Practical KnowledgeA Great Facilitator For Faster Professional And Personal Growth!

Sundeep was a brilliant engineer. He had stood first in his final year of production engineering and was naturally selected by Fiji’s best manufacturing organisation as a graduate engineer.

Interestingly, he was one of the

15 engineers that were selected from different colleges across Fiji.

As part of the induction process one of the many things that was done was to give them an actual glimpse of how the production of their various products was happening.

This process was going to be for 15 days so as to make all the engineers acquire a pleasantly thorough understanding of the specific production techniques and processes.

Induction process

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Through this entire time of the induction process there was one thing that stood apart and that was the subtle disinterest to participate in the factory visits by none other the topper among the 15 -member group, Mr Sundeep. His attitude was an unpleasant mix of over- confidence and arrogance especially towards some of his colleagues and especially towards some of the almost- to – retire production supervisors.

Unfortunately, within just a few days Sundeep started giving excuses for not going along with the team to the production facilities.

The two week induction process was completed and to everyone’s surprise the managing director, Navin called all the newly joined engineers and their respective mangers for a meeting. It was a Friday afternoon and as everyone was seated in the meeting room Mr Navin walked in and after congratulating each of the engineers, started enquiring about their experience so far.

“Dear colleagues, how was your 15 days of induction? I believe most of the time was spent by you on the production floor.

“Did you see how we produce our products?” he asked them with a big smile.

“Yes sir, I personally got to not only see the new technologies being used but also was able to interact with some of the production supervisors and the interactions with them, to me, was extremely informative and useful” one of the engineers answered.

The managing director continued, “Before I speak to you about the other aspects of this wonderful organisation I wish to know from you about all the various things you have been able to learn or observe from your two-week induction process.

“I will be extremely happy to listen to each one of you” hearing these words, one by one, all the 15 engineers started sharing their experiences. They excitedly spoke about all the things they had seen and observed in the factory.

Importance of being a team player

Interestingly, the one person who was most reluctant and almost in fear to express himself was Sundeep.

When his turn came to share, he looked completely out of place and very confused and there was a reason for that.

All through the two weeks he was not showing the sincere dedication and desire of wanting to see the processes and that was because he seemed very sure about the enormity of knowledge he had apparently acquired from his engineering college especially having been an A-grade student throughout the engineering course.

“Dear Sundeep, I am curious to know what all you have been able to extract as learning points from the two weeks of your induction, Mr Navin asked him.”

There was an elongated period of silence.

Sundeep was visibly looking out of place and started mumbling a few things which seemed incomprehensible to everyone. Mr Navin again intervened.

“Dear Sundeep, can I ask you a few questions and I will hope you can answer them.”

Saying this he posed three questions and upon listening to them Sundeep’s face brightened up and he answered each one of them with excellent alacrity and accuracy.

“That’s amazing Sundeep. “You answered each questions perfectly.

“Now let me ask you another set of three questions.” of the

As Sundeep began to hear them, he again started to get very nervous as he did not have any answer to them.

He stood there in an unpleasant silence while all the others began raising their hands to answer.

It was then that Mr Navin started explained to all the engineers and especially to Sundeep.

“Dear Sundeep, I wish to firstly congratulate you for acquiring the top rank in your final year of engineering and I am very proud of you for that.

Having said this, the first three questions were answered by you splendidly but when the other three questions were asked, you were absolutely unable to respond. Do you know the reason for that? Well, it is simple.

The first three questions were those related to the books you had studied during your engineering course and the latter ones were those related specifically to our production processes, which you would have been able to answer if you had passionately participated in the induction process. I am aware of the fact that of the two weeks of induction in the factory, you were present only for five days and the rest of the time you rendered excuses for not going with the others to the production floor.

Importance of practical knowledge

You must understand that although knowledge acquired from studying books is important, the practical knowledge acquired through actual observations and interactions with experienced employees are as important if not more. In fact, I am of the belief that your knowledge should be a beautiful confluence of that is from the books and that you will gain by observing the process of work. Please remember that this is true not only for the function of production but for each and every department such as finance, sales, marketing, human resource, purchase and others.

Professional and personal future

I am sharing all this with you and the others as a positive and hopefully a useful lesson towards the development of your professional and personal future”

The words from Mr Navin were extremely influential and positive as well as thought provoking not just for Sundeep and all the other engineers but also could be a useful learning for us as well!

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