Think Flat

Dear Richa

TALENT DEVELOPMENT in a think flat organisation or flat world is unique in its challenges. I copy and paste below an inspiring story from www.rediff.com. See how talent is tapped and how talent gets a pathway in a flat world(!):

Bhuj -- that earthquake-ravaged but still beautiful town in the Kutch district of Gujarat -- is an unlikely place to come across an example of 'outsourcing.' And yet, that is what a 22-year old school dropout has managed to do -- outsource his work to America.
In a town located in the remotest corner of Western India, with a population of a mere 2 lakh residents, Daksh Pandhi is earning hundreds of dollars per week by using, improving and exploiting products manufactured by Microsoft. This young man is a unique, self-made professional who is filling the gap between software developers and users.
His love affair with computers began at age 3, when he learnt alphabets on a computer keyboard even before joining a nursery. His father, Mahim Pandhi, was a senior journalist who wrote extensively on science and technology. It is from him that Daksh inherited a fancy for computers, eventually turning it into a serious endeavour.
Daksh found schooling similar to 'concentration camp'. He hated math, Sanskrit and the heartless discipline. In 1997, after his parents gifted him a new computer, he decided to pursue his interest in graphics and animation. "I like computers and literature," he says. "So, to pursue my interest, I decided to leave school in 1999. I consider October 4 of that year as my 'day of freedom', when I told my father I would no longer go to school."
Mahim and wife Bharti agreed, because they were aware that Daksh was sought after in the small city for any IT-related work. In fact, his dad adds, they were "waiting for this day!"
Many relatives thought it was a bad idea, of course. Some assumed he was bound to fail. But these comments only served to inspire Daksh. He had, by then, helped develop and design many Web sites, including one for a local nature cure centre and some software for a group of architects. Profits at the nature cure centre went up by 250 per cent after its attractive site was launched.
Without books, teachers or instructors, Daksh learnt everything online. He learnt computer graphics and the art of making software more user-friendly. His only handicap in those crucial years was the absence of an efficient Internet connection in his quiet city bordering the great desert of Kutch. At times, his 115-kilobytes-per-second line would take 7 to 15 days to download mere 2GB files. Today, his BSNL connection offers him speeds of 1024 KBPS.
In 1999, Daksh founded Nukeation Studios and began seeking international assignments for graphics design. Being an avid reader, he stumbled upon the Dragonlance series of books designed by Matt Stawicki. When he visited Stawicki's site, he found it lacking a punch. He e-mailed the author offering his services. Stawicki agreed and the site was redesigned in Bhuj.
The real breakthrough in Daksh's search for big opportunities came when he wrote to Carl Franklins of Connecticut. Carl is a popular host of an online radio show for programmers and developers. Daksh was a regular listener. He offered to redo his Web site with little expectation of getting contacts from Carl's amazingly wide network of fans.
Carl agreed and also helped him in a big way, getting him clients. As the radio show was supported by Microsoft, he forwarded Daksh contacts of more than six Microsoft regional directors -- external brand ambassadors who help market Microsoft products amongst the highly technical community. The directors took Daksh's help to design their own Web sites as well as a few community events. Carl also helped him get in touch with Praveen Srivatsa, Microsoft's regional director based in Bangalore and Chris Auld of New Zealand.
Daksh, who has never been in aircraft, never travelled beyond 300 kilometres from his hometown, or ventured out alone without his parents, established his name in the IT world.
He is currently working hard developing software named NukeBall for developers. He is also concentrating on pushing the limits of WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation), and believes this latest Microsoft product will change the world. Daksh is sold out on Microsoft products because he thinks the company takes into account need and sensitivity of software developers.
"My only demand from life is that I sleep well," he says. "Otherwise, I have no addictions. My little success is due to my love for freedom. I dislike limits. I don't like offices. I operate from home and do things about which I feel comfortable."
Daksh is unlikely to move out of his town because, he claims, he loves clouds and the hilltops on the outskirts of Bhuj. "It doesn't limit my work, business or creativity in any way," he adds. "After working hard, I go up to the hills and enjoy looking at clouds of various sizes and colours."
http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2006/nov/01outsource.htm

In fact SOFT SKILLS play a key role in talent development. Soft skills helps make acceptance of talent development programmes easier and a talented individual finds it easier to use his talent if he or she has the requisite soft skills to see things through.

