In today’s episode of “Learning Leaders Unplugged,” we bring you an L&D leader who has spent over 20 years in the BFSI sector but, interestingly, someone who was passionate about acting, theaters and successfully attempted to those competencies in his career as an L&D professional — Saumil Paronigar, the L&D head at Mumbai-based insurance company, Turtlemint.

If that sounds intriguing, dive in with me to learn more about him, his career, his insights, and the amazing L&D initiatives he has spearheaded.

Geeta: Hello Saumil, a warm welcome to you in “Learning Leaders Unplugged”!

My first question is…what initially drew you to the Learning and Development field? What sparked your interest, and how did your journey in L&D begin?

Saumil: I was a theatre artist during my early career days. I wanted to pursue that as my profession. I developed acting as a hobby over couple of years and wanted to use competencies developed from it into a profession.  

Public speaking, holding an audience, using humour, communicating clearly, storytelling and using platform skills were assets created by my acting hobby. These skills resonate well with the requirements of a good facilitator. I started developing my competencies and domain expertise in BFSI, achieved milestones in the sales role initially, and then transitioned to the L&D profession. Sales training was the first steppingstone in my journey as an L&D professional.

L&D allows me to contribute to people’s lives, help them become better individuals, and develop their knowledge and skills for their professional growth, and this inspires me to do more.

Geeta: Tell me about some of the amazing L&D initiatives you have launched in this journey and are super proud of.

Saumil: I’ve launched a fair share of them, but I do have my favourites. Let me talk about some of those initiatives.

One of my most successful initiatives was the capability builder program. It was personalized coaching for the area and regional managers to help them better manage their teams through coaching conversations.

Another key initiative I led was a self-paced learning journey to enable more green time. This was a sales time, need-based, and performance gap-oriented learning journey.

I started a ‘Managerial Effectiveness Series’ for managers to practice necessary aspects of team management and transition from ME to WE.

I also fondly recall the Leadership Essential series. This initiative was about leading self, leading others, and leading the organization.

Geeta: Those are definitely some very good initiatives! If you had to name one L&D strategy or technology that really added a lot of value to the organizational growth, what would it be?

Saumil: It has to be a self-paced learning journey. It was a hyper-personalized learning journey with four interventions of basic, intermediate, and advanced modules on a gamified e-learning platform followed by a classroom intervention. This strategy has enabled need-based learning to improve the performance gap instead of stereotypical learning programs for all employees. One Size Doesn’t Fit All. This strategy has created a learning pull, saved costs, and generated month-on-month performance results.

Geeta: Awesome! So, my next question is, what tools, articles, websites, or resources do you use to stay updated on emerging technologies and trends in L&D?

Saumil: There are many resources. I’m active on social networking platforms, specifically with L&D and HR professionals, to contribute and stay updated on the latest trends. We refer to some research documents that are publicly available and also from some consulting firms.

Geeta: How do you see AI fitting into the role of L&D practitioners?

Saumil: AI can significantly contribute to L&D by enhancing the capabilities of practitioners and improving the effectiveness of learning programs. AI in L&D is already being used to design personalized learning paths, content curation, adaptive learning, automated assessment and grading, etc.

There’s also natural language processing…NLP…that’s being used a lot for feedback and support. Then, there’s data analytics for performance tracking and predictive analytics for future skills development. AR and VR are also being used.

So, yes, there are a lot of ways AI has come into L&D, and I can see that happening more and more in the coming years.

Geeta: One question that most organizations have is how to measure the ROI of L&D initiatives. Can you share some best practices in it?

Saumil: Measuring the ROI of L&D initiatives can be challenging, but it’s crucial for demonstrating the effectiveness and value of training programs to stakeholders.

By defining clear objectives for the L&D initiative, one can decide on the learning strategy. What specific skills or knowledge are you aiming to improve? How will these improvements contribute to the organization’s overall goals, such as increased productivity, reduced turnover, or improved customer satisfaction?

Linking the learning initiative with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will help in measuring the success of the L&D initiative. These could include metrics such as employee performance, productivity, job satisfaction, retention rates, customer satisfaction scores, or revenue growth.

There are many best practices in this aspect. Before we roll out any L&D plans, we start by checking where everyone stands. This means we assess their skills, maybe through tests or surveys or even by reviewing how they have been performing.

As the program goes on, we keep an eye on how everyone is doing. We look at things like who’s completed the training, what new skills they’ve picked up, and how they’re using them. Sometimes, we might ask supervisors to give us their thoughts, too.

We’re not just about learning for learning’s sake. We want to see real results in the business. So, if we’ve been working on improving customer service, we’ll check if customers are happier or if they’re coming back more often.

Of course, we also need to know what it’s all costing us. We tally everything from designing the courses to paying instructors and factor in the time employees spend learning.

But it’s not just about the money. We’re also interested in how it affects the team. Maybe morale is up, or people see us as a better place to work, or we’re coming up with more innovative ideas.

When it’s time to present our findings to stakeholders, we highlight both the tangible and intangible benefits of the L&D initiative. We want to show how it’s helped us meet our organization’s goals and objectives.

We use the insights from our analysis to keep improving our L&D initiatives. We gather feedback from participants, supervisors, and other stakeholders to identify areas for improvement and refine our strategies for maximum impact.

Geeta: Those are some amazing tips, Saumil! So, what do you like most about working in L&D?

Saumil: The opportunity to impact individuals and organizations meaningfully…that would be the no.1 reason for me.

