Past Programs

Information

about the Workshops (In-Company Programs) I regularly conduct on
(1) Transformational Leadership, (2) Influencing Skills, and (3) Leadership Excellence through Upanishads.

1. Transformational Leadership

Transformational leaders--the leaders who really touch others' lives and transform them totally--are charismatic and inspiring, and they create excitement at work. They motivate others to do much more than what anyone thought was possible. Transformational leadership results in performance par excellence at all levels of the organization. On the other hand, leadership that is characterized merely by transactions or exchanges--promise and reward for good performance, or threat and discipline for poor performance--is a prescription for mediocrity.

This program is designed to enhance your transformational leadership capabilities. It will enable you to handle change more effectively by generating in your followers an awareness and acceptance of the purposes and mission of your group. You will be able to stir your followers to look beyond their own self-interest for the good of the group. Transformational leadership is a mutually stimulating relationship that elevates both leader and follower to higher levels of human conduct and ethical aspiration. It will help you as a leader, to enhance and effectively use your power not only in achieving your goals, but also in enabling your followers to lift themselves into their better selves.

Program Contents

1. Leadership versus power and influence.

2. Transactional, transformational, and moral leadership.

3. Belief and value systems of individuals and groups.

4. Upanishads as source of near-universal values.

5. Personal and social self-concept, team-building.

6. Charisma and bases of social attraction, inspirational and visionary leadership.

7. Indian ethos as the basis of enduring transformation.

8. Karma-yoga and self-sacrificial leadership.

Expected Participants

Senior and top management executives (preferred age group: above 40).

2. Influencing Skills

Success in every walk of life depends the most on how well you can influence others--whether it is implementing your pet idea in an organization, negotiating for benefits, or generally creating a favorable impression in others about yourself. Moreover, management is undoubtedly an influencing game. A manager who does not know how to influence others is an organizational hermit, who can never be effective in achieving individual and organizational goals. Management is not about doing everything by oneself, but it is about getting things done with the help of others, by influencing others.

This program is designed to help enhance your influencing skills. Instead of merely complaining about or putting up with current state of affairs, you will be able to do something to take care of your interests if you are good at influencing. Rather than be naive and assume that excellent performance will be automatically recognized and rewarded, you could learn to use specific strategies to better achieve your goals. Besides helping you to handle conflicts tactfully, it will also enhance your capability to mobilize support for your ideas and the course of action you want to pursue.

Program Contents

1. Managerial power: How to get it? How to use it?

2. Managing assertively.

3. Art of persuasion.

4. Networking and developing allies.

5. Influencing through the heart, tapping emotions.

6. Liking, ingratiation, and friendliness as a strategy.

7. Strategic use of social norms like reciprocity.

8. Impression management.

Expected Participants

Senior and middle level executives (preferred age group: above 30).

3. Leadership Excellence through Upanishads

The main objective of the workshop is to help you better understand who you really are and what your life goals should truly be. Understanding your true nature will not only enrich your life by making it multi-faceted, more balanced, and less stressful, but will also enhance your personal effectiveness. Comprehending that you are not merely a sheep that you were imagining yourself to be, but that you are in reality a lion, will enable you to work wonders in every walk of life. Most of the frustration and disillusionment in life is because of forgetting the real glory that we already possess.

The most common dilemma human beings face is knowing whether some action is right or wrong. By incorrectly imagining some course of action to be wrong, we not only lose the opportunity to get our things done but also fail in our duty toward others. In addition, transformational leadership--the most effective form of leadership--involves taking others to a better place and showing them something higher than what they were seeing before. To know what is better and higher and to understand what is right and wrong, one has to necessarily study philosophy. Only a universal and not a sectarian philosophy can help lift different people to a common higher level. The Upanishads provide such a universal system of thought. The workshop will provide a close look at the Upanishads, which would help identify the near-universal values that could form the foundation of authentic and uplifting interpersonal relationships.

Much of the practices in organizations in India are based on theories developed in the western world. Empirical evidence shows that such practices may not help enhance effectiveness and could even be disastrous, if the moderating role of culture is not thoroughly understood. Religion and philosophy comprise the innermost core of Indian culture and they permeate all aspects of social life in India. It is because of the core remaining intact, that Indian civilization has survived several onslaughts and continues its march. The Upanishads comprise the foundations of Indian culture, and an understanding of the Upanishads will therefore enable you to grasp the essentials of culture and hence to be more effective in interacting with others in India. The strongest influence is exerted when you transform others by taking them closer to their real roots and by leading them to where they truly belong. That is when you really touch their lives and leave a lasting impact, resulting in leadership par excellence.

Program Contents

1. Transformational leadership.

2. Overview of Vedas and Indian philosophy.

3. Spirituality, the law of Karma, and ethics.

4. Atman, Brahman, and nature of the world.

5. Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas Gunas.

6. Karma-yoga and self-sacrificial leadership.

7. Upanishads as source of near-universal values.

8. Indian ethos as the basis of enduring transformation of followers.

Expected Participants

All executives.

Other Details

Method. Exercises, lectures, case discussions, experience sharing, and instrument-based feedback.

Workshop faculty. Venkat R. Krishnan.

Duration of each workshop. 2-3 days.

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