Competency : Leadership

By Nilima(MBA – 4th Sem)

Introduction:
Most of us acquire knowledge through an instructor, reading books or taking courses.
Internalizing and applying that learning depends on the insights gleaned by the learner and
motivation to act on those insights.
Feedback is the most powerful input to engage leaders to shift their behaviours or approach.
It tells us what we don’t know about ourselves.
Experiential learning is a powerful way to get feedback both from an experience and others
engaged in that same experience. Gamification, role play and simulations are exceedingly
effective tools that engages us in learning by doing and creates an immediate feedback loop.
It's like holding up a mirror to your responses in a situation. When followed by debriefs and
reflection, the lessons learned are deepened. We can try to apply some of the same adult
learning principles in leadership development.

Planning a Workshop
We can use Twenty-One Toys. This group have used gamification and fun to tackle these
difficult topics – even how to fail - in an appealing and effective way. As a social enterprise,
the company employs play and toys to train organizations on critical 21st century skills.
We can design an empathy game and a leader may be paired with a subordinate whom he
knows well and several “observers” new to the leader. The leader may naturally feel that
there must be some element of competition after all, the game is a puzzle that needs to be
solved. But actually, that is not correct. The leader may feel that with his partner, there was a
degree of predictability to their styles that would help them to be effective. Of course, the
unpredictable will happen. The toy model of sturdy wooden pieces that they were meant to
replicate will fall apart. Because in this game the builder is blindfolded and is relying on a
guide (the leader) to instruct them on how to build the given model.
True to form, under pressure, the true colors of the leader will come out. He might begin
directing people on what should be done next. The leader might feel that he was on a mission
– not such a collaborative approach. He might be aware of how he was behaving even as he
did that but still might struggle to amp down the leadership style. The opportunity for
innovation will be lost if not change the behaviour in a positive manner. This will teach a
personal lesson. No matter how hard one have tried, stress, even in the form of fun
competition, triggers those same deep-rooted behaviours a person manages since childhood
days. That shows up in the workplace. Debriefing the game can teach important leadership
skills of showing empathy towards team.

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