Gurukool - The Execution

The date of 4^th September 2006 will always remain etched in my mind. That was the day we launched Gurukool as a workshop with the first batch of 30 participants.

A lot of planning and preparation had preceded the launch. The first hurdle was getting the participants to attend the workshop. Most of them, aged 19-24 had never stayed out of their homes. Their parents were a bit apprehensive about letting their children be away for five whole days. This was especially true for the girls. Their parents wanted assurance about their safety and security. “I have never had an experience in any corporate training where participants will not come because their parents won’t allow them”, rued T1. “I think this is going to be a frequent occurrence, so we better get used to it”, shot back T3.

The second challenge was the venue. It had to have enough accommodation to house the participants as well as the facilitators. Second, it had to have large enough open spaces for various activities, a room large enough for the participants to spread out. It had to have adequate security and finally it had to be reasonably priced to fit into the budget we had been allocated. The Administration Head threw up his hands in despair when I gave him the requirements. “You must really hate me to do this. You are asking for a Mercedes Benz for the price of scooter! This is impossible!”

But he did the impossible. He had seen a place which was about two and a half hours drive from the city of Delhi. Three of my team members went to check out the place. It was perfect. When I went to thank the Admin Head, he smiled. “You cannot even begin to imagine how I managed to get the place. I never thought I would be able to do it.” Well, Gurukool had not even started, but it was already making people do the impossible…

Finally the day arrived when thirty participants along with three facilitators, T1, T4 and T8 boarded the bus. I was accompanying them as an observer. The idea was that I would sit through the five days to see how it all went and then suggest course correction that may be required.

The journey was quite interesting. We had thirty excited people who had no clue about what they were going for, except that it was some kind of a training workshop. For most of them, it was the first time they had ventured out of home for such a long duration. Then we had three very nervous facilitators who were either looking at each other or staring into space, and finally there was I. Calling myself nervous would have been an understatement. Even otherwise, launching a new training initiative did give rise to a certain degree of apprehension, but this was crossing all limits. I have heard about how soldiers feel just before the battle commences.  I can now empathise with them.

The workshop began that afternoon, with T1 telling the participants that the program had nothing to do with their work, rather it was all about them. Immediately there were a few chuckles and some side whispers. Each one of the participants was looking at T1, and one could sense their cynicism and disbelief. How could a company not talk about work and business in a training workshop?  Breaking barriers would be much more difficult than we thought…

Later that day, T8 asked the participants what their dreams were. Two participants sprang up. “Why do you want to know about our dreams? Anyway what’s the use? We live in the real world! There is no place for dreams!” T8 persisted. One person stood up and said, “My dream is to survive in this world.” For the first time I saw T8 at a loss for words. Then T1 came to rescue. “If you got the means of survival, would you still not have any dreams?” The participant thought for a while and then replied, “Maybe then I would be able to dream about other things…”

It took a large part of that day for the three facilitators to get the participants to talk about their dreams. A couple of them opened up at first. Then a few more and finally the dam broke. One person had a dream of completing college. Another wanted to become a dancer, and yet another wanted to open his own restaurant. Some had dreams about being rich and successful, one wanted to be a good son to his parents and another wanted to be an artist. These were people who had dreams like the rest of us but had kept them locked because their circumstances did not allow them to dwell on them. T8 handed each participant a huge sheet of paper and colour pencils and asked them to express their dreams in a visual form. These then went up on the walls where they would stay as a reference for everything that would be done in the workshop.

At the end of that session, one of the participants walked up to T8 and said, “This is the first time someone has asked me about my dreams and this is the first time I am sharing my dream with someone. Please do not break them…” It took a lot of effort for T8 not to break into tears.

