Concentrating on the detail
The days at training seem to have settled into some sort of routine now though I am yet to kick into serious study mode.
Yesterday started well, I arrived early enough to at least socialise before my class started and soon we got into a topic I am not only keen of covering or learning, I was determined to understand the full detail of the subject.
This was quite pertinent because it was one in which I could find direct application and realise I had not been opportuned to use – my trainer took his time too to ensure I that I got the best grasp of the subject, it ended up being my longest day at the training centre.
Feedback on feeding back
Besides, early in the morning, as I logged into the “Center Automation System” that allows for a whole range of interactive activity with the organisation, I was presented with an “Interim Feedback” survey covering all aspects of my experience in India.
My trainer in my honest opinion obtained full marks other matters bordered from average to good but I did have a good few opinions about things that needed to be improved upon and felt it was best to reference my earlier 3 blogs on my experiences than itemise each issue again.
In terms of the survey, I felt the user experience was poor for the following reasons; it was not intuitive, the design was perfunctory and each of the rating elements lacked imagination in presentation, we were to offer most of our subjective opinions in terms of numbers from 0 to 10 and that was just not how to set up such surveys.
Words convey thoughts better
The redesign, if they so attempt to be so inspired and responsive is to change the answering model to modal words that in some cases will be one or a combination of the following sets of responses, {true, false}, {very satisfactory, satisfactory, unsatisfactory}, {good, neutral, bad}, {strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree} or {happy, unhappy}.
They could stretch these out to match a range of 10 radio buttons whilst the backend of the survey invisible to us might still use the numerate weighting if they so wish. The simple fact is words and phrases convey thought a lot better than numbers.
I also observed that for a training organisation they did not seem to be eating any of their own dog-food, for instance, if they offered CRM training they should be able to create useful surveys; as one that offered networking training, Internet access downtimes of almost 24 hours were just beyond the pale and most importantly, the labs which could be labour intensive and eat into essential class time to be remotely accessible to students to review and work on after-hours.
One would think that would help the reinforcement process considering most of the training manuals had content of up to 40% labs.
No sleepwalking into food bugs again
After the rite of passage in terms of my Delhi belly, I decided to be less adventurous with regards to food, I will stick to hot rice meals and make curd with honey part of my daily diet.
For my Tuesday class, I struggled to keep awake; the night before for restless and sleepless than I resorted to alarm-patting putting my wake calls into snooze mode every 10 minutes until I had to crawl out of bed and make for the training centre.
My trainer has not mastered the art of teaching into the dreams of nodding students, a skill I think he will do well to acquire.
The virtual prison of Internet down
Meanwhile, Internet access was down for a few hours but the centre proactively had someone bring round a notice to inform us of the problem and why. The road in front of the centre is being repaired and it appears the constructors had dug up the cables – the service was restored just around lunch but informing us ensured we did not end up being frustrated by the inability to access the Internet.
I was able to borrow a mobile dongle for about 15 minutes to check my email and other social networking sites and for short breaks I just go up to the terrace at the top of the building to take in some polluted air and smog, but then, that is New Delhi for you.
All over the world
I am meeting people from many places, as Angola, Tanzania, Cameroon, Eritrea, England, Germany, Iraq, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Nigeria evidently and so on. There is no doubt that the training is excellent; even those who came here with very little Information Technology knowledge, training or career backgrounds are passing their tests at first sitting – it is commendable.
What is also interesting is the number of people who have come here who do not live in their countries of origin, people like me who are in some ways world citizens and those with US military backgrounds; listening to some of the conversations, that setup appears to be an inscrutable bureaucracy rivalling the License Raj in the demotivation of personnel and absurd politics but awash in tax payers’ money expended on atrocious projects – enough said.
Some praise is due
After classes I was on a white-knuckle auto-rickshaw ride to the tailors to consider bespoke suit shopping, you had to be determined, not to be persuaded to buy what you do not want for needs that do not exist.
Dinner is now served as a buffet, the chefs constantly improving the menus and the setup now makes for less waste; that again was a suggestion that was heeded to. It would appear more people are moving from the apartments to our inn; word must have gotten out that things are at a standard that can be appreciated.
Well done to the staff at Koenig Inn and also to the Koenig Solutions team in New Delhi.
Other related blogs
Incredible India: Incredible Dissatisfaction
Incredible India: Honest to Koenig Solutions
Incredible India: We lost power to internet (sic)
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