Coaching Books Case Studies

Satya
Murty Dharanipragada, 2008. Vision Boards: A Powerful Visualization Process by
Irrigation Engineers. Dhanraj Book House, New Delhi, pp. 328, Price not
mentioned, Hardbound.

The author presents an original
and insightful analysis in the form of a case study of the art, science and
practice of executive coaching in two major irrigation corporations of
Karnataka, India.

KARNATAKA NEERAVARI NIGAM
(Karnataka Irrigation Corporation) and KBJNL (Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd.)
are two major corporations established by the Government of Karnataka as
Special Purpose Vehicles SPVs to complete the major irrigation projects in
Karnataka including Upper Krishna Project. KNNL was established in 1998 and
KBJNL was established in 1994. KNNL has a
staff strength of 5415 and out of them Engineers number around 1383 and
KBJNL has staff strength of 3731 and out of them Engineering staff number
around 554. Each Corporation is headed by a Secretary level of Indian
Administrative Service Officer and the Corporations are usually headed by the
Chief Minister of the State who happens to be a political and executive Head of
the State. At present D. Satya Murty, an officer from the IndianAdministrative
Service (IAS) is heading both the organization as the Managing Director. He has
been working as the Managing Director of KNNL since May, 2006 and holding the
additional charge of the MD of the KBJNL since October, 2007.

KNNL and KBJNL are mainly
special and speedy purpose vehicles of the Government of Karnataka to complete
the major irrigation projects at the earliest possible by raising funds through
market borrowings by raising bonds from the public. It is mainly to overcome
the financial constraints, eliminate departmental delays, have more transparent
accountable procedures combined with the corporate culture to speed up the
completion of projects so that the irrigation benefits reach speedily to the
needy farmers. It is also to increase agricultural production by increasing the
total irrigable area in the State.

KNNL has 42 ongoing projects,
two projects were completed since its inception (Harinala & Bennithora).
The total amount spent on these projects is Rs. 5711.96 crores to end of
February 2008 and estimated amount of money required for completion of the other
on-going projects is around Rs. 8679.04 crores. The irrigation potential
created so far is 13,94,449.54 acres against the targeted potential of
25,19,920.85 acres.

KBJNL has 11 ongoing projects,
Seventeen projects were completed since its inception. The total amount spent
on these projects is Rs. 9791 crores and estimated amount of money required for
completion of the other on-going projects is around Rs. 1862 crores. The
irrigation potential created so far is 14.60 lakh acres against the targeted
potential of 16.20 acres.

The KBJNL company is responsible
for planning, investigation, estimation, execution, operation and maintenance
of all irrigation projects coming under the UKP. The company is also
responsible to obtain Government of India's clearance and execute the UKP. The
company is also entrusted with the responsibility of rehabilitation and
resettlement of the people affected by the Project. The company is authorized
to sell water and recover revenues from individuals, groups of farmers including
those in the Command Area Development Authority, towns, city municipalities and
industries.

Large parts of Karnataka are
located in the drought-prone rain shadow of the Western Ghats characterized by
low and unreliable rainfall. The UKP is being executed in the drought prone
northeastern part of Karnataka about 456 Kms. from Bangalore in the districts
of Gulbarga, Raichur, Bagalkot and Bijapur. It occupies a triangular area lying
between the Krishna and Bheema rivers. The population in this area subsists mainly
on agriculture. The area, though being subjected to vagaries of the monsoons,
has highly fertile land. Once water is made available for irrigation, the
economic picture of the area would be transformed contributing greatly to the
development of the region in particular and Karnataka State in general.

The Upper Krishna Project
consists of construction of two dams across the river Krishna and a network of
canals. The project is planned to be implemented indifferent stages and phases.
Stage-I of the project plans to utilise 119 TMC of water to irrigate 4,25,000
hectares of lands on the left bank of the river. In Stage - II 54 TMC of water
will be utilised, to irrigate 1,97,120 Ha. Of lands partly by flow on right
bank and partly by lifting to higher levels on the left and right bank.

According to Vikki G. Brock as
mentioned in the book- the postmodern environment we live in today consists of
rapidly changing socioeconomic conditions in part due to complexity,
technology, globalization and environmental crisis. To survive and thrive in
this environment, organizations and their people must aligned, value-based,
open to new ideas, and committed to growth and learning. Vision Boards, when
blended with coaching, are the optimal way to integrate and align organization,
professional and personal goals while increasing motivation and commitment at
the individual level.

The postmodern era supports
innovation, creativity, flexibility, collaboration and inclusiveness, which is
what this book is all about, Satya Murty demonstrated these characteristics
from his initial introduction to the Vision Board concept in November 2007 to
the completion of a large scale Vision Board process for over 450 engineers in
March 2008. Several items were unique about this process at KNNL and KBJNL.
Generally the Vision Board process is conducted individually or in small
groups, yet Satya Murty's Vision was for a large scale implementation with a
group of highly trained and skilled engineers. Secondly, the Vision Board
implementation was blended with follow-up executive coaching to ensure
performance excellence and sustainability of motivation, commitment and trust
at KNNL and KBJNL. Other unique elements include the rapid implementation of
this process, the aligning of professional and personal goals with organization
goals, and the documentation of the Vision Board process in to this book.

