Sunday, November 1, 2009

Soft Skills and its importance

Soft skills training becomes essential for India Software Inc
Suraj grew up in a small town in Haryana from where he did his schooling before obtaining admission in IIT Delhi. On completion of his MTech, he joined one of the leading software giants of the country and within two months was sent to Santa Clara on an onsite project. And that was when Suraj’s nightmare started. Having been educated in a vernacular medium school, he was neither too fluent in English nor was he at all comfortable with girls, having studied in a boys-only school. After landing in an open society like the US, where boys and girls mix freely, the shy and coy Suraj had a major adjustment problem, he turned into an introvert and finally fell into depression.
This is not a tale of fiction, but a real-life incident, and the saddest part is that it keeps happening again and again with Indian software companies. Reasons are not far to guess: most companies send a huge workforce to alien shores, and many of these people coming from non-urban backgrounds are subjected to a major culture shock which can cause major mental upheaval. So what are the solutions to this problem? Imparting training that inculcates communication and culture skills amongst all employees. And it is here that the companies need to come to the forefront to take the responsibility for providing this training, especially considering the number of people they send abroad every year. But, are Indian IT companies performing this role? Sadly, apart from a handful like TCS, Infosys, Wipro or NIIT, no companies are taking care to train employees on these so-called softer skills. It is true that many other organisations do train people on technical skills, but unfortunately this vital part remains neglected.
However, an independent study conducted on CEOs, by Stanford Research Institute and Carnegie Mellon in the US, found that long-term job success depends 75 percent on people skills and only 25 percent on technical knowledge. Another study done by Harvard University had even more startling results—85 percent of jobs and promotions happened because of the candidate’s attitude and only 15 percent due to the facts and figures he packed under his belt. In fact, companies lose almost 10-15 percent of possible business due to their inability to meet the perceived level of services linked to soft skills.
But why do most IT companies desist from providing training on these softer skills? Many experts opine that this is due to the huge expenditure involved in setting up the entire infrastructure required for making available this sort of training. This effectively means that apart from the giants, most other companies think twice before investing such sums on people, especially when the attrition rate is one of the highest in the software sector. Take the case of TCS, which claims to spend six percent of its revenue on this sort of training in the sprawling training centre they have set up in Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram. Considering the company’s revenues, this translates into a sum of Rs 300 crore.
What is the sort of training these majors provide? In case of TCS, it is mandatory for every new entry-level recruit from all over the country to spend three to four months in the Thiruvananthapuram training centre. The centre has the capacity to hold about 600 people at one time, which roughly translates into about 2,400 employees going through it every year. With Reveals R Narayan, vice president-education and training, TCS, in charge of the training centre, “It is mandatory that every professional with us should have 20 days of training in one year, which can be at the centre or in emergency cases, even at the worksite. We also try to bring the professionals down here for a de-briefing session on their live experiences for six to eight weeks.” Is it imperative that there should be some official recognition of this training too. According to Narayan, Canada has recently experimented with certification for soft skills training, while the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge is also attempting to give some recognition to it.
The Infosys management tries to build leaders at all levels. The company has leadership training programmes called ‘Pravesh’ for aspiring leaders. Specific actions in Wipro include weekly communication on vision and business plans, continuous communication and Web training to new recruits, extensive verbal and documented communication to line managers and intensifying efforts to add to the current robustness of people processes.
Make no mistake! You may be an MCA, MBA-IT or even a PhD, but one thing is certain, besides technical skills, it’s the softer skill-sets that make a difference if you want to move up the ladder. A survey of IT recruitment advertisements reveals that for 60 percent of entry-level jobs, technical skills are most important. Soft skills like “the ability to work well in a team” become more relevant as one moves up the ladder and would start assuming importance for candidates with over two to three years of experience. For positions like those of team leaders that demand experience and supervisory skills, it is almost impossible to find even a single advertisement which does not have phrases like “excellent communication skills”, “strong interpersonal skills”, etc.
But are these training in soft skills going to help the companies in the long run? R Vidyasagar, head, HR, i-flex solutions, reveals that corporates in India spend more than Rs 600 crore a year in direct training costs. “A recent survey revealed that the IT industry spent more than 40 percent of its training budget on skill building. Training was always high priority on the IT manager’s agenda, but amid project completion deadlines, hectic travel schedules and long teleconferences, skill building took a backseat. With the slowing down of the sector, this spending could be better utilised now, with techies having more time on their hands.” Clearly, soft skills are being increasingly recognised for their true worth. And with an increasing number of organisations training their personnel towards it, it can only augur well for the IT industry towards making India Inc globally competitive.

