Grey Cells: building futures through innovative training programs

Grey Cells: building futures through innovative training programs

With labour relations getting complicated and complex day by day and the introduction of Neo-liberal policies in India which partly loosened the shackles on the movement of labour, the requirement of organized consultancy firms became utmost important in the corporate world. Corporates often face hindrances in the recruitment process.

The financial burden, allocation of extra resources, not able to maintain quality due to a shortage of necessary funds and such other issues put a strain on companies' health and performance. Hence, these tasks are often outsourced to specialized firms who can efficiently handle such tedious tasks.

Grey Cells (HRD, Training & Placement Services) is such a firm catering to the human resource need of the Industry. The firm came into existence on 1st June 1995 with a promise to the industry of providing quality Topic-based Trainers' Training & HR services.

The firm's efficiency can be measured through an anecdote when they helped their client Titan Labs double their turn-over in a year's time through an effective Performance Monitoring System.

"We have maintained the momentum by identifying the chasms of the industry and then offering our clients unique high-quality products and services to fill those gaps.

Thus, creating a premium position for the Grey Cells." Asserts Mehul Kuwadia, the dynamic leader behind the brand. A multifarious personality, Mr Kuwadia is an Industry veteran homing 30+ years' experience in the human resource development. He is being actively associated with different management associations.

Mehul has been a visiting faculty at many of the Premium Management Institutes. Mr. Kuwadia is very well-known Executive Coach & is also known for conducting Skill Building and Behavioural Programs.

He personally trained over 25,000 Managers & Executives through 1000+ programs in 200+ companies.

Under his patronage, the firm's endeavour has reached new pinnacles while growing at the rate of 1.5 new clients per week and has availed the tag of the fastest growing Training Consultancy. Until now, the number of National & international clients has surpassed 1500. Grey Cells has provided services to 150 of India's Top 500 corporates.

What has been the secret behind this growth magnet? To know more about Mehul and his brain-child Grey Cells, our editorial team spoke to him. Here are the edited excerpts…

What makes Grey cells particularly important in the industry?

Our expertise is well blended in our solutions that we provide through the following verticals/domain:

Consultancy Services:

Strategic HRD & Training Consultancy, Executive Coaching, Employee Surveys, Competency Modelling, Assessment Centre, etc.

Psychometric Assessments:

Harrison Assessments, Set of 16 Psychometric Assessment Tools, Psychometric Assessors' Certification Workshop

In-Company/In-house; On-site/Off-site; Indoor/Outdoor Programs:

Leadership Development Program, Train the Trainer, EXCEL – Managerial Effectiveness Program, Management Education Program, MDPs, EDP & SDPs, SELL-WELL – Program for Sales Team, SMART – Staff Development Program

Trainer Empowerment

Certification Programs:-Basic Train-the-Trainer Workshop, Topic-based Train-the-Trainer Workshops, E-Learning

Training Material: Trainers' Training Kits, Training Films

The Executive search of right candidates at managerial levels from all functions & industries

Skill Development & Assessment – under Government's SKILL INDIA initiative

Our firm is now one of the few holistic strategic consultancies. One of the unique features of Grey Cells that makes us stand apart from others is the innovative HR services we provide along with the contemporary ones.

Are there any challenges involved?

The foremost challenge that we face as a consultancy firm is copying of our unique solutions and offerings by other rival consultancies at 50% or even lesser prices while compromising the quality.

Another challenge that we face is the infringement of copyright issues. It has come to our notice that many consultancies are operating in the name of Grey Cells thereby misleading clients.

With such a fast-growing team, how do you make sure everybody stays motivated and how do you support the corporate culture?

Our corporate culture is very open with a lot of autonomy to the staff thereby ensuring opportunities for growth. We believe in doing in what we preach. We implement all the HR policies that we advise our clients.

How do you learn in your life and what is your biggest dream?

To remain updated with surroundings, I rely upon the wisdom of books. My reading average is around 10-12 books a year. I want to create 500 vanguard leaders not necessarily business leaders as my contribution for giving back to society. My dream is to make a difference in one lakh lives.

Tell me about when you failed. How did you overcome?

I would say my biggest failure is when my dream of becoming an engineer shattered when I flunked my 12th standard Exams (the foundation stone of a career).

This incident left me in despair for many days. Then I made up my mind of not letting that episode dictate the fate of my life. I overcame the hopelessness by reminding myself 'Whatever had to happen has happened, now what next?'

What was the most difficult lesson you have learned as an entrepreneur?

The difficult lesson that I learned would be to always have faith on your own. Too much dependency on others is counter-productive. There is a saying in Gujarati, 'You have to yourself die to go to heaven, you can't go to heaven through someone else's death.'

What lies for the firm on the road ahead?

We are going to launch a monthly HR magazine in coming days along with tech-based HR services. Ideas are on a planning stage and will take a year's time to be made available in the public domain.

We aim to be amongst the Top 10 consultancies. Currently, Grey Cells holds position amongst Top 25 consultancies in India.

What advice can you give entrepreneurs who want to venture into the same domain in the future?

Mehul has some sound and profound advice for the young ones out there:–

Engineer your career: Pick jobs not only on based on remuneration, position or organization but how it will assist in your career goals.

Continuously Upgrade yourself: One should be aware of the developments happening around and your domain.

Necessity is the mother of invention: Ask yourself: what is missing? What/where is the gap? What is the future? How can I be unique & useful?

Give-up, when copied; don't become "me-too": Idea may not always remain innovative as they are produced due to working knowledge. You must not get stuck, move on to work on another idea.

The formula for success: A need-based 'excellent' offering + Personal passion for the offering + An effective strategy for launching + Team Execution + Commitment, Persistence & Consistency + Sensitivity to Customer = Success.

Dynamic Leadership

Mehul Kuwadia

CEO

Mr Kuwadia has BA & MA in psychology, Masters in HR, Diploma in Training & Development & also a Diploma in Dramatics from Indian National Theatre & a Certificate course in Filmmaking from Xavier's Institute of Communication.

Mehul's keen interest in Astrology and Palmistry made him formally study it from Bhartiya Vidhya Bhavan. Mr Kuwadia is a regular columnist on various management topics. He is been actively associated with different management associations.