Outdoor Leadership Workshop - Oct 2017

​GHAC Outdoor Leadership Program - Basic Level 1  - 27-28-29 Oct 2017

GHAC is calling application from all outdoor enthusiasts who would like to learn outdoor leadership skills required to conduct and lead outdoor activities with GHAC. 

Planning, leading, surviving and making decisions in wilderness conditions prepares one for day to day challenges of life. Learning's in the outdoors helps one internalize and personalize the experience and take the them back to their personal and professional fronts. This is the most effective way to develop leaders.

 The program focuses on skills that build confidence and competence in leaders conducting outdoor camping and trekking experiences in the wilderness. 
​
This Outdoor Leadership Workshop is a highly selective process to spot and train outdoor enthusiasts to become exceptional Outdoor Leaders.

By attending this workshop, participants will get to learn 

• Define  the basics of Outdoor Leadership.
• Recognize the Safety requirements for conduct of Outdoor Events.
• Relate to the Group Behavior and Interpersonal skills required to conduct outdoor events.
• Relate to the Judgement and Decision Making Skills in the Outdoors. 
• Demonstrate  the Outdoor Safety skills required to organize and lead teams  with all safety. 
• Practice Wilderness Survival Skills, Map Reading and Navigation,  Camping Skills, Basic First Aid, Knots and Lashings. 

For Whom: Open to individuals aged 18 years and above with a passion for adventure and who want to learn Leadership,  Decision Making, Teamwork, Outdoor Skills required to lead adventure and outbound expeditions.

Prerequisites: Active Adventurers who have done 5 Local and 5 Outstation events with GHAC or other Adventure Clubs.

The Rule is relaxed for NCC Cadets with B or C certificate,  members with Basic or Advanced Mountaineering, ex-servicemen and experienced active adventure enthusiasts.

Adventure clubs and organisations working in field of outdoor education may also send their nominations if the participants qualify the prerequisites. 

​How to apply: 
1) Apply at http://olp.ghac.in 

Outlife Outbound Training and Team Building

My Memoirs of OLP (Outdoor Leadership Program) – NINE

It was 9:00 am in the morning of 16^th and I was about to drive to my university when I received a sms regarding my selection for the OLP.  I was happy and confounded to know that I was selected. Confounded because leadership, similar to adventure, is a state of mind. Always the dispute within me has been with –‘Getting started’.  Coaxing the inherent self to do it. Indeed they (who else? google guys? Naah!) say that beginning is half done. So, after the mental dressing, I started packing for the 3 great days I am gonna spend with every single person up for the program.

It was 9:30 am in the morning by the time we (motor-poolers) reached the venue. We found a bunch of adventure enthusiasts who already reached there and we started conversing with them. All of us had few things  in common but every single one of us were trying to make some sense out of his or her presence here, to find some meaning with the opportunity presented, to become an ‘Outdoor Leader’.

After a hefty breakfast, the first day started out with an introductory session followed by the prerequisites for a trek-- planning, equipment, safety and execution. To facilitate better interaction between all the members, the whole team was divided into groups of 5 members each. They were fun filled sessions with one member of the group introducing other members of the respective group and chalking out the probable prerequisites for a trek. The class breaks for lunch and the much awaited session about survival began in the second half of the day. It is the third session of the day which dealt with the basics of survival. These skills were later experimented by each of the groups. Later in the evening, we got to chop the vegetables, cook them to make a decent meal (Veg. Pulao, Mixed veg curry and white rice) and taste it numerous times (thankfully much more was left to eat even after the tasting session: D). After the delicious meal, we proceeded to bond near the bonfire. The highlight of the night was the sentry duty which was given to only guys (lucky chaps, they got to stay out of their tents for more time) and then we retired to our tents, which we pitched before cooking dinner. 

9th Outdoor leader ship workshop for future leaders of GHAC

Col Rajeev Sharma Explaining on collecting Firewood

Yes we did start a fire

Cutting Vegetables for Pulao

The Yummiest Food Ever

The classes on the second day began with basic scrambling and bouldering sessions followed by the ritual of breakfast. A much anticipated session of the day for me indeed was the map reading session which was followed by a practice session which requires the map reading skills. It is worth a mention that the practice session was much spontaneously decided by our leader. Much to our pride of wanting to be the leaders, most of us dosed off in the sessions that followed post lunch. Nevertheless, we survived (with dreamy eyes) the session by presenting each of our game-plan for the survival challenge given and died in 10min (You will know what I mean if you have attended the OLP ;)). The evening was made exciting with the knots and lashing session followed by ‘Barbecue’. The day ended with dinner followed by campfire and sentry duty assignment.