COSMIC RELATIONSHIPS

COSMIC RELATIONSHIPS

When two humans meet,
They communicate
In vocal or silent companionship
Or mutual animus.

Each bundle of energy, vibrates with
Its own brand of thoughts,
To discuss, dismiss or demonstrate.
A word, a glance, a gentle touch with love
Warms the soul to ecstasy.
A stinging word,
A stare, a violent thrust,
In all consuming anger or distrust
Could souls destroy.

Is it a matter of choice or chance
Such relationships take place?
Do souls meet and part at will?
Or do they, guided by some unknown consciousness,
Forever wander the cosmos,
Pausing briefly on earth, to bump into one another;
Seemingly without design,
Attracting or repelling,
To leave their mark and be marked
By each passing atma?
And in this endless process be tutored, honed and tempered
With slow and painful precision,
To perfection and nirvana?
Few know.
Most don’t care.

Ignited Minds - A review

“Ignited Minds: Unleashing the power within India”, by APJ Abdul Kalam, Viking (Penguin Books India ), 2002, Rs. 250/-.


“From Rameswaram to Raisina” might soon replace “From Log cabin to White House”. A poor fisherman’s son has risen to become the President of India, along the way adorned the mantle of being the “undisputed father of India’s Missile and Nuclear Program”( as a full page advertisement in a South Indian newspaper recently claimed) and awarded all possible honors including the Bharat Ratna. But prior to moving to Raisina Hill, Mr. Kalam spent almost a year meeting with thousands of school children all over the country and trying to “ ignite their minds so that India turns into a developed nation by 2020”. This book is a chronicle of his thoughts and ideas in this period.

The year 2020 comes from his earlier book, “India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium”, based on a report prepared by the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment council (TIFAC) which gave a blueprint for achieving a developed nation status by 2020. The report was essentially a technocratic vision of development without any reference to societal and political constraints. The report’s (and the book’s) prescriptions were totally devoid of any realistic assessment of our polity and society. It is to this that Mr. Kalam now turns with his new book.

Recently there was a bit of controversy when the latest Human Development Report ranked India slightly above sub-Saharan Africa. The venerable Minister for Human Resource Development, Prof. M.M. Joshi rubbished the report saying that it only measures material well being, while we Indians are far superior spiritually! If this had not come after 4 years of similar idiotic statements by functionaries of this government, it would have provoked some reaction. But by now, we are so used to politicians and bureaucrats, especially in the field of education saying bizarre things that such pronouncements pass unnoticed.

Let us face it: by any measure that one can think of, we as a nation fare poorly in the global community of nations. Our GDP per capita is pathetic, our infant mortality rates are alarming, and we have the largest number of illiterates in the world and so on. But if one were to read Mr. Kalam’s latest book, one would think that all that is missing for us to vault into the community of developed nations is an aspiration to do so and confidence in ourselves. In his amazingly simplistic understanding, he suggests that “there is nothing mysterious about the abundance in developed nations. The historic fact is that the people of these nations believed over many generations that they must live a good life in a strong and prosperous nation and the reality became aligned with their aspirations”. How wonderfully simple! Alas, the reality is a bit more complex.

