Gurukool - The Design

Word had gotten around. The training function was doing something different. Everyone in the  function wanted to be involved in designing the  workshop, irrespective of whether they were part of the project or not. I got a call from the head of HR. He and a couple of his team members also wanted to be a part of the process. “We deal with the front line people on a daily basis. Being a part of your process might give us some insights as to how to deal with them.” Then some people from the operations team wanted to be involved. Same reason.

I was getting a bit apprehensive. To me it seemed that the whole thing was getting out of hand. Never before had any training program generated so much interest, nor had so many people shown such keen desire to be involved in designing a workshop. Were we setting ourselves up for a disaster? What if the whole thing doesn’t take off?  How will it affect the credibility of the training function?

The evening before we were to begin work on the design, I shared my concerns with T8, who was, although, a new addition, but was the most experienced in the team.  The conversation went something like this:

Me: I am a bit worried about this whole thing

T8: About what whole thing?
Me: About the kind of interest that this project has created.
T8: What’s wrong with that?
Me: Are we not raising expectations a bit too much? What if this doesn’t work out? We have worked so hard to earn some credibility for the function. It will all be over!

 There was silence for about a minute, where T8 was just staring at me. Then,

T8: So you are afraid of failing?

Me: Of course not! It is just that this thing has gone too far. Suddenly it is way beyond a normal training program…

 T8 was silent and still staring at me.

 Me: No really… I am not afraid… You have got it all wrong!

 The silent stares continued

Me: Listen, understand what I am saying…. (Silence)…. OK… Maybe a bit apprehensive… (Silence)… Fine damn it! YES I AM SCARED!!

T8: Scared of failing?
Me: Yes I am scared of failing.
T8: Why are you scared? We have done training programs that have not worked. You weren’t scared then. Why now?
Me: I don’t know. Maybe because there seem to be too many hopes attached with this one program. Something that has never happened before…
T8: I wish you had also visited some of the locations along with us.
Me: What has that got to do with anything?
T8: I will explain that later. But I don’t understand one thing. You have always said that involvement of business in training is important. Now that we are getting that involvement, why are you apprehensive?

 Good question. Something that I always hoped would happen with the training function was actually happening. So why was I apprehensive? I wish I knew. This was crazy! After all this was just another training program. Why was I behaving like this?

Me: Maybe I am over-reacting… Let’s just forget this conversation and go ahead with the actual work.

T8: No Nitin. I am not going to let you get away so easily. You have to deal with some things before we start work. Otherwise I suggest that you stay out of this project.

What was happening? I was supposed to be the boss and T8 reporting into me! I was too stunned even to react. It was my turn to stare at her.

T8: I know you are the boss… and I am overstepping the line. But please understand what this project means to us. I need to explain…

 I was still dazed. So I only nodded my head.

T8: Our experience with these people has changed a lot of things for us. They have hopes and dreams. But they get bogged down with the difficulties of surviving day to day. All they need is to believe that they have it in them to get out of this rut. We have got this opportunity and we can’t let them down!

Me: I understand and appreciate that. But you also have to understand that at the end of the day, we work for a business organization which expects business results. What we are doing is only a means. We can’t afford to get carried away just because you all have had a different experience!
T8: And what about that statement that you always make about training being all about touching people’s lives? Is it just something you say or, do you really mean it?

 Yes I used that statement quite often. But I had never had this situation which would put me to test about it. Did I really believe in that statement?

Me: Go away! I need to think about this whole thing. We will meet tomorrow for the design meeting.

T8 (Getting up): Anyhow, if it works, it will benefit the company. So I don’t think there is any cause for concern...)

I sat alone in my office till quite late in the night. Alone with my thoughts. I had been quite reluctant about joining the training function. I had been cynical about it even when I was a part of it. The only thing that kept me going was this desire to do well in every assignment that was handed to me. When I joined the function, I would tell my team members about training being all about touching lives of people. I believed in it, but I also believed that such an opportunity would never come. But here was such an opportunity in front of me and I was scared. Scared that perhaps it may disprove my belief about touching people’s lives. Or maybe we would fail. The fear was not about other people. It was about me.

It was almost midnight when I left for home. One thing was clear – I had to take this plunge, Irrespective of the outcome. I was committed to it. I also knew another thing. There would be a lot more turmoil, not just within me, but within a whole lot of people, before this project was over.

The next day we met for the first program design and content development meeting. Normally there were three or four trainers assigned to the project who would meet. I would attend the first meeting to give a briefing and thereafter leave the team to work on the project. Once they had finished, I would meet them again to sign-off the design.  But this time there were eighteen people in the room. All my team members were there, along with people from HR and operations.  Something had to be done, otherwise we would accomplish nothing. I opened the meeting, “Thank you for being here. I understand your desire for being a part of this project. But it will be difficult to work like this. I will let you all be present in this meeting to understand the concept. Thereafter, as and when we need to involve you, we will either call you for the meeting or come to you. Meanwhile, if you have any thoughts, please mail them to us.” I saw heads nodding. So far so good.

 T4 explained the issues that the workshop would be dealing with. “The challenge is to mesh three seemingly unrelated issues in a single workshop and deal with them at a personal level.” she concluded. Thereafter lot of thoughts and ideas flew around.

Operations Representative 1 (OR1): What will be the duration of the workshop?

