Learning From Each Other

When a teacher teaches a student, how many are learning?

Not one but two! Because the teacher also learns.

You may have heard or read it before. But Ghumakkad has been a firm believer in above dictum. It came alive earlier this week when I was invited to launch the opening day of a 14-day residential workshop on Project Management for senior officers from Nagaland Civil Service (NCS). It was organised by MCR HRD Institute, Hyderabad under the Capacity Building Program. The participants had travelled all the way from Nagaland to attend the Workshop. It was a privilege to be the opening resource person for the Workshop. Although I had taught at the Institute on many occasions earlier, it was after many years that I was back at the sprawling Jubilee Hills campus.

Project Management

All the five stages of Project Management as listed below are well known:

1. Initiation
2. Planning
3. Execution
4. Monitoring and Control
5. Closure and Evaluation

Experiential Learning

All the above topics were to be convered in detail in the remaining 13-days of the workshop. Therefore, what I decided was to launch the topic with real-life examples and lessons. These examples were shared not only by me but also by the participants themselves. It made the whole learning process more experiential. The real-life examples from their own State added value to our discussions. Experience sharing by the participants consolidated the underlying concepts and helped in internalisation of learning. It made the whole process interactive and worthwhile more so when I had to engage them for six hours on Day-1!

Issues Discussed

Some of the live issues concerning large government projects that were discussed are listed below:

1. Is the project really needed? Who gets benfitted and how?
2. Community buy-in of the project
3. Scope creep- how to deal with changes in project Scope
4. Measuring the Impact
5. Ensuing the quality of project execution
6. Replicability of the Project across other districts and States

Learnings for the Teacher

As I said a teacher also learns in the classroom. I had many takeaways from the interaction with the experienced officers of NCS. Some of the learnings are:

1. Development challenges in Nagaland
2. Cultural diversity across hill tribes
3. Fragile ecological system
4. Rich bio-diversity of the region
5. Excellent communication skills specially in English
6. Regional and national aspirations

Gratitude

I wish to thank all the participants from NCS for their patient listening and active participation. On completion, they surprised me by honouring me with their traditional hand-made stole brought from Nagaland. I felt deeply humbled to receive this honour.  

About the Stole

Called Konyak (or Kongnai in local Ao dialect), these stoles and shawls are iconic traditional handwoven textiles from Nagaland, characterized by their specific tribal motifs and cultural significance.These stoles are more than clothing; they represent tribal identity and ancestral roots. Historically, certain patterns were reserved for warriors or clan leaders. They typically feature bold colors like red (bravery), black (strength), and white (purity). Naga traditional shawls and stoles have received a Geographical Indication (GI) tag, recognizing their unique origin and traditional production methods.

Am reminded of a quote by Calvin Coolidge who said, "No person was ever honoured for what he received. Honour has been the reward for what he gave." Once again thank you all the NCS officers for your gesture.

Other Workshops

Workshops are a great way to learn especially for working professionals. Am sharing below the links to some of the workshops conducted by me on various topics. Just click the link to browse the corresponding story.

Teaching Design Thinking Differently - When your MBA students don't want to recommend the college to others, what do you do? Think differently. Click the link.

How to Empower the Volunteers? - 3Es of volunteering by Ghumakkad

More Than A Prison - A workshop for the officers from the prison department on personality development.

Make In India and Military Systems - A workshop at IIM Indore. Have we gone beyond the rhetoric? 

Workshops if conceived well and designed for 'doing' rather than 'slide-shows', are a great way of learning. The above examples would have given you a taste and falvour. Should you need any help, do reach out to me on email hbindia@gmail.com .

Thanks for browsing. Stay connected and do leave a comment. It encourages us.

   - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ Secunderabad/ 14th Feb 2026

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