2nd Leadership Module - by Rituparna Mukherjee

Leadership Module- II

Facilitators - Christine Blome and David Seghezzi

Date- 18-20 October 2021

 

I am reading a book by a Japanese Zen Monk which imparts 100 daily practices to live a simple life. One of the chapters speaks of “Discover another you”. This leadership module echoes with the idea of finding the authentic you. Was the task easy? Certainly not.

The last leadership module facilitated by David and Christine was insightful and this week was quite intense as well. The discussions were fascinating such as religious texts and how they extend the idea of leadership, how to be an authentic leader, capitalism and leadership, importance of space cleaning, transformation, values, dialogues, VUCA, agility and the list is endless.

The most satisfying statement for me would be “the skill of leadership can be developed” as we have the misconception that leaders are born and not made. However, acing this skill is not a doodle. It takes time, patience, practice, reflections and most importantly knowing yourself, which I perceive to be very challenging. In today’s fast-paced world, we do not have time to sit with ourselves, absorb and even may ask a question to self “how are you feeling”?

The facilitators introduced a self -reflective exercise called ‘U journaling’, which aids access to deeper levels of self-knowledge and to connect this knowledge to concrete actions. It was certainly not a walk in the park as I was struggling with a few questions, but it unfolded the idea of how less importance we give to ourselves.

The second session focussed on values. This was intriguing as it discussed values that may be desired by all, but we have been conditioned to see them as unfavourable. The acceptance of hidden values, I assume helped MGG participants to see the real self. The latter part of the session explored dialogue and ways to hold it.

On the final day, quite interesting conversations took place, and it also marked the beginning of the “storming phase” in the team development for the change maker projects wherein we all started pouring in our thoughts, ideas, and ways to approach to cases.

With all that said and done, I see the sessions on leadership and building self as quite significant. This also helps us to perceive that the world we live in is as complex as our thoughts. It encouraged to understand that in some situations people aren’t wrong, it is just the values that differ. Also, nothing is black or white but assorted shades of grey. Such sessions also give us a peek in the inner thoughts of colleagues to understand each other better.

I left the sessions with a lot to reflect and to embrace the authentic me.

- Rituparna Mukherjee