2009 July » Wide Aware

A Unique Ourdoor Adventure and Experiential Learning site

Adventure Sports, Outdoor professionals No Responses »

Jul 312009

What is the difference betweent Wide Aware and the hundreds of sites out there about adventure travel?

Purpose

Every site about adventure will tell you about what they sell. Wide Aware sells things as a business, but the site is purely about information. You will not find “rush to book nows” and “discounts” and what nots plastered through the content.

Single ownership

For all the content out here, we are not a social networking site, which seem to be the only large ones related with outdoors and travel and training. We don’t have anonymous authority. Its directly you to us. Well, more likely to me, Vidyut, but I do share many of the responses, comments, feedback and other emails with Raka when possible. This is not a business, its communication, curiosity and a desire to connect with you. You make a comment, I read it. Personally. You email me, I write back. You have a problem, need information, want to give suggestions, do it absolutely anywhere on the site, and I read it and pay attention. That simple. No anonymous team of moderators reading your feedback and deciding what to do with it, no unknown authority figures with their unknown responding abilitites. If you feel not attended to, pick up the phone and yell. You’ve got the right person – direct.

What you see is what you get

If you see loads of information, that is because it is thus. We do have announcements about upcoming programmes, but they are rare, and limited to announcements in certain areas of the site.

The scope of the content

Not being into selling, you will find far fewer ready itineraries, but you will find information on places, culture, suggestions, all kinds of things that help you know more and make informed choices. If you decide to book something from us, good luck, opportunities are few and with just the two of us taking only as much work as we can directly manage, you are in a queue.

Yet, that doesn’t stop the flow of information on the site. That is because we want you to celebrate your relationship with yourself through discovery of different aspects. Much as we’d like to pretend we are indespensible, and you will remain in the stone age without us, we know that while we are awesome, growth and change is a fact of life. If we can touch more lives than we directly work with, we are happy.

Free information

All the information you find here is free, and we are happy to respond to emails asking for more information as well. We will share all that we know, happily.

What more? Oh yeah, we are always in a state of work in progress – much like life itself. Yet, everything works (thought parts of the site probably look different from other parts). Content keeps changing, things keep getting clearer, or more confusing, offerings evolve…. if you don’t like the state of matters, send me a shout on email, and I’ll probably gratefully grab your feedback like a lifeline.

That’s Wide Aware for you.

Outcomes of Leadership Trainings

Development Methods, Leadership Development No Responses »

Jul 302009

When planning leadership training, it is important to have certain outcomes in mind. While speaking with clients, one thing I find useful to do is to ask them to describe the improvements they imagine and then work with those to refine them to specific objectives of the training intervention.

This helps, because very often, “stated objectives” are cliches that few really are clear about. “Improved communication” is difficult to plan, but if we can talk about what changes they would like to see, things become more realistic. Working toward it becomes easier and results become more attainable.

There is a fantasy about leadership training that it is only for leaders and it deals only with how to lead. Actually, that is not true. The human mind is complex and interconnected. You can’t change one part like a car. To have results, what really needs to happen, is to work with the entire person, help develop an understanding of what’s really happening, and even more important, understand what really needs to change and the extent of it.

Many trainers make the mistake of addressing the symptoms without touching their causes. It may result in temporary relief from symptoms, but to really cause change, the underlying causes behind them need to be addressed. For example, realizing the need for assertiveness and figuring out how to be assertive may make a person a little more outspoken for a while, but for that person to have belief in himself and spontaneously convey that belief when needed needs for that person to look at the reasons behind his/her devaluing their own wishes. What needs does that satisfy, what fears does it take care of, and so on.

Creating that understanding and working with limiting beliefs will open up many changes which will not necessarily be only about assertiveness. The need for change in assertiveness is more a gateway to the overall change. The unconscious mind shares a lot of its “diagnosis” when picturing the changes and can often provide powerful starting points which training jargon can’t.

Toward this end, I suggest spending some imagination time to describe what the desired changes will be like is in itself the most important part of the programme and the first step of the intervention.

Before even calling a consultant into the picture, it is important to have a clear idea of:

What are we trying to change?
What would we like to see?
How much time, money and effort are we able to invest?