The next four days was all about reinforcing the belief that in spite of all their constraints, their origins and their issues, they had it in them to achieve their dreams. The day would start at 6.00 a.m. with long walk followed by yoga. Meals were planned using the same ingredients that they would normally have at home. Meal time conversations included giving information about nourishment and how to use the ingredients to make meals wholesome. During the day, it was all about activities and conversations. We talked about fears, strength of self-perceptions, possibility-search attitude. In the evening, we would have an open session called soap box, where the participants could express themselves in any way they felt like. Some sang songs, others recited poetry. Some talked about their future plans, and what they were going to do. We watched movies, staged plays and danced. To an outsider, the entire thing would have seemed like a total chaos. But there was a method to the madness. To a participant, who had not experienced anything beyond the daily grind, being able to sing in front of an audience and being applauded meant something that was extraordinary. Slowly but surely a change was taking place. The participants were experimenting with thoughts, ideas and actions. Where one of them faltered, the others rushed to give support. They were pushing themselves beyond what they thought were their limits, and they were forcing us to do the same. We developed a mantra, which would go on to be the credo for all subsequent participants of Gurukool.

Every Day in Every way, I am Getting Better and Better

In the five days, they shared their innermost secrets with each other. They shared their dreams, their fears, and their joys. They discovered that they were not alone in their circumstances. And suddenly their issues and problems halved. They were forming bonds that would hold for times to come.

“Dare to dream, dare to try, No goal is too distant, no sky is too high”, coached a young poetess participant to her colleague.

Every night when the participants had gone to their rooms, the facilitators would meet to discuss the days’ events. But beyond experiences and feelings, there was nothing more to talk about. No conversations about the workshop design or ways of improving it. We were no longer in control. It was as if the participants had taken over the whole program and were directing its course. As T4 remarked, “I no longer feel like a facilitator. These people are giving me much more than I can even think of giving them!”

As for me, the noble intentions of being just a silent observer just disappeared. I was participating as much as anyone else. I just had to live the experience. It was too precious not to do so.

On the final day, we referred back to the representation of their dreams. During the five days, some of them had undergone a change. The intention was to connect their dreams back to the real world. We need not have even tried. They were two steps ahead of us. They spent rest of the day planning on how they would go about the task of achieving their dreams in the big bad world!

Between 2006 and 2009, 2200 sales persons went through Gurukool. To make sure that other development initiatives did not suffer, we created a separate team to manage the sessions. This team was headed by T8.

The organizational response was astounding. I would get calls from the managers asking what magic we were doing. One of the managers sent a mail, “I really value you. I don’t know what you did in the five days, but I have never seen such enthusiasm and energy in the team before.”  Another one remarked, “It is always a manager’s dream to get a high energy and highly motivated team. Well, I have got it but it’s going to a problem for me. It is going to be a challenge for me to keep up with these people!”

For the facilitators, rewards were in the shape of small poems and notes that the participants wrote during the session. In one of the session, the participants were watching a movie, ‘Iqbal’. The story is about a deaf and mute boy named Iqbal who aspires to be a cricketer, and finally does so after a lot of struggle. At the end of the movie, T8 walked up to one of the participants who had a dream to become a cricketer and told him, “From today onwards, you are my Iqbal.” From that day, that boy signs his name and then adds Iqbal in brackets in all his communications. When somebody asked him the reason, his reply in Hindi was, “Is naam ke saath mere sapne bandhe hain aur mein inhe kabh bhulana nahi chahta hun.” (My dreams are tied to this name and I don’t want to forget them ever in my life)

I still have the notes that were handed to me during the workshops. Two of them are very dear to me.

