… This journey started
25th March, 2022.
The Second Batch of GBC College (NA)…

Obeisances and Flashback!
₪ Hare Krishna. PAMHO. AGTSP. If you are
reviewing this set of slides, you have come a long
way with us--the GBC College team, and we are
so grateful to you for allowing us to serve you
through this past year.
₪ It seems as if it was just yesterday! Let us roll
back in time and visualize: What went through
our minds when we first received that invitation
letter to undergo this training, and when we
attended the first session over Zoom in March
2022?

Flashback and Gratitude!
₪ Yours was the second batch of potential ZS to be trained at the GBC
College in North America…glad you were not the very first experimental
group (that some would call Guinea pigs) because the GBCC staff had
already trained 6 international groups in India and one each in Russia,
Central Asia, North America, and South America and hence was better
equipped to take care of your needs—personal as well as educational.
₪ I trust that ISKCON, and especially the GBC body, is very proud of your
sacrifice, dedication, and commitment to undergo this training to help
spread this movement worldwide. And we, the servants at the GBC
College, including the various instructors, their assistants, and staff are so
grateful to have been your partners through this training.
₪ Collectively, we are fulfilling Srila Prabhupada’s desire to train future top
leaders.

What Did We Teach
At
The GBC College For
Leadership Development?

Training in Five Modules
1. Spiritual
Excellence
2. Personal
Effectiveness
3. Relationship
Effectiveness
4. Organizational
Effectiveness
5. Compliance &
Administrative
Effectiveness

Five Modules
₪ We divided what was taught at the GBCC into five
categories:
1.Courses that would provide you the spiritual strength, ethics,
help build/reinforce values and character, and would serve as
the foundation to carry out your job.
2.Courses that would make you more effective, efficient and
productive as an individual—again with a view for you to
carry out your job of a ZS.
3.Courses that would help you develop and maintain strong,
fruitful, and rewarding relationships with other devotees and
leaders in ISKCON.
4.Courses that would help you improve the effectiveness of
your zone through better systems, better planning and
foresight.

Five Module contd…
5. And finally courses that would assist you to:
1. conform with ISKCON’s spiritual and administrative
standards in various spheres of activity,
2. comply with the internal and external legal regulations,
3. protect your zone by making sure that your zone does not
deviate from the norms—both spiritual and administrative,
and
4. keep your zone out of any potential legal troubles down the
road
1.by protecting the devotees, especially children, in our society,
2.by protecting copyrights,
3.By keeping your zone financially solvent
4.by making your zone a safe and spiritual haven for all, .

What was in Each
Training Module?

First Module:
Courses for Spiritual Excellence

Courses that would…
₪ Provide
spiritual strength, and ethics
₪ Help build/reinforce
 values and character
₪ Serve as the foundation
to carry out your job.

Courses for Spiritual Excellence
Being Srila
Prabhupada-anugas
Vaishnava Sadachar

Spiritual Excellence…
₪ Here are some sample courses on this theme/module.
₪ Being Prabhupada-anugas was taught by … through the book
mailed to you or handed to you at the residential.
₪ Vaishnava Sadachar was offered online, with case studies from
Srimad Bhagavatam.
₪ Were there more? Please check the residential schedule sheet, List
of Online Zoom sessions, and courses on the edX platform, and add
those courses to the above list for your reference. This list will come
in handy when you answer the questions based on this set of slides.
₪ Please review these courses/topics and refresh your memory on
what was covered in each course/topic. You will need this
information to complete the assignments.

Second Module:
Courses for
Personal Effectiveness

Courses that would…
₪ Make you more…
Effective
» By doing the right things
Efficient
» By doing them right
Productive
» By producing more output with lesser inputs

Courses for Personal Effectiveness
Time Management Art of Listening
Facilitating Meetings
Service-Life Balance
Why and How to be a
Leader in ISKCON?
Question: Which of the above courses were taught to your batch?

Personal Effectiveness
₪ Some examples on the previous slide… Were these courses
taught at the College? Who offered them?
₪ What other courses were taught that may fall in this
category?
₪ Make a list!
₪ Please check the residential schedule sheet, List of Online
Zoom sessions, and courses on the edX platform, and add
those courses to the above list for your reference. This list
will come in handy when you answer the questions based
on this set of slides.
₪ Please review these courses/topics and refresh your memory
on what was covered in each course/topic. **You will need
this information to complete the assignments.**

Third Module:
Courses for
Relationship Effectiveness

Courses that would…
Help you develop and maintain
Strong, Cordial,
Fruitful, and
Rewarding
Relationships
With
Other devotees and leaders in ISKCON.

