Seasoned Management Trainers

Seasoned management trainers are those who can handle training environment which are diverse, every single time they are on-stage.More than that they never complain about the level of the trainees and the allied aspects while conducting a training.A trainer who has trained in different environments,should infact know how to handle differences and leverage them to his/her advantage.I happened to learn this art after seeing many of my senior pros who have trained globally in different situations and environments.One day they were exposed to trainees who were highly knowledgeable and on the second way he realized he has to be so simple that for every jargon he has to spell out at least 5-6 synonyms, on the third day he had to explain the concepts in totality by riding piggy on local illustrations and examples and the like. To become a seasoned trainer, may take some time, as experience is a percursor for the same.It is only with experience that an amateur is metamorphosed into a dynamic trainer, who can align with any surrounding.Changes in training approaches, delivery methodology, tools,activities etc. should be need based and moreover, last minute changes commensurate with the abilities of the audience is an expertise which is present only with the seasoned trainers.

An Interesting Read-My Third Article on KNOWLEDGE OMAN

My third article in www.knowledgeoman.com talks about the inherent strength of the Sultanate which can be leveraged by all, especially the trainers, teachers and professors so as to make the capable and determined Omani reach the next level of development. The country is already been touted by regional and global experts to be the best amongst the AGCC nations and is the most immune to the global slowdown.Reasons are not difficult to find. Under the leadership of His Majesty and his team of dedicated and devoted professionals, across sectors, the country is galloping even when the rest of the world is recuperating from the recession and the slowdown.

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ABCD of Management Training

Independence in making the training materials is a big plus for the trainers. For they know what to include, what to exclude, what to illustrate, what to corroborate, what to present in language, what to present in graphics and the like.It is indeed a blessing if a trainer gets an opportunity to hand pick contents for his training sessions, starting from the actual contents, their sources, personalization and adaptation strategies to be adopted, simplication of the contents and to which extent,presentations of the manual(soft or the hard form or even both),the delivery plan, session and lesson plan, activities etc. This would provide the sync needed to make the training more effective from the perspective of the trainees. However, providing complete independence sans any responsibilties, authorities, that too without periodic monitoring especially in a system which is more public, than private, calls for checks and balances. Absence of these filters makes the training system a polluted one as everyone tries to put forth his/her own expertise, thereby hampering the interest of the end-user.

Second Article in The Thursday Magazine of The Times of Oman

It is indeed a pleasant experience for the expatriates staying in The Sultanate of Oman. Reasons are manifold, one because they are earning and more importantly they are undergoing a life time experience as far as the much needed traits which are commonly referred as human values, are being witnessed first hand in the Sultanate.The article talks about the same, published in The Thursday Magazine of The Times of Oman, May 28 to June 03 2009,a leading English Daily of the Sultanate.

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My Article on 'Defining Work'

The article published in the Indian Express, dated 21st May 09, Pune edition highlights some of the key aspects of an ideal workplace.The importance of workplace has a direct bearing on the productivity of the employees, not to forget the overall productivity of the organization. Read and Comment!

Handling Myopic Trainers

For almost a decade since I started my career as a training and consulting professional, I have witnessed some myopic attitudes on my fraternity people. This may be because of competition, however, one big reason which is primarily responsible for such behaviour is the feeling of insecurity. Trainers who are in the job full time, unlike their part time peers have abundant time which are generally used in activities which are highly dangerous from their professional perspective. This may not be true for industrial trainers, however it is clearly visible amongst the tribe of academic trainers.Instead of focussing on self development, by gathering new insights in their domain area, they initiate the process of comparing self with their peers and try to guaze the output from the reaction of the target audience. If the trainees are more close to one trainer, the other starts to develop a inferiority complex culminating in a cascade affect which can not only be detrimental to him, but can also spoil the surrounding.The best way to handle such peers is to avoid their nuisance and instead focus on self development, as sooner, than later they would realize that it is indeed the empty vessels which makes most of the sounds.

Columnist's role pays as a trainer/teacher

I have joined http://www.knowledgeoman.com/ as a columnist. I am elated to contribute to this excellent portal, as the country,The Sultanate of Oman offers plethora of learnings, not to forget the sightseeing all around.Moreover, being a management trainer, this is my way of thanking His Majesty, The Sultan for his all round development of this beautiful country in the Middle East.It gives me satisfaction as well, as dissemination of knowledge to the society is the major role of a teacher/trainer. The organogarm of this portal has been taken from http://www.knowledgeoman.com/index.php?pageid=aboutko .

As they say knowledge shared is knowledge learned!

