Diary of Discovery

Name: SAMBIT RATH

Roll No: 1411262

Leadership and Change management

Diary of Discovery

Leadership and Change Management It is a necessity for todays managers to find interactive and creative solutions in their

present day to day working. The key to find solutions lies with the persons implementing the

changes and with the people i.e. how they adapt to the changes. Hence, managing

leadership and change management is an importance issue for managers.

The subject Leadership and Change Management, therefore has assumed paramount

importance for me. The learning opportunities were immense, and it has shown me how

leadership and change management principles go hand in hand, and how by learning the

principles one can add to and hone his managerial skills.

Each Session in the course had different things to offer, and it helped us to discover

ourselves. It helped us realize that each and every individual has a different style of

leadership, and each style needs different types of approaches for self-improvement.

Since each class had different learnings, I have tried to jot my learnings that happened

during the course, class by class basis.

Session 1:

Leadership and Change Management: The Magic and the Music

This session introduced the basics of leadership qualities. We learnt about different leadership

styles, i.e. democratic, coaching, pace setting, autocratic, coercive, affiliative etc. and the

difference between the types.

The sessions highlighted the difference between being and becoming. Identifying ones

strength and weakness is most important in order to know what needs to be done for ones self-

improvement.

Some of the idioms which I personally liked were:

a)When I is replaced by W, illness becomes Wellness.

This highlighted the advantages of unity, the power of working in teams can do wonders and can

remove all hurdles.

b) A lion never loses sleep over opinions of the sheep

In order to succeed in life, one needs to listen to many alternate view points, but one need not

endorse any them. One should have his goals and thoughts clear. Others opinions hardly matter

as far as my goal is concerned.

Session 2:

Session 3 & 4

Session 5

Leadership and Change Management: The Magic and the Music

This session introduced the change concepts, change drivers i.e. Sankalp, Samanvay, Sangathan

for implementing successful changes. It also highlighted the fact that LCM is not affected by caste,

creed, gender, position etc. but via admiration, association and emulation. This session taught as

what needs to changed i.e. Tasks, objective, people, traditions, style, systems and how to achieve

the changes. Also, it taught about various change topologies. Also it stressed on the fact that we need to move from Just not noticeable differences (JNND) to Just

noticeable differences (JND)

Leadership Influence in Interpersonal Context

These sessions were dedicated to the how our interpersonal relationships are affected by

leadership. It is mandatory for a leader to stay attached with his/her team members. And, this

bonding yields success. This relationship determines the success of the whole team. The reciprocity

and empathy shown by the leader helps building trust and satisfaction among team mates.

Vision Mission and Values

Leadership is a context driven concept, and Inclusion, Control and Affection; these three factors determine

how differently people express themselves in a team. This is called FIRO-B inventory, and also we

determined our personal scores to gauge at our own personality, to perceive what opinions others hold

about us and how can we change their opinions for the better.

Session 6

Session 7

Concept of Inclusive Error

In this session I liked the concept of inclusive error. Inclusive error refers to the loss of efficiency

and productivity when one includes more people in tasks, which needs to be done alone.

Style of Leadership In this session MBTI inventory was discussed that gave me an option to discover myself. I found out that I fell into the thirteenth quadrant of the MBTI matrix i.e. ESTJ. The ESTJs have the leadership style as The Executive. This was the most important session as it helped me explore my leadership style, my attributes, preferred work environment etc. This session also helped me understand my shortcomings and what steps need to be taken to overcome my short comings

I came across a very good adage in the class:

You should know what to tell people and what to ask!

Session 8

Session 9 & 10

Concept of Learnability

This session exposed me to the concept of learnability i.e. the ability to learn from self and the

role that one plays at his/her office or workplace. Learning assumes paramount importance as

leaders have to constantly learn and unlearn things. The quicker you learn the better it is. Also, the

session imparted the concept of Role Maker and Role Taker. Role takers simply follow the roles

assigned to them, but, leaders are supposed to be Role Makers. They should decide on their roles

and responsibilities and structure their working to reach their destination & succeed. Thus

learning is a key, a path to reach ones destination.

Learnings from Movies

In these two sessions we gained immense knowledge by critically reviewing the movies

assigned to us. The four movies assigned to the groups were Ek Ruka Hua Faisla, Lagaan,

Do Aankhein Barah haath and Gandhi. All the movies depicted immense Leadership &

Change management scenarios.

I personally liked Ek ruka Hua Faisla where a single person in the jury convinces the other

eleven people to change their opinion, via multiple assertive techniques and change

management strategies, like humour, strategic disclosures, vigilant observations, constant

questioning, brainstorming etc. In the process he saves an innocent boy from getting death

sentence. This was an eye opener for me, because though I had seen the Original English

movie 12 Angry Men, I hadnt reviewed it from so many new multiple angles.

Session 11

Session 12

Session 13

Removal of Blinkers By Blinkers we mean that the self-imposed regulations, which one unknowingly carries with himself. It can also refer to biases. A leader must get rid of all blinkers and should be able to think with a clear head. He should be cautious enough to understand that he might be imposing some shackles on himself . Another important concept which I got to learn was the difference between IC and UC. IC refers to the scenario how one sees himself and UC refers to the scenario how others see him/her. The better the overlap between IC and UC, the better is for a person.

Learnings from the Dashman Company Case The case Dashman Company was discussed in the class, and rules for communications were also discussed. How can simple miscommunications can breed insecurity in the minds of employees was discussed. It also showed the need for a bidirectional model for communication. The Bidirectional Model

The model involves Impress and Involve to Influence the employees or subordinates. Impress is the

means by which one can leave impressions in the minds of employees e.g. behaviour, expressions and

politeness, and Involve denotes that not only the higher management, but also the subordinates must be

involved in day to day matters. By this one can influence his subordinates.

Change Management Process A leader has to be both Sensible and Sensitive. Also, successful managers take the following three actions: Sit UP, Set UP and Stir UP.

I also learnt about value enhancement, i.e. How a persons presence in the company is enhancing the efficiency of the organisation. Value addition Is a criteria for determining how successful a manager is. Value Enhancement determines a managers success in the organization.

Session 14 & 15

Session 16

Mind-set

All persons in an organization are not equal. Their performance is different because of their mind-sets. And three types of mind-sets which we came across are

Reflecting

Realizing through Relating

Re-orienting

Also, we came across Panchatantra (5 elements for LCM) i.e. managing collectivity, going beyond the box, influencing non authoritatively, transforming resistance into partner for change etc.

Importance of Humour

Humour is an important ingredient for success. Success has 4 pillars or factors which are stated as:

Exposure

Effort

Endurance

UDP (Un Defined phenomenon)

Humour is generally undefined, it comes under UDP. Using humour while doing your job can make me a

positive team player and would help me to tackle day to day challenges.

Manager Profiles In this section I learnt about four profiles of managers. These four profiles handle people in a different manner within an organization. The profiles are:

Traditionalist

Team Coach

Company Baron

Visionary

I also identified that I am more of a Tradionalist. I adhere to doctrines and practices of the company.

Session 17 & 18

Change Maestro: KM Birla

In the last sessions we were asked to make presentations about various leaders across the

industry. We had chosen Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group. The way he transformed

the whole ABG and expanded the business in 26 countries within short span of time left me

wonder struck. Also. After reading about his people management skills, his assertiveness, his

knack for finding and converting opportunities etc. has made me appreciate him a lot. I came to

know that, though he is an introvert, he manages such a large empire quite easily. So, being an

introvert is not at all a hindrance if one wants to become a great leader. One simply has to believe

in his abilities and rest would follow.