We are all familiar with retreats, offsites or leadership workshops. Good food and some networking are the major attractions for many of such events. The mundane job of a leader, often dealing with dirty issues behind a closed-door room is a good enough reason to get away, anytime, any day. When the Ashoka Livelihoods for All, decided to include me too in the ‘leaders retreat’ at Bangalore, earlier this month, it felt like a wish coming true.

Not just for this ‘break’, away from the regular routine, the agenda itself was very intriguing, so I jumped at the opportunity. I was still toying with several questions – “why would Ashoka invite us and call it a retreat? What is it from their agenda ‘future gazing’ mean? Should we make a presentation or some preparations? Did we submit reports in time to Ashoka?”, I entered the workshop room on a fine afternoon of early July of 2022, completely unsure of how the next two days were going to unfold, despite receiving a thoughtfully created pre-circulated agenda.

To my surprise, the very first few minutes into the first session itself, I felt a strange calmness. The two brilliant facilitators – Bhavana and Mustafa had very cleverly curated exercises to usher our wandering minds into being in the moment. How often, have I thought of writing ‘a’ book, and how it continues to be a dream; and here I was trying to imagine this book with its title reflecting the core message of my life. Oh, yes, and a song that goes along with it. I immediately became focused in appreciating my surroundings, observing the expressions on our serious-looking professional faces, turning into child-like curiosity and awe with life. This was the start of humanizing each participant. No longer, we were just a function in some organization, but persons with brilliance and vulnerabilities of all kinds. It was humbling to learn about the fellow participants: their joys and pain points. The tone was set, and the energy in the room was casted for the upcoming several hundreds of the moments, for the next two days.

Amidst several learning drawn from this experience, the four stayed with me –

Learning about someone’s goal is one thing and dreaming one for others was another. The next two days helped in challenging the existing pretentions and forming new perceptions.  Mustafa’s thought – “holding the dilemma, for the leader – of striking a balance between daily struggles versus the larger goal” really marvelled me. Performing any given tasks, I observed, we jointly and individually redefined the rules of the game, regardless of what we were told to do, by the facilitators. Each participant had a vague idea of the destination, clear understanding of the instructions, and yet, during the process, there was utter chaos. The success didn’t come each time, because the rules were followed or broken, but because of co-creation and persistence. As a group, and as individuals we shared a common vision. We came out more enriched, for being able to appreciate a dozen different interpretations for the same thing. In the journey of this co-creation, the genuine effort of collaboration, patience and active listening helped us achieve the goal more meaningfully, if not faster.

Vision is important, zooming in is inevitable and scale is the ambition. Are theories and fancy frameworks enough for fulfilling this dream? Working for people require ‘people’. People with empathy, passion and purpose. It was truly liberating to hear the quandaries we all deal with as leaders – not just about the ‘right hire’ but about ‘grooming’ and ‘retaining’ and ‘creating assets’ for the organization of tomorrow. To me, juggling between effectiveness and efficiency, is the next dilemma the leaders have and its real, its costly and it can be a game changer in the ambition of scaling up and out. The tools and strategies can overcome some of the challenges, but the impact is also dependent on the culture, an organization is capable of fostering. A leader must live up to the values they desire to instil within the culture of an organization. And, aside from the technical skills, it is paramount that the trust between the person at the bottom and the leader at the top is built consciously, and, that, this trust is protected, at all times. It also resonated with me when Harish Hande said – “important for the leader to know, when they are an impediment in the growth of the organization than being an enabler: so, let go”.

The debate of engaging with the government: convergence is an absolute must, system strengthening is paramount and achieving the scale horizontally or vertically, will inherently require engaging with the system. It is a difficult beast – the popular refrain in the room: identify officials who are keen and build in-roads. The political will at the top and interested individuals at the bottom is a requisite, isn’t it? Each stakeholder (donors, policy makers, bureaucrats, social entrepreneurs and so on) has its own strength: let’s play on one’s strength and bring their best Lego pieces on the table for others to chip in for the missing ones. To me, this is the third dilemma – keeping first, the needs of our ‘customers (beneficiaries)’ in mind, while satisfying the political interests of all stakeholders involved.

The classroom learning was enriching but the conversations during meals, walking upto the rooms, butting into a group taking a ‘selfie’ or sharing a laugh in the evening while singing, added many more contours to this experience. In brief, the retreat stirred up several questions and reflections within my mind around innovation, scale and collaboration, beyond the institutional/sectoral contexts. And this is a real treat.

It is nearly three weeks now, since we have all zoomed back into our routine lives again, but the reflectiveness acquired about these dilemmas are still going strong within me. Thanks, Ashoka, for curating this experience, and bringing the stunning individuals, who truly made this experience an epic. But, most importantly, thanks for really living up to the values of being a ‘partner’ in this journey.