If you’ve been reading the papers recently, you’ll know that the world economy isn’t looking very healthy at the moment. The job sector is bound to get tighter and most companies are looking to put their expansion plans on hold — at least for the moment. If companies are overstaffed, this is the time for them to trim the fat.
So, what do you do as an employee in these circumstances? Experts advise that training should not be dispensed with — and this rule works both ways — for the company and for yourself. The reason is that even though the economy isn’t doing so well, things are still changing and evolving. New products are being developed and new technology is coming out. So not keeping up to date with these changes puts you (and your employers) at a disadvantage when things begin to pick up again. “Invest more in your knowledge, skills and competency upgradation to remain relevant all the time. It insulates you from the fear of getting redundant/obsolete,” advises Sushil Baveja, head-corporate HR, DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd.
Yogesh Srivastava, secret-ary business practices, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, agrees, “Learning new skills makes you a more versatile person as you never know what kind of projects you will be working on in the future. Also, the more skills you acquire, the faster it will be to learn new ones.”
Research has found that most employees become demotivated and depre-ssed in slowdown situations and if they do not invest in themselves or add to their skill sets they will not be motivated enough to try out new ideas, which could be very fulfilling for themselves and good for the organisation in the long run.
“There is a strong need to broaden one’s perspectives to look beyond functional specialisations, acquire a knowledge and understanding of the business and its key processes/functions,” says Baveja. Acquiring skill sets, however, is easier said than done. First, you should do a little introspection to discover some things about yourself — what are your natural talents and learned skills? How do those apply to your present job? What is your personality type? What is your style of working and what is your learning style? Armed with this knowledge you’ll know what skills you want to focus on developing.
“For some it could be learning from books, for others it could be on-the-job learning and for yet others it could be attending seminars or even en-rolling in short courses,” says Prashant Deo Singh, head HR and group affairs, Panasonic India. Eventually, as you move from managing yourself to managing others to eventually managing managers, functional managers and so on, the expectations from you would also alter. And that’s where good learning interventions would help you cruise ahead in your career.
