I’ve spent years building training programs across ships and island resorts, and here’s the truth I wish someone had told me earlier: The moments that shape a professional never arrive in the format your SOP prepared you for. They show up unannounced. They bend the rules. And they demand the one skill no manual can teach—judgment. At Niyama, a guest at Fahrenheit Bar once asked a new associate for something completely off the menu. He froze. Not because he lacked capability,

There’s a truth most people in L&D won’t admit out loud: The session that gets the loudest applause usually creates the least behaviour change. I learned this the long way, from land to Maldives, across the stillness of the Inner Alaska Passage, through the mental-health fog of Covid, and back to ships again. The Maldives taught me that learning doesn’t happen in the classroom. It happens when a butler keeps his composure with a difficult guest at 11 pm. It happens when a new

One of the biggest misconceptions about Learning & Development is that training rooms are predictable. They’re not. They are living, breathing spaces where culture, ego, history, fear, pride, and past experiences sit right next to each other. And the moment a sensitive topic enters, everything sharpens. Anyone who has trained global teams knows this. I’ve facilitated multicultural, multi-generational crews across cruise ships, island resorts, corporate offices, pre-opening te

Every team learns two things. What you officially train them to do. And what you unknowingly teach them every day. And the second one always wins. Across ships, hotels, and corporate teams, I’ve watched people absorb the real rules long before the formal ones. I once inherited a training room where no one spoke above a whisper. Same company, same brand, same SOPs. But one leader’s habit of shooting down ideas had taught the entire team to stay small. On another ship, a superv

In Learning & Development, we often talk about nudge, small, gentle ways to help people learn and grow. A reminder message. A quiz challenge. A leader board to make things fun. They sound harmless. Until they’re not. During the pre-opening of a new property, we introduced a “Learning Leader board.” The goal was simple, encourage teams to complete their training early. Within a week, numbers looked great. Within two, fatigue had set in. One team member said quietly, “Sir, I sk

During my early cruising years, sailing through the Inside Passage in Alaska, I once delivered a session I thought had gone perfectly. Slides crisp. Timing flawless. Every activity in place. By the next day, no one remembered much. That evening, at the crew bar, watching glaciers drift past the porthole, a cabin steward turned to me and said, “Kketan, your sessions are good. But they don’t sound like us.” I hadn’t expected that. But I needed it. I had delivered the training —

Every trainer faces that day. The day when your delivery is flawless, your slides are perfect, but your heart is quietly rebelling. Because what you’re teaching… you don’t believe in. It’s easy to train what you trust. The real test of leadership begins when you’re asked to stand behind something that doesn’t stand for you. I still remember the rollout of a shining “service excellence” program polished with buzzwords and laminated checklists. It looked perfect in a boardroom.

Let’s be honest — most training doesn’t fail in the classroom. It fails after it ends. You can have the perfect deck, engaging activities, and applause at the end and still lose 90% of that impact within a week. That’s not poor facilitation. That’s biology. Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus proved it long before corporate learning existed, the Forgetting Curve shows we lose 70% of new information within 24 hours, and up to 90% within seven days unless it’s reinforced. Every gre

Most sessions start with slides. Mine start with silence. Not because I don’t have things to say, but because I want to listen first. Every room carries its own rhythm, some are eager, others guarded. If you don’t tune in to that rhythm, even the best-designed session will miss its beat. Two decades across ships, resorts, and boardrooms have taught me this: Before people open their minds, they must feel safe enough to show up as themselves. That’s where real learning begins,

A few months ago, I requested to shadow our HR Director for a week. She’s one of those rare leaders who makes even the toughest conversations feel human. I wasn’t asked to do it. I chose to. Because part of my role involves training onboard managers on HR and leadership policies—and I realized I didn’t just want to teach them, I wanted to understand how they truly work when the stakes are high. On the very first morning, I watched her handle a challenging employee concern. Sh

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