The Fun of Teaching a New Subject

I am indeed enjoying teaching a new subjects to the students of Business Studies. The subject, Job Search Techniques is a novel one especially when one considers the importance of such subjects for the people on the threshold of kickstarting their careers.Most of the time it has been observed that a person is recruited for a wrong job only because he applied for a wrong one. This ultimately boils down to choosing the right employer, adopting the right technique to reach out to the employer, grooming self commensurate with the need of the employer, fine-tunning the personality traits so as to match the requirement of the prospective employer and the like. This subject may sound silly,however the importance of the subject is felt by the students only after they start to reach out to the industries while on the verge of completion of their degrees, diplomas and certificates. The subject being taught to the students of engineering, business and IT, makes it more interesting as the audience comprises of a mixed gathering, that however, calls for a better preparation on the part of the trainer as illustrations, examples, caselets and situations to be discussed in the session should have a blend of all the disciplines.Moreover, the subject has more practical significance, than theoritical value and it is therefore important to put the students through the process where one is able to experience in a simulated environment, be it a group discussion, an interview or a workplace orientation.

Eight short of that magical 400............

I am on the verge of reaching the magical 400 publications. I am currently at 392 as the first and nineteenth page depicts I am really enjoying my writings be it a research paper, an article for a professional periodical, a daily, a magazine, a portal and the like.Mostly I try to present practical writings on the basis of my research and observation, however my case studies are the ones I experience first hand, be it the organization I work for or the clients I consult with. It gives me immense satisfaction in making my thoughts public, bot through the print and the electronic medium.These days writing is not only my favourite past-time, but has also metamorphosed into a thinking cap especially when I am discovering foreign lands. My writings recorded on the basis of the experiences I am encountering is providing me with new training and consulting tools, apart from solving many of my own challenges. In a nut shell writing is now my second love...first of course is shared by my better half and training cum consultancy!

Management Training Techniques

Training domain has undergone a metamorphosis. On one hand there is technology to leverage and the on the other, the upgradation of the traditional training tools. I thought of using few traditional management training techniques by giving them a new look. Teaching through skit, learning by doing, operation workout based teaching, live project based teaching, query based learning, bibliography and reference based learning are few of the management training techniques I have adopted of late. I am yet to reach the point where I can advocate them to be used for teaching different management topics. However, my initial results are definitely encouraging!

Lets share the knowledge and make some more, apart from polishing the ones I am working on.Comment after reading

The Fun of Simplifying Management Learning

I am realizing the fun of simplifying management and learnings pertaining to business studies once after taking up my assignment over here. The art of simplifying things is the most challenging for any professional, and I am no exception. However, I should be candid in admitting that its giving me new dimensions to teach and train wannabe professionals.Moreover, the thinking cap to simply things often enables me to come out novel training methodologies which I may not have contemplated if I would have been teaching elsewhere. The objective in this new found love is twofold-On one hand I have to simplify knowledge and on the other I have to see to it that it reaches to the poorest of the receiver, as far as my target audience is concerned.Its also like putting an old wine in a new bottle, as old concepts present for years and taught to the students and trainees for ages are now being presented with a new covering, new labelling, new size, shape and approaches. I should admit that I am relishing my new challenge as it is making my handle a different audience altogether, hitherto not touched in my professional training and consulting career.

Kicking off my articles in http://www.knowledgeoman.com/

It was indeed fascinating for me to see the excellent advertisement posted in our college website. In fact, I should thank the ICT ambassador for Knowledge Oman, Mr. Robin Rohit Vincent,the HoD, of Business Studies Department, Mr. Abdul Jaleel and College Dean, Dr. Qassim for putting the details on the website and encouraging staffs to contribute towards the cause. I immediately felt that I can leverage my expertise and experience for the excellent Omani society at large and approached the decision makers of Knowledge Oman with a proposal to contribute articles. I was indeed ecstatic after seeing their positive response as they opened the flood gates for me as well as for my peers, having a knack for contribution. Knowledge Oman offered me to contribute one article every week, and also put forth an advertisement on the home page of the site soliciting articles from other professional freelancers like me. This noble cause is in line with the dream of the His Majesty, and being part of the Omani Society, I feel it’s the responsibility of all expatriates and Omani citizens to contribute towards the same. Hats off to you Knowledge Oman! Keep it up!

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Source- http://www.knowledgeoman.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5159

Thursday Magazine of The Times of Oman

This was the first piece I wrote in the media of the Sultanate of Oman, with one of the leading English daily. Published in the Thursday magazine of The Times of Oman, dated April 2-8, 2009. The write up was based on my first hand experience of teaching here in the Sultanate of Oman. Read and Comment.

Shifting from the Down-under to the Middle East

It was indeed to start my professional training and consultancy career in India, have a small stint in the gulf, enhance my skills in Australia and now I am back to the Middle East. The reason for this change is not difficult to find.I would like to get maximum exposure in the training and consultancy domain and voila, now when I sit back and go through my memories of training target audiences and consulting clients in three different parts of the world, I feel I am not only more informative, but I also possess a plethora of training and consulting tools.It is primarily because my first hand experience in grooming Indian trainees, in all parts of India, followed by my stint in the United Arab Emirates, subsequently in Australasia, followed by the Middle East again, albeit in a different country, has provided me new insights in management training and consultancy. As far as training is concerned, chalk and talk, white board only, simulation,blended learning approach, outdoor-indoor collaboration, domain-wise collaborative approach,learning by doing, case based training, operation workout and live projects based learning, soft-skills with hard skills approach, training through movies and videos to name a few has undergone a complete metamorphosis.This is because the same tool while applied in a different setting targetting different audiences calls for last minute changes and customization.However, these evolutionary approach not only gave me a refined tool, but also enabled me to have different variant of the same management training tool.
The same holds true even for management consultancy.

