant.
Outside
experts are in fact a common phenomenon. Ullhas Pagey explains why:
“Firstly they share a boarder perspective, secondly they often
carry more credibility, and lastly since IT and IT related industries
like ITES, contact centres, is a recently phenomenon, not many inhouse
trainers who are matured enough to train are available.”
Behavioural
training experts believe that the most successful people in a company
are not the ones who possess the best technical skills but those
who manage their emotions the best—they are invariably the
most productive. “We have to teach people to manage emotions,”
emphasies Arfeen Khan of Peak Performance Strategies. “In the
Americas and UK, individuals take loans to get themselves trained
because they know what difference it can make to their career. The
Indian IT industry, is open to the idea but still needs convincing.
They are still to realise that attitude is everything,” he
adds. Activity based training is considered the most effective.
Khan’s methodologies range from outdoor activities to “crazy
stuff” like fire walking and war games.
Behavioural
training however changes with the culture in which the professional
works, reminds Merchant. There continues to be an East-West difference,
despite a decade of cost-competitive performance in the Indian IT
sector.
In
the US, corporates have started appointing “success coach”
who get together staff members and do workouts in “mental gym”.
Within the next two to three years all IT organisations are estimated
to keep budget aside to fine-tune the attitude and interpersonal
skills of their employees—a necessity for optimising the organisation’s
productivity.
Training
requirements
*
Communication Skills
*
Team Building/Management
*
Conflict Management
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Negotiation
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Counselling Skills
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Effective Presentations
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Cross-cultural Management
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Attitudinal Change
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Effective Meetings
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Time Management
*
Interviewing Skills
*
Consulting with clients
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