I love being a part of initiatives that impact people’s growth. The inherent qualities of L&D, like continuous learning, creativity, innovation, problem-solving, building relationships, and contributing to organizational success…all of these and a variety of projects I get to work on keep my interest evergreen in the L&D profession.

Geeta: How do you conduct a needs analysis to identify learning gaps within an organization?

Saumil: Well, when we’re trying to figure out what kind of training or learning programs are needed, we start by looking at how well we’re doing compared to where we want to be. This gives us a clear picture of where we stand and what areas need improvement. We then analyze each data point to understand the underlying learning needs.

Next, we prioritize these needs based on their significance and impact on our organizational goals. Factors we consider include alignment with strategic objectives, the frequency and severity of performance issues, potential for improvement, and resource constraints. This helps us determine the most critical areas to focus on.

We also try to figure out why these gaps exist in the first place. Is it because people don’t have the right knowledge, skills, resources, motivation, or something else? Understanding these root causes is crucial for designing targeted interventions.

Once we’ve established a plan, we monitor progress. We check whether the training is working and whether people are learning what they need to.

Finally, we share the ROI analysis results with stakeholders and everyone involved and use what we’ve learned to improve our training programs in the future.

Geeta: Awesome! I’d love to know about your leadership style. How do you inspire and motivate your L&D team?

Saumil: My DiSC personality type is iD. That shows that I am a little bit more focused on tasks than people. However, as an L&D leader, I provide multiple opportunities to my team to showcase their L&D competencies, build learning muscles continuously, receive regular feedback and recognition, and receive feedback from them to ensure I align myself with them on a regular basis.

Geeta: How do you ensure collaboration and effective communication within the L&D team and other departments, considering a lot of cross-functional communication is required?

Saumil: Well, ensuring collaboration and effective communication within the L&D team and with other departments is key. We start by making sure everyone knows how and when to communicate. We have an open-door policy where team members feel comfortable reaching out for help or clarification.

We really emphasize the importance of working together towards common goals. We want everyone to feel like they’re part of a team, whether they’re in L&D or another department. That’s why we foster a culture of openness and teamwork.

To avoid confusion, we make sure everyone knows their role and responsibilities. This is important not just within the L&D team but also across departments. We want to avoid any duplication of efforts and make sure everyone knows what they’re accountable for.

We keep a close eye on progress by regularly checking lead and lag indicators. This helps us stay on track and make any necessary adjustments along the way.

Feedback is also key. We want to hear from our team members and stakeholders on how we can improve our communication processes and collaboration efforts. It’s all about continuous improvement.

Geeta: Can you provide an example of a time when you successfully led a change in the culture of an organization through training initiatives?

Saumil: One significant change we implemented was shifting our focus from individual products to a product-mix-based profit and loss (P&L) approach.

Along with the skillset, we worked on mindset shift as well. For the organization it was a major change and hence assisting all employees to align with the organizational goals was important.

To ensure the sales organization was on board with this change, we implemented a structured assessment and learning journey. This helped build confidence within the team and facilitated the acceptance of the change. As a result, we started seeing the desired results.

Geeta: What is the future of L&D? What are the innovations that organizations can expect to bring in in the near future?

When we talk about the future of L&D, we’re really looking at a landscape that’s all about innovation, agility, and meeting the diverse learning needs of employees. Organizations that can embrace these trends and invest in cutting-edge learning technologies and strategies will have a real advantage in adapting and thriving.

One of the big factors shaping the future of L&D is technology. We’re seeing ongoing advancements that are really going to change how we approach training. For example, we’re looking at things like personalized learning experiences, where each employee gets a tailored learning path that suits their needs and preferences.

Then, there are immersive technologies like VR, AR, and mixed reality. These are really going to revolutionize the way training is delivered.

Gamification and serious games are exciting areas of development because they promise to make learning more engaging and enjoyable for employees, leading to better retention and application of knowledge.

Microlearning and bite-sized content are also going to be big because they are all about delivering learning in small, easily digestible chunks that employees can access whenever they have a spare moment. It’s a much more flexible and convenient way to learn, especially in today’s fast-paced world.

Remote work, distributed teams, and hybrid learning models are already established practices and they will continue to solidify other trends like mobile learning, which is seeing a lot of growth. Social learning and collaboration are also going to be key. We’re seeing a shift towards more collaborative ways of working, which will also extend to learning.

Every industry is becoming increasingly data-driven. This will play a big role in the future of L&D as well. As you can tell, I could go on and on.

So, to sum up, learning won’t be seen as a one-time event but as an ongoing process integrated into everyday work. Employees will be encouraged to take ownership of their learning and development, with opportunities for growth and development at every turn.

Geeta: How do you keep yourself abreast of your skills and knowledge to bring about the needed career progression in your life?

Saumil: As an L&D professional, I believe in the importance of continuous learning, not just for others but also for myself. So, I make it a point to invest in my self-development regularly.

I participate in networking events, round table conferences, and L&D events to socialize with my peers and learn the latest trends and best practices.

Overall, my approach to career progression involves a commitment to lifelong learning and staying connected with the broader L&D community.

Geeta: Thank you for sharing your work, ideas, and plans, Saumil! You’ve left our readers with many wonderful nuggets of wisdom, so thank you again!

Saumil: Thank you for having me on this interview, Geeta. It was a pleasure talking to you. I wish you and your readers all the best…let us keep learning and growing!

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