A Good Student Makes a Good Teacher Lt. Col. V.S. Vats, Head-HR, Voyants Solutions pvt. Ltd.

Issue Date - 01/11/2010 From battlefield to corporate boardroom, the journey for Lt. Col. V.S. Vats has been immaculate. Serving the Indian Army for 20 years as a commissioned officer, he took voluntary retirement to join the HR programme at IIM (Indore). Says he, MBA marked a turning point in my life. It not only polished my acquired skills but also taught me many things related to the corporate world, my new battleground! Both my Army ethos and management learnings had many similarities. He started his career with Vardaan Group, where he headed HR and Administration. He recalls, I was hired because of the values and principles that I bring from my Army training. At Voyants, he has not only handled the basic HR function but also contributed to its core competencies by focusing on objectives like effective communication, time management, and technological awareness. The company believes in need-based T&D and employs a combination of in-house training and external specialists. Besides, health and happiness of staff is also taken into account. Adds he, We keep motivating them by providing a better work environment and conducting exercises. For example, each Saturday is an L&D day wherein we organise brainstorming sessions on interesting topics and talk about innovations. There are employee outings with the objective of making them work as a team for a common goal. Similarly, at the senior level, the emphasis is on strategic thinking as there is a need for brushing up the skills of managers. Talking about the changing perspectives of training, Lt. Col. Vats says, The extraordinary results showed by effective training have made organisations realise its importance. I have trained about 20,000 people in the Army as a testing officer and trainer. Therefore, I understand what difference effective training can bring. He has always believed that a good trainer must be a good student first who is always open to learning, as he elaborates, His teachings should be simple to understand and implement. He should be approachable. He personally sees such a person in Dr. S. P. Parashar, Director, IIM (Indore). He adds, I have also learnt a lot from Mr. Sandip Chhamunya (MD & CEO, Voyants Solutions). In his view, the objective of training includes overall growth of the organisation and the employees. Adds he, Training increases self-confidence and boosts the morale of employees. No training can be considered successful until the result has been measured. In order to achieve the maximum ROI on training, the concept of behaviour to believe is followed, which is based on ensuring that the staff does what it believes in. He concludes by identifying e-learning as the future of learning. According to him, it is self-propelled, saves time, and shortens geographical distance. However, he feels that physical teachers are still required to clarify thoughts imbibed through the means of e-learning.