Ravneet Singh_BLP015_Self Leadership_October 2012

16-Oct-2012

The class began with a quick insight into the learning from the previous classes about six layers of self awareness followed by discussions about the plays enacted by us at Sidbari as part of CORD visits. Continuing further, Anil sir introduced the concept of intellect and its role in the decision making process.

The process of decision making begins with defining the frame followed by collecting meaningful & reliable information. In the next step we define several creative and doable alternatives followed by defining the logic for evaluation. Moving further we focus on values and evaluate tradeoffs. Finally, one needs to look into the possible implementation of the decision.

We then discussed about Dr. Ron Howard and his research on “Decision analysis”. This was followed by an exercise in which we analyzed, identified and discussed our career choices within our teams, using the Decision framework.

Later, we discussed on creativity and identified the possible reasons for being low on creativity. We talked about the interesting Indian scenario on how most of us start losing on creativity aspect with maturity. A holistic education system and an open minded upbringing of children is the need of the hour. We did a fun exercise wherein we jolted down the some of the creative uses of objects like Pen, cup integrated with marker and mapping an engine with mother-in-law. In relation to creativity we discussed about Ideation fluency, originality of thinking, associational fluency and Synetics.

The lack of creativity was further linked to the concept of fear. To get a better understanding, we were asked to do an exercise to analyze and overcome our fears through knowledge and comprehension about it.  Further we discussed about the values close to our hearts and the people who matter the most to us. In the last session, we learnt the concept of “Ladder of Inference” given by Peter Senge. It is an effective tool that helps in understanding and explaining why we so often get into conflict and fail to get resolution.

22-Oct-2012

The session began on an emotional note discussion on the bravery and courage of Major Shaitan Singh and his troops during the Indo China War of 1962. We were asked to reflect on the question: “What does courage mean to you and capture the essence of it?” Moving further sir discussed about his personal experience of struggle and display of courage during the 1984 riots. We then came up with our views regarding Courage. One of the most appreciated definitions of courage came from one of our classmate which said” Courage is not absence of fear but the judgment that something else is more important than fear”.

Anil sir shared a video of world’s happiest man Matthieu Ricard which emphasized on the importance of living in present moment. It reflected that happiness is intrinsic can be attained by achieving inner peace, inner fulfillment & self confidence. We can achieve it through regular meditation as it is very powerful technique of watching your breath and attaining peace. 

We further learnt about the value of happiness in real world and determinants of happiness. The determinants are:

1.        Religion
2.        Good Relationship
3.        Thinking Style
4.         Exercise-Mental and Physical

 It was followed by an interesting discussion about how economists can learn from psychologists so that happiness can find a place in economic thoughts of the country.

In the last session, we had a great time practicing meditation with Anil sir in class. I felt refreshed, rejuvenated and connected with my inner self. With my amazing experience during yoga classes and this session, I have decided to continue with yoga and meditation practice.

In the end, we learnt the concept of ‘Immunity X-ray’ which is a scientific way of overcoming your fear and bringing change in oneself. We were asked to think and write about things that we want to change in our self but have often found it difficult to change. We have to confront all the grey areas in us, face the truth and overcome the mental blocks which form hindrance in the path of achieving what we aspire.

Ravneet_Singh_BLP015_Self Leadership_September 2012.doc

SELF LEADERSHIP

The session began with a revision of the 6 layer Self awareness model

1) Body, Perception - Diversity

2) Instinct, Reaction - Information

3) Relationship/Emotions, The mind - Compassion

4) Intellect, Choices - Ethics’

5) Ego-Values/Habit/Fear - Wisdom

6) Life giving forces, Truth - Mindfulness

 Then we were asked to share our thoughts and feelings on the incident occurred in which we lost two of our beloved friends Rahul & Gaurav.

