I have purposely used the word ‘tripping’,
because I got into the field of training not by qualification but by interest. When in Eureka Forbes, I was sent for a two
day workshop on communication , organised by the indo- American society ,
conducted by a lady from an American university . I enjoyed it but felt it was
too academic and lacked a practical approach to day today communication
challenges .Thereafter ,I kept my antenna up and started ‘listening’ to my
friends, colleagues, fellow passengers in the bus or train, family… and I made my own module for a
workshop, incorporating my findings. When we moved to Bangalore. I thought of
offering this programme to organisations, for their employees, Under the banner
of Shabdanjali Comunication Services, I made my rounds to various companies to
meet those in charge of personnel/ training. Most of them
were sceptical about my credentials as I did not have a personnel or psychology
background. I tried to tell them I was competent to handle Training as I
had teaching experience, Worked in the
corporate sector, was interested in human behaviour and had a flair for it. But
it is the certificate that still counts. Just as I was about to give up, I got
a break. B V Ramanna, the chief of training & development centre of Bharat
Electronics, gave me an assignment. It
was to be a four day workshop for newly recruited engineers. I had to
come up with a customised module and if they liked my work…well.
I am thankful to
him for his faith in me. That is all it
takes. This happened in 1988. I continued to be a regular external faculty with
the organization for nearly ten years. if Ramanna had rejected my request, like
many others did, I may not have pursued this field. Today, it is my
professional bread and butter.
After my initial
break, Ramanna gave me many more assignments on topics I would never have
dreamt of handling. His belief in my ability was stronger than my own !
Conflict Resolution, Leadership and Team work , Motivation, l’ve done it all.
Every time I was given a subject, Srivatsa would get me relevant books from the
ISRO (he was posted there ) library and
I studied them till the wee hours, discussed with him and made a module. He was
my peter Drucker. Though an engineer, he imbibed his managerial skills from the
Indian Navy . A non partisan professional, he has always been fair in his
dealings and since we discussed his work at home, I was unconsciously adsorbing
the nuances of management in practice. In
fact, I believe the armed forces is the best example of excellence in
management and public relations. When Srivatsa was deputed for a short
management course in Mussorie, I accompanied him and sat through the lectures
on Transactional Analysis.
A very interesting
challenge Ramanna posed for me was to come up with a module for a group of
women working in the TV Gun assembly line They were facing a number of
rejections from the customer and wanted to sensitise the women about the issue.
I am happy it worked out well for it was presented as a case study in an
International Seminar by Ramanna . I liked working with him because of his
innovative ideas .A colleague of his, Jagdeesh Prasad, succeeded him and I
continued to get the same support from him. Jagdeesh Prasad is a poet and had the right frame of mind to head a training
institution. He was open to ideas and willing to try out unconventional
modules. When I showed him the one on the Joy of working he put it on his
schedule as a regular subject and I have done this for many groups of men and
women in the company . In fact, it is a runaway success and has been tried out
by organisations like Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, United India Insurance , NTPC,
Karnataka State Bureau of Public Enterprises, Godrej ,etc,. Jagdeesh Prasad gave
me something l’ll cherish forever . On Teachers’ Day, he invited me (and other
external faculty) to plant a sapling behind the Training Centre. Since My
career as a trainer, took roots in Bharat Electronics, I am glad I have my tree
growing there !
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