Mr. Kalam is of the opinion that we Indians have a unique characteristic of belittling our achievements and this trait may even be genetic! ( an appalling statement coming from the most well known scientist in the country) In reply to an innocent question asked by a child about whose weapons are stronger, India’s or Pakistan’s he asserts “ India can design, develop and produce any type of missile and any type of nuclear weapon…. You remove all doubts from your mind”. At this, the child gave a very satisfied look, as he reports!

What is one to make of such a statement? Notwithstanding the self congratulations and paeans sung to our new-found scientific heroes, the recent expose in a newspaper of the terrible state in which India’s missile programme is in, is illustrative of the kind of self delusion we are capable of. At one point, Mr. Kalam talks about “Transparency being the cornerstone of development”. This coming from a person who spearheaded projects, the accounts of which were not even disclosed in the Parliament, leave alone a public debate on accountability!

This is not to say that everything that he says is superfluous. Mr. Kalam talks about the necessity of role models for a child, something which is obviously important. He also talks about the need for self reliance and a search for solutions which are specific to our conditions rather than imported or transplanted from other countries. He discusses the need for improvements in agriculture, education, health etc. He also warns against becoming a provider of cheap labor in areas of high technology and the pitfalls of getting carried away with the success of a few in the software industry. No one can quarrel with him on these issues.

For instance, in a long chapter on “Learning from Saints and Seers”, he talks about his meetings with holy men of various hues. All of them, including Mr. Kalam are of the opinion that spirituality must be integrated with education. Then follows the inevitable singing of paeans to the knowledge contained in our ancient scriptures (including constructions of airplanes!), in a way which will certainly gladden the hearts of the likes of Mr. Rajput and Mr. Joshi. No critical understanding here of the nuances of integrating spirituality in a multicultural, multiethnic society such as ours. Just the proffering of “gyan” by charlatans who produce Seiko watches out of thin air or Swamis with immense political clout who use it to play politics with emotive issues like Ayodhya.

There is also a strange naiveté with which Mr. Kalam writes. Take for instance his statement that we could “easily accomplish three times what we do, in half the time we normally take , if we were to operate in mission mode with a vision for the nation”. Missions to develop missiles may be successful ( or not, if the Times of India is to be believed) but missions for social and political problems are a different ball game. Think of the National Literacy Mission; was it an unqualified success? Did it achieve the results which were commensurate with the expense and the hoopla? Or did it only generate pretty reports made by high powered consultants? All these are issues which one needs to grapple with before pontificating on the solutions to our complex and interrelated problems.

Or take his solution of creating a ring of villages, connecting them with high quality transport and communication systems, giving them Internet connectivity, encouraging reputed specialists to locate schools and hospitals and marketing this to attract industry and commerce! As he puts it, high bandwidth rural connectivity is the minimum requirement to transform India into a knowledge superpower! In a country where the rural telephone penetration is so abysmal, and the rural literacy rates are so low, it can only be naiveté which makes a distinguished and experienced person like Mr. Kalam to make such statements.

Another theme repeated in the book is his obsession with making India strong militarily. The old argument of some countries having the Bomb and hence we need to have one is repeated. But what provides insight into the mind of our Ex-President is his pontification to an anti-nuclear activist that “he should first go and demonstrate in front of the Kremlin and White House before he protests in front of the Parliament House”. Surely a dangerous mindset for a Head of State.


The constant use of first person singular throughout the book is another irritant. Mr. Kalam might be “the father of our missile programme” but it is certainly a bit much to say “when I first launched a rocket it failed”. Surely he is not suggesting that he launched the rocket single-handedly?

No one doubts the need for a vision for a people. Especially so in times like now when the world is changing so rapidly. But the vision has to be rooted.

CT Workshop - Oct 9th - S3 Chem

40th workshop of CT...Thanks to all the participants for your prayers..

We went without much expectations..And it turned out to be very energetic, positive and fulfilling workshop..The feedbacks are

"We never imagined like this..Best thing was our caliber. We learnt how to respect each other’s views and coordinate for success, Feeling so great and enjoyed to the core. As a group, all participated, no tension, no more fear, no compulsion, It all came natural and the silly games increased our confidence and Fun and learning can always go together, complementing each other.."

