Corporate-training Story

20 Business Today OCTOBER 2014 www.businesstoday.co.om

C O V E R S T O R Y

With an acute shortage of talent and focuson Omanisation, companies in thesultanate are increasingly turning towardscorporate training to enhance competence

By Maheswaran P

NURTURING TOMORROW'S LEADERS

The purpose of any educational

system is to ensure that by the

time students complete their

graduation, they are equipped

with basic knowledge and skills in

their chosen fields. But education

alone doesn't guarantee success

in today's competitive world

where one has to compete with

colleagues to climb up the corpo-

rate ladder. Education only leads

one to lead a better life and to live

in a better world, and doesn't

provide work place competence.

And that is where training

comes in. With an acute shortage

of talent and renewed focus on

meeting Omanisation targets,

Cover/E1:BusinessToday 9/24/14 3:33 PM Page 1

www.businesstoday.co.om OCTOBER 2014 Business Today 21

companies in the sultanate are

increasingly turning towards

corporate training to enhance

work place competence. This has

seen the demand for corporate

training increase like never before

and has led to a number of corpo-

rate training institutes and coach-

ing centres coming up across the

country to address the needs of

the growing and established busi-

nesses in Oman. And over the

years the paradigm of training

in Oman has shifted from techni-

cal and vocational skill training to

soft skills and personality develop-

ment coaching.

“Over the years the impetus of

training in Oman is no longer just

about technical and vocational

skills upgrade but is also about

refining attitudes and behavioural

skills. So our approach to the

growing training demands is

about providing holistic training

solutions to the employers. Initial-

ly, the focus was mostly about

national funded projects for

Omanisation. The mid-90s saw a

marked difference, in that, com-

panies started investing in human

capital development. NTI stood

up to this market need and has

been a trusted training partner for

almost all leading private sector

and public sector organisations,

oil and gas giants and ministries.

With this rise in demand for cor-

porate training we also started

focusing on short courses, work-

shops to enhance work place

competence, bespoke training

programmes very specific to the

clients’ needs” says Lawrence

Alva, CEO of National Training

Institute (NTI), which is one of the

oldest training institutes in Oman.

Nadeem Ahmed, general man-

ager of Khimji's Training Institute

(KTI) agrees with Alwa that the

demand is excellent and says that

more and more companies are

approaching for training on the

soft skill side.

“In the last five years the

demand for corporate training

has been picking up. I strongly

believe that it will increase as

more and more nationals are join-

ing companies and the previous

ones are going up the corporate

ladder. Hence companies will

invest more and more in training

as they can't just promote people

based on experience,” he adds.

Ahmed adds that with the ris-

ing levels of Omanisation, organi-

sations have identified the need

to train experienced employees so

that they can climb the corporate

ladder.

Identifying the problemSo what are the key problems

that institutes find in employees?

Khalfan al Esry, chairman and

executive coach, Prosper (derived

from processes and personnel)

Consultancy says the biggest

problem among employees is lack

of communication. “Oman being

a young nation, a lot needs to be

done to guide and train the

young Omanis and to unleash

their potential. This was the main

reason I started Prosper with a col-

league of mine from PDO.

“The biggest issue we found

literally in every organisation is the

lack of communication. People

thought they were communicat-

ing but in reality they were not.”

He adds that their role is to

inspire people, to make them

believe that they have the talent

and make them realise that no

one can make them successful

except themselves.

Another big concern is how

people deal with failure. As a

coach, Esry believes that

companies have to create an envi-

ronment where employees can be

given a chance to learn by doing

and not fearing making mistakes.

He says that embracing an atti-

tude of giving it your best with

passion and keenness to learn will

OUR APPROACH TO THE GROWINGTRAINING DEMANDS IS ABOUT PROVIDINGHOLISTIC TRAINING SOLUTIONS TO THEEMPLOYERS, SAYS LAWRENCE ALVA

THE BIGGEST ISSUE IS THE LACK OFCOMMUNICATION. PEOPLE THOUGHT THEYWERE COMMUNICATING BUT IN REALITYTHEY WERE NOT, SAYS KHALFAN AL ESRY


sharpen your skills and improve

your productivity.

“The toughest challenge is to

bring in the transformational

change from within. People have

been hurt by past experiences. As

a result, they put a ceiling based

on their previous experiences or

their upbringing. This is a self

imposed limitation to one's suc-

cess. So breaking that mental lock

is the biggest challenge. Those

who see the opportunity and

believe in themselves will

undoubtedly emerge victorious,”

adds Esry.

Mark Evans, general manager

of Outward Bound Oman, the

Oman chapter of Outward Bound

has the same opinion and agrees

that communication is the key.

“The issues for most compa-

nies are common. The bigger the

company the bigger the challenge

of clear, aligned communication

becomes. Staff get trapped in

departmental silos, that have their

own internal agendas. Finance

just works with finance, engineers

with engineers. Often what

we are asked to do is to take lead-

ers from different departments,

and provide the platform for

them to interact and work

together,” he adds.

Different approachesEach management training com-

pany seeks to brand itself differ-

ently and use varied approaches

to address the gaps in the training

market. Prosper takes a cue from

sports and uses the term coaching

instead of training. According to

Esry, Prosper's style of coaching

helps people discover themselves

as employees identify their prob-

lems and identify the solutions

too. “We just facilitate this.”

