About
four years ago, I quit my corporate job to begin as an independent HR
consultant. In the course of this period I have interacted with the CEOs, Business and HR
heads of a number of companies for exploring business opportunities. Some of
them have worked out, while some have not. I have categorized them as ‘Go’ and
‘No Go’ organizations. There is however a third category, that I call ‘Hanging’ Organizations. One is never sure if you are in or out with them.
And they never tell. It is almost as if informing you whether you will be
working with them or not is violating some provision of the Official Secrets
Act.
Each
one of these organizations has a unique way of keeping you hanging. Ultimately
there is closure. Either one just gives up and stops following up, or they will
come around reluctantly to tell you, “Sorry we don’t have the budgets”, or “we
have postponed the project to next year”…
However
there is one experience which has become a case study in perseverance to see
who will give up first. This organization is in a highly competitive industry
in the IT sector. I am giving below a chronological sequence of events:
I
get a call from the Training Manager of the company. He has got my reference
from someone and wants to meet me in connection with a training project. We set
up a meeting three days hence.
I
meet the Training Manager. He tells me that the employee satisfaction survey
has thrown up an issue regarding internal customer service. So they would like
to initiate development program for support functions for improving internal customer
service. We discuss the issues involved. I need to get back to them with a
proposal and program design. They need it fast as they would like to launch the
project by the next month.
I
send the workshop design and proposal to the training manager.
No
response
I
call the training manager to check. I am told that he is trying to organize a
meeting with the business HR Head, who is also the process owner for this
project. He will call me as soon as the meeting is fixed.
No
response
I
get a call from the training manager. The meeting with the HR Head has been
fixed for next week.
I
meet the training manager and discuss the program design. We discuss the need
to meet with some of the internal customers and service providers to get a
deeper understanding of the issues involved. The training manager has to
organize the meeting
No
response
I
get a call from the training manager. The meeting will now take place only with
the service providers in the HR department.
I
meet the service providers in the HR department. Based on the interactions, I
send a revised program design. I am informed that someone from the purchase
department will contact me for the price finalisation.
No
response
I
call the training manager to check about progress. I am told that the purchase
department will get in touch shortly
I
get a call from a person from the purchase department. The gist of the
conversation between me and the purchase department representative (PDR) is
given below:
Me:
That’s right
PDR:
I am looking at the rate that you have
quoted. It’s too high.
Me:
How do you decide if the rate is too high
or not?
PDR:
We have got quotes for training from
other vendors and your quote is much higher.
Me:
Have you got quotes for the same program
for which I have given?
PDR:
No but that should not matter. A training
program is a training program.
Me;
So you thing there is no difference
between one program and another?
PDR:
What difference? It’s like buying a
printer. You have so many brands, but they do the same thing.
PDR:
Then it will be difficult for me to give
approval. But let me discuss this internally and we will get back to you.
No
response. I conclude this is one of the ‘No Go’ interactions. How wrong I was.
Week 17
I
get a call from the training manager. The quote has been approved. He will now
finalise the dates and get back to me
No
response
I
call the training manager and am told I need to meet the Training Head. When I
ask the reason for the meeting, I am told that this is a very important
initiative and cannot happen unless approved by the training head.
No
response
I
get to meet the training head. A brief meeting where I am told that I need to
do a mock run of the program in front of a few people including the training
head. It is only after this they will decide whether to work with me or not.
I
do the mock run of the program. Attendees are the training head, the business
HR head and one business head. At the end of it I am told that we are going
ahead. The training manager will now finalise the dates.
No
response
The
training manager informs me that someone from purchase department will get in
touch regarding issuance of a formal purchase order.
No
response
I
get a call from the Purchase Department Representative (PDR). The conversation
goes like this:
Me:
That’s right
PDR:
I am looking at the rate that you have
quoted. It’s too high.
PDR:
Yes more than six months ago
Me:
So why are we re-opening the topic now?
PDR:
Exactly for that reason. Six months is a
long time. We have to renegotiate.
Me:
I repeat what I said then. I will not
change the quote.
PDR:
Then I will have to speak internally and
get back to you.
I
call the training manager to ask about renegotiation of rates. “What can I
say”, he says. “We have a new training head. This is a very important
initiative and she wants to be involved in it.”
This
probably means that we will go through the whole cycle all over. Who knows, by
that time the training manager may quit.
I
am sure more than 7 months ago someone had decided that this project was
important for the business. And I am
equally sure that the same person must have forgotten all about it by now.
And
then my fellow trainers wonder why their function does not get the respect it
deserves in organizations.
You are a training guy trying to "sell"... for a sales guy... this is normal....need some "training" in what and how much to expect...
ReplyDeleteI understand the selling part. But even for a sales guy, if there is a customer requirement, how much time do you thing he/she is going to delay things? This is a reflection on the organization's internal training function and how they respond to the internal customer. In this whole situation, I have just become an amused bystander...
DeleteIt's unfortunate..but most of the HR / Training pros in Indian cos consider themselves as Overheads..they lack conviction...and in MNCs in India, they work as just policy implementer..personally it's a hopeless situation in India as regards such an important aspect (training) in the business is concerned...
DeleteYou are absolutely right. Not only do some of us lack conviction, we refuse to believe that training as a function can make any significant change in the fortunes of an organization..
Delete37 weeks.... this is going through 9 months of pregnancy... look at the brighter side... something will finally be delivered... hopefully the verdict
ReplyDeleteAs they say "Umeed pe duniya kayam hai"...
ReplyDeleteThis seems to be an MNC our Indian organization does not take this long to decide on one training program, and I am afraid by the time they will finalize same organization will have another employee satisfaction survey and rest you know Nitin :=)
DeleteMy lips are sealed Rahul. Would not like to reveal anything about the organization. However, in various degrees I have had similar experiences with Indian companies and MNCs.
DeleteIt's sad that a purchase guy is negotiating to buy a training program. Maybe the HR team needs to be trained on negotiations. At least there would be a perspective. Shouldn't product knowledge be a pre-rek to purchase something ?
ReplyDeleteI think it is a company policy that anything that they buy has to be routed through the purchase department. The issue is that a training workshop is a product for them. Like the purchase guy said, its like buying a printer.....
ReplyDeleteI do not know about training but I can tell you the following about this organization.
ReplyDelete- high vintage of useless people, and vice versa
- they are going thru' huge drop in sales and team morale.
- Management is clueless as to what they want?
- Actually it could be a situation where mgt know what is wrong but does not have the balls to own the issue and the problem is much higher up