On 1^st and 2^nd March 2019, 20 associates of Bosch, Coimbatore participated in a Social Leadership workshop facilitated by FSL-India facilitated by FSL-India’s experienced trainers, Nagoor J Kani and Madhumathi  Lakshmi.   Most of the participants did not know each other at all, but by the end of the workshop, they felt like old friends.

The Social Leadership Workshop is designed as an interactive workshop. The two day workshop includes a combination of activities, energizing exercises, discussions and presentations of learning, associated value addition and commitments towards achieving social goals. The workshop encourages in-depth discussions as and when necessary, and also reviews and reflections after each session.

The key objectives of the Social Leadership Workshop are: 

• Develop an understanding of Social Leadership and its importance
• To have a more engaged, collaborative, networked, future oriented mindset towards society and organization
• Empower SPOCs with skills and Volunteer facilitation tools
• Develop social skills among all engaging employees, so that CSR is looked at more as PSR (Personal Social Responsibility)
• To bring in a self driven sustainable volunteer management system

The participants were divided into 2 teams and several activities commenced. The ‘Longest Line’ was the 1^st activity, where the teams competed to build the longest line possible, with the resources available with them at the time of beginning the activity. The participants began to reflect upon their own actions and results.

The learnings brought forth by the participants were:

• Try – even if you don’t succeed first
• The importance of healthy competition
• Resources Vs Resourcefulness
• How to achieve goals in spite of having limitations
• Why stop at the ‘longer’ line?
• Can a leader wait for others to take initiative
• How to handle ‘being in the limelight’

Next was ‘Number Punch’ – an activity that requires good communication skills, co-ordination and presence. It took a few trials for all the participants to understand the activity. This lead them to discover a few learnings:

• Following a person is easier than following a number
• Importance of ‘I’ – taking responsibility
• You are following as well as leading, at the same time
• Blame game doesn’t help
• Clear channels of communication – right to the last person is critical
• Learning on the go
• Assumptions – how they may hinder progress
• Silence or Talking – what works better?

This was followed by ‘Tree Dynamic’ – an activity that helps the participants analyse the purpose of the social cause they have taken up, the root cause of the issue, its consequences and challenges. Through the act of analysing different issues, the participants were able to understand the importance of looking into an issue, its root causes and also the consequences.

‘A to Z’ was an activity that helps the participants build the vision of the cause they have taken up. The activities were designed to allow the participants to have fun, while bringing them closer as a team and help to strengthen the strong bonds built on Day 1.

‘Community Line’ was an activity where the participants practised looking within to be able to help out. An intense and no holds barred activity that looks to address the issue of ‘Personal Social Responsibility’. The participants shared about how each of us maybe focused on our own lives, our goals and aspirations – that looking around and even looking back, may be a challenge. The need to think beyond oneself emerged and set the tone of “Why Volunteering”?

Bringing together of all the discussions, reflections and learning of the two days helped to draft a plan of action and its implementation. The participants were grouped into 4 teams – 2 teams working on the theme of Swachcha Bharat and the other 2 on the Lake Restoration theme. Each of the teams brainstormed on the challengesthey faced and the resources required for their respective initiatives. These discussions were presented and the questions brought up by the other teams were answered and clarified.

This was an opportunity for all the participants to give their inputs for the long-term goal of the initiatives, as well as the way to go about achieving the same. Each of the teams established the Mission statement for their respective projects and also the vision for the next 5 years.

With the vision in place, they set about tackling the issues of Capacity Building, Brand Building and Community Participation and discussed what action had to be taken immediately, in the next 1 year and 3 years, for the vision to be achieved.

After half an hour of brainstorming in their teams, the participants had an opportunity to move around in order to interact and discuss with the other 3 teams to understand their points of view. Finally, each of the teams presented their discussions. At the end of the world café, an understanding of how to go about accomplishing their vision was put in place.

Finally, it was wrap up time. A recap of the 2 days followed by sharing of thoughts by the participants and a bit of singing and dancing brought down the curtains on yet another fruitful interaction.

As an outcome of the Social Leadership Workshop, participants are able to:

• Build the vision of the cause they have taken up
• Draft a Strategic plan of action with implementation timelines
• Explore their own Leadership styles and personalities, as well as review the skills sets required to be a Leader
• Analyze the purpose of the social cause they have taken up, the root cause of the issue, its consequences and challenges

FSL-India conducts Social Leadership workshops for Corporate companies, NGOs, colleges and universities on a regular basis. If you are interested in organizing such workshops, please do contact us at: info@fsl-india.org