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| Sunday, 7 September 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Personality plus Milinda Wijayasekara : Inspiring people to do their best
Family Born to a family of two boys, Wijayasekara's father was an assistant commissioner while his mother was a teacher. Education He had his education at Nalanda College where he was a senior prefect. After completing his Advanced Level examination, he went overseas for higher studies. Wijayasekara graduated in the UK, specialising in Marketing. He did his post-graduate studies at Herriot Watt University, UK. Career He said: "During my stay in the UK, I got the opportunity of working as a manager for leading petroleum retailing company Polygon Retailing Ltd, Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire, Sectorsure Ltd and as Manager Retail Services for Henlys (Volvo) London Ltd. While working at these places, I learnt a lot and sharpened my skills, which have helped me a lot in my career as a trainer. "After coming back to Sri Lanka, I joined Office Network Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Metropolitan Group Ltd, as Head of Sales. Once the oil sector was liberalised, I joined BP Castrol as its Sales Manager and remained there until I got into the shoes of a trainer." Change "During my stint at BP Castrol, I worked as a national trainer for SMTF for five years during my spare time. I was appointed as the Regional Trainer for South East Asia by SMTF in 2002. "SMTF is committed to enhancing the professional selling and marketing skills of people engaged at all levels of sales and marketing," he said. "I always wanted to be different and thought out of the box. I believe that I am different from other trainers because I take one step ahead of the trainees. I never give long lectures at my training programmes as I believe that people have had enough of them. Instead, I try to be interactive and practical so that they also start to think out of the box, be creative and apply what they learnt to their work at their offices. "When customers come to me and request for a training programme, I study their needs - the staff requirements, competition and organisational objectives - and give them a tailor-made programme. I never give prepared programmes. This, I feel, is the secret behind our success, helping us to train over 60 corporate, private and public sector organisations. "The training workshops are very interactive and adopt the latest techniques where participants learn in a pleasant atmosphere through role plays, games and by interacting with others. We always follow up the progress through Measuring Business Excellence programmes and evaluate participants' performances regularly. "Most organisations have high staff turnover due to lack of understanding and employees not being identified by their skills and qualities. Relationships and understanding are high when interaction is there. Modern interactive workshops play a vital role in developing employer-employee relationships," Wijayasekara opined. Training "Training is a need at all levels and an ongoing practice. To keep the momentum of being a successful professional entrepreneur, we have to develop human resources in a methodical manner and training and coaching play a vital role in this regard," he said. Today, though employees are skilled, they lack commitment, loyalty, ownership and integrity. This can only be changed by introducing professionalism at all levels, which can be achieved by training them on the job so that they get an opportunity to practice what they learn. "Training makes a big difference to the entire workforce and will inspire them to be loyal, efficient and productive individuals for organisational and national success. "Therefore, it is time we gave more thought to professional training for a better future and competitive advantages." Advice Wijayasekara said: "This is more a message than an advice; value your human resources and give them the right place as they are the key to your success". Future plans Since the socio-economic climate in the North and East is showing positive signs, the SMTF has plans to look for more opportunities in developing young and talented individuals in the area. ########## Fact File |
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News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
Dedication, honesty and the belief that nothing is impossible together
with his mother's courage, love and guidance have brought success for
Milinda Wijayasekara, Regional Trainer South East Asia of Sales and
Marketing Training Forum (SMTF).
