In Conversation with Aditi Mukherjee, Chief People Officer, NCDEX

Aditi, congratulations to your organisation for winning the Excellence in Learning and Development Strategy at the BW People HR Excellence Awards 2023. In your view, what is unique about the L&D initiatives at NCDEX?

Thank you to BW People for recognizing us. The uniqueness of our initiatives stems from certain fundamental premises:

• Make learning fun: We believe, what is learnt with pleasure, is never forgotten. So our strategy design begins with that foundation principle. So last year, we created a learning campaign, with comics and superheroes, to achieve a 100% of Individual Development Plans. 
• Empower Teams: Our learning culture is driven by Departmental Learning Champions and the Heads of the Department. The Human Resources team play a facilitator role.
• Technology Enables Learning: To remain competitive and adaptive to new ways of working, technology is a critical component of NCDEXs learning strategy. We are completely invested in anywhere, anytime learning.
• Academy Framework of Learning & Development: The NCDEX Group Academy provides a framework that supports our Learning Model – 70: 20: 10 in a digital environment.

How have your organization's L&D practices evolved in the hybrid model of working? 

We understood early on that the hybrid way of working is not going away anytime soon, so providing alternatives to purely instructor-led sessions was more important than ever. 

Hence we did a complete reboot of our learning practices way back in 2020. To arrive at the new world of learning in a flexible work environment, there were certain initial steps undertaken:

a) Diagnosis of existing practices;

b) Understanding expectations from each stakeholder 

c) Changes needed to align with business objectives

d) Studying market-leading practices 

Over the last couple of years, our learning practices have evolved with time. The first year of the change management was largely building excitement and educating employees on the features of our digital platform, the derived benefit of anywhere, anytime Learning, and onboarding multiple departments in the one-stop solution to deploy holistic learning Gradually we have now moved into a blended learning approach within NCDEX Group Academy which was multi learning models such as Bootcamps, Collaborative Learning, Skill Based Education, Behavioural competency-based learning etc 

A hybrid workforce requires employees to be self-directed and take ownership of their learning and our L & D initiatives foster that kind of culture.

How does the company identify the learning needs of its employees and curate training programs based on their preferences?

The learning needs are identified during performance evaluations and also undertaken around the year based on inputs received from leaders and managers. 

The developmental needs identified during this exercise form the basis of the Individual Development Plans (IDP) for every employee. Achievement of the Individual Plan and Team Development Plans are allocated a certain weightage (about 10%) during the annual goal-setting process. The progress of IDP is tracked and monitored by learning champs and the L&D team. Employees themselves can set weekly learning goals and measure their achievements.

That said, apart from the need identification through performance management, we also target the enhancement of leadership, managerial and functional skills at the organisational level with a curated learning curriculum in partnership with various subject matter experts. Currently, there is also a gender-specific mentoring program spread over 6 months, in partnership with BCCI, which is on the verge of closure.

To provide an organization-wide platform for collaborative learning (20%), NCDEX Collaborative Learning Club (NCLC) was formed. Collaborative Learning is the educational approach of using groups to enhance learning by working together. Groups of learners come together to solve problems, complete tasks, share experiences, find people with common interests (like photography, book reading, music, food etc.) discuss case studies, collaborate on articles/white papers or learn new concepts from each other. 

The L&D function was transformed with the rollout of collaborative learning, digital learning, and competency-based curriculum through our NCDEX Academy, with the motto Aspire, Learn & Grow.

How do you incorporate technology and digital learning solutions into your L&D programs?

To remain competitive and adaptive to new ways of working, technology is a critical component of the learning strategy of NCDEX and Group companies. Thus two years back we partnered with Skill-Soft to host our NCDEX Group Academy digitally.

The digital learning solution complimented our model of blended learning and supported our strategy to engage learners by providing flexibility, learning in the flow of work, assignment-based learning, and recognition through badges and mobile applications thereby access to NCDEX Group Academy 24*7.

Apart from the global content access provided by the digital platform, we have also leveraged the platform to host our e-curriculum.

What methods or tools do you use to assess the effectiveness of the training programs and initiatives?

We have been using a lot of Learning Analytics to evaluate the effectiveness of the training programs. 

• % completion of TNI 
• Learning satisfaction rate
• % Badges earned for new skills. 
• For example, from an organizational need perspective last year we focused on data visualization, design thinking application, and honing emotional intelligence. Courses were assigned to all employees depending on level and we celebrated achievement 
• Assessments are another approach we use to measure the change in learners' behaviour post-training. 

For example, i-Lead (a specific intervention for newly christened Managers) and The Leader The Coach (Honing Coaching Skills for Senior Leaders), in both programs delta change in managerial and leadership competencies, from pre to post was mapped. 

How do you measure the impact of L&D initiatives on employee performance and organizational success?

We measure the impact of our L&D initiatives from cost, operations, skill gain, resource rotation executed and employer perception metrics:

• Increase in learning coverage from 40% to > 86% in a 3-year time frame with almost nil increase in learning budget. 
• Empowered Reporting Managers / HODs to monitor team learning programs through advanced analytics dashboards
• Significantly improved our employer brand visibility in social media, improved scores in Glassdoor reviews, engagement surveys etc
• Eased our learning operations by use of technology with cloud storage of multiple training modules from various departments, compliance tracking of e-tutorials on corporate policies, data storage and retrieval during audits, hosting of assessments etc.