Creating skill

It is true that one needs to be skilled to do something well. Some acquire it naturally by sheer observation and some acquire it through the means of practice and artwork. How does one develop the skills? Who is the person one would take the skill from and carry them forward? What is the skill needed? And so on. These are some questions that often linger in the head.

Speaking on the issue Kakul Misra, COO-India for ARC SKILLS has almost two decades' worth of experience in skill development has been involved on both sides of the supply chain - on the service delivery and customer interaction - while working with all the stakeholders including governments, funding agencies, big private companies.

"Skills are all about execution, and I being a practitioner myself and close to strategizing, the key point and the most enriching factor for me has been tangibilising the skill solution by way of impact," she says. When asked about why did she want to pursue skill development as a career, she says, "My passion is to create impact at the business level through skills that always influence an individual."

She believes that before training a person, one should address at various dynamics of the system that needs to be looked upon. "I think the real gap is between the application and theory of the skills that are available and taught", she says and adds, "Similarly, if we move back on the same philosophy to even the teachers at school, we tend to forget when the last revision was done, in terms of, training of the teachers."

Thus, at the end of the day the challenge is there because the person who is skilled is not profoundly skilled. The other challenge lies in the attitude and the learning document of the student. Therefore, essentially whatever we have invested in learning is not applied. The Industry in India is extremely self-driven and self-contained, and they need a push there.

Currently she has been an advocate for impact - based skilling across communities of students, job aspirants and professionals. I have worked in both developed and developing economies with public and private sector to drive this passion. Additionally, she was also involved in the instrumental resource for strategic development in industries like education, telecom, skills and services in India and APAC market.

A class where skills are being developed

In her journey, she also contributed to the growth and expansion as the founding team member of large companies in skills organisation like in Allied Healthcare Space, Centum Learning, Tata Docomo, Jana Small Finance Bank Ltd, and Navkar Centre for Skill. She also helped in setting up the ecosystem at IGI Airport to drive service excellence making it #1 Airport globally and that academy continues to function till date.

Speaking of the area that needs more skill development, she says, "For an organised sector, the area that is much more spoken is job related skilling and we really need hardwiring of skills. It is extremely important to prepare a skilled foundation right from primary K-12 segment since skill is a combination of knowledge, attitude & application." If we speak about the current scenario, this has to be implemented rather than just speaking about it.

"We require a strong systematic approach towards the same, whether it is value-based skilling or life skills or essential Social-Emotional Skilling. In my opinion if the foundation years of education is structured, the rest of it will follow correspondingly," she says.

On the subject of social and emotional learning she says that it is going to be one of the most important disposition ability and competency a professional will have in a changing world. "So, if we have to literally rank it as a priority, for an employer- it becomes the most treasured skill. As, now when we recruit, we don't only focus on the qualification. Emotional intelligence, innocence, working under stress, tight project timelines, flexibility, so in essence, socio-emotional skills literally becomes the differentiator for you as a skills set and talent," she adds.