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GIZ and LBSNAA

New Delhi Dates: 5th and 6th February 2014

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Background: The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in cooperation with the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance is implementing a bilateral cooperation projects “Strengthening management capacities for International Cooperation (CICM)”. The project has 3 field of actions. The Field of Action 3 (FOA3) of the CICM focusses on promoting “Knowledge Sharing Network for Training Providers”. Under this FOA, the project envisages co-designing competence based innovative training offers for partners of CICM. This workshop for co-design the leadership development programme is anchored in this FOA. Context: While conceptualizing the ‘Action Learning and Exposure Programme’, the core programme team of CICM met LBSNAA to understand the leadership challenges of the senior administrative officials of the Government of India. During this discussions, the Director of LBSNAA expressed interest of LBSNAA to designing leadership development module with support of GIZ. LBSNAA representatives met up with CICM team several times and in October 2013, a delegation comprising of Mr S.Chopra and Mr Tejveer Singh participated in a study cum exposure tour to Germany and met the GIZ leadership group to learn and share the practices and experiences in developing competency based learning solutions. This co-design workshop is a direct outcome of this visit.

For CICM, the co-designed leadership module would be offered to senior officials of partner institutions and also to the Alumni of the ALEP.

For LBSNAA, the co-designed leadership module would be offered as part of the induction programme to the newly positioned IAS officers towards the end of phase I, before they move out for the 1 year district training. The proposed module would build on the already existing Leadership module, which was developed with support of CCL and offered as 3-day Leadership module in Foundation Course. Further, the proposed leadership module would contribute in nurturing the leadership capabilities required for the newly positioned IAS officer, who normally gets posted at the District level position and becomes District Magistrate within the next few years.

The co-designing workshop aimed at:

Creating space for intense dialogues about leadership and leadership development;

Engaging in a peer dialogue with a focus on developing a contextualised approach to leadership development.

The participants from both the organisations are as follows:

LBSNAA GIZ

o Mr. Tejveer Singh (IAS) o Mr. Prem Bogzi (IAS) o Mr. Ram Kakani o Fr. P.T Joseph

o Ms. Christine Bigdon o Mr. Hinrich Mercker o Mr. Mohan Dhamodaran o Ms. Anita Sharma o Mr. Ziaul Hoda

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Workshop process: Keeping the workshop as a co-design platform, the focus was on:

1. Sharing the experiences of GIZ on leadership programmes implemented under different umbrellas –

a. Climate leadership programmes; b. Managing Global Governance, c. the CICM being offered with DEA, Ministry of Finance in India, etc

2. Sharing by the LBSNAA on their leadership experiences – especially the newly offered basic leadership module from the CCL, Getting better understanding from the LBSNAA on

a. The positioning of the leadership module being constructed with GIZ b. Getting insight of the target group who would be undertaking the leadership module

– their challenges, dilemmas, and the responsibilities they would be expected to undertake in near future;

3. Creating a common understanding of the basic terms and phrases –

a. competency, capacity and capability; b. the understanding on the 4 competencies selected to form the base of the

programme;

4. Agreeing on the larger framework of the leadership module - its vision, the intent, etc

5. Sharing the module and discussing each component in details. Where required, a short exercise was undertaken to give taste of the session (for example, peer review and coaching was experienced). The day was planned in such a way that the LBSNAA team could get sufficient time to immerse in the detailed shared.

6. Feedback, suggestions, fears, challenges…. Were discussed only on day 2, when the LBSNAA team had time to review the presented design;

7. Agreements on dates and other modalities were made only after the acceptance and appreciation of the module by LBSNAA; and them finding it useful and advanced as compared to the already existing offers.

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Workshop documentation: February 5th, 2014 (Wednesday) The workshop started with a short welcome note by Dr Christine Bigdon, Director, Competence-in-Motion. Mohan Dhamotharan proposed the agenda for the one & half day

and sought agreement from the group. 09:30 – 10:00: The first session started with a short introduction on “Leadership and Me”. Participants were given 5 minutes to reflect on: what drives me? What does Leadership means to me? 10:00- 10:20: The reflective session was followed by an introduction of leadership at climate leadership programme by Hinrich Mercker. Hinrich mentioned that he has seen leadership in different situations in different countries. Some of the highlights of Hinrich’s presentations were:

Leadership absent in one place while highly visible in another. Why?

