Post ToT: Action plan - Immediate Tasks

I Invite all the trainers to list down their 5 action points as soon as you reach your District and join the training center.

Press

Article appeared in Deccan Chronicle main sheet on 4th December 2006
State youth reap benefits in retail Hyderabad, Dec. 3:

Large national and multi-national companies entering the retail business in the State are employing rural unemployed youth in big numbers. Companies like Spencer’s, Reliance, Futures and Pantaloons will recruit the youth in their stores opening in the districts and metros as per an understanding with the department of rural development, under the World Bank-sponsored employment generation and marketing mission (EGMM). The department has set up rural retail academies on a pilot basis in three districts: Warangal, West Godavari and Visakhapatnam. The academies have so far trained 700 people from the poorest of poor families. “The response from the companies is tremendous. Companies like Futures Group, Reliance, Cafe Coffee Day, Pizza Hut, Pantaloons and Spencer’s are eager to recruit these work-ready youth for their retail outlets,” EGMM director and World Bank consultant Meera Shenoy told this correspondent. “Others like Bigshot and Magna have also shown interest,” she said.

“The opportunities are expected to grow multi-fold with multi-national companies like Wall Mart proposing to enter the retail business in the country,” Ms Shenoy added. The youth are classified according to their qualifications and aspirations and given a range of training. In 2006-07, 15,000 youth are linked to entry level jobs in companies like McDonald, Wipro and Dell. The department plans to reach out to 1,50,000 youth in the next two years. The academies are set up in rural areas for easier access. An individual needs to have passed Intermediate to get training. They will then be trained for a month in retail marketing, particularly in customer services and backroom operations. They will be taught communication skills, basic English conversational skills and customer interface. They are also trained to face interviews, fill resumes etc. Once recruited, the starting salary is not less than Rs 3,000 per month, apart from facilities like insurance and provident fund facilities.

“We are amazed by their potential. These young people are very energetic and have undergone a lot of transformation. It is difficult to believe that they are from a rural background. Their confidence levels are very high and they are willing to work anywhere in the country,” said H.P. Kripesh, general manager (human resources), Pantaloons. Ms Shenoy says there is still a long way to go in transforming the youth in tune with the market requirements.

EGMM - The Jobs MissionEGMM (Employment Generation and Marketing Mission), Department of Rural Development, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh provides work-ready youth to companies from an alternative labor pool. The Mission works in a focused manner on providing employment/employability for rural youth. These youth are the economically and socially underprivileged rural poor from remote areas. The Mission taps into a Bottom-of-pyramid talent pool, hitherto latent.

Companies link up with the EGMM for several reasons:
1. With more entry level urban opportunities like BPOs, salary levels and expectations of urban youth have gone up .Filling large number of jobs from the conventional urban labor pool is becoming a challenge.
2. Attrition rates are high. Whereas company experiences and studies show that rural youth are motivated and loyal employees.
3. It helps companies fulfill their mandate of providing training to dalits to facilitate their entry into the work place.
4. Trained rural youth are also absorbed by companies looking for a rural footprint who find it difficult to get manpower .These youth know the rural markets best.

Companies collaborate with the EGMM in various ways ranging from mentoring, providing human and financial resources. Companies also link up with the EGMM as a part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity of providing sustainable livelihoods to the underprivileged.

Track record: The Jobs Mission is two years young. Last year, the Mission trained 15,000 rural youth in market linked opportunities for entry level jobs in the service sector with a placement rate of 70%. The training is for three months which includes English language, Life skills, Personality skills and market linked skills. These skills are security services, customer relation management, Information technology enabled services, micro irrigation and hospitality.

Partners are, for example, G-4 Securitas, a 2 billion dollar MNC, LABS, among others. The major companies that employed the trained rural youth were to name a few, Mc Donald’s, Café Coffee Day, Central Mall, Futures group, Pizza Hut, ABN Amro call centre, Microsoft, Dell, Wipro etc., where the annual salaries range from Rs.48,000 upwards in metros and Rs. 36,000 in semi-urban areas.

Plans for 2006-8:The Jobs Mission plans to train & link 1,50,000 youth to jobs in the next two years. A beginning has been made in overseas placement where 50 youth have been linked to jobs in Dubai. Overseas placements is a new area which the Mission has ventured into since the poor are exploited by sub-agents, moneylenders and very often land into debt or jail without a proper working visa. This entire process is being streamlined without middle men and with bank loans.

