Bewitched!

Yesterday I was browsing aimlessly through he television channels when something caught my attention. William Makepeace was cooking Macaroni on TLC. I am not a cookery-show buff or a cooking enthusiast myself. What made me stop on TLC for sometime was the pleasure of seeing a expert at work. The ease and speed with which he chopped onions, smashed garlic, fluffed the macaronis, tell about the recipe, the spices, all almost at the same time without missing a task was amazing. He seemed totally engaged in his job and his expert skills made it look damn easy.
Agreed cooking is no rocket science, but I have had the same feeling when I saw Harsha Bhogle commenting on cricket, or Messi dribbling the ball to glory or for that matter watching my son play Angry Birds. None of these may be rocket-science either but all of them have something in common and that is their high-degree of skilled-engagement with their respective jobs, no matter how important or how unimportant the jobs are to the world. What is equally interesting is that the ones who observe them are also hooked and engaged and want to do with their jobs with equal (perceptual) ease.
Skills creates engagement not only for the skilled but also for the ones who are aspiring. And skill comes through training and education. Companies trying to create engagement must invest in the same. "Lupin's new project – ‘‘Learn and Earn' programme’ is yet another case of marrying for mutual benefit the aspirations and needs of a set of youngsters with the company's manpower needs. People@Work has profiled companies such as Hardcastle Restaurants (McDonald's India – West and South) which has forged tie-ups with institutions such as Symbiosis and has made part-timing a way of work to encourage employees to study alongside." Lupin heavy and suatined investments in training have already paid them rich dividends.