Greenpeace and the turtles

Nature Awareness 6 Responses »

Jul 292009

Last year, I had shared an article I found on the greenpeace site about how the port being build by TATA was being harmful to the Olive Ridley turtles.I was not aware of this issue at all, and I had felt that it was a rather black and white stance taken, so I shared it with readers here to find out what they think.

The post got an overwhelming response with comments still pouring in. As it was getting long, I am writing this post with my observations.

Most of the commenters felt that the campaign against the port construction was out of proportion with the actual concern. There was little proof of permanent damage to the turtles natural habitat, and one press release from the North Orissa University seems to be disputed as being doctored and significantly different from the origina. However, since the post fails to attach either report and only quotes the university, authenticity of that is difficult to establish either.

There have been news reports of the Olive Ridley Turtles have begun nesting near Rushikulya river mouth near the Bay of Bengal and the efforts made to safeguard the nests containing the eggs and a document about the port shared on a sharing site about the project.

Environmentalists think that its important not to “cry wolf” about extinction, as it will lessen the perceived need of long term protection strategies.

Essentially, I see this as a conflict of priorities, with each side blind to the concerns of the other, and willing to settle for nothing less. The pro-development people would like to see Orissa flourish from the jobs and trade that will open up as a part of the port. The conservationists want to remove all threats to the turtles. Essentially, its about what you value more. The people will gain, but the turtles will live. How can one decide either one over the other?

It is a difficult situation, with the extreme methods of Greenpeace drawing lines of division and making it an “either/or” issue.

What I think is needed, is like Amit Bhattacharya says – an independent study. One that doesn’t have a decision to sell through ‘proofs’ and is alive to both sides of the coin. I would add that the research should also be with the people of Orissa, their economic situation, and the impact that this progress would mean for them.

It is sad that we first decide a villain and then find the proof to crucify them, when our concern could be about the turtles and people of Orissa and finding out ways so that both prosper.

Pitfalls on the way to task focus

Leadership Development, Learning Lounge 1 Response »

Jul 282009

I had written about an incident years ago, from a programme where I was not a trainer, but providing outdoor activity support for a programme for CapGeminii conducted by Dr. Dilip Panniker. In that post, I spoke of an incident where Fr. Panniker intervened with the group to drive home the difference between trying and doing, by asking a participant to put his cap on the floor and try to pick it up. Each time he actually picked it up, he used to yell – “No! Don’t pick it up! Try to pick it up” This went on to a ridiculous extent till the group just grumbled “What is the point? The cap will never get picked up” THAT was the point.

The word try, as in attempt is valid to the extent of sharing intentions, but it has no place in the evaluation of a result. Whether something happened or not is the question.

Too many leaders today try (and fail) to keep a feel good factor by acknowledging the efforts made by the team in a space to talk about results. So, for example, instead of looking at what caused the failure, the energy is spent in softening the awareness of that failure to an extent where the team actually star try ts feeling good that they tried.

Morale is good for a team, but the feel good factor is highly overrated. For instance, the focus on commending the effort and avoiding the failure results in the group feeling even more directionless. Is it that I just need to try? Then why do all out pep talks insist on delivering? Trainers and organizational consultants further confound the matter (yeah, I do remember I am one) by looking at results or effort seemingly at random, or worse, depending on the stage of the programme in order to send participants back with some confidence in their abilities to deliver. I doubt if many of them are even aware that they do so.

Yet, history, experience and plain logic agree that it is the sting of having a problem that often drives man to find exceptional solutions. By removing the sting from the problem, we keep the problem intact while removing any productivity it may bring. Efficient? No.

Yet, this has given birth to an entire corporate vocabulary (which we rarely hear anywhere else):

The efforts made by team so and so are indeed praiseworthy (Do you hear the clear announcement that they didn’t deliver?)
We achieved 80% of our goal (which basically means we didn’t do our job as planned – and the 80% is usually subjective and the client would probably call it 40% from his location on subjectivity)
We were able to adapt quickly and innovate. If we just had a couple of days/minutes/weeks/months… more…… (point is, it wasn’t done when it was supposed to be)

And so on….

failure tells me what options I tried that didn't work Yet, without identifying failure, you are doomed to taking that same unproductive path time and again, simply because its okay, its not perfect, but its acceptable. Identifying and acknowledging failure is the laser that precision moulds success with each pass.

