Yesterday I was chatting with CEO of mid size company in the IT industry. I was taking him through our product which we will be launching soon – Talent Development System. The important aspect of TDS is a powerful yet simple profiling of skills of employees in a company. Pre-loaded with skills in different functions across specializations within the functions we believe it is a cutting edge application which will enable companies to capture inventory of skills of their employees.

Suddenly he went silent during the discussion and after a while asked me – “Do you think organizations really care about skills and things like that?” I was little surprised with his question as I always felt that there was such a need for any organization. I asked why this question. He said “Ramu, you know every company fudges data on skills of their employees. When they present resumes to customers they fudge the resumes showing projects in the resumes which the employee has never done. I have seen and heard about these things even in large companies.” Thereafter we went to much deeper discussion of my own experiences.

But the fact that such a question came up makes one ask whether organizations care. I for one believe that yes they do care. Industries have changed in the last two decades. IT industry for one has matured significantly during this period. The HR practices in the leading organizations have evolved to create some of the best HR practices. These include inventorying and developing of skills. But having said that I believe that same level of maturity in the practices which one would find in the leading organizations may not be seen in the medium and small sized companies – which form the large portion of the industries. There are a number of reasons for this partly business driven, partly inadequacies of the HR function itself. But the question is whether organizations want to invest in the moving up the value chain. I firmly believe that organizations want to.

I for one believe that it is the not the headcount which matters but the inventory of skills these headcount possess that matters. Without having a proper scientific inventory of skills how can one manage a company when the fundamental driver of businesses is the talent of people.

I guess the problem is not whether organizations care for inventorying of skills but how do they do that. Well, our solution - TDS - should enable these organizations. Hang on, it is coming soon.

Training needs of individuals are closely tied to the career plan of individuals. One’s career plan may emerge from temperament or aptitude, aspirations and opportunities.

Opportunities can be viewed as those within the organisation and those outside the organisaiton. An organisation which is seeking to rotate its staff between different verticals or technologies or service lines gives opportunities to the staff therein to take responsibilities in new area. Or organisation planning to promote or give additional responsibilities (a larger team to handle, a bigger territory, a higher P & L) gives opportunities for one to develop or put to use ones higher levels of proficiency in those skills. Organisations which are having business plans to grow non linearly (through opening up business in different geography, starting new product or service line etc.) provide opportunities to individuals to get involved in different skills or further specialise or gainer richer experience in their capabilities.

Thus an understanding of the organisation plan does help in clarifying to one what the future opportunities for one could be and prepare oneself to capitalise on these roles. From a different angle the same becomes the responsibility of HR or managers/leaders in the organisation – providing visibility for the upcoming opportunities to their staff and helping them prepare to capitalise on the emerging opportunities.

The choice one would make with regard to the opportunities are closely related to the aspirations and aptitude/temperament of an individual. Career plan could be from different factors as has been described in the panch marg of career paths. The five themese therein include:

1.       Larger
2.       Deeper
3.       Wider
4.       Newer
5.       Different

1.       Improving proficiency levels in the current capabilities and/or
2.       Developing capabilities in new skills areas

Training needs emerge from all the above

In the 3D capabilities profile we have four areas of skills – functional/technical skills; behavioural or soft skills; business/managerial skills and avocational skills. One could explore various possibilities by drilling down each of these areas. One can see the wide range of skills in different functions and specialisations. These help in identifying areas one may want to get trained to further enhance ones proficiency in the said area and also identify the newer areas one may want to get trained in.

The greatest joy of an entrepreneur is I guess seeing the first rupee for his/her venture come in. Surely it is for me.

It gives me immense joy to see the first rupee come in as revenue for our venture. Enterpreneurs live in a dream world where they toy with that idea which they think is unique, will grow, gain recognition and bring money. Some start building on the idea, travel a distance and then realise it has not just worked and resign. A few others, struggle even further, not giving up. Many see them as crazy, impractical and failed to doom. Nevertheless they go on with hope and determination. Then somewhere down the line there is that glimmer of hope. Hope of a new horizon. Hope of crossing that crucial inflection point. This point in an enterpreneur’s journey is the point when he or she sees that first rupee as revenue.

There can be no greater joy for an entrepreneur.

This point is significant in one very important way. At least that is the way I see it. This point is significant because it is a recognition that the world sees value in the idea that the entrepreneur came up with and built on – and thus they are willing to pay for it. Every entrepreneur believes that his or her idea is great. But he or she can be “successful” only if there is an alignment between “that” within the entrepreneur and “that” perceived by the world or the end users. Most often such alignment would take lot of time – lot of time for the entrepreneur to understand the behaviour of the world, their perceptions to his or her idea, making changes in the execution without losing sight of the vision, - lot of trials and tribulations. An entrepreneur needs to let go of some, ready to subject to scrutiny ones assumptions, ready to keep moving. The world - the customers are right. The entrepreneur is also right. But it takes time for the “rightnesses” to match. And then when the “rightnesses” match there can be that nuclear fusion or a take off. This is “that” crucial point in an entrepreneur’s journey.

Today is that great point in this enterpreneur’s journey as we see the first rupee come in. A long journey of two and half years it has been. Glad that we have reached that point where our internal effort is aligned to the external needs of the world.

What would happen after this point? I do not know as I have not experienced it yet. Hopefully something good. But it can’t be better than this moment.

With my gratitude to all those who have stood and stand by me.

With love to my dear Thalaivar to whom I dedicate this joyous moment.

We go to a doctor when we are unwell. What does the doctor do? First, the doctor asks us several questions on the state of our health, how we are feeling, etc. If required the doctor then asks to get some tests done such as X Ray or blood diagnostics and so on.

The same is true for a financial counsellor. When one goes to a financial counsellor to take investment advice, the counsellor first analyses the “as is” position – current earnings and current savings and then analyses our temperament – our risk appetite, our lifestyle etc. He then uses his knowledge of the various financial instruments, their behaviour, pluses and minuses and makes us recommendations.

In short any consultant or a counsellor does two things – one diagnosis and then prescribe solutions.

The same should be or is true for HR specialist. We are expected to diagnose and prescribe solutions to individuals and organisations. When an individual approaches a HR specialist for advice on career development, the HR specialist should be diagnosing the “as is” state of the individual’s career and its related aspects. These would include the kind of progress the individual has made so far, the capabilities one has built, the aspirations of the individual and so on. Then the HR specialist is expected to prescribe solutions for the individual. The prescription comes from the HR specialist’s knowledge of the talent market, the pros and cons of various options, industry analysis and so on. The prescription has to be tailor made to the individual’s psyche or personality and specific to the individual. What works for one will not work for another. For instance, one who is looking for security and stability and is risk averse maybe advised to look for options within one’s industry or even company.

1. Good analysis of the individual’s as is state – hard (for example achievements, experiences) and soft (temperament, aspirations)
2. Good understanding of trends and behaviour related to the market dynamics and
3. Tailor making prescriptions for the individual or organisations

HR personnel need to be real custodians of latest trends and market behaviour. In my view there is little conscious investment by HR folks in this area because of which they are not able to assert themselves in the same manner that medical professionals are able to do in the field of medicine and financial counsellors do in the field of finance. Talent should be nurtured as the core domain of HR folks and if they need to establish themselves as such then their richness, comprehensiveness and awareness of latest trends should be as it is for specialists in other fields.