Patthar ki murat sa

Khud ko apne mein liye

Bahar se anjaan
“Main” khud mein khoya baitha
Suraj ki abhed kiran bhi
Na chu saki mujhe
Khud se mein anjaan
Mein khoya baitha
Par
Ek muskurahat si awaaz
Ek kiran sa mukhda hai
Saamne aa khada
Baarish ki halki puhaar
Mitti ki bhini si mehak
Jagati hai mujh mein ek vishwass
“Hum” bhi ek jaan hain
Hum bhi ek kiran hain
Ab khud se anjaan nahi mein
Ab mein bhi akela nahi

Translation

A statue of stone

Keeping the ‘Me’ in myself
A stranger to the outside
I was lost in myself
Even the piercing rays of the sun
Could not touch me
A stranger to myself
I was lost
But
A voice like a smile
A face like the sun ray
Standing in front of me
Like a drizzle of rain
Like the soft scent of wet soil
Gives me a confidence
‘We’ are also life
‘We’ are also like sun rays
Now no longer a stranger to myself
Now no longer alone

Nirasha ke  ghere me asha ki aas liye,
Andhkar ki raat  me roshini ki pyaas liye,
Ulaahas  purn  tum atal vishvas
Khade raho jeevan ke taruvar mein…

Translation

With a desire of hope in the circle of hopelessness

With a thirst for light in the darkest of night
With joy and an unshakable faith in your heart
Stand in the waters of life…

Gurukool - The Design

Word had gotten around. The training function was doing something different. Everyone in the  function wanted to be involved in designing the  workshop, irrespective of whether they were part of the project or not. I got a call from the head of HR. He and a couple of his team members also wanted to be a part of the process. “We deal with the front line people on a daily basis. Being a part of your process might give us some insights as to how to deal with them.” Then some people from the operations team wanted to be involved. Same reason.

I was getting a bit apprehensive. To me it seemed that the whole thing was getting out of hand. Never before had any training program generated so much interest, nor had so many people shown such keen desire to be involved in designing a workshop. Were we setting ourselves up for a disaster? What if the whole thing doesn’t take off?  How will it affect the credibility of the training function?

The evening before we were to begin work on the design, I shared my concerns with T8, who was, although, a new addition, but was the most experienced in the team.  The conversation went something like this:

Me: I am a bit worried about this whole thing

T8: About what whole thing?
Me: About the kind of interest that this project has created.
T8: What’s wrong with that?
Me: Are we not raising expectations a bit too much? What if this doesn’t work out? We have worked so hard to earn some credibility for the function. It will all be over!

 There was silence for about a minute, where T8 was just staring at me. Then,

T8: So you are afraid of failing?

Me: Of course not! It is just that this thing has gone too far. Suddenly it is way beyond a normal training program…

 T8 was silent and still staring at me.

 Me: No really… I am not afraid… You have got it all wrong!

 The silent stares continued

Me: Listen, understand what I am saying…. (Silence)…. OK… Maybe a bit apprehensive… (Silence)… Fine damn it! YES I AM SCARED!!

T8: Scared of failing?
Me: Yes I am scared of failing.
T8: Why are you scared? We have done training programs that have not worked. You weren’t scared then. Why now?
Me: I don’t know. Maybe because there seem to be too many hopes attached with this one program. Something that has never happened before…
T8: I wish you had also visited some of the locations along with us.
Me: What has that got to do with anything?
T8: I will explain that later. But I don’t understand one thing. You have always said that involvement of business in training is important. Now that we are getting that involvement, why are you apprehensive?

 Good question. Something that I always hoped would happen with the training function was actually happening. So why was I apprehensive? I wish I knew. This was crazy! After all this was just another training program. Why was I behaving like this?

Me: Maybe I am over-reacting… Let’s just forget this conversation and go ahead with the actual work.

T8: No Nitin. I am not going to let you get away so easily. You have to deal with some things before we start work. Otherwise I suggest that you stay out of this project.

What was happening? I was supposed to be the boss and T8 reporting into me! I was too stunned even to react. It was my turn to stare at her.

T8: I know you are the boss… and I am overstepping the line. But please understand what this project means to us. I need to explain…

 I was still dazed. So I only nodded my head.

T8: Our experience with these people has changed a lot of things for us. They have hopes and dreams. But they get bogged down with the difficulties of surviving day to day. All they need is to believe that they have it in them to get out of this rut. We have got this opportunity and we can’t let them down!

