Helping with assessment of data for an employee to become a leader must be a cornerstone in training. It not only helps employees more clearly see their own behavior, but also provides insights into their psychological makeup, including a deeper understanding of how individual traits shape those behaviors.
With an agenda to assess people, processes and organization leading to development of people, process and organizations, AnD stands for “Assessment & Development ” which started back in 2009. It has emerged as one of the most preferred brands when it comes to core Organizational Development (OD) work. The company has tried to ground their work on theory and not just on previous experience. This ensured that their work not only solved (tried to) visible issues but also the underlying causes.
A pioneer in organizational development
Sajiri Chidgupkar started AnD HR Solutions in September of 2009. Doing a work that was challenging, satisfying and whose results were impactful was the primary reason for starting the organization. Over the years, AnD has made conscious efforts to stay the course, if it has wavered at times, Sajiri has ensured that it course corrects. When she started the organization, while there were organized players in the training vertical and assessment vertical, there were very few organized players in the area of OD Consulting. HR Consulting was still seen as the synonym for a recruitment firm. To fill this void was one of the key reasons to start AnD. Monimoy Sengupta joined the organization later the same year. Sajiri and Monimoy together have worked to ensure that the offerings and more importantly the execution of the projects have created satisfied and loyal customers. In the course of the journey, AnD joined hands with Kairee Group of Organization with focus in document management and software development.
Vertical training for coping with challenges
AnD’s services are predominately in two verticals OD Consulting and Training. In the consulting vertical, the focus is to provide sustainable solution to varied organization challenges ranging from having the right organization structure which is aligned to business to creating a framework of succession planning which facilities an organization’s continuous growth.
AnD has division specially focusing on the SME/MSME sector. The work in this sector is to help organization set up processes that are aligned to their business goals. The idea is to help interested organizations move from being people dependent to process driven. All these while, ensuring that they don’t fall in the trap of getting influenced by organizations that are larger and at different stage of maturity. They use all their 100 plus man years of consulting experience to bring the best to their clients.
Under the training vertical, AnD cater to the learning needs of individuals which in turn are drawn from the goals of the organization. They offer these services through a network over 30 trainers across the globe.
The training vertical sees a special focus on Executive Coaching, which the organization offers through a tie up with Dr. S Brett Savage, the founder and chief coach of US based organization, Next Phase of Leadership LLC. Their program design incorporates post program follow up. This is simple but difficult aspect has seen a 43% higher recollection of learning and implementation. Their consulting and training programs are built on AnD’s 4D approach of Diagnose-Define-Design-Deliver.
Maintaining the solutions in standardized form
AnD believes their clients should gain a balanced approach towards all their provided assignments. The balance is between practical solutions which are theory backed and sustainable. Their main focus is on the solutions (training or consulting).
The other aspect which defines AnD’s approach to work is honesty. Honesty in terms of ensuring that not only do they avoid oversell, but even if the client asks for certain things which they don’t believe will help the organization, then they try to discourage clients from the same.
Awareness in service providers and receivers
In the last 9 years, AnD has witnessed the industry become mature. What mature refers to is that the service providers are becoming more aware of the true need of the organizations and not just have symptomatic approach to problems.
The customers have become more aware of their needs and this is great for the industry. This ensures that the efforts put in by both parties yield results which are both tangible and sustainable.
Criticalness of interpretation of client requisites
AnD likes to categorize clients who are very clear what they want and other who just have a problem and looking at external support to better understand and address the same. The second category is typically easier to work with as they are very receptive. The first category has a subcategory, these clients not only know what they want but also know exactly how they want to go about it. It is this category that at times become difficult to work with. This is why clients are not looking at them as consultants but only as ‘resource’ executors. They need a lot of pushing to get them to see the possibility that solutions may exist outside their defined paths.
One of AnD’s client wanted to do a team building program and on further inquiry the company realized that while the participants were part of the same organizations, their role didn’t demand them to work as team in the traditional sense. AnD had a challenge in explaining that the program client needed was a typical team building program, instead they needed a specifically designed intervention which would allow the participants to interact in a manner that allowed them to be aware and in turn appreciative of the other team’s work.
Evenness in terms of Healthy Work Environment
A healthy work life environment is a must for any organization. The catch is in what is defined as “healthy” and “work-life environment”. AnD believe that organizations have different definitions for these terms and that is what sets them apart. What is essential is that the organization as whole (the management and employees) must subscribe to the same definitions. It is when different definitions exist that the trouble starts brewing.
AnD HR Solutions LLP: Advancing each aspect of organizational development
