I discovered my love of learning later in life. I did alright
in school but did not particularly excel nor care about academic achievements.
Even as I was applying for my college degree, I chose what took my fancy; and
even then, moved from one course to another. My only consideration then was
that my job would allow me to travel.
My first jobs applied what I learned in school: sales and marketing in the tourism field. I liked the planning part and setting up sales agencies. My sales were also adequate but I detested going on sales calls; each call took all the internal conditioning I could muster. I liked to travel but I forgot to qualify that being a guest and being a service provider are two very different things! What I really enjoyed was orienting new sales executives and explaining the sales process.
T his went on until the opportunity to move to a Training
position came along. Thankfully, the
organization I was working for believed in developing its employees in other
functions. Although I supposedly headed the Training section, not knowing any
better, most of the work I did was coordination. I “progressed” into asking the
different member companies for the training programs they wanted to have. I
improved by changing that from “what they wanted” to “what they needed.” Ha! Real progress I thought. Except I did not
attempt to validate any of these; I simply proceeded to take and process the
orders. I felt something was missing in the way training was conducted but I
couldn’t really put my finger on it. The training function seemed so
established already that I could only do incremental improvements.
My first jobs applied what I learned in school: sales and marketing in the tourism field. I liked the planning part and setting up sales agencies. My sales were also adequate but I detested going on sales calls; each call took all the internal conditioning I could muster. I liked to travel but I forgot to qualify that being a guest and being a service provider are two very different things! What I really enjoyed was orienting new sales executives and explaining the sales process.
Despite these bumps in the journey, I fell in love with
HR in general and Training in particular, so much so that during
cross-functional meetings, each situation for me was an HR issue. I knew I needed to do something when one
colleague asked me once “Can you tell what you think that has nothing to do
with HR?” Organizing and attending the in-house Management Development Program
(MDP) was my first step, but I couldn’t resist the challenge of a post-graduate
degree.
So I quit my job, applied for a loan and went back to
school for a masteral degree in management. This is when I realized that
learning could be so much fun. I found myself understanding the big picture,
and how the different functions contributed to it. Slowly, I was pulled away
from my HR-centric view and started asking different types of questions. I didn’t do this on my own; my professors and
classmates at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) helped in my
transformation.
My corporate job after my masteral degree involved
looking at the different business opportunities, and new economy strategies of
existing businesses. While it allowed me to utilize my more holistic management
know-how, I truly missed my Training work. To keep my connection to the
discipline, I enrolled in Instructional Technology courses. It started to dawn on me that this was the
missing link I was looking for- the essence of why learning was needed, and how
it could make a difference and be justified.
Despite persistent cajoling from friends that I was
turning into a professional student, I pursued my second master’s degree in
Instructional and Performance Technology at Boise State University. Although it
meant further belt-tightening, juggling multiple priorities, and being
uncertain of whether it was worth studying what others felt was already an
established practice, I felt it answered the fundamental question of what my
chosen vocation was all about.
This degree and my decision to leave the corporate world
and join the Academe (AIM) were 2 life changing decisions for me. These experiences
further strengthened my interest in Learning & Development (that was how
Training was starting to be called then).
In 2003, backed by AIM’s encouragement of its faculty
members to engage in external work to enrich our teaching, I put up a training and consulting company. I refined the
knowledge I gained in my studies to make them more applicable to the
organizations I worked with; continued to network with fellow
practitioners/former classmates to plan new ways of approaching old problems. I
continued to expand the work that I did, helped clients, and also learned in
the process.
Since that time, I have had what I would call different adventures: designing, delivering and evaluating training
programs, developing curricula in various industries, coaching subject matter experts-turned-
trainers, developing training materials, and setting up corporate universities.
What started out as “play” has turned out to be one of my most meaningful
pursuits.
In my almost 20 year-journey as a learning practitioner,
there were numerous instances in which I had to do a lot or research to get the
answers I needed. With L&D becoming an important discipline in today’s
talent economy, I hope to be able to contribute by sharing some knowledge and
experiences to those new to the field; and more importantly, to help others
realize what fun this line of work is!