IDIO Journal
Chapter 1- From Reluctance to Resonance
I remember , as an Engineer , I was never a big fan of HR Courses . When I first came across the HR course “Individual Dynamics in Organizations” in my Q2 timetable, I just dismissed it as just another boring “moral values class”. I had this mindset that why are we wasting time by just revisiting the already know concepts.
First class was on 26th Sept 2024. And I literally pushed myself to attend the first class of IDIO.I can very vividly recall the first class by Prof Vijayalakshmi Ma’am . A very confident woman stood in front of me. I got literally excited seeing her cos It was the same lady who took us out for Soaking in nature during our pre term courses . She asked us to make River of life , dancing activities etc.
Ma’am preferred called simply “Viji”rather than some formal titles. There you go , I immediately sensed this course is going to be a very engaging experience. I very well remember that the first class began with a bang. Ma’am played a documentary video of 26/11 of Taj Attack which literally gave me goosebumps. Even though the video was supposed to show the values like selflessness and being empathetic but the emotional imapact it had on me was undeniable.
While many of us have heard various stories about 26/11 but Prof Viji’s approach encouraged most of us to think critically — basically it’s not just individual actions that matter but the collective mindset.That was eye opener and it had a very lasting impression on me as I was questioning myself. Would I have done that?Can I be so selfless? Or why they acted as they did?What followed this was a very interactive session where in Prof Viji asked us to share our thoughts on the challenges faced in our workplaces , She asked us to write same on chart paper. This made the class very active and participative and honestly it allowed all of us to connect with the class at a very personal level. And she asked us to complete the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) Test before the next class , which would give insights into our personality traits.Overall the very first class of IDIO gave me a deeper essence of DoMS MBA Programme , It tells that it’s not just data and processes , its ultimately to work with people. It showed the importance of combining competence with empathy to achieve the real success.
Chapter — 2 Self-Discovery in the Classroom
This and very next class was about self discovery. Prof Viji started the class with “Who we are?What we bring on Table?How it impact action and thinking? I believe Self-discovery is a lifelong journey , which often reveals the unexpected side of your personalities.Honestly this was my first encounter with MBTI became transformative experience , it shed light on my behaviourial tendencies. I got ISFP Introverted ,sensing , feeling and pereceiving as my personality. Prof Viji introduced us to MBTI. She explained how the too categorizes personalities into 16 types based on various preferences like Extroversion vs Introversion and Thinking vs feeling and Sensing vs Intuition and Judging vs Perceiving. My results revealed me as someone who is introvert , detail oriented and empathetic.
While Percentages in the above picturte gave a quantitative glimpse into my traits , but real learning emerged through the discussions and activities which happened in the class.One of the most engaging moments was when Prof Viji invited extreme personalities on podium to debate on stage . People were looking at their friends and telling why are you here , why not here .It was so much fun. Honestly listening to extroverts about their experiences and seeing them classing with introverts but it was a very respectful discussionand it was more like eye opener. It actually taught me how fluid our personalities can be- basically how introverts can display opposite behaviour in certain settings and similarly vice versa. In remaining class we went on to exploring how people perceive the external world: through Sensing or Intuition. As someone who got 12% sensing , I appreciated the focus on details and practicality. Prof Viji asked us to write our name with left hand. This led to an activity involving right-brain and left-brain stimulation. A particularly activity was a role-play where two group of people had to decide whether to fire an employee(Pooja), representing the Thinking and Feeling personality types. Watching how their inner tendencies influenced their decision-making was fascinating. As a Feeling type, I had a very empathetic approach, prioritizing relationships and understanding over purely logical reasoning while some of my friends were of different opinion. This activity taught me the importance of aligning leadership styles with individual personalities to ensure thoughtful and effective decisions. Prof Viji asked us to jot down the personal learning goals ,to which I wtote down I was to learn look into other’s personality , self reflection. Some of the other takeaway from class were “If you find uncomfortable in someone , it says something about you” . I was going through a bad phase of my life — Other statement by Prof Viji “Attachment to expectations lower joy” Made more sense to me and was so relatable.
Chapter-3 Diving into myself with help of Johari Window
In this class, I learnt more about my own personality and working style. Prof Viji taught us about flow is a state of mind . Basically it is a manifestation of happiness in work.They are of two types focused and immersion. There should be a balance between skill and challenge.A small case study was given. “A girl, named Maya wanted to cross a river to meet her boyfriend, Ezhumalai and get married to him. She approaches two guys for help, namely Rocky and Susheel. Rocky was ready to help however he put one condition that he wanted her to stay with him for a week and later he would take her to the other side of the river. The other guy, Susheel, blatantly disagreed to help her. Left with no other choice, and being desperate to meet her guy, Maya stayed with Rocky for a week and sailed across. But Ezhumalai was annoyed with her attitude of giving up ethics and having stayed with some other guy, and so refused to marry her. Rahul, who was told the entire scenario, agreed to take care of Maya.”From the story , me along with some classmates — Rahul is the character we admire the most. As we thought about Rahul, I realized that he embodies traits such as empathy, resilience, and a positive outlook on life. On the other hand, I selected Rocky as the character I liked the least. This choice made me confront qualities or behaviour that I find unappealing. As I reflected on Rocky’s character, I identified traits such as arrogance, insensitivity, and a lack of empathy. It was a reminder that our likes and dislikes can reveal a lot about our own personality and the areas where we may need to work on self-improvement. Also, the answers from the class were very diverse such that there was no single right or wrong answer. This tell how as an individual, we are biased and how can we expect an organisation to be fair at all times to all of its employees.
