Financial Services Institutions Bureau | An Autonomous Body of Government of India

Leadership Development Program

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One of the mandates of the Financial Services Institutions Bureau is ‘To advise the Government on evolving suitable training and development programmes for management personnel in PSBs, FIs and PSIs’. In accordance with this mandate, and in consultation with the IBA, the Bureau curated a Leadership Development Programme (LDP) that is being delivered by M/s McKinsey & Co. as Aarohan 2023. The earlier 3 batches of this program were delivered by IIM Bangalore.

Program Details

The design, the eligible pool of participants, the tools for shortlisting the participants and various components of the program such as Personal Growth Journey (focused on Individual growth by exploring Identity & Potential, developing stronger conversational skills, Internal Skills for Influencing and Leadership Presence, Leading Teams and Driving Organizational Learning etc.), functional modules (focused on most recent advances in exponential technologies and the newest leadership and organizational models to support innovation; on a hands-on experience basis), Coaching sessions (based on Individual Development Plan), Outbound Wilderness (amalgamating theory with practice to create positive, lasting change) and Live Projects (focused on enhancing accountability and channelizing team and individual to organisational goals) were finalised and delivered through IIM Bangalore.

The participants were subject to various assessments (Hogan, the Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory, Functional Survey and In-person Assessments including the Competency and Development Potential Review) to develop Individual Development Plans (IDPs) for each of these participants. The IDPs were then conveyed to the participants and IIMB for further utilization in the LDP.

The other key modules of the program were the Online Learning Module (a part of the program designed to engage and inspire on functional as well as leadership topics), a Spiritual Programme focusing on Self-evaluation and personal explorations, for personal growth and to establish the possibility of exploring the higher dimensions of life, in addition to optimizing health and success. Motivational Speaker sessions were also incorporated with around ten reputed (International/ Indian) thought leadership sessions. A brief listing of the entire courseware is given below

Self Evaluation

Self-evaluation focuses on personal explorations. Self-evaluation involves considering your strengths and weaknesses and being self-aware of how they affect your activities at work.

Thought Leadership

An opportunity to develop skills and practices for effectively leading innovation, adaptation and change, for managing through uncertainty and building communities of practice. Thought leadership module gives essential meta-cognitive abilities, skills to inspire and engage others, gain insight into how to turn ideas into reality and how to transfer these skills to others, integrating them into organisational culture.

Personal Exploration

Participants practice intentional reflection and self-assessment to explore various aspects of their needs, strengths, and interests, and work in small groups virtually to discuss their results and design goals related to the reflections.

Coaching and Mentoring Circles

Executive coaching to assist the Top executives to perform, learn, stay healthy and balanced, and effectively guide their teams to successfully reach desired goals and exceed individual and corporate expectations. It aims at enabling leaders to unlock and unleash their full-potential so they bring greater value and abundance to the people and entities they serve.

External Speaker Session

Highly experienced speakers from Banking, Finance, Technology, Regulation etc are called for interactions and sessions to add value to the entire learning process.

Group Exercises

Group exercises to fosters responsive and meaningful communication, to enhance creativity and out-of-the-box thinking by moving executives away from the usual jobs and refreshe them

Simulation including role plays and situation analysis

Another key modules of the program that helps participants analyze issues, evaluate actions and decisions, connect classroom knowledge to real-world situations, and develop problem-solving

Structured Exercise

Used to generate an in-depth, multi-faceted understanding of a complex issue in its real-life context. It is an established research design that is used extensively in a wide variety of disciplines, particularly in the social sciences.

Workshop and key functional skills core to banking

Refresher course on Core concepts of banking an finance with focus on latest trends and methods

Case discussion

A case study focused on Banking and Finance with indepth discussion on recent cases in India. The areas of focus during the studies range from HR, IT to Business development, Risk management and strategy.

Conceptual model

Key concepts that require hands on working with mathematical and statistical models are rendered at a comfortable pace.

Digital Bootcamp and Online learning platforms

State of Art Learning Management Solution has been leveraged to deliver online self paced modules. To enable participants to take advantage of the same and to keep them engaged.

Faculty Led Sessions

Traditional class room faculty led session on key topics that involve lectures, work shops, assignments, projects and assessments.

Team Based Exercise

Group or team based exercises on some of the more complex models to facilitate learning and practicing leadership skills.

Live Project

One of the key modules that require the participants to identify and commit to working on a project within their parent institution. The Project charter is approved by the CEO of the Organisation and progress is monitored by a Project Review Committee of Six Board level ex-Bankers. After three reviews, the project deliverables are assessed by the CEOs / MDs and the Committee for quantifying the results of the same.

Spiritual Programme

A module designed for align the mind soul and body through sessions on Yoga, spiritual discourse, meditation and mental wellness.

Wilderness program

The most exciting part of the module challenging the top executives to explore nature, apply themselves on obstacle courses, engage each other over friendly outdoor games....

Exponential Innovation Program

A sandbox experience on innovation aimed at giving a first hand feel of the thrill of seeking, challenging, innovating in startups.

The modules were scheduled over a period of 9-10 months to ensure that the participants have sufficient time to absorb and practice.

The pool of participants:

Participants are selected from a wide pool of General Managers/ Deputy General Managers of PSBs with a minimum tenure of one year in existing capacity and a residual service of 4-5 years. The selection process entails an assessment on an identified range of competencies and the preferences of the respective MD & CEOs. For 2019-20, a final shortlist of 78 participants was arrived at from 16 banks (United Bank of India chose to not recommend any participant for the Programme for the year).

Programme Delivery

The Programme was finally launched on July 19, 2019 - on a day when bank nationalization was announced 50 years ago in 1969. All modules have been delivered on schedule baring a few (primarily due to travel restrictions). All modules finally culminated into a “Live Project”, with the intent to spur action plans aimed at improving each bank’s operational and financial parameters. The timelines for each of these interventions including the Live Project were fixed such that the projects were initiated during the 9-month schedule and their beneficial effects continue to accrue to the bank and individual officers thereafter. A team of six top executives from banks and senior Professors from IIM Bangalore guided participants through the Live Project with three formal reviews.

Discovery Day Workshop

A Discovery Day Workshop was held from January 03 to January 05, 2020 at IIM, Bengaluru. This workshop was designed to provide tools to senior officers of the 10 banks that went through amalgamation process as mandated by the Government of India. The objective of the workshop was to Prepare senior officers for serving as a communication channel within each of the banks involved in the merger, Entrust these officers to reach out across the merging banks highlighting the strengths and opportunities of their respective banks, as visualised by the management and finally Empower these officers to communicate the shared vision and goal to all stakeholders across the merging banks and to identify team players across banks that can collaborate in future projects.

The expected outcome of the workshop was to Assess the organisational culture of the banks involved in the merger, be Aware of the exact areas of synergies and gaps in the culture, Discuss strategies based on the experiences of other banks and finally have a clear Understanding of the HR changes required to reach the aspired organisational culture.