In usual life, talking over a beer you’d probably hear “Damn, I thought I could do it, but I couldn’t.” “I tried so hard, but it wasn’t enough” “I screwed up”. Is it any wonder that there are far less performance problems in organizing a party at home than at work? Each time you mess up, you admit it, and learn from it and that is that. At work, you do all you can to avoid being seen as the one who failed, so you spew out a whole load of reasons that hide from no one that you simply forgot to book that event manager (or didn’t want to). It can be “because of” anything ranging from the person being unavailable to the parking attendant looking at you the wrong way that morning. The most well constructed reasoning can gain you a lot of sympathy, but isn’t going to make those entertainers appear out of thin air. No matter what you believe, making you feel better is not everyone’s idea of entertainment.

I could go on and on about the whole process of avoidance of admitting failure, but this is the general gist.

Other ways we muddle things up include the classic analysis paralysis, where the options are so many and need so much research, that you are essentially paralysed till some external power gives you a clear winner to decide on – who is really the decision maker here is a matter for another debate.

Analysis is what cuts through all this clutter. It is relatively clear, though the process may vary:

What needs done?
What is the information I have?
How much information is missing, and how terrible is the risk?
What does my gut say?
Will I be able to do damage control if something turns up?
MAKE THE DECISION – Don’t just sit there twiddling your thumbs till running out of time forces you into that decision anyway
PLAN, EXECUTE, DELIVER <– these three are together, because it is usually your team that will go through these with your directions. Contrary to what most people imagine, this is not a leader’s job – it is why you build competencies in your team.
ANALYZE – what happened? Was the job done? <=== This is a YES/NO question.
Look at what worked, what didn’t, institute whatever processes need to be in place and move on in life.

When your sight is clear, moving on will not be an issue. If your instinct is to create an epic to supplement the two great ones we already have in India, its telling you that you’ve cluttered things up, and have missed something vital. Go through above steps with a scalpel, and by the time you reach the bottom again, you should be ready to move on.

The peripherals are seductive. The praise, the criticism, the good intentions, the market conditions, the weather, the contents of your lunch box…. Sure. Many of them are important to the happiness of your team or you. Just don’t confuse them with the task and you should be fine as a leader.

Monsoon Hike to Rajmachi Fort

Adventure Sports, Hikes, Monsoons, Outdoor Adventure Trips 5 Responses »

Jul 272009

You wanted a more “trekking experience”, we bring it to you. Be prepared to go to Rajmachi Fort on the 15th and 16th of August 2009!

This is a more basic experience than our usual vehicles from Mumbai to Mumbai and resort stays that happen in open programmes.

We will be meeting at Karjat station ticket window (bajaar peth side) on the morning of the 15th August, and taking local transport to Kondivade after a famous breakfast of Karjat’s wada-paav. From here, we begin our hike to Rajmachi Fort. We pass Kondana Caves on the way, but this time, its just a lunch halt on our way to the destination. Remember to bring packed lunch.

We climb up to the fort and reach in time for late tea.

The rest of the day is spent settling ourselves on the fort and exploring.

We stay in the temple or a village hall overnight and wake up leisurely to spend some more morning time absorbing the timeless essence of the fort in the misty atmosphere of the monsoon.

All food is local.

Post lunch, we hike down to Kondivade, and head back to Karjat.

Please note that this is going to be a low budget hike, and we will be charging you from Karjat to Karjat. How to get to Karjat is yours this time, though we suggest the classic monsoon hike transport – local trains. You can co-ordinate with Raka if you like and plan to meet and catch the same train at Dadar or a station on the way to Karjat.

From Karjat to Rajmachi Charges for this hike are Rs.650/- per head for the two days and include:

Transport (local) from Karjat to Kondivade and back on the next day.
Breakfast at Karjat – wada-paav and chai
Food and stay on top of the fort

Please note that this does not include the food/packed lunch to be eaten on the way at Kondana Caves. The reason for this is that we want that typical mixed food that comes from opening different tiffins. You may bring home cooked food, or buy to carry stuff of your choice, but it is your contribution to lunch

Age group: 15 years and above.

