???????? ?? ??????? ?? ???? ??!

????? ???? ??? ??, ???????? ???? ??? ?? ?? ???????, ???? ??? ??, ???? ??? ??

??????? ???? ?? ???? ?? ???, neither I was being lazy, nor that not many events were taking place in my mind or JECRC. I was simply channelizing my energy towards other priorities, assignment, creating new processes & systems, while doing value add by commenting on the posts of the community members.

But here I am, this is me, and beating my own style, instead of a long post, I have an article this time(Laughing in my own head).

This article is a listeners perspective on the 45 minutes of speech I heard the other day from Arpit Agrawal Sir, which got me into thinking about his Changing Dynamics of Transformative & Adaptive Leadership and how he manages everything around.?

I am sure, everyone in the community knows Arpit Agrawal Sir, but for any new set of readers, a quick introduction. He is Director at JECRC Foundation, Vice President Human Resources and Outreach, formally. But most importantly lifeline, blood, soul, heart and the most loved human being at JECRC.

It is because of him that in the last 23 years of Journey, JECRC expanded to 2 institutions, adding JECRC University while the student body has expanded from an initial batch of 180 to 5243, with a global alumni network exceeding 20,000, making JECRC one of the largest academic institutions in Rajasthan.

Success is Yours, Failures are Mine

Arpit Sir despise, when people around him congratulates for any winning, achievements, milestone or major success at JECRC. Rather, he always aims to empower and motivate his people by giving them the entire credit of success, and in this way, gives them the ownership of what they have been doing, will be doing or have done. This is by far one of the most impactful line, I have heard from Him, and I pass the same to my team at JECRC Incubation Centre, Foundation .

Energetic Humility People Centric with a Vision

Sir while remaining energetic, humble, people centric, acknowledges that success belongs to the institution and its people, while shouldering the responsibility for any setbacks. Observing his unwavering dedication for the past 30 months, I see him working every day for over 12-14 hours with the same energy, smile on his face, presence of mind, innovative thinking, visionary hat and curiosity of a child.

I have seen no one in my entire life, cutting their vacation short because of something or the other that keeps happening in the campus every other day, and in my short tenure of 30 Months, seen him doing the same atleast 5-6 times.

Respect & Applaud His Commitment towards JECRC, People , Students and the Society.

Infusing Learning Culture at JECRC

Moving on, emphasizing the upcoming crucial 3rd phase of Campus Recruitment Training, JECRC Foundation's management is diligently preparing students and trainers to ensure the graduating cohort of 3217 (soon to be JECRC Achievers) excels with flying colors.

?A 2 days “Train the Trainer Program”, where a cohort of 61 handpicked faculties were identified on the basis of their skill sets, past records, energy, experience, enthusiasm and exposure to be trained by wonderful Anushree Dixit , who made us Student Ready by preparing us for the mock Personal Interviews (PI), Group Discussions (GD), Extempore, and Technical Interviews, that is part of the CRT Phase 3. In a way, we strive to stay abreast of industry trends, gain insights, and develop the necessary skill set to prepare the largest-ever graduating batch of 3217 students from JECRC Foundation.

Loved this Learning Initiative , which is part of the JECRC Culture.

Before the commencement of the training we were given thoughtful goodies, gifts and customized letters signed by management, which I see as an extrinsic motivation, and indeed it did pumped me up, and I am sure must have done the same for rest of the cohort.

?To me specifically, CRT is not even a task, it is the best time of the year for me at JECRC, and I always wait for it, simply because I get to interact with graduating students on one 1 to 1. I take this opportunity as a return to JECRC and the Society, and I can be seen as most committed during this time of the year( Not that I am not for the rest of the year, but CRT Tops it All).

Be Happy and celebrate for where we have reached, but lets not feel complacent & accelerate towards the next milestone

On the last day, there was a 45 minutes talk by Sir. The Agenda was “Mentees Handling & Expectation Setting”. Drawing a couple of lessons in leadership from the talk, some of them were like new arrows in the quiver of his leadership, while others were tweaked, sharpened and modified to face the VUCA environment.

Being an embodiment of humility, empathy, a leader who always trusts his people & never micro-manages. It is through his Charisma that people own the tasks. He never even goes back enquiring about the task, because that is the kind of trust he has on his people, that he can completely let them call their own shots, and knows that the people would be working in the best interest of JECRC.

1st of July was a little different, as Sir clearly established and communicated about the 23 years of JECRC Journey and acknowledged that we have come a long way from where we started. But, that's about it, and now is the time to capitalize on our learnings, pull ourselves to only push with compassion & accelerate on this Journey 2.0, without feeling complacent of the achievements.