Caterpillars in an Organization!

Are there caterpillars in an organization?Caterpillar is one which crawls and feed on leaves, insects etc. till they reach the next stage of their life-cycle. Organizational caterpillars are little different and have characteristics, which includes genotypic and phenotypic traits of a chameleon, a squirrel, a fox, apart from certain features of the caterpillar itself. They would always crawl in the organization, i.e. present a slow and low attitude, often adding sugar coated approach, be it presenting their opinion or take any stance. They would often be too courteous in presenting themselves amongst their peers, would be the ideal candidate to don the role of the organizational mole,changes colours like they change their clothes, would try to crawl to the closest level possible...as far as the relationship with the senior is concerned,go out of the way to gather information, spice up and present customized stuffs which are soothing to the superior's ears.They exude fake confidence to the superior,as they know, 'Yes to everything' approach pays very well as the right impression is created on the next person's mind.They however, lack the balancing approach needed and often heavily towards the superior. The crawling nature, keeps them in abeyance and protects them getting caught by their peers!They will always present a broad smile, often talk to a person by coming in close proximity, would extend small helps when a person is in dire need, gain their confidence so that they can dissiminate information crucial for his role and survival.Unlike caterpillars, they dont feed on leaves and insects, their staple diet consists of organziation's scoop which are then tailor made by the caterpillar himself/herself. They would present the information often in a sly manner, so that the person to whom it is presented do not realize that its a complaint and more than that he/she makes the right platform to leverage the same in future.

Mentoring and Advising needs Localisation?

I had experience of mentoring students/trainees of Masters of Business Administration and Bachelors of Business studies while in India.There it was guiding the students through professional and personal counseling and facilitating them to introspect on a routine basis.The students partially knew their strengths and weaknesses and its only when they were down with a lot of options and were not able to take the right decision, that I handholded them to see the right ones.Downunder its different as the students are experienced and have high awareness level and they would come to the mentor or the advisor with pointed queries and want tailormade responses suiting their requirements. Most of the students in Australia knows whats cropping up and why the problem is not getting fixed, its only that they want to validate their own responses from their mentors so that they are doubly sure, before taking the plunge. In the Middle East, its different as the students or the trainees would consider the version of the advsior and mentor as sacrosanct, and therefore it is even more important in the gulf for the mentors/advisors to do a thorough home-work, at the individual mentee/advisee level, so the wrong decisions are avoided.Localization definitely holds the key however, some common good practices are applicable everywhere.

My article on 'Working Overseas.....'

My article on the subject topic, published in The Hitavada, 5th April 09, largest English Daily of central India, which also happens to be my 390th publication focusses on key issues which an aspirant need to consider before taking the overseas plunge. As they say the grass always looks greener from the other side and sheer enthusiasm on the basis of earning hot bucks and travelling to different places without considering the accompanied challenges may lead one to frustration.The article though is not acting as an inhibiting factor, however it presents realistic insights which I gained while working overseas my self and interacting with expatriate workers from different nations. In fact, there are more to it, as my article left out many aspects which I realized while working in the UAE, Sultanate of Oman, Jordan and Australia.
Know more from me...........

Pondering over an old article of mine

This is the article published on http://www.careerride.com/Subject-Matter-Experts-SME.aspx , which I had written when I was working as a subject matter expert with an e-learning company. Now after going back into active training, consultancy and management research, I realized that I have matured as a trainer, as I know the importance of content development,its presentation so as to make that lasting impact in the mind of the target audience. Moreover, I am of the opinion that the role of a subject matter expert can be donned even on a freelance/part-time basis and to be honest companies from across India and parts of pacific are willing to give some or the work to me.Recession has its benefit for individuals delivering services, rather than big corporations.Thats also the reason why most of the e-learning companies rope in subject matter experts on a project basis, rather than keeping them full time on roll. Meanwhile, I should admit that rubbing shoulders with instructional designers, graphic designers and visualizers on an e-learning platform gave me new food for thought, especially when it comes to making that high impact presentation.At the same time, it was also true and somewhat disturbing to see at times, the overlapping of domain experts into each others territory!This had its own reactions, sometimes explicit, sometimes implicit.However, the absence of proper demarcation especially when a defined process is absent in the creation of a product/service, not only results in under-utilization of resources, but also initiates the chain reaction of blame game.For a subject matter expert willing to leverage his core competencies and contribute towards organizational and individual growth,may come as spanner especially if the directions aren't clear.I am critical and vocal only because I want to mark my positive and negative takeaways I had from this experience.
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