PEOPLE MANAGEMENT SKILLS FOR THE SAI BABA TEMPLE STAFF @ SHIRDI

13th Nov`2011

The Sai Baba Temple @ Shirdi has a staff of 3,000 people to manage Darshan, Security, as well as the Sai Prasadalaya. Some of them have been with the Shirdi Sansthan for almost 30 years, having risen from the rank of clerk or peon, holding just a graduate's degree at best. The mental wear and tear that results from managing one crore devotees annually has been taking a toll on this 3,000-strong staff of the Sai Baba Temple`Shirdi. Devotees too have often suggested that the Shirdi Temple staffers need to acquire People Management Skills. The Shirdi Sai Trust itself recognizing this fact has now, for the first time ever, devised a corporate-style "Evangelization" program for senior employees to address this issue. The Trust is now determined to impart professional training & soft skills to its staff on a regular basis.

The Shirdi Shrine has 165 personnel, who function as watchmen and have never acquired job skills. So, within the next few weeks, a special batch of 45 Security-men of the Sai Baba Temple will get their first training lesson at the Police Training Academy in Nashik`Maharashtra. Also, recently, Human Resource professionals from top-notch corporate companies like Coke, Raymonds, Taj Group & Aditya Birla Financial Services conducted a day-long workshop for 250 Sai Temple employees in the Temple's dining hall itself. This was the first time that the Shirdi Sai Baba Temple employees ever had corporate professionals addressing them. The Organizers 'Universal Management Forum' likened the Temple to a Mall that must provide "Customer delight, not merely Satisfaction". It was said that the "Temple was a Firm whose product was Sai Baba", and that the devotees were actually customers, with one important difference and that was that they came in times of distress & need. While speaking on Team engagement & value systems, it was said that the Shirdi Sansthan was unique in that, it was not a hospitality chain but yet welcomed lakhs of guests with their USP - a Saint whose ideology touches millions of devotees. The Sai Temple Management was advised to blend corporate practices in its day-to-day operations and to cultivate a people-centric approach.

cOnventional Management: DevelOping wOrk thrOugh peOple ! Real Management: DevelOping peOple thrOugh wOrk !!
....Agha Hasan Abedi