g gopalakrishna : training for commercial bankers speech by mr g gopalakrishna, executive director of the reserve bank of india, at the inauguration of the academic block of the nitte institute of banking and finance, mumbai, 9 november 2013. * * * i acknowledge the contribution made to the above speech by shri r kesavan, general manager, central office, dbs. honorable chancellor shri vinay hegde, professor dr ramandanda shetty, dr shantaram shetty, dr thingalaya, shri anantha krishna, chairman, karnataka bank, ladies and gentlemen. it gives me immense pleasure to inaugurate the academic block of nitte institute of banking and finance. it is an opportune time as also the need of the hour to enhance professional skills of bankers since we are poised for a big leap - waiting to enfold new banks, new banking structure, perhaps a lot more innovation in banking procedures and a greater contribution to the whole process by information technology. here is where institutes like nitte can help in levelling knowledge and awareness and create a level playing field for bankers in terms of skills and attitude. my thoughts today are focused on the increasing need to integrate the present with the future. the past is passe though it has taught us many lessons. gone are the days of conventional banking where things could be predicted with reasonable precision. the changing scenario around us and across the world leads to the conclusion that there is an imminent need to keep abreast of everything under the sun when it comes to banking... this then forms the crux of our interaction today – how can such far reaching changes be brought in the mind - sets of millions of bankers who look at these recent developments with awe, interest, curiosity and also with a determination to surmount the impending challenges. one of the main challenges today is to recruit appropriate work force, train them and also retain them. at the same time, it is imperative that we, as bankers, also do not lose sight of the training needs of those who are with us today, have been with us for a considerable period of time and will continue to extend the same sense of loyalty to the institution that they have served. in order that the banks compete in a healthy manner as also enhance the capabilities of their workforce, the utility of training as an essential tool in today ’ s challenging times cannot be undermined. nitte and other institutions with similar philosophies have a stellar role

while there are also others that are ordained by dictates of regulation and supervision. a case in point is the preparedness of banks for the risk based supervision ( rbs ) process that was launched in the current supervisory cycle commencing from april 2013. there has been a measured approach behind bringing in roughly 30 banks under the rbs ambit. the reasons are manifold and range from technological preparedness, adequacy of risk management techniques and skills and extent of human resource development in banks. the very fact that a certain segment of the banking sector still remains uncovered is an indication of the fact that those waiting to be brought under the fold have to augment their initiatives to better the skill - sets of their employees by way of an active training intervention in appropriate areas including hrd. training programmes, necessarily, will have to be followed up by a rigorous exercise of “ impact evaluation ” involving analysis of employee behavior, perceptible changes in operational and behavioural efficiency, observing emerging business practices a little more closely etc. perhaps, the biggest barrier to training initiatives is resistance to change. the most prominent example in this regard was the initial reluctance that banks in india displayed, when computerisation of work processes was introduced in mid - eighties. the ultimate objective of any training that targets the management of change is the ease with which the change is accepted leading to self - actualization for the employee and tangible benefits for the banks. towards self - actualization and feedback generation : in an effort to nudge employees to take the next step towards self - actualization and furthering the business interests of banks, some very important steps needed are ( i ) establishing a “ connect ” with the target employees ; ( ii ) expectation setting and preparing the trainees ; ( iii ) setting context and clarifying goals ; ( iv ) ensuring comfort, boosting morale and confidence ; ( iv ) forging bonds between the senior and junior level employees to drive the change and last but not the least ( v ) performance review. unless there is an objective analysis of results derived from any training program, there is no effective feedback that can trigger betterment in training processes and / or alteration of the training initiative itself. thus, training has to be invariably accompanied or rather summarised by a feedback that is reliable, easy to generate, objective and certainly not influenced. how serious are training initiatives in banks? i have reasons to believe that training initiatives receive the utmost attention and is not looked upon as a functional adjunct that is mandatory