The questions come thick and fast: -

“But how can LDP turn us into effective leaders in just 4 days?”

“Just a few workshops cannot change an individual contributor or a middle level manager into a better leader?!“

“Dude, I have done these workshops before. Do they really make a difference?”

And so on…

However, as a Chartered Accountant and a budding MBA, I must caveat my first statement.

The statement holds good provided the attending student (a) keeps an open mind and (b) works on the ideas and feedback that he/she has collected in the course of the LDP.

Yes, an open mind is what it takes to change an individual contributor or a middle level manager to a better leader. An open mind is what it takes to absorb the ideas that are being given to us through the various workshops. If we are willing to consider and work on half the feedback and criticism of both the person conducting the workshop and our peers, we would go a long way in not only being better leaders, but also better persons.

Case in point – I thought of myself having reasonably good presentation skills (and this belief was reinforced by the LDP feedback that I got from my superiors, peers and subordinates). However, when it came to make an extempore presentation, I didn’t do quite as well as I’d liked.  I’ve realized that I still have a long way to go before I can call myself an effective presenter.

So instead of questioning the feedback, refuting the criticism, if we actually accepted the unquestionable truth – that we do indeed lack some skills required for a leader, and we in turn tried and implemented half the ideas being presented to us as feedback, we would really do well for ourselves.

In summary, I think the LDP really does help. The only question is “Are we willing to work on and for ourselves?” Let’s face it. That’s what we are here for, to become better managers and before that, better people.

Ashish Dharamshi (class of 2010)

Post Script: For those unaware, the LDP (Leadership Development Program) is a course here at the Indian School of Business that requires each student to improve upon his/her leadership skills through four days of workshops that a student chooses based on their individual points of improvement and 360 degree feedback obtained from superiors, peers and subordinates at their former workplace.