Followership : Kengeri : CUFE : 2013

Christ University, Department of Computer Science has always taken initiatives in organizing various Workshops and seminars for the students with the aim of molding fine professionals for the country along with curriculum. A Followership Workshop was organized on 29th November 2013 to inculcate the knowledge and understanding of basic aspects of leadership for success.

In the discussion of leadership, often the leader is the star. With so much recent attention on the importance of leadership, it can be all too easy to forget that an exceptional leader must be accompanied by individuals who willingly support a leader toward success, this requirement makes followers just as essential as leaders. To reap the benefits of successful teamwork, we must understand that people have to take the role of leader and of a follower at different times as per requirement. If we do not follow our leaders how do we expect our followers to follow us. “Lead by example” implies that as leaders we need to follow.
PARTICIPANTS
The workshop was well attended. 24 Participants from Computer Science and IT Department attended the Workshop. The theme of the Workshop ‘Followership’ was new to most of the Participants but all of them were very active and the program was very lively. The workshop was conducted by Jibrael Jos, Assistant Professor (Computer Science Department Christ University, Bangalore) and Prof. Balachandran HOD of (Computer Science Department, Christ University, Kengeri).
METHODOLOGY
The one day work shop covered both theoretical aspects and practical aspects of followership by mainly focusing on various Practical Sessions.

Ice Breaker
The Workshop commenced with an Ice Breaking session which was well designed and facilitated which resulted in the effective starting of the training session by learning about the objectives of the event.

Self-Belief

“Believe you can and you're halfway there.”  Theodore Roosevelt

The first session of the workshop was aimed at inculcating self-belief in the Participants. They were assigned to perform certain tasks to understand the importance of Self-belief or self-esteem which is the main ingredient for making success.
Leadership Traits
Leadership is one of those nebulous terms, the traits that make up a good leader can vary depending on the organization, team, manager and work environment. Prof. Balachandran was the resource person for this session on the topic Leadership Traits. He spoke about the various leadership traits and above all the main message conveyed to the participants were that a leader should be good follower.
Concept Leadership
Second half of the Followers Workshop started with the Concepts of leadership. The session dealt with the main leadership concepts and this was made clear to the participants with audio visual clips.
Team Work
This session was the core of Followership workshop where the all the participants worked for a common goal in their teams. Here they learned about various aspects of follower- leader relation. The session focused into the key areas of team work. All of the teams came up with innovative ideas and creativity. The learning outcome of this session was understanding the ability to contribute to task and goal accomplishment through supportive, technical, interpersonal, and cognitive skills. Followership is not a challenge to the captain’s authority. Good followership is proactive without diminishing the authority of the captain.
The group was divided into three teams and each team trying to complete a model of a ship in  45 minutes.
Goal Setting
Goal setting involves establishing specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-targeted goals. On a personal level, setting goals helps people work towards their own objectives. The Last session of the work shop stressed on the importance of goal setting which is the way towards organizational and personal success.