In today’s class, I got to know about the Johari Window as a guiding framework. It provided a structured way to understand ourselves better by examining how we take our own qualities and how others perceive them.
We also had the unique activity to engage in group discussions where in our fellow students was supposed to give feedback on our personalities. I found this experience both insightful and thought-provoking but I was sad about it , and lead me to overthinking. In he discussion among group, I received feedback from my peers about me that I am very workaholic but I should learn to be more empathetic.
Chapter -4 Discovering purpose through Ikigai
End of the previous class, we were given homework and an activity RBS. Reflected Best Self. The homework was IKIGAI. Though the questions of IKIGAI seem very simple, it is very hard to give answers to that.
We were given an article to read which was by Peter F Drucker. This name is so famous amongst us MBA people. I have never heard of him before but since I joined MBA, this name comes in dreams to. The article illustration was simple, ‘Just play with your strengths’. This is something everyone can simply understand by reading some lines of the article itself. What I learnt that day from class is that we should stop being obsessed around what is not working for us. Just move on with what is working for us and start achieving something out of it. How to develop our strengths?
Talent is something which is inbuilt. Identify that, practice on it and hard work towards the goal. Only then we can say that as a strength. It doesn’t mean that since something is your talent, it will always remain the same. I was thinking of my school days where I used to be an head girl where in I used to manage everything, play sports, participate in events. Now in the list mentioned above, I have not even written anything about it. It was all lost due to some issue and I never tried to work on my strength. That strength has now become a weakness. Constant effort towards that strength is very important.
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Chapter — 5 Through the Lens of Perception
This day, I saw our faculty in the most unusual appearance. Who would have thought she would even be like this. I really don’t know what to say. I felt the same vibe from the friends and people sitting around me. Since, she is our faculty, no one said anything. I remember asking people next to me?Whats wrong>Is she okay?Some people would not even want to look at her face. Only at the end of the class, I understood it was part of her class that she wanted to come that way and teach a lesson to us. Perception was the word introduced. Each person has a different perception to what we see. For e.g., though I felt it was unusual to see her that way, I did not feel any difference in the way she was talking or teaching us. Some people were not able to see her face. Some are controlling their laughter. All these are some perceptions which are created in a very short span. This is when I started understanding how people overlook things in a very short span. How people get triggered and raise red flags in very short spans. We don’t want to see some sudden change in anyone.That captures people’s attention , and it can be positive or negative. A case was given in the class when the Prof Viji showed us video of crazy artist through different lenses to understand Perception. There many people experienced me, and they have their own experiences. What all would they be using or comparing me with. It is unimaginable from one perspective. I started thinking about the times when I was very harsh too people and when I was very soft to the same people, but they only remember the harsh incidents. There is a negative energy they perceive when I am with them. These are something which I had to reflect upon and started to think what I could have done better.Later in the class we were divided into group of 4. We were asked to talk about whether “First impression is the last impression”.
Chapter — 6 Navigating the ethical compass
The class began with an unexpected surprise — a quiz. We had another quiz right before it. Prof Viji told if she can take quiz , even I can and prof. Viji opened her screen with all the questions. It was a multiple-choice test, and honestly judging by the collective and pin drop silence, none of us seemed to know any of the answers. However, as soon as she stepped out of the classroom, leaving us for about five minutes. Everybody started googling or chatgpt the answers When she came back, the first thing she asked was how many of us wrote it honestly without discussing or seeing anywhere. Only some people raised their hands. Rest all, including me in a way did not answer the questions on our own. This is when the word ethical compass was introduced. What is this ethical compass? I could say it is something which comprises of values, beliefs, principles one has which will make that person create a boundary for each situation the person faces. This boundary is ethical compass. Ethical compass can contain only good things or sometimes both good and bad things. It varies person to person. What was my ethical compass that day? My objective was to get good score. I had an ethical compass of asking and searching for the answer and it was not wrong when mam does not know it. It is wrong when mam knows it. Somewhere this ethical compass kicked in and when mam asked, I did not raise my hand. Some would have raised hand even if they have copied. According to corporates I could say they could use the word ethics and some rules which we define by ourselves are morals. Showcasing this nature of being very ethical is very difficult and specially portraying it to our recruiters in a very short span. We were shown a video of Lance Armstrong confessing that he cheated to win the tour de France. He also said that he would cheat again and here I understood that it was not new to him. It seemed as if he doesn’t have any fear or shame or regret.. His ethical compass is very clear. I started imagining what if we do something like this. Will I be able to confess something like this out somewhere?