Understand development cooperation as: how to save the mess we are in without going crazy!

Training is obsolete concept. We can’t transfer knowledge. One has to learn with mind, body, heart, soul,….

Capacity building requires no aid, no training and no assistance…

Theory U entails leading from the future as it entails!

Under the Climate Leadership Programme, he has realized that new leadership concepts- multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholders using hand, head and body…. Is possible

He further explained the stages of leadership development using theory U, which were being used in the CLP programme. He ended the session by stating that “contributing to meaningful vision requires time to reflect”

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10:20 – 12:00 Mohan shared his experiences at Climate Leadership Programme.

Focus of CLP was to co-create and shape the programme together. One of the success factor of the programme was that it involved a strong team which together went through the design workshop and therefore, had strong ownership as well as huge relevance of the programme to their work context;

What motivated, drove and supported building teams was the fact that cultural specific needs were closely adapted.

Capacitating the team to co-design the programme is essential. Of course, we brought “no ready-made solutions”

Our leadership programme focussed on creating sufficient safe spaces for the leaders to reflect.

Mohan Dhamotharan mentioned that a leadership programme is about handling the dilemma and wicked problems. In a multi-stakeholder programme, the multi-stakeholders have different perspective on problem as well as solutions. The leadership programme must have the scope to have multi-perspective and multi-solution. Sharing his experiences of CLP, he added:

Leadership role model: reflected contexts becomes internalized;

Power: leadership without touching the issue of power is hollow;

Crisis: how to strengthen people put in forefront to navigate disruptive processes without getting crazy

We are in phase of great transformations. Leaders are faced with: o Scenarios o Dilemma o Changes o Visioning society in collaborative way o Self-awareness and self-control

The leadership programme designed in partnership with LBSNAA must focus on ‘Why’ than focusing on what and how. A leadership programme focusing on What and How becomes a managerial capacity development programme and talks about tools and techniques whereas a leadership programme must focus on Why. The programme must pay attention to deal with aspects such as values and purpose. While talking about the leadership development components, he mentioned that while designing the leadership module for the IAS officers, it will be important to ensure that it is not a repetition of what they have already covered in the other existing training programmes. For example he shared that during the foundation course specifically while trekking they are exposed to a lot of leadership challenges, then there is CCL module which focuses on leadership and then we have another programme for two and half days on leadership. It will be important to incorporate the components that are focused more on values and purpose of their role. The session ended with a 5 minutes movie on CLP.

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Sharing the experiences from the Managing Global Governance (MGG) programme, which worked on Theory U from Otto Scharmar, Hinrich mentioned that leadership as a journey is touched closely on 3 stages –

kicked-off in the beginning of the 6 months programme with a reflection on – my leadership journey up to now;

is followed through a mid-term reflection; and

final reflection at the end of the programme supplemented with a group building exercise

12:00-13:00 Agreement on competency and competencies: Continuing after a short tea break, Mohan shared the concepts on competencies as understood and used in the CICM. He mentioned:

Competencies are contextualized. Professional domains define these;

How competency development happens: Competency is not a recipe. It requires consistency over different conditions

It is not possible to develop competencies in 5 days, but provide a way to work on the same;

Competency is not just “Can do”, but also supplemented by strong “Will do” – with in larger frame of “meaning

and purpose”.

For defining competencies for professional domains, following were presented with respect to professional domain:

Develop framework connected with professional domain

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Don’t stick to “now” but work towards “desired or emerging future”

Check it out with theoretical or generic framework

Then work out the required competencies! Competency Framework: While explaining the competency, Mohan Dhamotharan shared that, Competencies are deeper seated abilities of individuals to successfully handle different situations. He further said, to simplify it more, competency is a combination of “can do” and “will do”. It is important that the programme offers the participants a space where participants reflect about their future and have a reflection about what they are supposed to do as IAS officers, what their position demands them to do. He also shared the video of Mr. Viktor Frankl in which Mr. Frankl said, “If we work towards what individuals should do, we help them to do what they can do”.