Relationship Effectiveness
—Sample topics
Conscious
Leadership
Reconciling
Opposing Views
Communication
Skills
Community
Development
Farm
Communities
Cultural
Engineering
Reflective
Listening
Dealing with
Pluralism
Conflict
Resolution

Relationship Effectiveness…
₪ Some sample courses/topics are listed on the slide
above…Were these taught? Who taught them and when?
₪ Can you add more courses that were taught in this module?
₪ Make a list!
₪ Please check the residential schedule sheet, List of Online
Zoom sessions, and courses on the edX platform, and add
those courses to the above list for your reference. This list
will come in handy when you answer the questions based
on this set of slides.
₪ Please review these courses/topics and refresh your memory
on what was covered in each course/topic.
**You will need this information to complete the assignments.**

Fourth Module:
Courses for
Organizational Effectiveness

Courses that would…
Help Improve Effectiveness of a Zone
Through Better
Systems
Planning
&
Foresight

Organizational Effectiveness
–Sample topics
Book
Distribution
Strategic Planning
Why Religious
Movements Fail?
Marketing
Change
Management
Temple
Administration
Systems Thinking
Fundraising
Four Disciplines
of Execution
Developing
Bhakti Habitats
Quality
Management
Project
Management

Organizational Effectiveness…
₪ Sample courses on the previous slide. Were these taught? Who taught them?
₪ Can you add more to this list?
₪ Please check the residential schedule sheet, List of Online Zoom sessions, and
courses on the edX platform, and add those courses to the above list for your
reference. This list will come in handy when you answer the questions based on
this set of slides.
₪ Please review these courses/topics and refresh your memory on what was covered
in each course/topic. You will need this information to complete the assignments.
₪ What did each course cover?
₪ For example, …
₪ 1) Developing Bhakti Habitats in the East and West is an online course modeled
after the devotee recruitment and cultivation practices used at Alachua, Florida,
USA, and Pune, India.
₪ 2) Why Religious Movements Succeed or Fail is an online course about the
sociology of religions. Participants are encouraged to develop a sociological
perspective of their zones; to help them increase awareness of short- and long-term
trends within their communities and environments.

Fifth Module:
Courses for
Compliance and
Administrative Effectiveness

Courses that would…
₪ Assist in:
 Conforming with ISKCON’s standards
» spiritual and administrative
 Complying with internal and external legal regulations
₪ Help keep your zone out of legal troubles by
» Protecting devotees, especially children
» Protecting copyrights
» Keeping a zone financially solvent
» Making a zone safe and spiritual haven for all.

Compliance and Administrative
Effectiveness
Basic Finance & Accounting
ISKCON Law
Temple Admin
Child Protection
Deity Worship
Srila Prabhupada’s Management Style

Compliance and Administrative…
₪ Sample courses on the previous slide. Were these taught?
Who taught them? When? How?
₪ Please check the residential schedule sheet, List of Online
Zoom sessions, and courses on the edX platform, and add
those courses to the above list for your reference. This list
will come in handy when you answer the questions based
on this set of slides.
₪ Please review these courses/topics and refresh your memory
on what was covered in each course/topic.
**You will need this information to complete the
assignments.**

How Did You Learn?

12 Month Period
RESIDENTIAL
-
(10
Days)
Monthly Instructor Calls
Action Learning Project—
ALP I
FELICITATION
&
CERTIFICATION
Course
Timeline
Online
Zoom
Sessions—Part
1
Online Courses Online Courses
Online
Zoom
Sessions—Part
2
Online
Zoom
Sessions—Part
3
ALP Calls
Action Learning Project—
ALP 2

ZS Training Structure
This is how the training at GBC College was
structured:
₪ Zoom Sessions in lieu of the first residential
₪ Residential at New Vrindaban
₪ Online courses
₪ Action Learning Project (a live project from your
zone where you worked with a team from your
zone and applied the concepts of strategic
planning that you learned) with conference calls
every three weeks
₪ Action Learning Project - Implementation

Why and How Were These Courses and
Topics Selected?

