A new pair of glasses

​When Prof. Ben Bryant stated that the leadership experiential would be more mentally exhausting than physically tiring, I didn’t think I was ready to buy it! To be honest, I expected the usual run of the mill leadership/team building excercises  many of us have encountered at work.

It began with a leadership class about group dynamics and about the idea of “authority” in a team. As a precursor to the class we all watched a 1950’s movie that highlighted group dynamics and dealt with leadership in a group. Does consensus really mean consensus, what does voting mean, what does 100% agreement mean, how genuine is agreement, what does a leader do in a group?

This was followed by a group exercise in our study rooms where we were video-taped and put under pressure to come to some sort of a conclusion. In one of my earlier posts “Real World Real Learning”, I was proud to brag about the diversity in nationalities, cultures, professional backgrounds and experiences that make a IMD study group but can you also imagine the complexity these "diverse perspectives" could lead to and what if you don’t put all your fish on the table? what if you are not completely honest with your team?

Don’t you worry, there is nothing like the 3 day leadership experiential to help/force/encourage you to put ALL YOUR FISH on the table…..at least this was the experience for our group. What started as a casual day with group hugs and huddles, quickly wound up into 2 days of discovery, debates, heated arguments and intense emotional dialogue between our group members. Was it comfortable all the time – Of course not! But do we now understand how we perceive each other and why people react in a certain way to our behavior or why we tend to do certain things consciously and subconsciously – Yes. Can we make sense of all of this – No!! Yet, we can begin our learning by trying to become mindful and aware of these situations and understand how we react and what effect our reactions have on others;  hence moving from autopilot to a more self-conscious mode. 

It’s not going to happen overnight and I’m still trying to make sense of all the fantastic up's and downs of last week but I can tell you – Its like getting a new pair of eye glasses – you are extremely happy that you can see so much better now but you are also equally overwhelmed with this new perspective you have! And there are times you even wish you could go back to the 'normal' or old pair to avoid the discomfort or uneasiness. 

But the initial discomfort is fading and I now realize that I am absolutely stimulated by this new perspective and ready to explore and dig even deeper!

Best regards,

Vikas Menon