Chapter -7 Decision making- good or bad?
In this class, Prof. Viji wanted to write down of my big decisions so fars. Whether it was favourable and unfavourable ? How did I make that decision?If you choose , will you choose again?What is my learning goal? . I wrote down an important decision that I made in my life — the choice to live away from my parents and quitting my job to pursue MBA. This decision, was very challenging along with the fact of choosing university in vicinity versus going all north.Honestly I have been away from parents during my work experience . But doing MBA ,living away from my parents , with lot of deadlines , responsibilities , this has been an important segment in my journey towards the personal growth and self relisation . If you asked me is it a good decision. I still don’t know. Leaving the job which was paying me above DoMS average is not easy. But Hope for the best. But I have met exceptional people , made some friends for life who literally push me out of my comfort zone. Considering the question of whether I would do things differently if given the option to change, I find myself inclined to respond in the negative. But Overall I will embrace this decision. Because overall I used SWOT framework to analyse this decision.
Chapter-8 Creative Thinking by Coach Shiva
Creativity session with Coach Shiva Subramaniam was a good experience that broadened my perspective on various aspects. As per his linkedin profile and the introduction -He said he has worked in Taj Coromandal for 1 year which have taught him multiple things like working late hours , importance of smile etc. Then he was also an advocate at Madras High Court and then spent 18 years of his life at TCS.is always important to be empathetic, to seeing things from other shoes. It The key takeaway from our discussion was the importance of seeing things from others’ shoes. Several times i have got feedback from people to be more empathetic. I realize that adopting a more empathetic approach can enhance not only my personal relationships but also my problem-solving skills, both in professional and personal contexts. Coach Shiva highlighted it was the connection to incremental improvements rather than just generating groundbreaking ideas. I used to associate creativity solely with innovation and out-of-the-box thinking, but Shiva’s insights made me realize that small, continuous improvements are equally valuable. This perspective encourages me to appreciate the significance of refining existing ideas and processes, giving way to a more sustainable and realistic approach to creativity. He was very particular about switching on the laptop camera. Even I didn’t want to switch it on , but later he told about importance of same, Even though it might seem like a small detail, but it plays a very crucial role in building a sense of connection and engagement when meeting online. This lesson taught the class the significance of nonverbal communication and the impact it can have on effective communication, especially in this digital era ( I would say post covid era)where virtual meetings have become the normal. The discussion on problem-solving highlighted the importance of observation and empathy in the process. Shiva stressed that these qualities should be valued and integrated into our problem-solving approaches. This resonated with me as I reflected on past situations where a lack of understanding or empathy hindered effective solutions. Moving forward, I plan to incorporate these principles into my problemsolving toolkit, recognizing the value they bring to creating more holistic and effective solutions.
Chapter -9 Out Bound Training
I am not a morning person. This session happened on a decently cool morning at 8 o clock.I along with one of my friend pretty early . No one was there. Honestly was cribbing about why are doing this again when we have already done this before. But anyway rhat day’s session was very joyful. We were divided into teams; we were asked to create a war cry.Our war cry was “Wakanda Forever” We had to shout out to the core when our coordinator commands. I was curious about what fun activity we were going to do that day. The very first game was the blindfolded foosball. Each person was tagged to one person who will guide them, and they should be blind folded. Only some words and sounds had to be used to communicate to our partners. Strategy, Clear Communication ,Focus and Blind Trust are some key lessons learnt from this activity. Then whole class went to another game where we were supposed to reach to other side of block. It was a team game , all about the coordination . respecting the deadline.It was really a fun start for that day, and no one would even expect there was so much of learning while having this much fun. Even though I have done it earlier , but it was with strangers. Doing this with fellow classmates was so much fun.
Chapter — 10 IDIO Everywhere
This was probably the last class. We were supposed to make a poster on IDIO everywhere. Upon some brainstorming we came up with idea of North Indian Hindu Weddings. I always wanted People to know how each event in wedding is cherished and celebrated in north India. This was the opportunity .Our group told about each event , importance of it and also how it is celebrated. We dressed up in traditional attire. Honestly I was astonished to know that each event had IDIO element. We also got praises from our fellow classmates where in they told how we made efforts and how they got to know about various events which they were unsure about . Other fellowmates demonstrated IDIO in wolf pack , orchestra etc.
Self -Declaration(By Mrinalini)
Assignment is my original work. If I have referred to internet sources I confirm that I have provided the citations wherever i have referred. Also, I have not taken the help of Generative AI to create the content