Me: I understand and appreciate that. But you also have to understand that at the end of the day, we work for a business organization which expects business results. What we are doing is only a means. We can’t afford to get carried away just because you all have had a different experience!
T8: And what about that statement that you always make about training being all about touching people’s lives? Is it just something you say or, do you really mean it?

 Yes I used that statement quite often. But I had never had this situation which would put me to test about it. Did I really believe in that statement?

Me: Go away! I need to think about this whole thing. We will meet tomorrow for the design meeting.

T8 (Getting up): Anyhow, if it works, it will benefit the company. So I don’t think there is any cause for concern...)

I sat alone in my office till quite late in the night. Alone with my thoughts. I had been quite reluctant about joining the training function. I had been cynical about it even when I was a part of it. The only thing that kept me going was this desire to do well in every assignment that was handed to me. When I joined the function, I would tell my team members about training being all about touching lives of people. I believed in it, but I also believed that such an opportunity would never come. But here was such an opportunity in front of me and I was scared. Scared that perhaps it may disprove my belief about touching people’s lives. Or maybe we would fail. The fear was not about other people. It was about me.

It was almost midnight when I left for home. One thing was clear – I had to take this plunge, Irrespective of the outcome. I was committed to it. I also knew another thing. There would be a lot more turmoil, not just within me, but within a whole lot of people, before this project was over.

The next day we met for the first program design and content development meeting. Normally there were three or four trainers assigned to the project who would meet. I would attend the first meeting to give a briefing and thereafter leave the team to work on the project. Once they had finished, I would meet them again to sign-off the design.  But this time there were eighteen people in the room. All my team members were there, along with people from HR and operations.  Something had to be done, otherwise we would accomplish nothing. I opened the meeting, “Thank you for being here. I understand your desire for being a part of this project. But it will be difficult to work like this. I will let you all be present in this meeting to understand the concept. Thereafter, as and when we need to involve you, we will either call you for the meeting or come to you. Meanwhile, if you have any thoughts, please mail them to us.” I saw heads nodding. So far so good.

 T4 explained the issues that the workshop would be dealing with. “The challenge is to mesh three seemingly unrelated issues in a single workshop and deal with them at a personal level.” she concluded. Thereafter lot of thoughts and ideas flew around.

Operations Representative 1 (OR1): What will be the duration of the workshop?

T2: We don’t know yet. Depends on how we build the content.
OR1: But it will be difficult to release sales people for the workshop for too many days. It will affect work.
Operations Representative 2 (OR2): I agree. It should not be for more than two days
T2: That’s like putting the cart before the horse! How can we decide the duration without knowing the content!
OR2: We are just telling you the constraints. You need to keep them in mind.
T2: That’s your problem. You will need to find a way to release them for training!

Twenty minutes into the meeting and we were heading for a showdown. I had to step in.

Me: Look let’s not get into execution constraints at this stage. Let’s focus on the content and flow of the workshop. We will deal with the constraints later.

I don’t remember how many such conflicts came up during the design process. Too many to count. Never in my experience in the training function had I encountered so much passion and involvement in the design of a workshop. It was almost like everything else had taken a back seat. Nothing else mattered except getting the right framework for this program.

At the end of six weeks we had the outline ready. The workshop was based on the concept that every person’s perspective is limited by his/her life experiences. Yet every person has the potential to break free from constraints and achieve his/her dream. This would happen through self-exploration and getting in touch with their own hidden strengths. The workshop would provide such an opportunity through an experiential process. The underlying theme was a belief in one-self that if one really wanted, one could fly…

It was the last meeting before we would present the design to the managing director. I had invited the HR and operations Heads to the meeting. T2 explained the program philosophy and flow.

Operations Head (OH): Looks good! What will the duration of the workshop be?