T2: We don’t know yet. Depends on how we build the content.
OR1: But it will be difficult to release sales people for the workshop for too many days. It will affect work.
Operations Representative 2 (OR2): I agree. It should not be for more than two days
T2: That’s like putting the cart before the horse! How can we decide the duration without knowing the content!
OR2: We are just telling you the constraints. You need to keep them in mind.
T2: That’s your problem. You will need to find a way to release them for training!

Twenty minutes into the meeting and we were heading for a showdown. I had to step in.

Me: Look let’s not get into execution constraints at this stage. Let’s focus on the content and flow of the workshop. We will deal with the constraints later.

I don’t remember how many such conflicts came up during the design process. Too many to count. Never in my experience in the training function had I encountered so much passion and involvement in the design of a workshop. It was almost like everything else had taken a back seat. Nothing else mattered except getting the right framework for this program.

At the end of six weeks we had the outline ready. The workshop was based on the concept that every person’s perspective is limited by his/her life experiences. Yet every person has the potential to break free from constraints and achieve his/her dream. This would happen through self-exploration and getting in touch with their own hidden strengths. The workshop would provide such an opportunity through an experiential process. The underlying theme was a belief in one-self that if one really wanted, one could fly…

It was the last meeting before we would present the design to the managing director. I had invited the HR and operations Heads to the meeting. T2 explained the program philosophy and flow.

Operations Head (OH): Looks good! What will the duration of the workshop be?

T2: If we are to do the complete job, it will have to be a five days residential program.
HR Head (HR): Five days! That’s impossible! And think of the costs! Why does it have to be a residential program?
Me: Anything less will not do justice to the workshop flow. We need that time to connect with the participants before we can even begin to give any inputs.
T4: And it has to be residential because we need to cut them off from their world for that period to enable them to take an objective view of things.
HR: But no one will approve of costs. We are talking of about 4000 people!
Me: yes but it’s not going to happen all at once. Each batch will have 25 participants and look at a per-head cost.
HR: Still, it’s way too expensive.
OH: Let’s talk about the cost a bit later. Help me understand the concept first. What’s going to happen at the end of the workshop?
Me: In a nutshell, we hope to have a group of people who are self-confident, self-assured and a better outlook towards life.
OH: So in a simple language that I understand, you are converting zeros to heroes…

Zero to Hero! That’s it! So simple and yet it explained it all. I nodded vigorously. 

OH: In that case, count me in. And if you need any assistance in selling this concept to the bosses, call me.

I looked at the HR Head. He nodded. If the operations boss, who had a direct responsibility for frontline sales, was in, then he too had no objections.

Me: So that about wraps it up.

T8: Except for one thing…
Me: Yes?
T8: Why should they believe us?
Me: I am sorry?
T8: For the participants, we are just company trainers who are going to talk about things that are too personal for them. Why should they believe us?

Stunned silence. No one had thought about that. It was just taken for granted. But T8 had a point. Why indeed would anyone just accept anything from us? If anything, there would be a lot of suspicion about anything we said.

Me: You have a point. And obviously you have given this some thought. So let’s have your thoughts.

T8: You said the program has to be residential because we need to take them away from their world for a period. But then they have to go back to the same world and deal with the same issues. While I agree that it has to be a residential program, but the conditions have to be similar to what they are used to. And we have to be with them all the time, living in the same conditions for the duration of the workshop.
OH: And what are those conditions?
T8: They are used to four or five people sharing a room, without ACs. That’s what we have to provide. And we have to live in the same type of accommodation. The food that they eat is pretty basic, nothing fancy. The same type of food should be provided, and we as facilitators also have to eat the same food. Whatever they do, whatever conditions they live in, we have to do the same. For those five days we have to be as they are.

I looked around the room. I could sense the apprehension in my team members. Truth be told, even I was concerned. We had never done anything like this before. I was not sure if we could handle it. But T8 was right. There was no other way.

T8: I know this is going to be difficult for us. But if we want this to be successful, this is the only way. We have to give it a shot!

 Reluctant nods from everyone, including me. It would be very difficult, but this was really the only way.

HR: So what are you going to call this program?

OH: It’s almost akin to the old gurukool where the teacher and students lived together in the same conditions. So why don’t you call it just that, Gurukool?

The name stuck. That is what it would henceforth be called.

That evening I went back home a troubled man. While my team members were very enthusiastic about the whole thing, ultimately the function was my responsibility. What right did I have to ask so much of them? And of course the old fears still haunted. What if this doesn’t work?

 I couldn’t get any answers. So I did the next best thing. I would let the managing director decide. I would present the concept to him and then it was up to him to say yes or no.

Next week I had the meeting with the managing director. He had called other department heads also. I presented the concept and program design. The usual thing happened. A minute of stunned silence. Then the managing director spoke.

Managing director (MD): Has something like this been done before?

Me: To my knowledge… No

He looked around the room. Everyone shook their head.

MD: Do you think this will work?
Me: Frankly sir, I don’t know… But given the issues this is the best way we could come up with.
MD: On a scale of one to ten how sure are you that this will work?
Me: Five, maybe six…
MD: (After a long pause) I can live with that. When can you start?
Me: Logistics planning will take a little time. And we also need time to prepare the facilitators. We could start in three weeks.
MD: Then get started… All the best… You are going to need it.

To be continued…