In the second part of the session we discussed the concepts of emotional intelligence. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is acquired through our education and upbringing and can be mastered. Mastering EI requires a lot of experience which can be enriched through good listening skills. A good listening practice is to listen to others as if life depends on it. The art of appreciating the views of others is to place ourselves in the speaker’s shoes and then ponder over the thoughts expressed. This was also demonstrated practically with the help of two of our classmates wherein one of them was told to wear shoes of the other with and without removing own shoes. Also, to appreciate the view of the speaker we must focus on understanding what the speaker is trying to convey along with paraphrasing ( or using synonyms) the feelings and thoughts expressed by the speaker. Emotional quotient leads to trust which is built by respect, thus enabling us to appreciate the uniqueness of a person.

The third part of the session focused on Appreciative Inquiry (AI), a concept with which we had dated earlier also during Charlie Murphy’s workshop and leadership sessions. AI is a generative process wherein we appreciate the thoughts of the speaker and ask questions with a child like enthusiasm. For a better understanding of AI, we were given some very simple questions to reflect upon.

·         When were you at your best during your tenure at SOIL?

·         When was SOIL at its best during this tenure?

The entire class was divided into pairs and each pair was asked to share their experiences related to given questions with the allocated partner. Following this we paraphrased the answers of our allocated partners as part of AI process. The answers were documented by Anil sir and the traits of each of the students were appreciated.

The last part of the session was a reflection of our learning throughout the day. We all formed a circle and shared our good experiences throughout life which we would like to carry with us as good memories and unhappy experiences which we want to take off our backs and not carry their burden ahead in life. This was followed by the students thanking Anil sir for the wonderful and enriching session.

..

Ravneet_Singh_BLP015_Happiness_September 2012

 Happiness can be simply defined as a state of well being, characterized by an aura of positivity and contentment. Quite interestingly, with the advent of technology, the current techno savvy generation has given a unique definition to “Happiness” in the form of easy to use smiling emoticons such as “J” and “:D”.

Happiness may mean different things for different people viz. one may be happy because he/ she won a lottery, someone else might be happy because he/ she managed to arrange sufficient food for his/ her family for the day and someone might be happy because his/her crush passed her/him a smile.

Aristotle has quiet aptly quoted “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence”. Whatever we do, the way we handle different situations or react to innumerous things happening around us, is knowingly or unknowingly governed by our inner desire to be in the “State of Happiness”. Ah! The term “to be in state of Happiness” reminds me of the economics concept of business cycles where in there are irregular expansions and contractions in the economic activity. Here the “expansions” denote the state of happiness and “contractions” denote the difficult phases in our life. Life is a mixed bag of good and difficult times, the difficult times being the testing phase. Like the contractions phase is followed by an expansion phase, similarly difficult times brings with them the hope of moving back to the “Happiness State”.

Most of us hope and pray for a problem free and a happy life. My take on this is that life would be quite lifeless, boring and monotonous in the absence of difficult times. Life definitely is much better with the presence of difficulties along with happiness. Well, things may not be always under our control but a simple mantra of just staying positive and striving hard, to find a way up from the down phase, can do wonders.  

Ravneet_Singh_BLP015_Self_Leadership_May2012

Leadership is to take self lead, have self belief, be dependable and have a positive outlook even in difficult times. To take self lead, one needs to understand the “Self Model”. The self model comprises of 6 layers as depicted below :

1. Body - "Divesity"
2. Instincts
3. Emotions - "Compassion"
4. Intellect - "Ethics"
5. Ego - "Sustainability"
6. Truth - "Mindfulness"

One needs to overcome the self barriers and attain synchronization of body, mind and soul. “The soul is the subject here and rest all are objects”. One needs to leverage on the strengths and overcome the weaknesses in the journey of becoming a leader.

As a leader, the ability to effectively communicate with the people is a very powerful tool for influencing, inspiring and motivating people. For effective communication to take place the complete involvement of the speaker and listener is necessary. Understanding is not governed only by speaking as is the common notion; rather each and every spec of the human body can be used to convey the message.  Like a simply touch to sympathize with someone can convey what may be difficult to express with words.

So we can say that, to lead and inspire self, one has to lead with a synchronized body, mind and soul.