While further talking about competency cycle he shared that as an individual one has to reflect and find out his/her whereabouts in these stages and act on it, in order to improve the competencies. The stages described are as follows:

Unconscious Incompetency

Conscious Incompetency

Conscious Competency

Unconscious Competency. While it is important to realise and reflect on these levels, there is a strong chance of slipping back to Unconscious Incompetency even after reaching to Conscious Competency stage. The idea is to keep providing professionals with spaces where they reflect and realise their stage and work towards moving on to the next level. He further shared the levels of competencies as defined in the competency development framework, they are:

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Curious Novice: The curious novice represents somebody new in a professional domain and is curious to expand his/her learning to deal with relevant professional challenges. He/she may have been extremely competent and successful in other professional domains and has the ability to reflect on how previous experiences and knowledge can be applied in this new domain or how new and relevant competencies can be developed. This stage also refers to a person, who may have a tacit understanding of the new domain and deals with the challenges in an intuitive way. In specific contexts, for example in a team with an experienced mentor, this competency stage may be fully sufficient to perform successfully.

Compassionate Learner: The passionate learner has the ability to learn quickly and systematically acquire relevant knowledge and skills. This could be somebody joining a new profession with a sound academic knowledge and extensive know-how on methods and instruments without much practical experience in the new domain. In specific contexts, for example in a team with experienced practitioners, such a passionate learner may perform successfully.

Skilful Master: The skilful master is capable of blending his/her vast experiences with knowledge and skills for achieving high quality results. His/her ability to deliver sustained results is appreciated by superiors and recognised by the peers. If there is a change in the position or new demands arise, he/she is capable of quickly moving through the stages of a curious novice or passionate learner to become a skilful master. In a specific context, a skilful master, utilising the strengths of a curious novice and a passionate learner can achieve bigger results.

Compassionate Guru: The compassionate guru is a skilful master, who has the additional ability to mentor and coach other colleagues to leverage potential of teams to the maximum. This stage is characterised by the ability to reflect on one’s own competencies and nurture others to develop their competencies by finding appropriate interventions. Such persons play a key role in connecting and nurturing competencies of individuals thereby achieving desired organisational goals.

Engaged Co-creator: This stage is characterised by a holistic understanding of issues and the ability to develop trustful relations for translating a greater purpose into organisational practice. People at this stage are capable of reflecting deeply on their own values, attitude, knowledge and skills. They engage with others to develop innovative ideas and interventions enabling relevant changes. This stage is crucial in contexts where individuals, organisations and societies are challenged to change and transform. In a new domain, a person at this stage may have to start as a curious novice or passionate learner.

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The self-assessment tools developed as part of the Action Learning and Exposure Programme under CICM were briefly shared and discussed. As some of the LBSNAA participants had tried the self-assessment e-tool, they provided the following feedback:

The competencies were directed towards persons working in the area of International cooperation;

The options given were lengthy – each having almost two and half lines and many words;

The profile generated was quite relevant and valid; It was explained that the instruments for self-assessment – like the e-tool, competency chakra, etc were only to trigger & motivate people to take competence development journey in their hands. Meta competency to competency development is our task as well as the challenge.

13:00-13:30: sharing experiences by LBSNAA Fr. Joseph shared his leadership training experiences with the group. The challenges he shared included:

Lack of interest of the participants in the training (especially as the other colleagues of these participants were involved in other more interesting activities in the vicinity);

Participants were quite fresh into the administrative services and after have been selected through a very rigorous screening, they came with the attitude that they are already good leaders – there was no session which challenged them in their leadership skills;

The programme was a package of a number of exercises and the reflection of results was on very external level. It did not prick the participant from inside;

The activities included in the programme were very fixed, with each step clearly laid out – and there was no flexibility allowed. Hence, no scope of adaptation;

Though the participants liked the programme, there is no means to measure the impact of the programme in their lives at any further stage;

The focus of the programme was on individual and not on the larger social well-being

Post lunch, the session continued with LBSNAA sharing their experiences of leadership

programmes. Fr. P T Joseph shared the power-point consolidating the results of the competency questionnaire administered under their basic leadership module. The questionnaire was developed by LBSNAA, using the sources provided by CLP. The presentation was discussed in depth, especially for generating better understanding on the use of results of these assessments. LBSNAA mentioned that there was a large scope of improvements in the assessment test as well as the use of its results. I was also stated that the advanced leadership module being co-designed might be able to support improvement on the same.

