1. 20 Business Today OCTOBER 2014 www.businesstoday.co.om
COVER STORY
With an acute shortage of talent and focus
on Omanisation, companies in the
sultanate are increasingly turning towards
corporate 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,
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2. 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 problem
So 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 GROWING
TRAINING DEMANDS IS ABOUT PROVIDING
HOLISTIC TRAINING SOLUTIONS TO THE
EMPLOYERS, SAYS LAWRENCE ALVA
THE BIGGEST ISSUE IS THE LACK OF
COMMUNICATION. PEOPLE THOUGHT THEY
WERE COMMUNICATING BUT IN REALITY
THEY WERE NOT, SAYS KHALFAN AL ESRY
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3. 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 approaches
Each 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 direction
So 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
COVER STORY
www.businesstoday.co.om22 Business Today OCTOBER 2014
WE OFFER SOMETHING DIFFERENT, SOMETHING
WITH WELL-DOCUMENTED LONG TERM
OUTCOMES, AND THAT CREATES A BUZZ AND
EXCITEMENT, SAYS MARK EVANS
WE TAKE A MUCH MORE HOLISTIC TALENT
MANAGEMENT APPROACH OF WHICH
TRAINING FULFILLS ONLY ONE ASPECT, SAYS
ALIYA M AL AUFI
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4. 24 Business Today OCTOBER 2014 www.businesstoday.co.om
COVER STORY
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 AND
MORE IN TRAINING AS THEY CAN'T JUST
PROMOTE PEOPLE BASED ON EXPERIENCE,
SAYS NADEEM AHMED
SUCH PROGRAMMES ARE HELPFUL ON ALL
FRONTS AND HAVE ACHIEVED ALL
TARGETS FOR BOTH EMPLOYEES AND
EMPLOYERS, SAYS PRINCE JEEVANAND
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