Ajit Kamath Wizzes

One of the striking differences between a cat and a lie is that the cat has only nine lives. Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Today was a wet rainy day. It had rained all night. Morning came, and wow!!! I was in Vienna. There is water all around our building. I stay on the ground floor but our architect /builder (more than 70 years ago) had foreseen water logging on our road. The ground floor is at a height of about 6 feet from the road level. Think of planning and proactivity. It was wonderful!!! The road was less noisy with only a few BEST buses passing by (all other traffic having stopped). When the bus came the waves also come in. The pleasant breeze was enjoyable too. Suddenly I remembered that I had a training program to go for. Now I wanted the water to go away. Unfortunately it didn't. I called up the client and spoke to them. They were accomodating. Raghunath (HR) told me it was fine and to take a call. At about 10 am, water disappeared, called up the client and they said we could still start the session at about 11.30 a.m. So off I was. Again at about 4 p.m. there was a scare and we had to clo...

It's really really funny. I know of Training Companies whose Trainers are made to claim (who dares ask for proof from the Trainers?) on the floor that their training interventions reduced attrition in client companies, but when it comes to their own Trainers they haven't been able to reduce attrition at all. Many Trainers are leaving sooo soon and that too "hurt" . One of the reason is that most Training Companies (my previous experience and of my network of trainers experiences tell me) don't have any HR processes at all. The Owners / Franchisees run Training Companies like "lalas" with autocratic form of leadership. They don't even let their teams know how much business they do. These are the same guys who 'teach' client participants that other styles of leadership should be used. Another reason is payments of dues... I remember a hilarious incident.... I and the Training Co's BD Manager, were observers to a training program being deli...

In L&T, for a particular division in Mumbai, I coach small teams in delivering an effective presentation internally to their organisation's seniors. At times the coaching is to Supervisors who have to deliver a session to their newly promoted Supervisors. Recently it was for a competition. The fun of coaching such teams is that I'm working with practical application of the learning. In training workshops, the skills are surely enhanced but chances are many of these participants may not get an opportunity to present for the next many months. Presentation Skills / Public Speaking isn't like cycling or swimming.... once learnt, learnt for life. With these skills if you loose out on applying it regularly (at least once a week) the 'enhancement' starts coming back to the original position. If organisations, do not provide opportunities to practice the skill on a regular basis, then the training effectivness (and thus the ROI) may suffer. Can the trainer really be ...