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To understand clearly the positioning of the basic and the advanced leadership module, LBSNAA shared the training plan of the IAS officers – the induction programme and the different phases of training.

ALP: Advanced leadership programme; BLP – Basic Leadership Programme The e-self assessment tool developed under the (ALEP) was referred to once again and LBSNAA asked if such self-assessment test was possible to create for their inductees. However, as the task itself is a time and resource consuming activity, it was informed that it lay outside the current scope of CICM. 16:00-18:00: Presenting the draft module for consideration of LBSNAA Agreement on the vision: Before the first draft of the design could be presented, Hinrich shared the draft vision of the Leadership Development Module. After a brief discussions, the vision was slightly modified and the revised version read as follows:

A community of young, responsible and competent leaders contributing to a profound shift towards principle of sustainability throughout the country

It was agreed that the LBSNAA will review this vision and after an internal discussion share the vision of the programme with GIZ. Agreement on the Intended outcomes of the Programme: The intended outcome of the programme was also proposed and discussed; and following were agreed:

1. National Well-being (instead of sustainability, which was initially proposed by GIZ;

2. Value based and competency based. Agreement on the meaning (as understood by all) of the competencies: Thereafter, focus was drawn on the understanding of the four identified competencies that will remain the focus of the leadership module. These were:

Integrity,

People First,

Self-Awareness and self-control;

Leading Others.

3 months Foundation course

6 months Phase 1

1 year District Training

3 Months Phase 2BLP

ALP

Figure 1Induction training at LBSNAA

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The UNDP competency cluster and the definition of these four competencies from the competency dictionary were referred to and it was mentioned that somehow the definitions were not very clear; as well as the way the levels/stages within each is also a bit confusing. It was clarified that though the four competencies have been used as the base for the draft design, it would still be useful and essential to have a clarity and definition about these competencies. In the jargon used at GIZ, Integrity would have been a value, not a competency. Also, the part – “self-control” was considered not a real positive aspect. Sharing and agreeing on the underlying principles: Before presenting the design of the ‘Responsible Leadership Development Programme’ (RLDP), following were stated:

Without being very overambitious, the effort of GIZ has been to bring out a draft which is interesting and also can be seen as challenging for the target group;

The draft is based on the fact that people are intrinsically smart. The Responsible Leadership Development Programme should support them to internalize the key leadership message

The RLDP should be seen as trigger to start off and let the participants continue to work on this as a learning or life

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Presentation and Discussion of the Leadership Module Title of the leadership module: Leading with passion and purpose: Serving people and developing your leadership

capabilities

Day 1: Imagining a desired future – Exploring adaptive challenges – Reflecting on own

contributions.

The first day is designed to create urgency and explore the space for leadership and to

facilitate collaborative imagination of a desired future for the work domain of participants

and identify key challenges requiring their leadership response. The day provides space to

everybody to explore quickly what drives and inspires them in doing their job.

Session Topic/focus How Discussion points/Quotes 1st ONE hour (in smaller groups)

Introduction to the programme, agenda/ design of the programme, intended outcomes, etc.

Power-point Presentation and Video exercise

Slides on "Why are you doing what you are doing"; Photographs of leaders Frankl video or similar inspiring videos Broad framework and background of the programme

Session 1 (in smaller groups)

Experiences with shaping better future

Key note: Inspirational, informative, authentic

Four speakers (4-5 years of experience) who can highlight their vulnerability as a leader – linking directly with the 4 key competencies:

Integrity, People First, Self-Awareness & Self-Control, and Leading Others.

Someone with whom the participants connect their near future. This would create "THE CRACK" – will help in moving from unconscious incompetency to conscious incompetency

Session 2 Co- creating a compelling future

Societal vision and my role Me as a leaders in future: Grounding deeper in meaning and purpose

Not to start with a personal journey, but with vision for India as a whole.

