Dear Colleagues

Warm Greetings from LAICO!

We would like to announce that, we are going to conduct a consultation on, “Paradigms for Effective Leadership” to be held at Aravind Eye Care System, Pondicherry from October 7 - 8, 2014 (Tue - Wed) as part of this year’s October Summit.

Rationale

Leadership and governance play an important role in determining the way an organization operates and the outcomes it produces. It is the leadership that sets the direction for the organization and spells out the priorities.

We can see leadership in any organization playing broadly at two levels:

1. at the strategic level, setting direction and making things happen
2. at the operational level, leading various activities that dictate how the organization functions.

Even though there would be a set vision and mission for institutions, what practically happens depends predominantly on what the leader hold as “non-negotiable”.

The role of the leader or the leadership is what is most critical in an eye care institution too. Time and again, we see that where proper leadership is not in place, mere input of resources does not enhance the performance or effectiveness of the institution. Leadership is about both character and competence, and the crucial questions often times are - what leaders should do (and not do) to remain effective in the context of constant changes and never ending operational challenges.

Leadership has always been found to be so ambiguous a concept that even very successful leaders may not be able to clearly articulate the factors contributed to their effectiveness. Lack of this understanding is what limits the capacity building process essentially to buildings, equipment and training. Therefore, it is very critical to discover ways to make leadership a conscious effort in institutions. Being able to identify and conceptualise this gives a better perspective to our work and will substantially improve what we do.

Considering this strong influence of leadership in the performance of any organisation, this workshop aims to explore the paradigms that enhance the effectiveness of leaders. The discussions will be facilitated by eminent leaders from globally leading organisations in healthcare and other sectors.

• To explore the broad challenges for effective leadership
• To bring to consciousness the facets of effectiveness from proven leaders
• To discuss ways to make leadership a conscious effort

• What leadership is all about?
• Making leadership widespread in the organisation by developing people
• Bringing about sustainable changes (Introducing new culture) in institutions
• Succession – perpetuating effective leadership

• Clear understanding on how leadership impacts the success and sustainability of an organisation
• Clarity on practical ways to have effective leadership in place

Workshop Framework

We intent to achieve these outcomes through a combination of didactic talks, case presentations, panel discussions and group exercises. The two days will be divided into four half a day segments, each dealing with one of the four focal themes mentioned above. Each thematic discussion will start with the presentation of the concept followed by real case presentations, panel discussions and group exercises. A consolidation of the upshots will be documented and shared with the participants in order to support implementation of the learning in their respective institutions.

Funding Support

LAICO is happy to support the cost of your stay for three nights at “Kailash Beach Resort, Pondicherry on twin sharing basis and food during the workshop. Since the budget available is limited, we request the participants to support the travel cost on their own.