Bayu's Story
Bayu Ludvianto, Indonesia
The ITS and Me
When I was asked to give my views on the [LEAD International Training Session 2007], I was so surprised and honored. The ITS meant so much to me and my career. It certainly “lifted me up” to the next level of my life.
After almost two years working as trainer for creativity thinking and communication skills in the national level, jumping from one audience to the others, and looking for chances to spread my wings, LEAD Office Jakarta offered me the opportunity to become one of their trainers in the LEAD International Training Session in Bandung, Indonesia.
I finally got the chance to “taste new water” and to lift up my grade. Wow….that was the only word that came out from my mouth. A big chance in a big and important moment!
The Training for Trainers and the “preparation and daily meeting for trainers” run by LEAD International experts including Edward and Fernando, were my favorite session. Many new training techniques (at least to me) were discussed, learned, and tested, and many misunderstanding occurred.
The misunderstanding part was the one that I particularly enjoyed the most. I learned many things just by enjoying “How Edward and the LEAD International Team” deals with the “different perceptions” and “different expectations” of trainers. I noticed some glitches and emotional situation bubbling in the air, but I learned a lot from this interesting situation.
The working group facilitation where I have to run mostly by myself (because of my training partner was unavoidably had to take care many urgent situations), ran much better than I expected. Each of the 15 participants with their own individual character and passion needed to be taken care of carefully.
Hyder who always so passionate to contribute, Ayoub the funny and fatherly man, Glen who always acts wisely, Alberto who always expressed himself with full of energy, and Sholpan who always looked cool and calm are some of the example of characters that I had to deal with passion. The mixed characters, perceptions, and backgrounds created an interesting and lifely facilitation and group working process. Everybody seemed to be enjoying their partnership with new friends that they met just one day earlier.
The Communication Session, which I, co-ran with Kenneth, Carole, and Gitanjali, was just amazing. The session, given me many new perceptions and experiences in dealing with persons from different backgrounds.
One thing I noted in the session was that most participants only concerns about the content of the message (i.e. CO2 increase, deforestation, global temperature increase etc), but not the “packaging” of the message for successful delivery purposes. This made the message looked dry and uninteresting to ordinary people.
If one thing I may look forward to see in the next training session, is the availability of material on persuasion skills. This will equip participants with the state of the art capability of “packaging” the important message of sustainable development so it can be delivered seamlessly, effectively and efficiently.
Professional and personal friendship were great thing offered by the ITS. In just two weeks after the ITS, I and Sholpan, one of my working group members from Kazakhstan, managed to start a cross border joint project for government officers training on sustainable development, for Astana City (capital city of The Republic of Kazakhstan).
I am so excited with this initiative, since I am now running a similar project (Promoting Leadership in Integrated Development) in several cities in Indonesia. With the Astana Training Initiative on the horizon, for sure I have passed my grade and spread my wings. Thank you ITS, thank you LEAD.