Difficulty level: Moderate

Trekking time: 4 hours + halt times

See pictures of Rajmachi Fort

The Changing Nature of Leadership

Leadership Development 1 Response »

Jul 262009

Gone is the time when a leader had a clear role. Where it was a relatively simple matter of finding out requirements from the source, explaining them to the team and getting the job done. When a lot of the work could depend on previous work for reference, when statistical data was nearly perfect.

Today, a leader is a champion juggler. At any given time, he has a couple of things in hand, and ten times that in the air, which he will have to catch and route safely when they come down. Its no longer simple to get the job done. There are many factors to this:

Requirements are defined at many sources – its no longer just about what the client wants, but also about the image the company is trying to create, quality standards that come from another department, emotional well being of the team to prevent loss of people resources, satisfaction of the customer, presenting success in a way that means appreciation for the team, acknowledgment by the organization, and ensures future abundance of resources, developing the team and quality of work on a continuous basis….. of course, let’s not forget the job needs to get done.
Increasing specializations, privatization and economy have led to greater job opportunities that tempt professionals at every turn. As a result, the informal and long-lasting relationships in the cafeteria that earlier cemented an organization have now become organizational procedure in order to create a sense of belonging and prevent trained professionals from leaving. We now have organizational initiatives to build teams and people are more and more aloof in the cafeteria. Guess who has to ensure this happens? – The leader.
Teams now assume personal as their right, what earlier used to be a much appreciated surprise. Whether they get it or not is another matter, but its absence would definitely cause discontent, that would percolate in the community of the organization (and god forbid, the industry), seep up and down the hierarchy to create various levels of concern or insecurity and would inevitably mean that the leader would have to “do something”
Standards of work are being more and more defined and accountable. What would be wryly accepted as an eccentricity a couple of decades ago can now be a lawsuit about unfulfilled obligations or a client lost to the competition. Delivering on everything promised is becoming the mantra – preferably delivering more than promised.
Competition is increasing and failure is less tolerated or understood
Perfection seems to be what is needed on all fronts.

Yet, a leader, by the very definition of the word is a single person. He could create roles, but still needs to be on top of it all. Is it any surprise to see leaders feeling more and more pressured and powerless to deal with everything that is expected of them?

If we allow ourselves to travel down this line of thought, things that occur to us are going to cascade and grow till they disable us under an avalanche of difficulty. Yet work does happen. Not perfect, but companies continue to remain in business, which means teams deliver. There are things we do that get the job done. Some better than others.

What are the traits we see in the most effective leaders?

Acceptance: Most of the leaders who manage to remain enthusiastic about what they do accept that they will not be able to do it all. That no one will be able to do it all. They celebrate what they are able to do.
Priorities: As a participant on a programme put it bluntly. I first pay attention to the actual work that needs to be done. Then I look at addressing any critical problems that influence the well being of my team. Then I try to take some time out to look at positive changes that we can make in general. After that, if time remains, I get around to all those pending things that seemed a good idea at some point, and among them, I do the ones that people are likely to inquire about first. At any point beyond the first two, if I can’t do more, I leave it for another day.
Appreciation and acknowledgment: Many leaders know the power of these two words. One thank you group email is worth 10 team building initiatives. A team that feels valued has less problems valuing each other. Appreciation is not a rare commodity that needs to be hoarded in teams that are cheerful about their work.
Assertiveness: Leaders who can do straight talk help dissolve much of the pressure on themselves and their team. A leader who goes into a management meeting, nods and returns with a pile of work for an overloaded team is not helping matters, or setting the team up for success. If he is able to accept the critical, and refuse the rest, the team starts moving in a productive direction.
Cut the clutter: A leader I respect bluntly refused an initiative from HR to create diverse groups for promoting creativity (across the whole organization) for being too vague and potentially endless till they die out of boredom. He said that unless there was a useful purpose to the initiative, and an objective with a time frame attachced and it was a worthwhile pursuit, he would prefer to have that time available to his team to simply do what they like and deal with the work they already have.

In our quest to improve leadership, it is important for us to see which among these things we do, and which are those we could do.

All this brings us to the key need – decision making:

As stakes get higher, organizations get more and more risk averse. The need for proofs and guarantees goes higher and higher and the wait for them gets longer and longer, and the power to drive change moves from the hands of the decision makers to circumstantial firefighting.

