Living And Leading The ODCL Journey - TISS Mumbai

The Eye doesn’t see the Eye that sees the Eye; understanding ourselves as individuals, as in-groups and as part of the society is one of the most reflective parts of the program wherein we as individuals become more open to learning who we are and what drives our decisions. One of our first lessons was to internalise the fact that Leaders need to be reflective, and those enabling Change must first be willing to change themselves. The richness of diversity in our classrooms brought home the idea of collaborative learning. Along with the inauguration of a self-created Library-of-necessity for the batch, the answer to how can we enable learning from peers in the most effective way was found in the collaborative-learning fora where we have already completed lessons on Basics of Management, Excel and Business models. Formal course work is underpinned by focused self-development initiatives that help enhance skills and capabilities - a workshop on Design thinking, a session on Understanding Culture, Diversity and Inclusivity, a workshop on Art and OD to name a few.

We envisage a differentiated leader as someone who harmonizes Business, People and Society. As the Pioneers of the first Master’s program in ODCL, we as a batch are set out in our movement to enable Sustainability as the mundane in our organisations and society at a larger level. Organisation Development is all about building a sustainable system of the change in the organisations to stay relevant and adapt to the changing spheres of innovations and disruptions. Millennials today, desire companies that have a social purpose and jobs that provide fulfilment of their need to create an impact. They believe in businesses creating wealth and co-existing with the society by sharing that wealth. Unilever’s “sustainable living” brands are growing 30% faster than the rest of the company. Leena Nair, Chief HR Officer at Unilever stated “I passionately believe that the future is about meaningful work and purposeful work. Because the pace of change is so fast, people do tend to be overwhelmed and threatened. I see the impact of what a meaningful purpose does to employee engagement, motivation, attrition. And I passionately believe that companies with a purpose last, brands with purpose grow, and people with purpose thrive in uncertain times.”

Being part of a unique institution, as we begin our journey towards creating a sustainable society, we started a ‘Plant-a-Poudha’ initiative wherein we as smaller groups plant saplings in communities around us. Change begins at home, after all, we are just meandering into things larger than ourselves.