THE STORY OF SUDHAKAR DEVANGODI

Any action demands something and also does it reward something. If we look at walking, brisk walking demands will and energy and rewards us with toned up muscle and strengthened lungs. Walking is a solitary exercise where in the investor is you and the harvester is you. When something is done with people around, it tends to have different implications. When ability, knowledge, power and position moves to you, public eyes rolls on you. Many eyes watch you and many hearts expect from you.

My Competent Communication level happened to be a ZIP, ZAP, ZOOM, the Advance Communication Bronze another one and the Competent Leadership yet another one. Achievements proportionally raise expectancy. Toastmasters is no exception.

TM Makarand Palamwar, my club president approached me with a request. He wanted me to share my experience and groom two of the club members. One of them was TM Sudhakar Devangodi. We knew each other by name and face. We were not close to each other but this was an opportunity know each other well. I was then his mentor.

The first thing a doctor does to his patient is to observe him. The way he looks, the way he talks, the way he behaves, the way he expresses and the thing that he expects. Mentoring too seems to be an assignment no less than of a doctor; critical, delicate, difficult, demanding and delivering.

Some of the observation that I had made about Sudhakar were, he was less assertive, less expressive and his world lay hidden within him, less exposed to the outer world. I was lucky enough to reach the beauty of his inner world.

He was a complete family man, at times his daughters and wife would accompany him to the Toastmasters meeting. I could sense commitment in his action. He would sincerely and seriously follow any assignment given to him. At times he would come up with creative ideas and thoughts which were reflected in his speeches that he wrote. He was man with a good sense of humor. Such personalities at times need a gentle push to keep them going.

In a mentor mentee relation either the mentee calls the mentor or the mentor calls the mentee, who calls whom, is not important but the very essential thing is the call, in short “The show has to go on”.

At time I would give him a call, ask him about work at the office, health of family members and the last thing would be about his speech. I was never in a hurry. I would suggest him to write a paragraph or two depending upon his mood and time. For him the key to success was “Slow and steady wins the race”. He really made it. He completed his Competent Communicator-10 speech within the expected time frame. He really made me proud; he has given me an opportunity to understand him and unknowingly provided lessons on how to deal with persons of his nature and personality.

While doing the Competent Leadership manual there is one assignment of getting the feedback from one’s mentee. I called him to do it for me. He came to my house and did it. Having done it, he asked me “Why do you do mentoring this way?” I told him, I did not get you. He said “Why so seriously?” I did not reply him for the simple reason I did not have a reply. This question of his has helped me understand what it means to be serious and has showed the road that lay ahead on the path of mentoring. Next time I will be with another story, the story of TM Anupama Shetty.