Leadership Development Training in India

Leadership Training  - What’s In a Dome?

I believe Leadership is instinctive; it comes naturally and at times of imperative need. It is also intuitive and spontaneous, which was shown quite clearly in our first Dome Building day in Chennai, India.

The task was straight forward enough; build a play dome made from super adobe for the children at the St Louis school for the deaf and blind. The team, comprising of twelve senior leaders from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) were gratefully assisted by older students from the school as well as the instructors from Drumculture and Mission.

In order to build the dome successfully, the team had to divide up into smaller teams, where each had a different task. One mini group mixed the cement; one filled the bags, one organised the shape of the dome and laid the barbed wire.

Leadership Development

The day was to be split into segments of two hours, with each segment having a new leader to manage the operation. Their role was to organise, motivate, take care of their team, evaluate the performance of the previous segment, to learn from mistakes, to try to make the process more efficient i.e. saving time and energy as the sun began to beat down more throughout the day.

It was fascinating how each leader would take up the rains like taking the baton in a relay. The changeover process became smoother as the day went on as the team began to bond and an intuitive understanding developed. What was interesting were the visible signs of this deepening connection between the team members. Whereas earlier, everything had to be discussed and planned, it became less spoken and more interconnected, as if everyone's senses had become heightened.

It was tough out there as the temperatures rose over 90 degrees in the afternoon sun, so it was imperative that the spirit of the team stayed upbeat. That is where the humour and care for each other started to play a more and more important role. The more one felt looked after, the more one felt part of the effort, empowered and thus wanted it to succeed even more.

The vision of the outcome had to also be kept strong which is why each leader often stayed back, watching over the whole process from a detached point of view. If one is too caught in the process, one can't see the whole picture. So that was a vital understanding as should the leader took their eye off the ever rising dome, it could of become mis-shaped and crucial time and energy would have been wasted. The team could not afford any waste as the time was at a minimum, with so much to achieve in such a short time. As certain members of the team began to fade as the day went on, roles were changed, so they could do a less demanding job and those with high energy could take on the rains on the front line, bagging and filling the sacks.

Team Building

As the day neared completion, it was the students which inspired everyone to get over the finish line; why were we doing this task, who was it for? The service of others, the mission we had, and the passion for what we set out to do and to achieve. We are doing this for the benefit of these children, we must complete this! So, as the day finished, the team stood back and admired the work and what they had achieved. It was vital to get the reward for such hard work, in the form of satisfaction in how much of the dome had been built. It was unrealistic to think about completing it on one day, but they had out done their expectations which brought joy to everyone who had taken part. The spirit of the team was vitalised by the students at the school and the mission which was always the focus when the going got tough.

The connection between people who had never before been put in a situation like that, so demanding a task and a mammoth mountain to climb at the outset, that the day was a complete success.