T2: If we are to do the complete job, it will have to be a five days residential program.
HR Head (HR): Five days! That’s impossible! And think of the costs! Why does it have to be a residential program?
Me: Anything less will not do justice to the workshop flow. We need that time to connect with the participants before we can even begin to give any inputs.
T4: And it has to be residential because we need to cut them off from their world for that period to enable them to take an objective view of things.
HR: But no one will approve of costs. We are talking of about 4000 people!
Me: yes but it’s not going to happen all at once. Each batch will have 25 participants and look at a per-head cost.
HR: Still, it’s way too expensive.
OH: Let’s talk about the cost a bit later. Help me understand the concept first. What’s going to happen at the end of the workshop?
Me: In a nutshell, we hope to have a group of people who are self-confident, self-assured and a better outlook towards life.
OH: So in a simple language that I understand, you are converting zeros to heroes…

Zero to Hero! That’s it! So simple and yet it explained it all. I nodded vigorously. 

OH: In that case, count me in. And if you need any assistance in selling this concept to the bosses, call me.

I looked at the HR Head. He nodded. If the operations boss, who had a direct responsibility for frontline sales, was in, then he too had no objections.

Me: So that about wraps it up.

T8: Except for one thing…
Me: Yes?
T8: Why should they believe us?
Me: I am sorry?
T8: For the participants, we are just company trainers who are going to talk about things that are too personal for them. Why should they believe us?

Stunned silence. No one had thought about that. It was just taken for granted. But T8 had a point. Why indeed would anyone just accept anything from us? If anything, there would be a lot of suspicion about anything we said.

Me: You have a point. And obviously you have given this some thought. So let’s have your thoughts.

T8: You said the program has to be residential because we need to take them away from their world for a period. But then they have to go back to the same world and deal with the same issues. While I agree that it has to be a residential program, but the conditions have to be similar to what they are used to. And we have to be with them all the time, living in the same conditions for the duration of the workshop.
OH: And what are those conditions?
T8: They are used to four or five people sharing a room, without ACs. That’s what we have to provide. And we have to live in the same type of accommodation. The food that they eat is pretty basic, nothing fancy. The same type of food should be provided, and we as facilitators also have to eat the same food. Whatever they do, whatever conditions they live in, we have to do the same. For those five days we have to be as they are.

I looked around the room. I could sense the apprehension in my team members. Truth be told, even I was concerned. We had never done anything like this before. I was not sure if we could handle it. But T8 was right. There was no other way.

T8: I know this is going to be difficult for us. But if we want this to be successful, this is the only way. We have to give it a shot!

 Reluctant nods from everyone, including me. It would be very difficult, but this was really the only way.

HR: So what are you going to call this program?

OH: It’s almost akin to the old gurukool where the teacher and students lived together in the same conditions. So why don’t you call it just that, Gurukool?

The name stuck. That is what it would henceforth be called.

That evening I went back home a troubled man. While my team members were very enthusiastic about the whole thing, ultimately the function was my responsibility. What right did I have to ask so much of them? And of course the old fears still haunted. What if this doesn’t work?

 I couldn’t get any answers. So I did the next best thing. I would let the managing director decide. I would present the concept to him and then it was up to him to say yes or no.

Next week I had the meeting with the managing director. He had called other department heads also. I presented the concept and program design. The usual thing happened. A minute of stunned silence. Then the managing director spoke.

Managing director (MD): Has something like this been done before?

Me: To my knowledge… No

He looked around the room. Everyone shook their head.

MD: Do you think this will work?
Me: Frankly sir, I don’t know… But given the issues this is the best way we could come up with.
MD: On a scale of one to ten how sure are you that this will work?
Me: Five, maybe six…
MD: (After a long pause) I can live with that. When can you start?
Me: Logistics planning will take a little time. And we also need time to prepare the facilitators. We could start in three weeks.
MD: Then get started… All the best… You are going to need it.

To be continued…