The Hindu Business Line : Attitude matters

It's lunchtime on a weekday at an upscale restaurant in Bangalore. The whole place is abuzz with executives gossiping over their food, except one table, where a techie group is lunching with an American client. Few words — mostly monosyllabic — are spoken, and that too guardedly. What could be so frightening about mouthing a `yes' or `no'? As you get closer, you sense the mounting trepidation at the table. The executives are eyeing the knife and fork as if these might explode any moment. Am I going to expose myself, seems to be the unvoiced question.

Soft skills training, that includes etiquette, conversation skills, attitude training, etc, looks set to take off in a big way in the country? "The boom in the software, ITeS and BPO sectors, and the rapid internationalisation of Indian businesses have spurred the demand for soft skills," says R. Parasuraman, Chairman - Confederation of Indian Industry's Tamil Nadu State Council, and Managing Director, Novar India. "Employees need to upgrade skills in language, etiquette, awareness of international cultures, besides work on attitude and organisational orientation," he adds.

"The demand for soft skills training began in the mid-1990s and now with the BPO and ITeS boom it has gathered a great momentum," says, M. Keshav, an attitude consultant with 15 years' experience. "The man-hours invested in training have shot up five times in recent years," says Parasuraman.

But are soft skills limited to just social conditioning?

"No, they go deeper. Beyond etiquette and language, it is about learning to lead and work as part of a team, be creative, innovate, manage time, make presentations and keep yourself motivated," says Keshav. Sometimes, industry-specific training is also called soft skills training.

The training comes in many forms — from outdoor training, game-based learning, adventure sport and movement-based learning to the regular workshop modules.

Keshav heads Mantra Management Training Research Associates in Chennai, which runs FOOL - Fun Oriented Outdoor Learning, a popular team-building programme. "Game-based learning is a great way to acquire attitude skills," he says.

Andrew Dinsley, who heads the British Trade Office (BTO) in Bangalore, where Mantra conducted a team-building exercise, says, "The energy after such programmes is very high. Outdoor exercises take away the office structure, and employees are far more open to new ideas and new ways of thinking. Through this workshop, we have cut to the core to get people understand themselves and the way they function."

Hiring right

While technical qualifications are important, recruiters are checking for emotional quotient, issues of character and commitment. Psychometric testing has become an important component of the recruitment process. FIRO - B, developed by William Schultz, is a popular tool that allows employees to assess a person's behaviour orientation under three sections — control (giving and taking), social skills (the need to be included and the skill to include others) and affection (expressed and needed).

At the BTO workshop, it was interesting to watch how eager the participants were to discuss their personality and working styles openly after getting the FIRO - B scores. Most of them wanted their scores analysed by the facilitator. But how much can a person really change his basic behaviour and attitude? "When your job is on the line and there are substantial financial carrots, anything can be learnt," says Keshav. "In fact, the key to growth lies in acquiring soft skills."

Dinsley adds, "Even if we can change one per cent and get people to put in a little more effort, it's worthwhile because in the long run it all adds up. I remember we had a problem at work recently. Normally we would have identified an external cause and worked on solving it. But after the workshop, we decided to discuss it internally and realised that the solution lay inside and that we could rectify it by changing our methods."

"Employees with a willingness to learn and an ability to re-invent themselves are a great asset," says Keshav. With the distance between front-end and back-end shrinking fast, customer interaction and communication have gained in importance in the global market. And executives realise the need to master soft skills to survive in this environment.

At the end of the day, "soft skills are life skills, everybody needs them," says Keshav.

Akshar Media

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
A gourmet's odyssey

Trim reality

Salty tidbit

Romances romp home

Saluting the human spirit

Rebelling against injustice