Three-day Training on Human Resource Development for State Forest Officer Trainees at CASFOS Dehradun

05 Mar, 2020

A three-day training on Human Resource Development Competencies was conducted from 2-4 March 2020 for 55 State Forest Service (SFS) Officer trainees at the Central Academy for State Forest Service (CASFOS) Dehradun. The training was jointly implemented by CASFOS and GIZ as part of the ‘2018-20 and 2019-21’ batch SFS Induction Course, under the Indo-German Project on Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC) Mitigation in India. GIZ and Directorate of Forest Education (DFE) have entered into an MoU under the Indo-German Project towards facilitating capacity development measures at institutions under DFE such as CASFOS.

The leadership training began with an inaugural session with Dr Kunal Satyarthi (Principal, CASFOS) who welcomed GIZ and the trainers; Dr Neeraj Khera (Team Leader, GIZ) who gave an overview of the Indo-German HWC project, training module, approach, learning goals of the participants and current challenges; Ms Sarita Kumari (Faculty, CASFOS); Mr. Ajai Desai (Consultant, GIZ) who spoke about HWC in India and the role of forest officials in its management; and Dr Pradeep Mehta (GIZ) who spoke about the participatory capacity development approach of GIZ. Ms Ashita (Dale Carnegie Institute) gave an overview of the training followed by an introductory session.

The participants were divided into two groups after the training-need assessment and each group was facilitated by a trainer from Dale Carnegie, Ms. Ashita, Ms. Anupama, and a CASFOS faculty member, Ms. Sarita Kumari and Dr Pradeep Wahule. The first day focused on the context and basics of HR issues, organisational culture and professional ethics. The first session on ‘Characteristics of Leadership Effectiveness’ focused on the concepts of managing change, performance change pathway, leadership visual map, team member vs leader mindset, Dale Carnegie model of leadership success and identifying strength competency.

The second session focused on ‘Leading with Integrity’ that focused on the concepts of competency spotlight: honesty and integrity, personal leadership, purpose statement, personal values, and time management. Dr Pradeep Wahule and Ms Sarita gave practical examples from the field. Participatory methods were used to deliver these sessions. This was followed by a session on ‘Leading Others to Accomplish Results’, management vs leadership, inner view and assigning tasks as a manager and holding people accountable.

Day 2 was focused on work effectiveness competencies and competencies for promoting harmonious co-existence. In the session on ‘Enhancing Leadership Competency’, the participants were given hands-on experience on leadership storytelling formula and briefed about decision making models, techniques and processes for better management of HWC.

The next session on ‘Engaging Followers’ differentiated followers and leadership, types of followers, fostering effective followers, types of power and influence styles. Examples from the forest services were used to enable better understanding. The third session on ‘Communicating with Authenticity’ presented different types of communication, feedback guidelines and cushions in communication followed by a practice session. The last session of the day on ‘Guiding Performance’ trained the officers on the concepts of analysis, improving a relationship, control limits, coaching opportunities, collaborating to address subtle deviation, supporting peak performance and evaluating subpar performance.

Day 3 focused on ‘Competencies for Promoting Harmonious Co-existence’. The first session on ‘Increasing Self-Awareness’ covered the concepts of getting a perspective, Johari Window, Leadership Achilles Heels and feedforward. The next session on ‘Inspiring Confidence in Leadership’ trained the officers on identifying triggers, levels of listening, listening guidelines and response generators. The last session on ‘Developing Self and Others’ focused on zones of performance, the S curve effect, managing zones and commitment to continued growth.

The training concluded with an evaluation by the participants of three-day training. The best participants were also awarded by the Dale Carnegie Institute. In the vote of thanks, the trainee representatives thanked GIZ, Dale Carnegie Institute and CASFOS for organising the training.

@GIZ/Neeraj Khera

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About the project

The Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation (HWC) project implemented by GIZ in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change aims at providing technical support at the national level, and effective implementation of HWC mitigation measures in selected states of India. The project pilot sites are: Haridwar Forest Division and adjoining landscape including Rajaji Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand, Gorumara Wildlife Division in West Bengal, and Kodagu Forest Circle in Karnataka.

The main objective of the project is that the rural population in project areas, where agreed guidelines and tools are applied to mitigate human-wildlife conflict, is better protected against it. The project takes the approach of harmonious coexistence, by ensuring that both—human and wildlife—are protected from conflict. Read more

For more information contact: biodiv.india@giz.de