Stress Management and Emotional Competence

Day 1: covered aspects of Leadership by Dr. Smita Iyer on Great Leaders of the World, Women in Leadership roles and the challenges faced by women with discussion on articles from HBR, followed by concepts of networking and negotiation skills.

Mr. Anand Mohagaonkar, Ex MD Cummins India Ltd, gave his inputs on Leader- Team dynamics, stress management and internal networking dynamics. He stressed on developing an understanding of organizational dynamics and actively building clarity on one’s role in the organization.

The day ended with an enthusiastic Mr. Mohan Nair, Director, Ensigns Software & Communications Pvt. Ltd, giving touching anecdotes of Palkhi to drive home the point that leadership is taking ownership of work, irrespective of your designation and position. He reiterated the need to revisit and practice the basic morals and values imbibed by one’s family to build heart-based leadership and the need to build trust in one’s team to raise the performance bar.

Day 2 had four major sessions focusing on building an understanding of Stress Management and Emotional Competence.

First speaker of the day, Mr. R Shankara Narayanan, Vertical Head-Digital, gave insights on stress in an organization, differences between positive and negative stress and articulation and importance of saying ‘No’ to reset time goals. He stressed on working out a work-life balance and exploring the world to live without stress.

He was followed by Ms Gayatri Vartak, Director Samiksha Sports Pvt Ltd and sports counselor accompanied by Ms Damini and Ms Sneha. She conducted management games to explain what stress is; when to seek help and from whom. Her dialogue on what is right for an individual was engaging for students. She made groups exchange their current stress factor with other groups, and proved that most of the ‘so called stress’ is irrelevant and is discarded as stress by others. The example of stress outburst- Serina Williams during US Open match led to an anecdotal memory impression for all.

The third speaker, Ms. Aparna Prabhudesai, Senior Management Trainer and first and oldest Indian woman to conquer Mount Everest and CEO – Bodhvriksh emphasized the need to engage in a hobby to de-stress, build on motivation. Her talk was interspersed with real life experiences, humour interactive conversations and role plays to explain what stress does to one’s body and mind. Her final activity focused on the need to develop a habit of appreciating one and other to build a stress free atmosphere and good will.  

She ended the session by making students complement each other. Post lunch session taken by Mr. Kiran Gandhi, Ms Stephania Menezes and Mr. Anup Pawar on Emotional Competence through management games was an experience in itself for the students. The activity conducted by them on- being with oneself and being in another person’s shoe helped students understand how they could remain emotionally sensitive and connected.. The program closed with a valedictory address by Ms. Bindiya Rangwani.