What We Learned to Create a Longer Impact

What We Learned to Create a Longer Impact

MULTIPLY THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH AND INNOVATION

by Venkata Subbarao Mupparaju, Madan Mohan Chunduri, Jayanth Upthala, Jyothirmai Reddybathuni, Vinay Manukonda and Haindavi Ghanta University Innovation Fellows Vasireddy Venkatadri Institute of Technology

After our six-week intensive UIF training, we started working on implementing strategic priorities on our campus. During this time, we also studied all the priorities of previous cohorts in a detailed manner and we contacted some of them through mails and various platforms and discussed our priorities and their experiences. We observed some priorities become a part of the college formalities. Keeping all of this in our minds, we worked with a passion and faced many new experiences and tides. Now we are sharing what we understand to make a longer impact on campus. If Fellows don’t feel comfortable with renewal and reinvention, they will begin to lose their impact and influence quickly. Fellows on campus not only require the ability to continuously manage crisis and change, but also the circular vision to see around, beneath and beyond the obvious in order to anticipate the unexpected before circumstances force our hands. As we embark upon our change management journey, we challenge our capabilities as change agents and potentially become defining moments along our leadership success path. Fellows can no longer be comfortable just gravitating to the batch they belong to. Connecting the dots of talent, unique perspectives and experiences requires all Fellows to change their attitude, approach and style to accommodate the needs and seize the opportunities that lie within a broader range of long reach. With the involvement and support of stakeholders, we bring about change in our campus within a short time and create a long impact on students. We have always been open to suggestions and there are times where the suggestions from previous Fellows helped us a lot. We have a WhatsApp group with all the Fellows (from the initial fall batch) and Faculty Champions, in which we regularly post about the activities that Fellows were engaged in and make sure that everyone in our group is updated. When required, we schedule meetings with the previous Fellows, explain the detailed plan and let them give their suggestions or feedback. Then we work on the suggestions and feedback given by them and proceed with a final plan. We don’t get stuck within the confines of the student groups that we are most familiar with. We get out of our comfort zone and learn how to multiply the opportunities for growth and innovation. We invest time to understand the insights in the broader field of talent and students that lie around and in front of us.