" Cooperation led to success. All were at higher energy. Team can transfer a low energy person into high energy person and contribute for success,.Cooperation was best. All can deliver the best at the last minute and it was so joyful experience that brought in satisfaction to us. Initially tensed about CT. When things started with 3 games, we became relaxed and learnt about unity, cooperation and how participation can come from all to make the team win..."

" I had no clue how things will shape up before 30 min. Looked at the opposite team doing fast, tension increased. But all of them gave more ideas to make our tableau successful. It was a great memorable occasion in our life as our college life will be over in another 35 days."

" Initially felt lille nervous to work with my students , but now iam feeling great as my self consciousness got removed, iam free enough to mingle. Thanks to my students who made me let go this. Good bonding has developed between us. It was really a good experience and quite different from my first CT as a student of ASB with paul sir. Now iam a faculty here. Iam happy to say that all of us participated and I learnt the importance of change management today, as I had to change my characted to a beggar in the last 2 minutes( theme: pickpocket in a railway platform). Good team work can always lead the team to success. To grow in life, we need the support of others too. Thanking everyone for this great opportunity."

CT turning 40 became more memorable and we got to understand that staying healthy for delivering the workshop is so important..3 CHEERS to CT

CT - Sep 17th - EE

CT creates a big change in all of the participants...

Sep 17th was EEE's day.....

30 min stroke was so powerful with good timing and all had this we can do it attitude. If we try and do it, we can always achieve anything in life. This we learnt thru CT,Even though the start was little slow during the 30 min preparation, we staged a good comeback in creating the sets, costumes and good timing was there and managed well for the team to succeed. Thanks to CCR, All conveyed with good clarity and team effort, together Everyone achieved more today, all were complimenting and initiating things properly, CT is exactly applicable to our daily life. We need to stay happy inside and face the toughness outside with a smile everyday.

The application of team work in life is quite essential..

CT taught me the basics of managing myself and my team more...CT also saw in everyone how the phase of a manager to leader evolves..Manager is someone who makes others to work and a leader is someone who makes everyone to perform...

Leadership is all about

- Knowing yourself
- Knowing others
- Knowing the system
- Knowing your authority
- Developing traits for leadership...

Leaders come with situations...and the trend keeps changing too...

Sep 17th workshop stands tall in our experience as a facilitator as we had fond memories of this workshop

God bless everyone to reach their goals in life

CT Workshop - Sep 16th - EC

Well..

EC ians are always very much charged for any team activity. Lot of talented bunch with individual brilliance to the sky...

Corporate Theatre was one more feather added to their kitty...Feedbacks are :

Team work converted the impossible to possible. First sight made us think that tableau was impossible. As time went, we worked as a team to bring changes in the production. This is applicable to our contribution to the society too..Energy level brought success and it was such a nice experience in college life.. First of all, we planned, assigned roles and then split into groups to do something beneficial for the team and the end product was the tableau where TRUST played a key role in success, Workshop took us to childhood memories and we can do wonders if we have a childlike attitude. Limited resources were managed effectively with a relaxed state of mind to bring in the best in us.. No expectations were there when I entered CT. 30 minutes was a magic of my life, everyone’s life too. Experienced the Power of Team work in high intensity,Together each other achieve more. First time I felt crazy. All have the child in us to grow, we can complement each other. Thank all of us and all of them did their best,Thank CCR , CT inspired me and everyone inspired me. We are in team to work and inspire each other and motivate to success, Nice experience working together, Power of Cooperation was felt with sharing of work, critical support from everyone. Experienced our true self today with CT..Broke the shells, topic was given, roles got automatically divided, with lot of mutual understanding andmaximum utilization and team work at its greatness,32. 30 minutes of memorable college life filled us with positive attitude and now my confidence level has rised so much that I can turn the entire world upside down

Well...Again...What a workshop it was ...to look back and see the participants and the change they had brought to them and in the facilitators make it much more memorable and rewarding