New Academies set up as pilots are three Rural Retail Academies to zero in on the opportunities opening up in this sector. For employability, introducing an English and soft skills module is planned. The Mission also gives customized skills linked to new investment ranging from leather technology to apparel making. Industry associations/companies can collaborate in setting up new Academies in emerging sectors like telecom, construction etc

Why is this a Government Mandate?
 Educated Unemployed Youth in remote villages are frustrated and this results in social problems for the society. Giving employment motivates and transforms the youth. Is a sustainable solution to poverty alleviation
 The Return on investment for the government is high.
 Impact can be seen in a short cycle and is measurable – fifteen days to three months training
Impact on the Rural Community:
 Gives youth self confidence and a level playing field with the urban counterparts Gives him/her the first window of opportunity after which the youth moves to better ones using his skill base
 Family use the money to Educate the siblings
 Boys and girls get better partners in life
 If unmarried, sends money to his village and this stimulates growth of village economy  Removes in a short span of time the stigma of poverty.

The Process:The Mission works in a public-private partnership mode. Driven by a private sector unit, it works with the Collectors and Project Directors in the districts. The other main stakeholder in the process is the large network of self help groups (SHGs). The SHGs help in identification of the really vulnerable like the dalits, landless, from remote areas. Youth are identified, trained and linked to companies in rural Andhra Pradesh and in cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore.

Retail Academy

Retail Academy:Envisaging the boom in the retail industry EGMM has started Retail Academies at 3 places. The skills required by the retailing sector for the entry level workers are designed in a curriculum which is delivered to the rural youth. The following are the work readiness skills concentrated:

 Life skills
 Soft Skills
 Basic computer skills
 Customer handling skills (Customer Care)
 Working English skills
 Trade Specific Knowledge (product knowledge, shelving, etc.)

The rural youth with at least 10th and 12th class background is identified for this program. The duration of the program is 4 weeks.

The first batch is passing out with 700 trained candidates on 5th December at 3 centers. We request you to map your requirements in 3 major southern cities (Hyderabad, Chennai, Banglore) to recruit candidates from our trained batches based on the requirements. We also request you to keep us informed about openings at your end from time to time at egmmap@gmail.com .

Six Sigma

When did things get so complicated? The principles of Six Sigma are simple. Let's get back to them.

We humans have an amazing ability to take a simple concept and find ways to make it overly complex. Take, for example, the principle underlying Six Sigma, which is a methodology to improve product quality through our manufacturing processes. First we created a comprehensive set of Six Sigma tools. Then we created Six Sigma green belts and black belts to identify those who have learned or mastered these tools. (For all I know, there could be mauve belts.) These Six Sigma belts can create fishbone diagrams and perform chi-squares and who knows what else.

Along the way, I fear we've lost sight of the powerful principle that underlies Six Sigma: To improve any process, start by defining a simple standard or benchmark. Then measure variation from the standard and investigate the reason for variation. Apply what we learn to improve the process. I find that using Six Sigma's fundamental principle significantly improves both business and IT processes. And here's how we can use it to improve IT performance.
Setting StandardsLet's take an example. The expected timeline for a project is 12 weeks. So 12 weeks becomes the standard time frame, but the project actually takes 15 weeks to complete. So we ask, "What caused the variance? Did the project scope change? Were the resources available when we needed them? Did we overburden some resources?" Once we learn the cause of the variation, we apply these lessons to future projects. Over time, we reduce variation and improve project performance.

Of course, there can be positive variations: Instead of the expected 12 weeks, what if the project took only 10 weeks to complete? This is a positive variation, albeit a variation nonetheless. What caused the variance? Did our use of iterative methods reduce rework? Once we learn the cause of the variation, we can apply our knowledge to future projects.

Applying the fundamental principle of Six Sigma to improve IT operations also works well. Suppose our system reliability standard is downtime of no more than 30 minutes a week. Just as with projects, we compare actual results with this standard to identify variances. One week, downtime is two hours. We find out why and apply the lessons learned to our IT processes and operations. Another week, downtime is zero minutes. Why? And what can we learn from this positive variance? Once we understand the reasons, we can use our knowledge to continuously improve our processes, thereby improving IT operations.

Improvements Early and OftenThe nice thing about using the fundamental principle of Six Sigma is that we don't have to do much research to define the initial standard. We can start with today's performance and then, by measuring and investigating variances, continually improve the processes and performance. I have found that this approach works well with most IT processes, including help desk response times, project scoping and so on.

We should experiment with a subset of our processes as we get the hang of the Six Sigma principle. Relying on Six Sigma's fundamental approach to process improvement won't qualify you for the Master Black Belt title (I'm not sure how you become a master, but it sounds painful), but it can help you become a credible provider of IT products and services. And ultimately, providing better IT is what really matters.