FLAME

Last week Friday (05-Oct-07) & Saturday (06-Oct-07) I attended FLAME (First Leap in Achieving Managerial Excellence) training program offered by T2ID. We started with an orientation session where our chief guest Jaga (Jagadeesan Arumugam) of CODC in a traditional way inaugurated the ceremony with lighting a lamp. Jaga gave us an inspiring talk for the need and the purpose of the FLAME program. Purpose is very simple – facilitate the Managers, first-time managers and managers would-be to be good and effective in what they are doing. J

This is a 60 days program happening in two stages. As part of stage I, we had a two day session covering

1. Strategies for success

2. Proactive communication & influence

3. Leading high performance teams

And as part of stage II which we would be having after 30 days on

1. One minute manager

2. Conflict Management

3. Negotiation skills for managers

In between stages the participants would be taking up series of exercises with guidance from RM & T2ID and would be evaluated by T2ID panel.

The first day session was “Strategies For Success” and the facilitator was Dr. Shubha Rajan. There were 28 participants from various Chennai based LoB’s and Dr. Shubha randomly formed 8 teams. Dr. Shubha took us into the session by explaining us with a thought “What great learners do – M.A.R.C”.

Map – learning to both sides of the brain

Ask – questions to extend the learning

Review – the content with others

Connect – with your experience

The primary purpose of this session is to

- Unleash the awesome potential already we have within ourselves.

- Building a healthy self-image

- Understanding how self-image is directly related to performance

- Techniques to build a positive image

- How to change what and where you are in life by adopting the “Day Before Vacation Attitude”

- How to plan and prepare to win by identifying and claiming the qualities of success

- S.M.A.R.T goal setting (Specific, Measurable, Action Plan, Realistic, Time/Target)

This session was really interactive and enjoyable as I reminisce to put down my strengths & weakness, how I would like to see myself & how I like others to see me (tomb-stone message). Also we had some interesting discussion on the Qualities of Success and Wheel of Life.

To achieve Success we have to have a clear Vision, Mission & Purpose. Also we have to find out ways of doing mundane things differently so that we don’t get bored and can enjoy the real beauty of life still further.

Another exercise I liked very much is “The Day Before Vacation Attitude”. As part of this exercise we were asked to prioritize the activities that need to be finished if we are going on vacation the next day. Wow that was cool. At the end of this exercise it came out very clear and I was able to understand situation force us to accept responsibility, practice promptness, include decisiveness and became a self-starter. Also Happiness then is not in the pleasure we get from other people but in the victory we achieve by being focused on the task at hand.

As part of goal setting, Wheel of Life is very new to me. Even though I had an opportunity to set goals in some of my earlier training programs but never did wheel of life. Wheel of life is used to measure how the individual is striking the balance between personal, family, business, physical, mental, spiritual and financial life.

On second day we had Proactive communication & influence (facilitator – Ramakrishnan) in the forenoon and Leading high performance teams (facilitator – Pradeep Daniel) in the afternoon.

W. B. Yeats said “Think like a Wise Man… But communicate in the language of the People”. As this statement is very true and align with this Proactive communication session covered the following

1. Effective Communication

2. The main goals of Communication

3. Elements of Communication

4. Ideal Communication

5. Identifying the Gap

6. Dealing One-on-One

7. How to skillfully talk to people, influence people & make up peoples’ minds

8. Assertive Communication

The objective of Leading High Performance Teams is to enable managers to work and get their team members to work harmoniously in teams as interdependent achievers. Being the afternoon session even after lunch Pradeep’s session was fantabulous (as always). I was able to pick up some beautiful differences between Groups Vs Teams. Also I was able to know 10 critical elements of a team that too with some lovely comic strips.

As last activity of this session we did an exercise on Temperament Inventory formulated by Hippocrates is a self-assessed personality questioner. This is equivalent to Keirsey Temperament Sorter or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The best part I liked in this questioner is the way scoring has to be done and based on answers how the individual fits into one of the quadrant Melancholy, Sanguine, Phlegmatic or Choleric.

It was a great session for two days at FLAME, where each one of us had the opportunity to meet new leaders and learn from one another. I’m eagerly looking forward for the follow up session and activities as part of this program.