Namrata Sharma, Customer Service Manager, Amazon,shares the importance of Group Discussions for both MBA and the corporate world.
I did my PGDM from SRCC and Mr. Sidharth Balakrishna taught us Indian Business Environment and Strategy there. There were also a couple of other sessions that he took for us and also helped us prepare to get into companies.
It has been close to seven months since I passed out and I still remember his chapters. Mr.Sidharth has a very different method of teaching. He has a knack of making the class come up with responses on their own rather than feeding them with information, which is something that usually does not happen. He also made us think a lot. He would come up with topics for discussion and throw them at us. There were people who were not okay with speaking the points out loud, so he used to make us write our thoughts. Jotting down points in a comprehensive manner is something that he inculcated in each of us. He would personally come up to each and every desk to review, even if it took a lot of time. He made sure he knew the thought process of each and every student who was there in his class.
There used to be a lot of discussions in his class and it was one of the reasons why we used to get up on weekends and attend only his classes. The engaging interactions ensured that people who were usually never the first ones to speak, also wanted to contribute. There were a lot of probing questions and not everyone would have the answer to that, but eventually, everyone started participating.
In terms of group discussions, it is important to speak but it is far more important to make valid points. If I have to talk about my experiences in GDs, for both MBA admission and companies, even if it is just one intersection and if you have hit the bull’s eye with the point, it will make you sail through. During GDs, you could land up with any topic under the sun. While it is good to prepare data points for major topics, you can not prepare for everything. That is where I think Sidharth Sir can help make a difference, because it is the thought process that matters.
And well, it definitely helps in the long run. Because once you join a corporate, everyday is like a GD; you have to make a mark for yourself. There are so many people who are doing so many things, you have to be visible in the crowd and to be visible, you have to have a voice.