When experiences come together for real and with whole heart, you have a beautiful future in the making! This is exactly what we experienced at the last Unconference #10.
Business Transformation through Learning & Development.
For our Unconferences, we invite Business and HR Leaders from across organizations and industries to discuss relevant topics pertaining to People Development in an Organization. We also have Pace Setters to set the pace for the discussion and invite responses.
This time, the Host and Sponsor was Jindal Steel & Power.
Mr Saurabh Wadhwa, Head L&D at IndusInd Consumer Banking, was the Pace Setter and shared his remarkable practices and thoughts on how strong L&D Processes and Methods can really shape a Business for the better. He floated the discussion with the common norm that 'Why Training Doesn't Work'. He shared that let the learners feel that they've earned the learning and don't pass it on to them just because they should attend a learning event/forum. He further elaborated on how they make this happen at IndusInd for that strong 'Pull Factor' and the amazing results this has brought. Click here to read a glimpse into this.
Mr Raj Nehru, Director HR at Schneider Electric, talked about need to redefine and realign the function and purpose of L&D and that we should stop solving 21st Century problems with 20th Century tools. He spoke about establishing Learning Labs and that Business should become sponsor to learning interventions.
Mr Sandeep Tyagi, Director HR at Samsung Electronics, shared that we excessively focus on internally branding our learning interventions. So much so that we have an internal advertising agency that helps create the brand for wholesome Engagement and Involvement. He also mentioned that Informal Learning is going to be a big wave now and that for Business Transformation this should be explored in depth.
Mr Sanjeev Tripathi, Head HR at Osram, talked about their method of Engaging and Involving people to bring effectiveness and impact. They encourage people to share their success stories and collate statistics of success stories post a Learning Intervention. This has created a great hype amongst people and they actively share their stories and even look forward to attending the next Learning Event!
Mr Anil Rathore, Group Head HR at Indiabulls, shared that they have renamed and reimagined their internal Training Centres as 'Experience Centres'. He intently said that to make L&D effective, there are 3 Players – Culture, Learner and Facilitator. Here Culture and Environment play 60% role, learner 30% and facilitator only 10% whereas we pay so much emphasis on a facilitator only. And this is why their ideology of 'Experience Centres' brings the impact.
Mr Rajan Singhal, Director HR at RJ Corp, mentioned that in his company we let the Divisional Heads become the Trainer for grooming and developing employees. This brings maximum effectiveness and impact. He also shared his experience from Pepsico when he led HR there: that we focused on these areas for Learning and Development – Simulations, Skills Based Training Programs, Peer Based Learning and Electronic Library. This was to provide a wholesome learning experience.
Ms Shweta Sharma, Founder at Collaborative Climate, shared that she creates Game-based learning designs to create Self-Paced, Self-Directed Learning and how that adds to the Pull Factor and supports Business Transformation through L&D. She added that we should drive research based leaning interventions and not just focus on general and shallow learning content. Only research based, relevant content can bring the transformation that a business seeks. Moreover, Businesses must actively support the L&D endeavours and not treat L&D Division as a separate and independent event management entity.
Mr Kshitij Mehta, Head L&D India at Grofers, expressed that we should also experiment with concepts such as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and more methods that go beyond limiting the learning to one space such as classroom only. He also emphasized on the importance of conducting a thorough Training Needs Analysis to enable the transformation.
Mr Subhankar Ghose, Chief People Officer at Zoom Insurance Brokers, mentioned that Business Leaders should at all costs let the training sessions be seriously considered and just should not pull out their team-members while the sessions run and encourage participation and application. There should be a thorough Train The Trainer too in order to ensure constant understanding.
Ms Aparna Sethi, Assistant Professor OB-HR at Ansal University, shared that she extensively resorts to a Blended Learning approach to create effective learning experience. She encourages her students to create their own videos, take selfies or use the resources outside the classroom to help them practice and create their own learning plus it adds fun to the entire learning experience. She mentioned that Businesses too can use such methods to bring effectiveness and transformation.
Mr Tyagi: It's always a pleasure to attend the Unconferences by Collaborative Climate; really appreciate the great initiative.
Mr Nehru: I loved the concept.
Mr Wadhwa: It was a great experience here. Look forward to more.
Mr Singhal: I learnt so much here; many thanks for this forum.
Mr Tripathi: This is a great forum, please keep it up.
Mr Rathore: Am glad I attended this session. Continue the good work.
Mr Mehta: I loved this Unconference.
Mr Ghose: I totally enjoyed my time here; felt so free in expressing and receiving knowledge.
Ms Sethi: This was a fantastic experience; am taking back so much.
Ms Jain: It was great to be part of this session.
The Unconferences that we host are a medium to facilitate Collaborative and Informal Peer-learning; and we don't charge our guests for that! These are small group (up to 15 participants at a time) Exclusive and Informal get-togethers. We create real and meaty discussions so everybody gets to take back their share of authentic learning.
For a company that has multiple-city presence and interdependent processes, Online Collaboration Systems are a must but more than that, the users must be inclined to adopt and use them optimally.