It is time to accept that ambiguity is not proportional to inputs, but grows exponentially in comparison. The leader who wants complete information in hand before making a decision is destined to wait forever, as the sheer amount of data and collection methods ensure that as long as you keep digging there will be more and more to find. Worse, as our world moves from black and white to shades of grey, your information will contradict at times throwing you into a new research spin on the circumstances of the differing data, etc. Its an unending cycle.

There is never a point when you have ALL the information there is. What is needed, is to exit wings and enter stage. You do your best to gather data, and then trust your experience to make the best decisions based on what you know. Postponing decisions is only going to take you right back into the muddle, and you might as well begin gathering data on the impact of delayed decisions and action on the effectiveness of a team.

What are the traits of effective leaders you have noticed?

Best Trekking Boots in India – Lafuma?

Adventure Sports Accessories and Gear 4 Responses »

Jul 252009

Action Trekking Shoes When I wrote the article with tips for picking good trekkking shoes, I got a lot of people asking me if there was a particular brand I recommended.

I pretty much go with my whims and most shoes suit me, so I’m not a very good person to recommend any best trekking boots.

However, I had a conversation with Raka, who is very particular about the trekking boots he uses, and he shared two of his favourites. One, are M Vercors WP from Lafuma, which is a firang brand and expensive for someone wanting to go for the occasional trek. The other (unsurprisingly) are the trekking shoes from Action. I’d already had a lot of queries about them.

Sole of the Action Trekking Shoe What Raka likes about the Lafumas are comfort and a good walking experience. He is partial to the ankle support as well as the excellent grip in all kinds of terrain. The action trekking shoes are something he prefers for their reasonably good feel and grip for price. Plus, they last well and are easily available in India. They are excellent for mountain trekking in the Sahyadri. In his words, “They don’t cost enough for me to worry about taking them on monsoon hikes or other places where the wear and tear is high.”

Raka says hard rubber soles are best in terms of durability and a firm tread.

While you can get the Action Shoes almost anywhere in India, and brands like Adidas or Nike in most big cities, finding good mountaineering brands for good trekking shoes in Mumbai can get difficult. In Mumbai, try Avi Industries in Matunga, Adventure18 at Grant Road and Great Outdoors at Dadar/Thane. These places should have standard good quality imported trekking footwear beginning from about Rs.4,000/-. Those interested will also find other adventure gear.

There are some other places and I will add their names as I recall them.

10 ways to recognize an adrenaline addict

Adventure Travel Tips 1 Response »

Jul 252009

We have all met our share of adrenaline packed, ultra tough, super adventurous action heroes. These are the guys who seem ready for action, whether needed or not. They make a point of flaunting their relationship with adventure and make it a point to seem exotic and out of place as a fashion statement.

Sometimes, they may try to be subtle about it, but there are symptoms they can’t hide and you can spot them everytime.

Here’s how.

Someone who wears trekking shoes to a wedding
Who wears a waist pouch to keep his credit cards safe
Who uses miniature karabiners to attach key rings to his waist
Who carries a water bottle, matches and all purpose knife to work
Who makes it a point to maintain clutter and sees tidiness and cleanliness as something wimps invest time in
Who can’t sleep without his sleeping bag – in bed in a 5 star hotel
Who thinks ‘danger’ makes an attractive heading for an invite
Who says Goretex more naturally than Armani
Who sees profound meaning in risking his life to climb a hostile mountain only to head back immediately to safety.
Who wears a peeling, sunburnt nose like a badge of honour
Who never manages to get his energy levels low enough to fall ill like decent folks
Who never admits to needing a doctor unless its for an adventure injury
Who reads a silly list like this with secret pride rather than pointers to become a top professional at something useful.

If you know anyone who hits bulls eye on a couple of these, watch out, he’ll hit bulls eye on more of them too.

So, what are the other symptoms you have noticed?

Rusi Engineer expired this morning

Uncategorized No Responses »

Jul 232009

I had been thinking of whether to write about this or not. I got news of Rusi Engineer’s demise this afternoon.

He wasn’t exactly a friend, I hadn’t known him beyond meeting him a couple of times and that too among other people. Yet I knew much about him, from our brief interactions, and from hearing about him from other friends in ISABS.

