Learning and Development has become an obsolete word among Today's Professionals

As I work with the function of Human Resources, Training and Development, i come across a major challenge of putting working professionals through a program of learning new skills and seeking further knowledge for career growth.

The real problem in that very few people are interested in learning something new and advancing ahead. This is seen across a  spectrum of organizations all over India. People think that what they learned during their education is more than enough and will not take any extra step in career advancement. Unless and until training is forced along with disciplinary action, people are not interested in taking any training.

This problem is rooted to the narrow minded thinking that we people collectively have. Going the extra mile is not something that we want to do. People claim that they have learned enough in their schools and colleges, but one assessment of their skill level and you will know that they are mediocre or even below that.

 

Once in a professional working life people get bogged down with other responsibilities like family, children, parents, social functions EMI's, loans and god knows what.  People spend time doing useless things but will not spend an hour or two per day on skill and knowledge development.

And at times it looks like some people purposely don't upgrade themselves, this may be augmented with the fact that they are in their comfort zone with no threat of termination looming over their necks. But when economy goes bad, jobs are scare and people are left out from their desired increment and performance appraisal,  people wake from their slumber and look for some other job avenues only to realize that they do not match the criteria for job specification.

All i would like to say is that in spite of all the respresponsibilities that we have , one must take 2 to 3 hours in a day for our own learning and development.We spend hours on networking sites like facebook, twitter and god known other social networking websites which will not of even contribute to 1 % of our development, so my dear folks get your priorities right.

And by leaning and development, i just don't mean job related skills, I also mean skills related to life, go and take up activities like swimming, martial arts yoga, cooking, gardening and many other interesting ones. Go read some good books improve your communication skills both oral and written, watch some good award winning movies.

So go out learn new things and develop your self.

This is Bhaveen Sheth signing off for the day, will be back with some more.