He adds, “We call it corporate

coaching. There are three types of

service provided to companies. It

could be a consultancy where you

identify what is wrong with the

organisation and give recommen-

dations. Then comes training

which identifies people from the

company and trains them on spe-

cific theories. We identified the

two of them don't work together.

So we came up with coaching

which is a bit of consultancy and

a bit of training.”

For companies that don't want

its employees to be trained at the

office, and want to provide a

unique opportunity for them to

open up, there are always institu-

tions like Outward Bound that

believes that outdoor experiences

are likely to have a sustained,

longer term impact than conven-

tional training methods.

Outward Bound is an interna-

tional, non-profit, independent

organisation, set up in Oman by

Ministerial Decree. It provides out-

door leadership programmes for

youth and adults.

Evans believes the demand is

increasing substantially year on

year, and that enlightened corpo-

rates like the outdoor training

approach.

“This kind of learning is called

experiential learning. It is learning

by doing, by experience. This is a

more hands on course. What we

are seeing is that more progres-

sive HR managers are questioning

the impact of traditional training,

and that is where we step in.

“We offer something different,

something with well documented

long term outcomes, and that

creates a buzz and excitement,”

says Evans.

Step in the right directionSo are such training methods and

classes achieving the right results?

Prince Jeevanand from Larsen &

Toubro, Oman's HR team says

such courses have been very

helpful and brings in more work

clarity for employees. He believes

that such institutes work as an

interface between the education

C O V E R S T O R Y

www.businesstoday.co.om22 Business Today OCTOBER 2014

WE OFFER SOMETHING DIFFERENT, SOMETHINGWITH WELL-DOCUMENTED LONG TERMOUTCOMES, AND THAT CREATES A BUZZ ANDEXCITEMENT, SAYS MARK EVANS

WE TAKE A MUCH MORE HOLISTIC TALENTMANAGEMENT APPROACH OF WHICHTRAINING FULFILLS ONLY ONE ASPECT, SAYSALIYA M AL AUFI


24 Business Today OCTOBER 2014 www.businesstoday.co.om

C O V E R S T O R Y

institutes and the industry and

they streamline what employees

have learnt in college and help

them use the practical knowledge

in their jobs.

“These courses have helped us

a lot and they have achieved what

we were looking for. When we

look at it from the organisation’s

point of view we wanted trained

employees who understand the

work and work discipline and

these kind of training really

helped us. Such programmes are

helpful on all fronts and have

achieved all targets for both

employees and employers,”

says Jeevanand.

HR managers however believe

that such training programmes

have its limitations and the major

factor that determines the success

is the employees’ engagement in

the workplace.

“Such training programmes

enable employees to perform bet-

ter in the sense that skills are

improved. However training pro-

grammes only account for ten per

cent of productivity. It is key that

individuals are put in challenging

roles that stretch them, are sup-

ported by management and given

the tools they need to do their job

well. When we think about

Omanisation, organisational

growth and productivity, we take

a much more holistic talent man-

agement approach of which

training fulfills only one aspect,”

says Aliya M al Aufi, head of Tal-

ent Management & Sourcing

Strategy at Takatuf, which is the

Human Capital solutions provider

supporting the Oman Oil Group

of companies.

Leadership training Apart from sending employees

for training programmes, compa-

nies also invest their valuable time

and money on training leaders

and have programmes of their

own.Takatuf, focuses on develop-

ment programmes that are linked

to the future business growth

requirements of the group like

leadership, HR excellence, project

management and finance.

“Leadership is one of the main

pillars on which our growth as a

group of companies and our

nation depends. The number of

mega projects in the pipeline and

the future vision requires that we

have visionary, transformative

individuals who collectively deliver

on the corporate and national

agenda. Our programmes will

always have participation from

the group in addition to other

companies and government enti-

ties because we want to ensure

there is a network of leaders in

various roles who support each

other as they take on more chal-

lenging roles,” says Aliya.

Takatuf also has a leadership

programme in partnership with

London Business School to train

talented managers at Oman Oil

Company and its associated

group companies. Furthermore

Takatuf has its own in-house

assessment center, which helps

individuals get feedback before

they go on such leadership pro-

grammes.“We also have a coach-

ing expert in-house who works

with individuals in management

positions. We run coaching skills

clinics to enable individuals to

practice coaching in their respec-

tive organisations.”

With more and more infra-

structure projects starting up

there will be a lot of jobs created.

To address this, companies will

inject more investment into

human capital and training. With

70 per cent of Omanis falling

below the age of 30, one way to

tap that huge potential is through

corporate training. g

COMPANIES WILL INVEST MORE ANDMORE IN TRAINING AS THEY CAN'T JUSTPROMOTE PEOPLE BASED ON EXPERIENCE,SAYS NADEEM AHMED

SUCH PROGRAMMES ARE HELPFUL ON ALLFRONTS AND HAVE ACHIEVED ALLTARGETS FOR BOTH EMPLOYEES ANDEMPLOYERS, SAYS PRINCE JEEVANAND


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