Am just back from the salubrious climate of Yercaud and a five-day manangement training which the department of English helped organise. Boy, the programme was rather unsettling, because it presaged a rather gloomy future for government colleges, as they might undergo a complete organisational transformation in the coming days. The two resource persons Dr.Umeshwar Pandey and Dr Firdausi from Administrative Staff College , Hyderabad presented the sessions.
Dr. Pandey indicated that with the anticipated tranformation in the structure of government colleges there is a need for change management. Hence, he trained the 25 participants on what to anticipate, how to accept, negotiate, be a part of and grow from the changes. It was also an eye-opener on how to improve workplace relationships and to effectively lead teams. The role play with a group simulating a managers' meeting to deal with several issues was enough to bring home the point that people-relationships and management need a lot of attention. The whole show was videographed and it felt a little goosebumpy to watch oneself in action, since I had taken on the role of the Personnel Manager. Oh, how important it is to watch one's body language, choice of words and the plethora of strategies that one has to plan to get the agenda going.
There was also an action plan drawn by our group on meeting the stakeholders' expectations in the field of education. There were a few drastic measures such as attendance being optional and online tests. Teachers can easily be replaced in the classroom and that is something we have to deal with.
The programme was immensely challenging to the mind, since it made us think from several angles.
Dr.Firdausi helped us understand that in each one of is the Parent, Adult and Child Ego States and made us identify the dominant state present in oneself. He affirmed that while the parent and child states ought to be present in 15 and 25% each, the adult ought to be somewhere around 60%.
I hope that I can use the newly gained knowledge to learn to be a good 'education manager'.