Leadership & its Impact on you
SOIL has a great focus on Leadership Skills and its impact on student development both inwards and outwards helping shape leaders of consequence. Leadership at SOIL is taught through the following unique practices.
Self-Leadership
At SOIL, every student goes through a module on Self Leadership during the 1st Semester. As part of this module students undergo experiential transformation journeys where they are asked to draw out Life Maps with clearly defined goals. This enables every student to explore how they could lead their physical, emotional and intellectual selves so as to give off their best. They also learn to be led by their “spiritual selves” so as to lead lives of happiness and well being. An important part of this journey is their identifying their “purpose and calling”, discovering their “gifts and strengths” and learning to leverage their positives so as to move towards what matters most to them. In order to complete the course students are expected to develop their own personal plan in order to become a better leader.
The Practice of the Morning Circle
Morning Circle is a daily ritual at SOIL where students spend the first 20 minutes of the day in sharing positive stories and reflecting inwards while discussing goals for the day. Students and faculty connect with each other on a personal level more than any other time of the day as part of the morning circle. The classroom community feels nurtured and refreshed and the “positive vibes” during Morning Meeting set the tone of mutual respect for the entire day. This simple practice enables social and emotional development to develop models of citizenship and character in students. The circle begins with a prayer of any denomination and in invoking one’s higher purpose. Some of the skills practised everyday include communication, positive story sharing, mutual respect, empathy, self-discipline and problem solving.
SOIL Assessment Test and You
SOIL assessment test is the standard test for admissions to the SOIL one-year full time programs. It starts with who the individual is and determines how that person can fit into and grow with the organization. It provides data for measuring a person’s potential, personality characteristics, individual motivations, and likely behaviors on the job. It believes that when people are in roles that are best suited to their basic personalities and motivations, they not only perform well—their productivity actually surpasses expectations. It has helped in selecting the right people, developing the best talent and creating the organizational culture an organization needs to succeed. For more details on the SOIL Assessment Test please get in touch with any member from our Admissions Team.
Appreciative Enquiry Learning Retreat
Every batch of SOIL spends one week in the foothills of the Dhauladhara in Sidhbari (Dharamshala). This is our Learning Retreat – a transformational experience. You are sensitized to a different approach in Life – Churning the positives in you through Appreciative Inquiry. There are village visits and community meets to practice Appreciative Inquiry. This retreat helps you to learn from your past and prepare for the future. Our alumni often quote this as the most memorable and transformational time in their lives.
Individual Learning Plan (ILP)
Is a personalized document that is created for every student during an intensive career development center using the Caliper profile coupled with behavioral interviews? This plan helps maximize a student’s learning potential at SOIL and is renewed with students internal and external mentors every month.
Learning Mindfulness through Theater
A 5-day mandatory theatre program with the nation’s best theatre teachers to address and strengthen an individual’s value system through powerful simulations and role plays. It introduces students to the essential skills in drama and to use the skills as a medium to combine it with the subject of ethics, building basic skills, such as voice projection, emphasis on words, intonation, thrust in sentences and natural usage of body language to convey meaning. To make each individual student experience a magnified self-awareness, a positive personal development brought about through physical, verbal and psychological self-expression.
Yoga, Wellness and Spirituality
At SOIL, Yoga, Wellness & Spirituality is an integral part of the program and is interwoven into the everyday experience of a SOIL student. Yoga is a complete science of life – a logical, step-by-step system to attain physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health -Wellness. Yoga has helped many SOIL Students balance, harmonize and purify their body and minds. Yoga has been clearly understood in India for thousands of years. The practices show the way to health, mind control and perfect peace. Health, in the Indian context is not just freedom from disease; it is total integration, the realization of our Divine nature. The very word in Sanskrit for Health or Wellness – Swastha – means to abide in the Self.