The leadership mantras of management gurus gifted a mindboggling experience to the Council of Ministers headed by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at a workshop organised by the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, (IIM-K), on Thursday.
The inaugural session on ‘self-governance for high-performance leadership,' handled by IIM-K Director Debashis Chatterjee, unlocked the stress-busting secrets for the Ministers to make them more confident of facing social issues with a positive mindset and the method of changing adversities into opportunities.
Interacting with mediapersons after the first session, Mr. Chandy said the programme gifted them a rare opportunity to update their knowledge on new-generation management strategies. ‘‘We would be able to improve our performance by effectively combating mental and physical stress,'' he added.
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Mr. Chandy affirmed that the opportunity to attend similar training programmes would be extended to members of the State Assembly. “If they are willing, the programme can be organised on the IIM-K campus itself,” he added.
Finance Minister K.M. Mani said the training programme was more interactive in nature as there was no theoretical lectures replicating the conventional classroom. “It was just like a retreat. We shared our thoughts with the trainers and gained some insights from them to fine-tune our performance,” he added.
According to Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty, the workshop mainly unveiled the strategy of converting negative energy into positive energy by treating various issues with a positive mindset. “How to overcome adversities was one of the most enlightening points we came across during the session,” he said.
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Prof. Chatterjee, who steered the one-day workshop along with other experts, said the main intention of the programme was to reinforce the new concept that ‘politicians are for next generation.' ‘‘For us, it was a gratifying experience as the Ministers, with their humility, followed all disciplinary directions we requested them to follow during the training time,'' he added.
The other Ministers also described the workshop as ‘beneficial in many ways.' Rural Development Minister K.C. Joseph said, “It helped the participants to better understand the attitudinal problems and find remedies for enhanced performance.” For Youth Affairs Minister P.K. Jayalakshmi, the workshop gave her some insight into handling public affairs effectively and fruitfully.