It was during a busy day that bad luck struck me; my bike got punctured on the way to an institution visit as a part of my official duty. I was just about to reach the town when the rear tyre of my bike went flat with a hiss. I thought it would take a minimum of 30 minutes to get it fixed. I was on the highway thinking, if I should drive it to the local fellow around the corner, or to the company showroom. I opted for the latter. When I went there, a young boy (approximately under 20 years of age) came out. When I explained what had happened, he took the tyre out and said “this can be done in 5 minutes”. Before I started explaining, he started working on it. As there was a big bend in the alloy, he used a hydraulic assistance machine in which he placed the wheel on a rack, which centered the wheel so it can be read out with a dial gauge, then heated it. He then used hydraulic rams at various points on the rack so as to provide mechanical assistance to press out bends in the heated metal. He was totally controlling the process rather than watching an automated process work. Within 5 minutes, the alloy bend and puncture was corrected.

Impressed by the speed and skill with which the young lad did the job, I just enquired about him. His name was Sarath. After completing his tenth standard 3 years ago, he began assisting his uncle in the mechanical workshop. His father died at a very young age and he said that it was his uncle who identified his talents and insisted that he assist in the shop. After gaining enough experience at this young age, he joined the service team of a nearby bike showroom.  Now he is earning well to support his family comprising of his mother and a younger brother. He wishes to learn more and wants to work with the latest technologies and has got plans of starting a new workshop of his own after 4 years.

Sarath’s story is not new to us. We can identify many such young talented ones sprouting in our society by overcoming the challenges they faced. Working in the field of skill development and training for the last 7 years, I believe one of the qualities I developed was to observe the young talented children around us. Most of the time, we forget to identify or observe and appreciate the youngsters working effectively. It may be in an office or a supermarket, workshop or hospital that we find such lives. Surprisingly, most of what happens in their career is unprecedented. But imagine the impact of this process, if it occurs in an organized and structured way. According to MSDE’s annual reports, less than 5% of India’s workforce are formally skilled compared to South Korea (96%), Japan(80%), Germany (75%), United Kingdom(68%) and the United states (52%). India as a nation has more than 65% of our population below the age of 35. If we leave this population uneducated, unfocused, and unskilled then, we are awaiting a huge disaster. But if these young minds are educated, trained, focused and skilled, we can witness a miracle. Skill development ministry is now taking a lot of initiatives to tap these talents.

 It's all about identifying the passion and the talent and getting the right combination after this process. In Sarath’s story, his talent was identified early and he got the right opportunity to develop his skill, working with the veterans in the field thereby gaining enough experience at a young age. Also, he got exposed to the latest technologies in his field of expertise. When all these worked out, we could see his dreams coming true.

Let's have a look at an ideal skill development scenario. The first step in this journey starts from knowing ourselves fully. This can be done by paying close attention to our lives. If we pay close attention to every aspect of our lives, it itself can lead the way for exploring new dimensions. Psychology has formulated the Johari Window model, which is a simple and useful tool for illustrating and improving self-awareness (conscious knowledge of one's own character and feelings).  It is one of the few tools out there that has an emphasis on “soft skills” such as behaviour, empathy, co-operation, inter group development and interpersonal development. This model suggests that there are 4 areas in a person

1) Open area – what is known by the person about him/herself and is also known by others

2) Blind area - what is unknown by the person about him/herself but which others know

3) Hidden area - what the person knows about him/herself that others do not know 

 4) Unknown area - what is unknown by the person about him/herself and is also unknown by others.

The balance between the above four areas can change.

 

                                                         

 

For Example, if you want to tell someone an aspect of your life that you had previously kept hidden, this would increase your open area and decrease your hidden area. Also, when feedback is given honestly to you, it can reduce the size of your blind area, thereby widening your open area.

In the open area, information about the person his attitudes, behaviour, emotions, feelings, skills and views will be known by the person as well as by others. This is mainly the area where all the communications occur and the larger the area, one becomes more effective and productive.

In Area 2, which is called the blind area, one is unaware of the talents that he or she possesses, but others may be aware of it. So, these unidentified talents can be identified with the help of mentors or coaches and can be nurtured.

Thus, by paying attention closely, one can figure out their inherent passion or talents in them. Some people may discover their passion early in life, but if one hasn't discovered it yet, they can still develop it by moving out of the comfort zone and exploring different options. When we deliberately open ourselves to noticing things, we might enjoy what we are doing and end up learning and growing as we go.

As we face different phases of life, most of our interests evolve over time. Just think about our interests when we were at the age of 10 & 20. For most of us, it would have changed considerably. If our interests change as we grow and how can we expect our passion to be the same always? But the basic area where our passion lies will be the same even when we grow. Within this area, our passion can evolve as we grow. Passion can't be discovered by mere thinking alone but by doing too. It's like falling in love. We will not just sit at home and decide we’re going to fall in love with a certain person. Instead, when we go out and share different experiences with different people, it happens. Even though we will have a general idea of what we like and don’t like in a person, experiences will teach us a lot about our preferences. Similar is the case in identifying our passion.

So, pay attention to the minute things in life, surround ourselves with people who inspire us to grow and grab the opportunities that life throws at us and at once, we will be able to figure out our passion. But usually, it is not a quick process with a specific timetable.  Mentoring / coaching can have a considerable impact on this process.

Once this has happened, half way is done. Now the job areas associated with the particular field and associated skills needed should be assessed.  Utilizing enough opportunities to develop the skill has to be done. No matter how passionate we feel about something, nothing will change unless we take conscious efforts to develop our skills. Exposure to updated technology has its own role too. 

Let us now summarize this approach in the process of skill development to happen in the ideal or best possible way -

1)     Paying close attention to our life – open ourselves to notice the things we might enjoy doing (Knowing ourselves)

2)     Identifying one’s talents (if any) / Interests and developing the passion towards it

3)     Nurturing / Enhancing the basic skills needed for securing the jobs in our passionate field

4)     Exposure to latest technology advancements - Mentoring by veterans in the field

 

Talents are inborn abilities of a person to do something. It can be mostly hidden and needs recognition. Here lies the role of coaching. Skill is an acquired expertise in which training is an inevitable part. Mentoring can make it more effective. When it comes to passion, the only thing that matters is that it should be enjoyable. It is said that “Passion” is what one would do without pay, however most people never realize their passion in life because they believe it is something that they are naturally good at. Passion can be developed. But it is not necessary that we should be skilled /talented in our passionate job. Similarly, it is not necessary that we should be passionate in a job in which we are talented/skilled. But whenever the three of them come together - talent, skills and passion, the results will be outstanding and it can turn our job to a pleasant experience. If we are in a pleasant state of experience, our body and brain work at their best. This can have a positive impact in the career trajectory – setting marks for the journey to human excellence.

 

 

Sri Gopakumar is an ardent devotee of Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. He is the State Youth Think tank member of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation, Kerala. He holds an MBA degree from IIM Kozhikode.By profession, he has been working in the Education & Skill development sector for the past 6 years. Currently he is working as the programme manager in ASAP, the skill development company of Govt of Kerala. He is also a certified Career mentor , Motivational Speaker & Life coach. His goal is to improve the performance & productivity of an individual by helping them in realizing their true potential as he believes in making a difference in people's lives.His core forte is Career mentoring, Skill development & Life Coaching

 

Image Credits: Pixabay.com

 

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