C.M. Sharma addresses the audience at the soft skill training programme in Ranchi on Thursday. Picture by Manik Bose

Ranchi, Aug. 7: It’s not about selling postcards and inland letters alone. The postal department is gearing up to increase its business.

A three-day workshop for the employees of the postal department began at GPO training centre on Thursday. Altogether 35 employees attended the training exercise aiming development of human resources for better efficiency and output.

Speaking on the occasion, experts of Humanity, a human resource development organisation, identified money, physical assets, management skills, and manpower to be of critical importance for the success of any organisation.

“Sometimes, despite having all the resources, the organisations fail to deliver the results due to poor utilisation abilities,” said C.M. Sharma of Humanity highlighting the need for training of employees. He also discussed importance of interpersonal communication within an organisation.

Another speaker, Sudha Jha, spoke on communication skills. “Our behaviour and communication should be market oriented. The objective of the postal department presently is to increase its business and not limit its services to selling inland letters and postcards. Hence, we need to bring changes in our working style. We must try to understand the needs of our customers and respond accordingly,” Jha pointed out.

The communication expert informed the participants about the changes taking place in the market and asked them to bring about behavioural changes to compete with the private sector organisations.

“Speaking politely with customers might help the postal department,” Jha added.

Experts would discuss subjects like personality development, soft skills, team building, time management and work culture during the remaining sessions of the workshop.

R.C. Choudhary, a staff member of the postal department, who attended the workshop, said communication skills and the right body language would help them deal with customers effectively. “We need to be firm, at times,” he said.