"The industrial age is over.
Organizations still stuck in the industrial age business models are going
out of business very fast. Technology is only as good as the people using
it."
"Soft
skills are the key to providing workers with the core skills in
communication, team work, leadership; personal effectiveness skills
required to leverage one’s individual strengths."
"Take
your people's self esteem to a very high level. And they will take your
organization to the next level." |
Copyright © of R.G. Srinivasan
The industrial age is over.
Organizations still stuck in the industrial age business models are going
out of business very fast. Technology is only as good as the people using
it. That is the clear message of the new millennium. The knowledge era
is supported by tapping into the immense power of the humans to think
creatively, find unconventional solutions to add value, improve
productivity, and find answers which will make life and work more valuable
to the society.
The straight jacketed systems
thinking, assembly line techniques adapted to human endeavor has failed to
provide the required results. Not that they are not required. But humans
cannot be automated. Automation is good only as far as inanimate objects
are involved. While discipline is important, systems cannot be the end
all to derive the best value out of individuals. Human capital is best
exploited when self actualization needs are met.
There is lot more to human beings
than repetitive, mechanical operations. Value is derived from out of the
box thinking. Values are derived from the best possible team work,
communication skills, empathy, intuitiveness, and self management needs of
the people.
This realization has resulted in
the west embracing soft skills in a big way at considerable expense. The
needs of different work environment, industries and business organizations
are unique. The same systems applied in different environments will
produce different results. The knowledge era demands certain freedom to
apply skills specifically suited to the particular set of situation and
circumstances.
Soft skills are the key to
providing workers with the core skills in communication, team work,
leadership; personal effectiveness skills required to leverage one’s
individual strengths. With better quality of people the organization will
produce higher customer satisfaction and achieve market leaderships.
The soft skills initiative needs
to be planned very carefully by organizations. They need to be tailored
to the set of circumstances to connect the acquired skills to the
workplace.
World’s topmost names in training
today-Anthony Robbins, Stephen Covey, Tom Peters, Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy
and Edward De Bono are all advocating and emphasizing on a total shift in
training to self awareness, core values, mental and creative management
skills-indispensable to personal success. Some of these names mentioned
above are not even from the management discipline and they are the
buzzwords in fortune 500 companies.
What then must a CEO and the HR
focus on?
The answer might sound
simplistic. Forget the organizational success models. Focus on success
of each individual working for the organization. Make him succeed. Be it
in work, personal lives or relationships. Make him a better contributor
to the society. Take your people's self esteem to a very high level. And
they will take your organization to the next level.
Though it may sound dramatic
forget the outdated management models and training models. Focus on core
human values. The important element is not look into immediate cost
benefit analysis which cannot be applied to soft skills training. While
you can measure the effective transfer of knowledge you cannot measure the
change in behavior in the short term. The process must be defined in the
longer term benefits of upping the total value concept of the
organizations by improving the human potential and thereby create a much
higher market value in all areas of corporate activity.
Look closely and prepare a soft
skills inventory required by your organization. Not with the standard
training products available. Ensure the training to be tailored to your
unique requirement. Start on a strategic plan to improve such skills
across the organization. Improve the skills and you automatically improve
the bottom line and your market leadership.
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