When the ‘R’ word started to do the rounds of office corridors and meeting rooms, Shashank Rana would break into a cold sweat. Apart from the uncertainty, he was wary of taking responsibilities of a different kind because of his morbid fear of working with numbers of the currency kind.

Shashank is the IT Manager of CMA Inc, a large publisher of comic and other recreational books for children and young adults. He is a whiz-kid of sorts in the company. He can troubleshoot networks with the same ease as a chef chops onions. He is respected in the organisation for making systems and platforms of all kinds work together like a symphony.

But things started to change for Shashank when cost reduction and cost optimisation became necessary as the fear of a major slowdown turned into a reality. Shashank’s task-list had a lot of unchecked items and most of them related to issues that had nothing to do with computers and machines.

His understanding of finance was limited to what he read in the morning dailies. And now as a middle-level manager in CMA he was being confronted with a tsunami of numbers. “Something has to be done about this,” the techno whiz-kid decided.

As if in a trance, he picked up the phone and dialed Amit Mehta’s number. Amit, a friend from school days, was a banker and pursued his interest in technology rather passionately. He was a maven to most of his friends who looked at him for advice and direction. After the greetings, Shashank got straight to the topic.

“Amit, I need your help. Teach me how to read these numbers and tutor me about cost-cutting…” he hurriedly spoke. “Cost management,” Amit cut him short. “Promise me a couple of beers in return,” he said to overcome the awkward interruption. “So I will see you at six this evening at our watering hole,” said Shashank before hanging up with a new sense of relief.

In the evening, Shashank reached their rendezvous early. He occupied a corner spot that was relatively less noisy. Shashank wasted no time when Amit arrived and reiterated his request. “Hey, you need more than just a tutoring session. I feel you should join a course. A course that gives you a well rounded perspective of finance, and also prepares you for bigger responsibilities within your organisation,” Amit responded professorially.

“Specialised courses are available for virtually every subject today. It’s time you looked at this as a career-building exercise than just a training to read numbers,” he added. “This makes sense,” replied Shashank.

Making the right choice
“It is very important for technical professionals to realise that transformation into techno-commercial professionals is the only way to overcome the growth plateau in any organisation,” says Jitender Dhaka, CEO, Jobline Consultants. And this comes with the added advantage of being aligned with strategic issues and also the capacity to multi task.

Both employees and organisations need to realise that a slowdown is the best time to enroll in courses that not only up-skill employees for larger strategic roles but also lead to higher degree of employee-employer engagement. “The straight off benefit of such certifications to the employee is that they immediately add value to their profile,” feels Vishwajeet Singh, CIO of FCM Travel.

But the bigger question is: what kind of certifications should one enroll for? “The first step is to ascertain one’s larger goals—both personal and professional,” feels Dhaka. And he is right. Not only are certifications for middle management expensive, they also entail an opportunity cost of letting the employee go for the period of the course.

“It is critical to ensure that the right fit is achieved before an employee is nominated for any kind of executive education programme,” feels Anita Tuteja, an independent HR consultant. “The one-size-fits-all approach is very dangerous, especially when one of the objectives of this nomination is the conservation and optimal utilisation of resources—both monetary and human,” she adds.

Broadbasing is the mantra
“The fundamentals of technology remain the same. So when we recruit technical workforce, we want to be sure that the candidate has the right skills if not the right certifications,” feels Singh. However, the lens changes when a senior level recruitment is being done. “Candidates with a broader base of skills often come across as far more confident,” he points out. “This is also an outcome of their ability to converge a number of seemingly unrelated concepts and trends because of their training,” feels Tuteja. And in this rapidly transforming world, this is an asset for any organisation.

A sampler of recent management development programmes (MDPs) conducted by various top business schools points towards this trend. For instance, IIM Ahmedabad would have concluded a five-day programme on strategic planning of information systems by the time you read this article.

The programme covers various managerial issues in IT such as creating business models, planning for hardware and software, vendor selection and risk evaluation of IT projects. “These programmes are often a reflection of the demands and expectations of a company from its employees,” adds Tuteja.

So, it is a good time to magnify your spectrum of skills and be ready to face the future. As Tom Hanks’ character in the film Castaway famously remarked, “You never know what the next tide might bring.”