Two foundational concepts for
the success of Vision Boards are the law of attraction and coaching. The law of
attraction is a universal law that has been known for centuries. Simply stated,
it is "like attracts like". Phrases like "birds of a feather
flock together" and "what comes around goes around" are other
ways of expressing the law of attraction. The law of attraction is working in
our lives whether we are aware of it or not. Coaching itself is relatively new
and emerged in the postmodern era as an open, fluid social movement that spread
virally through human relationships and interactions. Unique to coaching is the
belief that the client has their own answers and the role of the coach is to
raise awareness so the client is at conscious choice. Coaching is thus
customized to the individual or group, which is ideal for the complexity and
dynamic nature of the postmodern world. Coaching fosters a culture of trust,
authenticity, collaboration, and inclusion, which is the foundation for
personal and organizational health and increased productivity.

The beauty and power of this
book is its honesty and simplicity. The publication of this book achieves at
least three purposes. First it sends a message to the universe regarding the
intent of each engineer to achieve greatness personally, professionally and
organizationally. Second, it serves an intentional time capsule to commemorate
the Vision Board process. Lastly it documents Vision Board process for other
organization desiring to conduct their own large or small scale Vision Board
process.

The book is divided into
fourteen chapters besides acknowledgement, preface, prologue, epilogue and
annexures.

The first chapter highlights
brief background of KNNL and KBJNL. The second chapter throwslight on the
executive coaching in the organization focusing on various activities organized
during the projects periods for improving the performance of the KNNL and how
it influenced on the performance of the KNNL. This chapter has been written by
organizational coach. Some of the activities may be mentioned here like 'Speed
of trust', Great teams & great results, Goal setting, Art of coaching, and
call conference etc. This reflects the psychological dimensions for future
development.

It is strongly believed that the
success lies in performance of the staff / engineers who are associated with
the KNNL for project Implementation. As apart of the Performance improvement and
make them more focused to wards achieving the personal and professional goals
effectively by setting the Vision Boards. Ms. Barbara Anderson who is an MCC of
Sydney was invited to brief the KNNL / KBJNL staff on power of Vision Boards
and ensured each and every staff of the organization to write their Visions for
the next 1-5 years relating to both personal and professional aspects.

The third Chapter focuses on
concept of Vision Boards and its relevance in practice of executive coaching.

Definitely few things
that had happened in the process of the Vision Board exercise and they were:

Raised awareness

Evolved them to deeply dwell on inner dilemmas and
conflicts

Make them to realize their higher purpose for which
they were brought to this earth.

Created enormous interest in the laws of attraction

Brought in more team spirit

Hierarchies got more flattered

Realized "Joy" as an instrument of Law of
Attraction

Committed towards goad setting process

Beginning of long Vision process

Human bonding and strong relationships

All these added and contributed
the success of these two corporations and delivered the results not only to the
satisfaction of the Government of Karnataka but also to the expectations of the
farmers and every stake holder in the process. The application of the power of
process of visualization and creating Vision Boards as a part of adopting the
principles and practice of Executive Coaching lead these organizations as model
organization / corporations of the Government to excel in the Irrigation sector
as Visionary organizations.

The fourth Chapter examined the
perceptions of the organisational coach emphasing on coaching principals
applied like Key learnings, in sights, major challenges etc. The Vision
Development Process - Contrast between corporate, Government, Non-Government
& family has been highlighted in fifth chapter. This is interesting and
informative for social scientists and development planners

The sixth chapter presents the
details and process involved in the Vision Boards exercise. It is to be
mentioned here that while preparing the Vision Boards, people went out of the
venue, sat in the open lawn and prepared their Vision Boards in a relaxed way.

From seventh chapter to
thirteenth chapter the various dimensions on Vision Boards (which cover
personal and professional) have been highlighted with coloured photographs and
'sayings' by the different group of participants. These chapters reflects the
inner feelings and future perspective for their work. The last chapter gives suggestions,
comments and insights from the Vision Board exercise.

As a result of the raised
awareness of all the key and critical employees of these organizations, the
Vision with which the Government of Karnataka created these organisations to be
special purpose vehicles to complete all the irrigation projects specially so
that more farmers will start irrigating their lands. All the engineers and
other key staff shifted their attitudes and behaviours to become Good to Great.

The present book cum volume is a
comprehensive and insightful look into the thought process for development and
need to work.

It is a praiseworthy effort on
"how to do" and how it can be understood in a globalizing world. The
present work would be helpful to social scientists, agricultural scientists,
engineers, management experts, development planners and experts, social
planners, environmental scientists, academicians besides general public who
have positive approach for the work and development planning for their country.

Prof.(Dr.)Satwanti Kapoor

Department of Anthropology

University of Delhi

Delhi-110007