Connect vision of Preamble and reality of today to create vision for tomorrow.

Vision: what is India vis-à-vis vision of today

Identify role of self – what can I do to make a change; move from “now” to “then”:

Session 3 Responsible leadership: Passion and Purpose

Navigating through value based dilemmas;

Value based dilemmas: navigating through dilemma

Red thread – competencies and values

Session 4 Journey Ahead: Present life, future goals

Connecting personal goals with societal vision

Sculpting Sculpting What kind of future do you see for yourself as an IAS officer in the next 6-8 years? (Aerial view of yourself). Me as a leader and different roles Where do my personal goals meet the society's needs

Journaling

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Dinner Dinner over future image/envisioning our future

Special arrangement – example: A quote on each table

DAY 2: Value based dilemmas; navigating through dilemma

Session Content How Discussion points/Quotes

Recap of Day 1

Session 5 Leadership: Value & Dilemmas

Input PPT, facilitators note

great leaders’ picture and association with their value set 5 dimensional journeys: space, society, Inside you...

Session 6 The quest for integrity: Exploring values, value dilemmas

Value Diamond PowerPoint Presentation

Identify 10 value set; zero down on three and further one. Ask questions relating to action undertaken to save this value in the last four weeks. Followed by group exercise, dialogue walk in pairs

Session 7 Supporting case owner to find suitable solution for dealing with dilemmas

Peer Coaching Peer-peer review/coaching:

Trusts and willingness to be open

Remain with rules

Culture of listening

Sets a seed for life-time results

Session 8 My leadership base Journaling There will be guiding question to help the exercise

DAY 3: Crafting Leadership Communities – Crafting Community of Practice

Session Content How Discussion points/Quotes

Recap of Day 2

Session 9 Leading Teams (find a new name)

Pair/Group exercise

input on communication, exercise in pairs How did you like the module (open questions, deep listening, empathetic listening and vice versa)

Session 10 Mapping my leadership development path

Journaling sharing in pairs

ask the participant:

Support required from LBSNAA?

Will there be a link between this plan and its alignment with the aspiration for the society on day 1?

Done in pair. 7-7-7 (seven weeks, seven months and seven years)

Process recap…. By the facilitator

Session 11 Sharing insights Celebration Evaluation

One person from each group can share his/her insights my take away - short elevator speech Closing in a common group (all 180 participants are together).

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February 6th, 2014 (Thursday)

Prof Ram Kakani, to ensure that he had captured the essence of the presentation yesterday, ran through the entire programme with his colleagues. Sharing their thought on the presented module, Mr Prem mentioned that GIZ module is more intense and deep; and require quality facilitators. CCL Basic Leadership Module: all was very structured and any one could pick any paper and train. GIZ responded by submitting that efforts could be made to structure the module to a large extent. The discussion led to the compilation of support material and trainers’ hand-outs which might be required for effective delivery of the same. Details are annexed. Other agreements: Schedule for each day: While designing the day-wise agenda for the programme, LBSNAA representatives suggested following this timeline

Day Timing

Day 1 9:30-11:30AM (Session 1) 11:30-12:00 (Tea Break) 12:00-14:00 (Session 2) 14:00-15:00 (Lunch Break) 15:00-16:30 (Session 3) 20:00-21:00 (Dinner)

Day 2 9:30-11:30AM (Session 1) 11:30-12:00 (Tea Break) 12:00-14:00 (Session 2) 14:00-15:00 (Lunch Break) 15:00-16:30 (Session 3)

Day 3 It was mentioned very specifically that closing time for day 3 has to be 17:00

Regarding the next steps, following were agreed to in consultation with LBSNAA:

1. Dates for the Immersion Programme: April 14-16, 2014 at LBSNAA 2. Dates for the final roll out Leadership Programme at LBSNAA: May 5-7, 2014 3. Participants for the immersion programme would be:

a. Key faculty of LBSNAA b. Preferably 12 members c. All would be required to participate fully

4. Approach for Immersion would be to:

a. share the philosophy of the programme; b. focus on coaching, facilitation c. reflection and journaling

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