Dean, Citibank Direct Sales Training Academy Addresses MBA Students at LIBA

Ms. Haseen Taj, Dean, Citibank Direct Sales Training Academy Addresses MBA Students at LIBA

On 9th August 2006, LIBA students were addressed by a very enigmatic speaker - Ms. Haseen Taj - Dean of the Citibank Direct Sales Training Academy. Ms. Taj was in LIBA as part of the ongoing Industry guest lecture series and was particularly impressed by the students. She commented that she saw a spark in their eyes and hoped that they continue the good work when they become CEOs and VPs of large corporations.

Ms. Taj was here to speak on "Training: The Key to Organisational Effectiveness". And she mentioned that her objective was that all LIBA students remember today's session and then implement today's learning when they start working.

She pointed out two types of companies - one in which the business and training don't interact, and another in which the business and training synergise their activities for the achievement of the company's objective.

"Recruiting the right person is important, but what assumes paramount importance is that you train him. Quality of people can be changed depending on the training," she said.

She mentioned how assessment, feedback, support and challenges are supposed to assume equal importance when a person joins a company. But to the contrary, what happens is that the challenges hurled at the new person are much bigger than the feedback and support given to him. This results in a dip in his performance and then his possible attrition. She spoke of an accelerated approach in training, which they had developed in Citibank to combat such problems. This they called the ABC Approach - Accelerated learning, building expertise and catalysing change.

Ms. Taj emphasised the need for a training model, which is dynamic, global, robust, scaleable and cutting edge. All these elements are required for the success of a corporation. She referred to her book 'Training - The need for business growth' and said that youngsters today who want to run the extra mile must be 'candid' in their views because they can be assured that someone is definitely listening to their suggestions and ideas. Training was always considered to be a 'cost centre', but she and her team sought to prove that it was actually a profit centre, contrary to popular thought. This they did very simply by showing the Return on Investment, which to everyone's consternation, turned out to be 300% in certain cases.

Ms. Taj concluded by stressing on the importance of ethics. She said there was no better feeling than enjoying sound sleep every night and not having the fear that someone can catch hold of you for misappropriation of funds. She was overjoyed to hear that LIBA lays a lot of stress on Ethics, Honesty and Integrity, and she said that it's these elements which will ensure that LIBA students become tomorrow's successful business leaders.

Concluded.

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Contributed by -
Bhaumik Chokshi,
Head - Web Coverage,
PGDBM - 2nd Year,
Loyola Institute Of Business Administration (LIBA), Chennai.

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