Diyanat the original Outdoor leader conducting a workshop

We had 2 doctors telling us about basic first aid in outdoors

Finally Time to get some rest in our tents

Next morning every body was fresh

Here comes the third and final day: Early in the morning, we were led towards a temple atop the hillocks for a sunrise hike. The hike was certainly worth cherishing for most of us. Why was that so? Be-cause, it had the most powerful element of all – “Silence”. The session consisted of exercises that help to build inner peace and clarity of mind. While the sun planned to hide under the clouds, we proceeded for bird watching.

Trust is the basic building block of any team: Trusting your team  member with eyes close

After the end of the bird watching session, we had different tasks to work on (namely- the balloon task and river crossing task) where everyone had put their game face on. The tasks clearly exemplified that leadership skills include working as a group towards a common goal either be it protecting one’s balloons (figuratively our egos in the first task) or one’s life  (figuratively our common interests in the second task). The next session had a simple but revolutionary exercise which was about trusting the leader and as a leader, keeping up to the trust of one’s own group. In the exercise all the members of the group are blindfolded and are lead by their leader. By then everyone could take in the feeling of the unique leadership that was aimed to develop among us. In the second half of the day we were briefed on accounting and steps on how to organize a trip etc followed by the vision, mission and rules of the club.

The 3-day program apart from building new and strong networks between the members created a lasting impression of leadership development for the new ‘Organizers aka Leaders’.

At the end of the day all of us bid farewell with a promise we made with ourselves to bring on the Vagabond in us, to bring out the Outdoor Leader in us! 

Check  here about an earlier OLP 

About the Author:

AkhilA Manne is an outdoor enthusiast and an Inquisitor, she is a trainee organizer with GHAC and attended the 9th Outdoor Leadership Workshop recently.

Outdoor Leadership Summary

Outdoor Leadership Workshop

Here is a quick summary for those that could not attend the GHAC Organiser workshop on Sunday 29th August 2010  and a refresher for rest of us who attended.

Outdoor Leadership is the Capacity to influence others towards achieving common goals with a focus and competency the team would not achive on their own.

LeaderShip Styles - are ways you in which you express your influence on the group

COLT - Condtional Outdoor Leadership Theory (Priest & Gass, 1997) - The Conditional Outdoor Leadership Theory is a new approach to leadership based on applying the appropriate leadership style according to importance of task, group relationship, and level of conditional favorability. COLT Theory divides leadership styles into

Autocratic- complete decision making -high on tasks, low on group relationships, unfavourable conditions
Democratic - shared decision making - concern for task and group  relationship are balanced with somewhat favourable conditions
Abdicratic -  leave the decision to the group - low on tasks, high on group relationship and fully favourable conditions

A good leader knows when to change his style of leadership based on the task  and condition at hand.  The best action of the leader depends on a range of situational factors.

What is expected of a good outdoor leader

• creditability - he has the required experience. Has been there and done that or has the competence to undertake a task
• is physically strong with good endurance
• has technical competence with outdoor skills
• is intuitive
• is compassionate and respects team members
• leads by example
• Is punctual and maintains timeliness 
• has common sense
• has courage
• is passionate
• Is safety conscious and responsible
• Knows First Aid, Rescue and emergency handling procedures
  
• is realistic and respects limits
• communicates effectively and does regular briefings and keeps team informed
• Is a good listener
• delegates authority and involves group in planning, decision making and utilizes people skills
• Keeps a challenge or a goal for every activity
• Keeps a level of unpredictability and uncertainty in the activity
• Facilitates group interaction
• Likes and respects critics and handles critical feedback in a constructive way
• Manages and addresses conflicts before they get out of hand
• Has guts to say No
• Keeps learning and Mentors others
  
• un-leaders and becomes part of the group when not on the activity and knows when to use authority.

Qualities and Behavior  an outdoor leader should avoid

• Being Manipulative and coercive
• Misinforming team members
• Being Unrealistic and going over limits
• Less concern for safety
• No concern for environment
  
• Showing Arrogance
• Being Abusive
• Showing Anger
• Getting into fights verbally or physically
  
• Being Egoistic
• Having special relationships with some members of the group or bonding only with select few.
• Having access to more privileges then the group members.
• Asking Team members to do his personal chores.

References:
1) My own experiences and learning's when on the outdoors with Great Hyderabad Adventure Club www.ghac.in
2) My observation of other leaders when in the outdoors.
3) Collins Camping and Hiking Manual by Rick  Curtis
4) Outdoor Leadership theory and practice by Bruce martin
5) Effective leadership in adventure programming  By Simon Priest, Michael A. Gass

- Diyanat Ali, Chief Organiser, GHAC