Challenge for HR - National HRD Network

November at Chennai
The Chennai Chapter had a unique
double-header in November. The first
event was an evening meeting with Mr.
S.V.Nathan, Senior Vice President -
Human Resources, of Deliotte, on
November 16, 2007, at Hotel Savera.
A packed hall greeted Mr. Nathan, who
was speaking on his experiences in
Talent Management at Deloitte. Over
the past 3 years, Deloitte has moved
from being an 'India story' to being 'The
Deloitte Story', by consciously creating
specific differentiators. Leveraging
both on technology and on globally
available platforms, Deloitte offers over
32,000 courses of various duration for
their employees through their online
university. Though many of the courses
are instructor-led, there are still a variety
of courses available for employees to
be able to customize their learning.
Deloitte has deliberately chosen this
'Customized Learning' to be the key
differentiator for their employment
experience. Around this has been built
a constant messaging that 'Total
Rewards' at Deloitte includes the best
of opportunities for both working and
learning.
One of the visible manifestations of this
commitment is the Communication Gym
at Deloitte. Building on the premise that
'working out' includes exercising one's
skills, the Communication Gym provides
employees with various tools to develop
those skills at a pace set by individuals.
While trainers are available to help, there
is no compulsion to use them, or indeed,
to use the Gym at all. But where Deloitte
has been successful is in creating a 'pull'
factor for the Communication Gym - it
is now seen as something that is
personally beneficial and not something
that is being forced upon the individual.
Mr. Nathan answered a wide range of
questions during the interactive session
that followed his presentation. He also
picked the lot for an audience gift, which
went to Mr. Govindaraj Ramachandran
of RR Donnelley. Mr. Kasinath
Ramachandran, a senior HR
professional and a member of the
Chennai Chapter, presented a memento
to Mr. Nathan.
It was probably the first time that a
Chapter meeting ended with music
from Aerosmith - 'Sweet Taste of India'
was the theme song that Mr. Nathan had
chosen!!
The 60-odd members of the Chapter
who came for the second meeting, on
November 23, found a refreshing
change: instead of having a guest
speaker, the audience was divided into
small groups and each group was tasked
with setting the agenda for the Chapter's
activities in 2008. The ideas that were
thrown up included HR Skill
workshops, Industry Specific success
stories of various HR practices,
Corporate Governance & CSR, Book
Reviews and ongoing research topics.
The lively debate and ideas that have
emerged from this meeting have
provided significant inputs for the
Chapter to form the calendar of
activities for 2008. On this occasion,
the audience gift went to Mr. Umapathy
from Tata Teleservices.
| HRD News Letter | December 2007, Vol.23, Issue:9 55 |