Training Plays Vital Role in Global Dominance
By Marc Ratcliffe
I have spent the last week
in India with our Partner organization Cotmac, and each time I come back, I see
the rising tide of change and expansion. It is exciting to be involved with
such a vibrant culture and to be part of the necessary skills development to
support quality education and training.
If the 19th
Century was Great Britain's time to shine and the 20th Century's
torch bearer the United States, the 21st Century almost certainly
heralds the dawn of global dominance by India and China. With more than a third
of the world's population living between these two countries and a rising
global consumerism driving demand for their products and services, it appears
that the new world order will have a decidedly eastern feel. But who will win
the race to hold the mantle of number one? This is simple. It will be the
country which invests in its people first. Economic liberalism and relaxation
of trade barriers can only take you so far. Without a robust system for skills
development and a commitment to authentic application of these skills, the long
term competitiveness and productivity of business is not guaranteed.
As we turn to India, with
its high tech-savvy, youth population and a widening middle class with an
appetite for consumer items, we will soon see the pressure for wages to
increase. In addition, the costs of attracting and retaining talent will also
rise exponentially. When labor is cheap and plentiful, it is simply a matter of
going back to the well if it doesn't work the first time. However, this is no
longer a truism as the skills required become more sophisticated and the
expectations on consistency from an international market intensify. The key to
success is in the training. Not only will training get people working at their
best, it will motivate them to work harder because their organizations have
shown loyalty in them by investing in their development. The real challenge is
getting the established hierarchy within these organizations to sign off on the
training reforms and acknowledge that what they have done to date has got them
to where they are, but if they want to be world beaters in the future, a new
approach is necessary.
Marc Ratcliffe is CEO of MRWED
Group, a training company in Australia. You can find Marc on Twitter at @MRWED_CEO