These courses and Topics were selected…
To Fulfill Responsibilities
of a Zonal Supervisor
By Assisting the GBC Zonal Secretary with:
Maintaining standards—spiritual and organizational
Ensuring compliance/conformity/productivity
Keeping managers in his/her zone inspired
Promoting sustainable growth
Identifying and selecting successors
Creating and implementing strategic plans

Where did these Zonal Supervisor
responsibilities come from?
₪ Derived from the key responsibilities as per the
GBC Resolution Zonal
Supervisors_02.21.2014_updated_Feb_2015
 --compliance to internal and external legal regulations,
protection of the institute and its
properties/assets/copyrights.
 --identifying successors; as they have been identified by
their superiors
 --creating long term plans to grow, sustain in a way that
is consistent with the overall mission and vision of
ISKCON.

And… To Develop 5 Types of Core Competencies
Required of a Zonal Supervisor
1. Personal
oSkill set–as in various GBC College courses
oPersonal Behavior—spiritual practices, ethics, faithful
presentation of Srila Prabhupada’s teachings
oAdherence—to GBC resolutions
oCompetence—to:
Introduce, promote and sustain spiritual standards
Propagate Krishna Consciousness
Have good communications skills, ability to handle pressure and
be results-oriented
oRelationships—with ISKCON leaders and devotees

Core competencies…
₪ Besides responsibilities, the resolution also
highlights the core competencies.
₪ To perform the job, a Zonal Supervisor (ZS)
needs to have the following core competencies
divided into 5 categories: personal, knowledge,
experience, technical, and problem
solving/planning/decision making. The first one
described on the previous slide…Personal

More Core Competencies …
2. Knowledge
o Srila Prabhupada’s books
o Srila Prabhupada’s instructions about management, and
o ISKCON Law.
3. Experience
o In other leadership positions within ISKCON.
4. Technical competencies
o Computer literacy,
o Negotiation skills,
o Read financial statements,
o Budgeting skills, and
o Risk management
5. Problem solving, planning and decision making

GBC College Curriculum
Key Training Objective:
Equip ZS candidates with the necessary:
knowledge
skills
values and
spiritual strength
…to carry out the job of a Zonal Supervisor

GBCC Curriculum Vis-a-vis ZS
Responsibilities and Competencies
Next Section on edX (Questions):
Map the
Courses
and
Zonal Supervisor’s
Responsibilities and Competencies
In each Training Module

Assignments!
₪ Questions on edX
₪ Google Survey on edX

Questions!
₪ Go to the next section on edX, called Questions.
There you are asked to match the topics/courses
to the job description of a Zonal Supervisor.
₪ For this assignment, refer to your notes/list from
the slides above.
 Write the course/topic name in the colored block on the
righthand side of the slides.
 Use a “?” mark to indicate that the topics covered in this
batch did not address this need.
₪ Upon completion, please upload your file in that
section on edX.

Survey!
₪ Finally, fill out the Google survey related to
this course on edX.
This is not an evaluation form, but a course
requirement!

Ready for Deployment?
Spiritual
Excellence
Personal
Effectiveness
Relationship
Effectiveness
Organizational
Effectiveness
Compliance &
Administrative
Effectiveness
March 22, 2023
Graduation Ceremony
at the ILS

SOA- ISKCON Leadership Training
You are ready!
If …
a) You have uploaded your answers to the
“Questions” for this course on edX, and
b) You have completed and submitted the Google
survey
… then you would have met all of the Zonal
Supervisor training requirements
c) You have attended the full residential, completed
all coursework, ALP-1, ALP-2 and uploaded
summaries for the missed Zoom sessions
CONGRATULATIONS!

SOA- ISKCON Leadership Training
🙇🏻 🙇🏻 🙇🏻 🙇🏻 🙇🏻 🙇🏻 🙇🏻
🙇🏻
₪ Again, on behalf of the staff and faculty at the
GBC College for Leadership Development,
 I offer my respectful obeisances and heartfelt gratitude
to you and to your respective GBCs for allowing us to
serve you/them over this past 12 months…
 …So you and they may be more effective in the
discharge of your/their current and future duties and
responsibilities in ISKCON.
₪ All glories to your dedicated, selfless service.
₪ All glories to His Divine Grace A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada!

Thank you very much!
Your servant—Rupanuga dasa
Credits:
Gauranga Prabhu and Rasika Raman Prabhu
for laying the initial framework for this
presentation.
Hare Krishna!