Addressing Core Challenges of L&D Management of a Global Employee-base: Interview with Rohit Bhasin

Rohit Bhasin, Learning& Development Manager at Doha Bank, is passionate about consulting with individuals, teams and leadership tohelp them figure out where they are, where they want to be, and then helpingthem get there. Rohit is currently responsible for conceptualizing and developingL&D solutions for improved productivity, building capability and enhancequality for Doha Bank- Qatar, UAE, Kuwait and India operations. 

With proven practical experience in assessing, building, implementing, facilitatingand measuring L&D solutions, learning curricula and other performanceimprovement activities, Rohit possesses a strong ability to engage and influencesenior teams and the C-suite to support a positive change.

Rohit’s academic background includes HR management, L&D management,marketing, sales and commerce, which is further strengthened by his 16+ yearsof progressive work experience in a diverse multinational work environment.

In this quick interview, Rohit discusses L&D trends, the challengesof training a global workforce and the role of learning technology, especiallythe LMS, in achieving the desired learning impact.

From your 12+ years ofexperience in OD and L&D, what is the one skill all L&D managers musthave today for the workplace of tomorrow?

As per my understanding and awareness, I firmly believe in today’stechnology driven transformative time L&D professionals just need to be ‘ConsciouslyCompetent’, which is to say that they have to conscious about themselves aswell as the demands, challenges and vision of the organization; at the sametime being competent and proactive enablers and curators to provide learner-centricsolutions for existing and emerging talent.  

For a company like Doha Bankwith offices in Qatar, UAE, Kuwait and India, what are the core challenges andsolutions for managing L&D of its large, global employee-base?

With our offices and workforce present in 21 geographical locations, someof our key challenges are to identify real learning needs, meet employee learningexpectations, and build an engaging learning culture in an efficient and costeffective manner. To address these challenges we committed ourselves to bringrole specific, competency based, quality learning access for our globallydispersed staff on their preferred device, thus giving them convenience oflearning anytime, anywhere, and align the learning with annual performancereviews to build a stronger learning culture. And, this is primarily what ledus to collaborate with UpsideLMS, which in turn led us to developing our mobilelearning app ‘D.B. Taeleem’.

Doha Bank recently launched amLearning App for employee skilling & development. Apart from MobileLearning, what other trends and technologies do you foresee for corporateL&D?   

Although we still need toembrace mobile learning completely, considering the vast opportunity it has tooffer for learners and for L&D. No doubt with mobile, learning has becomeeasier, faster and more convenient.

In my opinion, one of the trends I foresee is Adaptive Learning. Technologiesthat would act like a inter-woven shadow coach or mentor, and would be objective-basedto strengthen the learner determined strength in the learners’ preferred style,while tracking their daily progress and giving real time feedback; ultimately developing learneras the most competitive expert in the specific domain/role.