In vanilla language this was a very Strong & Audacious Statement and I saw him making it, without blinking an eye. I literally shouted Woahhh, hearing all this but kept my excitement in check. It felt like, Sir was sure of the changes that has to be made, starting from the Top to achieve this, and also knew that people would have to pull their socks up, and bring their A-Game in this “Come Run with Me Approach”

The lesson I learnt here was— always be ready to Embrace The Change.

Its time to Change, Its time to Accelerate

There were some absentees from the cohort, and while I am not sure of the reasons, but there must be some owing to vacation or could be anything else. But, I saw Sir a little perplexed, for the very first time. I could see disappointment on his face. Normally, when he sees absentees, he just gives a passing by remark laced with humor and wit and goes forward with the agenda.

But, the 1st of July was not every other day.

He clearly said that those who choose not to come, for whatever reasons, priorities, would have to make serious amends in their conduct and behaviour. He even asked the organizing team to speak with him after the meeting to take a correctional measure on the absentees and made it absolutely clear, that indiscipline, taking things lightly would not work from now on, and if we can’t understand the gravity of situation, and the vision on which we are headed, we might call us out ourselves, rather than him doing it for them.

He re-emphasized the importance of the CRT Phase 3, as it is the future of 3217 Students in our hands, and he can’t take any kind of chances or leave loose ends. As it’s not just 3217 students, but 3217 Families who choose JECRC from over 1079 University 650+ colleges and placed their trust in us.

Listening to this, not only I felt proud to be part of JECRC & the cohort, but simply loved the passion and conviction sir had, that he would not tolerate any indiscipline or nuisance, come what may. Generally, Sir, refrains from making such statements, but, it’s Time to Change, as its Time to Accelerate.

Calling A Spade A Spade

“Failure of any student to secure his/her dreams job will not be his/her, but would be that of the Mentor”.?Sir said this, while addressing the Cohort of Mentors.

I am not sure the impact this line had on the cohort, but?it made me 100X more sincere, responsible and accountable, not just towards my efforts, but also towards the end to end process, until the students got placed, and got me, my Box of Sweet.

This, at least for me, was one of the first times I heard Sir, calling Spade a Spade. I saw him being a Leader who is Authoritative and would accept no loose ends, as we are in the business of making future leaders of tomorrow.?

I have always seen Sir, going the extra mile to understand people every single time, because that is how he has been raised. I know this myself, because there have been several occasions where I could not deliver, and he never said even a word to me rather, he would simply pat on my back and with a smile, says, chalo Tarun, ab 1-2 din rest ???, ??? ???? ????????? ?? ???? ???.

Going forward, Sir mentioned about some changes in the Placement policies that some of us may not find logical, and would have a thing or two to say about is. He urged all of us to trust the policy and decisions(backed by data), and ensured that changes have been made keeping in mind the greatest good for the greatest number of people.?

So, trust & just focus on being the best mentor you can possibly be, channelize and infuse all the experience, energy and learning with compassion to make the students in the best form and shape for the placements. But, if any of us still have any doubts, the open door policy still prevails.?

This was another lesson in the learning, and a change, that he did not want us to unnecessarily waste time in thinking about the changes in policies, rather wanted us to be razor focused, and leave the rest to him and his team at the Training & Placement Office.

Phenomenal, I must say!! This can only come from a lot of conviction in One's Team.

He was even straightforward when he said "Do not expect me to approve any leave for the next 45 days, if you have plans , it’s better to call yourself out from CRT, NOW. I was fascinated, Like WOW,

I admire him for countless things, but being straightforward tops it all.?I then and there, happily cancelled my plans of 4 days vacation I was planning in the last week of July( Not Kidding, I even have proof for the same).

Compassion Confidence & Conviction is All you Need

Towards the end, Sir said, with Compassion in your heart towards your work and the students, Confidence in the ability of self and those of the students, Conviction in the vision of management and the processes, I assure you:

WE will make History Together.?We will celebrate Together, but for now " Run with me"

These are the kind of things that move people, make them more accountable and enable owner driven behaviour, thereby becoming the best version of themselves. I was and still am moved to see Sir, adapting to the changing dynamics, and bringing a change and I am sure it must have been hard for him to say a number of things, but who said;

A LEADERS JOB IS EASY

Cheers to the Change | Cheers to the Leader | Cheers to the Newness?

How do you perceive the Leaders to be in this Era where everything is changing so Fast?

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