The month of January at ISDM was a mix of transitions and fresh starts. After a 10-day break, we returned to campus, carrying a renewed sense of energy after spending much needed time at home with our families. The break also gave us space to process the intensity of the past few months and prepare for what lay ahead.
January is the time when we start head on with all that we had been brewing after coming back from Realising India field immersion. The first two weeks were all about revisiting our intervention designs– drafting presentations, collecting feedback from our bricoleurs, fine-tuning our intervention design and reflecting on our individual learning journeys of the past 5 months. This time is nonetheless challenging and taxing as we have to constantly go back and forth on our intervention, align with the group on building a common understanding and also practice on distilling months of work into a compelling 20-minute jury presentation. Thus, here as a group, social cohesion as well as task cohesion comes into the spotlight as we navigate group discussions, last-minute revisions, and the pressure of presenting our ideas convincingly.
There is a sigh of relief after the jury conversations go underway. But there is one thing we await that is feedback. Feedback brings with them realisations- sometimes the kind that forces you to confront uncomfortable truths. I say this because I experienced it firsthand. As we processed these insights- some affirming, some unsettling, we also geared up for the next phase of our journey.
Midway through the month as we began with term 4 (mission to organisation), we transitioned into new PLCs. For me, this was refreshing. I enjoy working with new people, but it also felt like a chance to apply the lessons I had learned about working in diverse groups and learn from my mistakes in the past few months. During the break, I read two books that deepened my understanding of teamwork and what fosters collaborative behaviours. In case you want to check out, here are the name of the book and their authors:
In this term, we shifted from reflection on the context to management-oriented thinking that was exciting and seemed more action driven to me. Having pursued a bachelor's degree in management studies largely in online mode due to COVID, I was eager to engage with these subjects in a more immersive environment. Although the lens with which I engaged then and now has gone under a tremendous change. Thanks to my work experiences as well as rural immersion in Gonda which gave me new perspectives.
Our new courses, design thinking and behaviour change communication were particularly engaging. I really enjoyed the classes because we watched a lot of videos of products, campaigns and dissected how these innovative ideas came up. I was also able to connect both these courses with each other as one talked about creating human centric designs and other influencing behaviours through nudge. The month ended on a high note with a Group Dynamics workshop where we had a simulation for 5 days and read two books and discussed them in groups.
In hindsight, January was much more than new beginnings with the PLC and courses, it was a deepening of my understanding of my own role in shaping the world around me. Ending this entry with a few lines that deeply resonated with me-
“Our most important learnings come not simply when we see the world anew, but specifically when we see ourselves- and our role in creating the world- anew.”
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