How really do you speak of the death of someone you admired, though you weren’t very close to? Someone who was a part of the community you belonged to, someone who was an influence on the learning and the society that is precious to you?

All I can say is Rusi was a professional member of ISABS with all its people wisdom that is implied. He was a fighter against the cancer that would have taken his optimism far before if allowed. He was an open person not afraid to be himself.

His demise is a loss. His funeral was today afternoon and there is a prayer meeting for him on Saturday at his home. I think that meeting is more for our healing than his. The community needs to mark his presence and to express the empty of his missingness.

I am sad, and for all the lack of contact between us, I will miss his influence on my world.

3-3 quick tips for Listening Skills

Leadership Development No Responses »

Jul 232009

This is the fifth post in the series on Leadership Development.

As a leader, whether you are leading your team, organization, family or hobby group, you end up interacting with many people and the choices you make impact them all.

Your position holds a great deal of power, yet the flip side of it is that it is easy to lose touch with the reality of the people you lead. Sometimes, it is difficult for them to speak openly with you. Other times, they may speak when things reach a critical point, and everything bursts out in a way that doesn’t help anyone.

If you don't listen, I won't too An important skill for a leader is listening. Listening provides you with information you need to make effective choices. It empowers you to understand the multiple realities you influence and make choices that lead to the most accepted decisions and productive change.

So what really is listening?

We hear things all the time. Yet, we hear them through a filter of thoughts running through our mind. If my team member says that he does not think it advisable to accept more members on the team, I may hear it as he has something against expanding the team, or that he thinks the current size is capable of handling matters more efficiently. What is happening here, is that I’ve had these thoughts at some point or I have a perception of him as someone who has an attitude like this, and I quickly assume he means that.

Is anyone listening? Yet, the reality may be different. It is only when I really listen to his words and understand what he has said in those words, rather than my own descriptions, is when what he has said has reached me. I may or not agree. I may or not use his opinion as an input, but until I really have ‘got’ what he is saying, I have lost out on a resource in my belief that what I’m thinking is what he is – I already have myself as a resource. So I have effectively missed out one important resource without even realizing it.

Listening is the single most important thing to become popular as a leader. When the people you interact with feel that you care about what they go through, they trust you more.

How can you develop listening skills?

Robert Carlsen has a suggestion.

It takes a lifetime commitment and you discover your own ways of ensuring that you listen better and better, but the following tips might help:

Be interested in what the person has to say.
Repeat back how you understand what he is saying, and check if that is what s/he means.
Ask questions that help you understand the thoughts, intentions, reasons, concerns, objectives, etc that underlie the content of what is being said. Often, we may quickly disagree with what we hear, but we have similar intentions, which help us build a dialogue around resolving them.

Things to watch out for – these ‘alarms’ can alert you to when you have stopped listening, and are instead listening to your imagination of what someone is saying:

Quick agreement/disagreement: If you quickly feel that what someone is saying is right or wrong, it is likely that you have listened to a phrase that evokes that reaction in you, and lost touch with the entire message that is available to you.
You have something to say: Sometimes, we hear things that trigger some points to make or new ideas in us, and we start waiting for the other person to stop speaking so that we may have our say. Needless to say, what you are doing in that moment is planning what to say and looking for the opportunity without really registering what is being said.
When the other person starts looking dissatisfied, or gets agitated or starts repeating him/herself: This happens when the person feels that his point is important and you haven’t got it or don’t value it. A person who feels listened to relaxes and speaks easily.

There are loads of things you can do, and hundreds of indicators of being listened to or not, but each of them is a learning curve, and this is a good place to begin. As you start listening better, you will discover many of these and form your own style on your own. Each will come with effort and deep desire to listen.

But the rewards are worth it. Newly discovered bonding as a leader aside, there is a glow of warmth and closeness you feel when you really connect deeply with another person that is a rewarding experience in itself. You get listened to more as well and don’t need to fight to get your point across as much. It has to be experienced to be believed. The first time it happens to you, is when you discover a whole new world of meaningful communication.

When we don’t understand, we react. When we understand, we respond.

When have you really felt listened to? When you felt you mattered. How did it impact you?

Wide Aware