To secure their talent pool, this recruiting season, HR managers and recruiters are prioritising executive learning and training their employees to help them take on larger responsibilities. Making this easier are top universities like Oxford and Stanford, which are offering specialised corporate programs in India to expand their research base. Companies are utilising all these opportunities and are polishing their skilled middle and senior level executives like never before.
Explaining the reasons for the sudden stress on study, Rajesh Gupta, the COO of Pamtel Solutions, which is planning to send three of its senior executives abroad for leadership training programmes this year, says, “If you freeze or cut your manpower, you need to develop the available talent to retain a competitive edge. As we are focusing on growth and expansion, instead of investing more money on fresh B-school graduates, it is more practical to top up the skills and knowledge of a few key personnel. This is also a great way to retain their services for a longer period, as the take-back value is much higher in this model.”
One may wonder as to the sort of courses most executives are seeking. Responds Rajesh promptly, “Leadership programs with a high focus on adaptability and innovation as well as change management programmes.”
There is currently a greater requirement for the training of executives, as opposed to predominantly fresh graduates from B-schools. To fulfill this demand, several new institutes and organisations have been established.
And the enrollment numbers at executive education programmes are on the rise. Sumanth Roy, head of management programmes of Executive Success, observes, “The programmes are targeted at executives associated with fast- growing companies and for those who are in the early stages of developing their companies. Executive education is a long-term investment to enhance the future value of employees.”
There are many who ask in what way these executive education course are different from the regular MBA programs.
Answers Sumanth, “As an executive moves up the organisational hierarchy, two things happen: one, he acquires some experience and knowledge; and two, he develops specific skill gaps or needs to do his job better. Executive education fills this gap. It is customised to work on a specific need while traditional MBA is more generic.”
Which is why some firms are introducing internal courses, while others are following the policy of ‘training the trainer’ to maximise knowledge sharing.
Commenting on the investment return value of these education initiatives, K.P. Unnikrishnan, a senior executive from the IT sector says, “Although the investment is steep, this is a healthy trend as it can go a long way in developing talent in companies. Arming able employees with the necessary knowledge and skills to take up higher roles is more feasible than investing in new, inexperienced personnel. Another advantage is that the duration of most of these courses is for a couple of weeks or months. And most firms sign an agreement before sending the employees for such training programmes.”