In organisations a STUMBLING BLOCK for talent development is VESTED INTERESTS AND PREJUDICES. These have to be managed to have an organisational culture that develops talent.

Catch 22? And talent development is exactly what makes them good fishing material too...

Another observation...
If you are looking out, anywhere in the globe for outsourcing talent because you cannot get "professionalism", or good soft skills trained professionals in India, you need to be aware that the level of professionalism and sensitivity required to manage virtual teams of diverse cultures is manifold.

I agree with you, that today's employees are very unprofessional. I see three reasons for this.
1. The HR team goes head over heals at the organization level to keep them satisfied and starts questioning their supervisor. I dont remember a time when HR used to do this.

2. IT is a knowledge industry and all our VPs know about it. Even then to keep cost low, they stres on maintaining a proper pyramid and reduce bulge. All the companies have faced problems becuase of this.

3. HR of all companies need to meet and discuss the salary levels. Sometimes it is very alarming to see a new recruit with less experience is paid more by the company than a loyal person who has put in more years within the company. Such information does get spread very easily and people tend to lose faith in working hard and loyalty.

Help through automation

Clearly the broad point of a fundamentally different employer-employee contract is right on the mark. Employers are still coming to terms with what this means for their organizations. I wonder how technology can help with managing talent with the same rigor and discipline as other corporate assets. Current HR software is, to my mind, work mostly as data entry/workflow systems. I wouldlove to get people's thoughts on how to help employers manage this better through technology.

The story about Daksh was really inspiring. His view that schools are like concentration camps is largely true (some exceptions will offcourse be there). In fact there is an effort in Australia called the 24 hour school, which is being setup to counter this problem.

As far as talent development in the IT industry goes, I think we need to move away from regular training to guidance. Jay Cross has a very nice analogy: employees need to stop being school bus passengers (where the driver determines their course... think traditional workshops) and move on towards being bicycle riders (they navigate the learning path... with guidance from mentors, etc).
I think the Internet has all the learning material that people would need to enhance their skills. What is needed is initiative and the desire to consume that material and follow a process of continuous learning. The participant reads, reflects, and engages the larger software community in conversations. It is these conversations that will help people develop their skills at a deeper level. Having such meaningfull conversations is easier now than ever before. There are newsgroups, blogs, podcasts, and almost any form of communication one would like to engage in.
I personally think blogs can be used very effectively as a learning tool, because they allow us to reflect and engage in learning conversations.
Would like to know what others think

--
Parag

That Raises an Interesting question?
Are Organisations adapting to the changing needs of New Ways of working?
Are organisations adopting multiculturual attitude at work place?
Are Organisations caring the employees who inturn can do wonders?

The role of HR seems to vary within the industry. It would be great if HR did things other than data collection, managing workflow and organising events that hardly benefit the employees. To start with, HR guys need to be silent spectators of project meetings and appraisal process and try develop a picture of whats happening in the company and whats the cause of dissatisfaction and burn-out. This can be a time and resource costly affair, but will surely help put things into perspective. Striking a personal chord with the employees can only help.

talking abt the win-win situation of employee skill development and better output at work can belong only to fairy tales. To make this a reality, the system has to change. It has to change by developing
a process where employees can develop skills that would benefit the org and the individual.To prevent the employees from jumping jobs before returning the investment the company into training, a contract has to be signed.
most of the above stated are already in place. How much useful they are to the industry is the question that needs to be answered. Answers that can be got only by proper implementation.