Kevin Wheeler (President and Founder, Global Learning Resources Inc.) tells Sanghamitra Khan that Indian management style is still hierarchical in nature and does not fully empower the workforce
Founder of Global Learning Resources, noted entrepreneur, consultant, speaker, writer and university lecturer; Mr. Wheeler dons many hats. He has founded a number of organisations including the Future of Talent Institute, Global Learning Resources Inc. and the Australasian Talent Conference Ltd. He has authored several articles on talent management, career development, recruiting, human capital, leadership, strategic planning, workforce planning, and learning strategies. His latest book is The Corporate University Workbook. He has also served as a lecturer and adjunct faculty at the University of San Francisco and as business faculty at San Francisco State University.
Q. What was the main attraction for you to engage with the ‘people’ part of the business?
A. I have always focused on how people come together, work together and take decisions together. I was trained as a political scientist and spent many years in teaching before entering the corporate world. My first assignment was to start an employee development function and from that base I got involved in university relations, recruitment and performance management.
Q. So, you were trained as a political scientist but eventually entered the corporate world. Why did you switch over?
A. I think it was both the need for more practical applications of ideas and theories and the resources and willingness of the corporate world to experiment and try new approaches. The creation of a corporate university, for example, would never even be a concept that would be discussed in an academic setting.
Q. What has been the most challenging assignment in your career and what made it so?
A. In the early 1990s, the CEO of my firm asked me to create a corporate learning academy or corporate university. I had spent much of my career in learning, teaching, and employee development, but I knew he wanted something much different from a traditional learning function. This required me to benchmark many other learning academies and challenged me and my team to redefine what learning meant and what such a function could offer to a corporation.
While we were given a largely blank slate, it was a significant challenge to decide what to do and how to do it. After months of research and travelling to many institutions globally, we embarked on a journey to create a 21st century function that would use the power of the internet and e-learning to empower learners. But at the same time, we wanted to be cost-effective and efficient in how we developed our courses and structured the function. We pioneered crowd-based course development, used internal subject-matter experts to oversee courses and tutor students, developed mentoring programmes and built a learning portal. All of these are relatively common today, but were not so at that time.
My own learning was that having a blank slate is a challenging proposition and expectations are high. To be innovative and yet practical, to be focused but explore possibilities, and to take chances are all easier said than done.
Q. How has the concept of ‘employee’ evolved since you joined the profession? What are the positives about this evolution?
A. When I began my career, employee in practice meant ‘servant’. An employee did what the boss said, otherwise he was fired. There was a strict hierarchy system in place. The quality of your work was important but not as much as your loyalty.
Over the years, this concept of ‘employee’ has radically changed. In most organisations today, hierarchy is much less rigid. Employees are encouraged to offer their own ideas and engage in debate and discussion. Loyalty is much less important and one’s contribution is much more important. Many employees are not even permanent, but work as temporary employees or as consultants or contractors.
All of this is very positive. Employees today are more respected and treated more as equals. There is teamwork and collaboration that leads to better decisions. The focus is on the employee’s contribution and the quality of his or her work – not on putting in time. And, empowered and engaged employees are more creative and productive, adding more to potential profits.
Q. The idea that the CEO runs the show is fiction. Do you agree?
A. Yes, indeed. The role of the CEO has evolved a great deal. Today’s CEO ideally sets the broad vision and acts as the overall helmsperson for the organisation. He or she needs to be a good team-builder and should be able to foster collaboration and good communication throughout the organisation. Leading is not about telling people what to do, but more about providing context and opening up communication channels.
A good CEO also has to interact with customers and vendors in ways that are deeper. By influencing, explaining, and listening, a good CEO guides an organisation and is also guided by his or her team and employees.
Q. Please highlight the segments in the global workforce that are shaping and driving change?
A. Change is being driven by technology more than any other factor. The internet, robotics, automation, new manufacturing techniques, and our ability to use less material to create more functionality are significant drivers of the new economy. People are struggling to adapt to the massive changes that are underway.
Employment will be challenged by robotics, automation will be replaced by workers, factories will become increasingly automated.
We are moving to become an automated, integrated, global economy and that will require changes in assumptions about what people do.
Q. As per predictions, India will have around 500 million skilled workforce by 2022. How should the companies prepare to tap this huge resource, and what role should government play in it?
A. As automation spreads rapidly, finding meaningful employment for so many people will become a challenge. Many of the skills today’s workforce has will become obsolete within a decade. These include many of the ‘hard’ skills for areas such as engineering, computer science, and medicine. We will most likely need to shift focus from these ‘hard’ skills to develop skills of workers in areas such as weaving, painting, cooking etc,. The great professions of the future may include helping people out of poverty, providing basic education to everyone, developing creative and intuitive skills of people. We underestimate the power and speed with which automation is changing the workplace. Government should encourage – through funding, legislation and advice – private parties and corporations to experiment with different ways of developing and delivering the training programmes they feel will be most relevant and helpful. I do not think any government can outsmart the market. The best approach is to encourage entrepreneurs to try many things and develop funding and support for them. Likewise, they need to be able to divert resources to other areas when the needs change. The problem with most government-sponsored programmes is that they over-analyse the market, find the most likely skills to train for, spend too much time and effort to create a curriculum, and then realise the need for that skill has passed. Governments are best when they encourage and support the entrepreneurs.
Q. Please share with us your views on Indian management style.
A. Indian management style is still a bit hierarchical and does not fully empower the workforce. There is a concept of ‘hero-worshipping’ around the single entrepreneur who builds a large organisation. I think the empowered, team-based organisations will be more successful over the next decade.
Q. With attrition level so high, how should organisations tackle the problem? Can developing a corporate university help solve this problem?
A. There are several ways to reduce attrition. Empower employees and lessen the hierarchy. Let teams make decisions and get everyone involved. Provide opportunities to learn. Younger people want to increase their skills and learn as much as they can. A corporate university can help make this happen, so I am certainly in favour of developing cost-effective and useful learning opportunities that include mentoring and tutoring as well as traditional learning.
Q. What are the top qualities that a successful recruiter needs to possess today?
A. Recruiters today need to be informed about the industry as well as industry trends and direction, economic climate, and the labour market. They also need to be very skilled at communication, influencing and getting candidates to say ‘yes’. Finding candidates is getting easier because of the internet and social media. What is more difficult is attracting right candidates through targeted marketing and then engaging them in conversation, discovery, and eventually convincing them to either accept an offer or move on. The older recruiting skills of sourcing, telephone screening, and in-depth interviewing are useful but do not outweigh the greater need for engagement and influencing skills.
I look for candidates who are flexible, creative, and entrepreneurial. Functional skills are important but for me these are just base-level. The more important skills to survive and thrive are more about dealing with rapidly changing needs, new ideas and moving into new markets. These deeper level skills can often be purchased through consultants or contractors. Internal employees need broader and more flexible skills.
Q. Is there any interesting project that Future of Talent Institute is currently working on? What is the main aim of that project?
A. We are looking deeply into what future professions may be and where economic values would be derived. We are interested in how organisations are adapting to having fewer workers and how they are using them to their advantage. Our aim is to educate and involve as many people as we can in discussions about the emerging trends and changes.
Q. What are your plans for the next five years?
A. We are on the threshold of an entirely new era in economics, education, organisation structure and employment. Everything is changing and I want to understand what is driving it and help people everywhere to understand it, as well, so instead of being fearful, we are excited and open to the changes.
