Satya Murty Dharanipragada, 2008. Vision Boards: A Powerful Visualization Process by Irrigation Engineers. Dhanraj Book House, New Delhi, pp. 328, Price not mentioned, Hardbound.

                The author presents an original and insightful analysis in the form of a case study of the art, science and practice of executive coaching in two major irrigation corporations of Karnataka, India.

                KARNATAKA NEERAVARI NIGAM (Karnataka Irrigation Corporation) and KBJNL (Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd.) are two major corporations established by the Government of Karnataka as Special Purpose Vehicles SPVs to complete the major irrigation projects in Karnataka including Upper Krishna Project. KNNL was established in 1998 and KBJNL was established in 1994. KNNL has a  staff strength of 5415 and out of them Engineers number around 1383 and KBJNL has staff strength of 3731 and out of them Engineering staff number around 554. Each Corporation is headed by a Secretary level of Indian Administrative Service Officer and the Corporations are usually headed by the Chief Minister of the State who happens to be a political and executive Head of the State. At present D. Satya Murty, an officer from the IndianAdministrative Service (IAS) is heading both the organization as the Managing Director. He has been working as the Managing Director of KNNL since May, 2006 and holding the additional charge of the MD of the KBJNL since October, 2007.

                KNNL and KBJNL are mainly special and speedy purpose vehicles of the Government of Karnataka to complete the major irrigation projects at the earliest possible by raising funds through market borrowings by raising bonds from the public. It is mainly to overcome the financial constraints, eliminate departmental delays, have more transparent accountable procedures combined with the corporate culture to speed up the completion of projects so that the irrigation benefits reach speedily to the needy farmers. It is also to increase agricultural production by increasing the total irrigable area in the State.

                KNNL has 42 ongoing projects, two projects were completed since its inception (Harinala & Bennithora). The total amount spent on these projects is Rs. 5711.96 crores to end of February 2008 and estimated amount of money required for completion of the other on-going projects is around Rs. 8679.04 crores. The irrigation potential created so far is 13,94,449.54 acres against the targeted potential of 25,19,920.85 acres.

                KBJNL has 11 ongoing projects, Seventeen projects were completed since its inception. The total amount spent on these projects is Rs. 9791 crores and estimated amount of money required for completion of the other on-going projects is around Rs. 1862 crores. The irrigation potential created so far is 14.60 lakh acres against the targeted potential of 16.20 acres.

                The KBJNL company is responsible for planning, investigation, estimation, execution, operation and maintenance of all irrigation projects coming under the UKP. The company is also responsible to obtain Government of India's clearance and execute the UKP. The company is also entrusted with the responsibility of rehabilitation and resettlement of the people affected by the Project. The company is authorized to sell water and recover revenues from individuals, groups of farmers including those in the Command Area Development Authority, towns, city municipalities and industries.

                Large parts of Karnataka are located in the drought-prone rain shadow of the Western Ghats characterized by low and unreliable rainfall. The UKP is being executed in the drought prone northeastern part of Karnataka about 456 Kms. from Bangalore in the districts of Gulbarga, Raichur, Bagalkot and Bijapur. It occupies a triangular area lying between the Krishna and Bheema rivers. The population in this area subsists mainly on agriculture. The area, though being subjected to vagaries of the monsoons, has highly fertile land. Once water is made available for irrigation, the economic picture of the area would be transformed contributing greatly to the development of the region in particular and Karnataka State in general.

                The Upper Krishna Project consists of construction of two dams across the river Krishna and a network of canals. The project is planned to be implemented indifferent stages and phases. Stage-I of the project plans to utilise 119 TMC of water to irrigate 4,25,000 hectares of lands on the left bank of the river. In Stage - II 54 TMC of water will be utilised, to irrigate 1,97,120 Ha. Of lands partly by flow on right bank and partly by lifting to higher levels on the left and right bank.

                According to Vikki G. Brock as mentioned in the book- the postmodern environment we live in today consists of rapidly changing socioeconomic conditions in part due to complexity, technology, globalization and environmental crisis. To survive and thrive in this environment, organizations and their people must aligned, value-based, open to new ideas, and committed to growth and learning. Vision Boards, when blended with coaching, are the optimal way to integrate and align organization, professional and personal goals while increasing motivation and commitment at the individual level.

                The postmodern era supports innovation, creativity, flexibility, collaboration and inclusiveness, which is what this book is all about, Satya Murty demonstrated these characteristics from his initial introduction to the Vision Board concept in November 2007 to the completion of a large scale Vision Board process for over 450 engineers in March 2008. Several items were unique about this process at KNNL and KBJNL. Generally the Vision Board process is conducted individually or in small groups, yet Satya Murty's Vision was for a large scale implementation with a group of highly trained and skilled engineers. Secondly, the Vision Board implementation was blended with follow-up executive coaching to ensure performance excellence and sustainability of motivation, commitment and trust at KNNL and KBJNL. Other unique elements include the rapid implementation of this process, the aligning of professional and personal goals with organization goals, and the documentation of the Vision Board process in to this book.

                Two foundational concepts for the success of Vision Boards are the law of attraction and coaching. The law of attraction is a universal law that has been known for centuries. Simply stated, it is "like attracts like". Phrases like "birds of a feather flock together" and "what comes around goes around" are other ways of expressing the law of attraction. The law of attraction is working in our lives whether we are aware of it or not. Coaching itself is relatively new and emerged in the postmodern era as an open, fluid social movement that spread virally through human relationships and interactions. Unique to coaching is the belief that the client has their own answers and the role of the coach is to raise awareness so the client is at conscious choice. Coaching is thus customized to the individual or group, which is ideal for the complexity and dynamic nature of the postmodern world. Coaching fosters a culture of trust, authenticity, collaboration, and inclusion, which is the foundation for personal and organizational health and increased productivity.

                The beauty and power of this book is its honesty and simplicity. The publication of this book achieves at least three purposes. First it sends a message to the universe regarding the intent of each engineer to achieve greatness personally, professionally and organizationally. Second, it serves an intentional time capsule to commemorate the Vision Board process. Lastly it documents Vision Board process for other organization desiring to conduct their own large or small scale Vision Board process.

                The book is divided into fourteen chapters besides acknowledgement, preface, prologue, epilogue and annexures.

                The first chapter highlights brief background of KNNL and KBJNL. The second chapter throwslight on the executive coaching in the organization focusing on various activities organized during the projects periods for improving the performance of the KNNL and how it influenced on the performance of the KNNL. This chapter has been written by organizational coach. Some of the activities may be mentioned here like 'Speed of trust', Great teams & great results, Goal setting, Art of coaching, and call conference etc. This reflects the psychological dimensions for future development.

                It is strongly believed that the success lies in performance of the staff / engineers who are associated with the KNNL for project Implementation. As apart of the Performance improvement and make them more focused to wards achieving the personal and professional goals effectively by setting the Vision Boards. Ms. Barbara Anderson who is an MCC of Sydney was invited to brief the KNNL / KBJNL staff on power of Vision Boards and ensured each and every staff of the organization to write their Visions for the next 1-5 years relating to both personal and professional aspects.

                The third Chapter focuses on concept of Vision Boards and its relevance in practice of executive coaching.

Definitely few things that had happened in the process of the Vision Board exercise and they were:

                Raised awareness

                Evolved them to deeply dwell on inner dilemmas and conflicts

                Make them to realize their higher purpose for which they were brought to this earth.

                Created enormous interest in the laws of attraction

                Brought in more team spirit

                Hierarchies got more flattered

                Realized "Joy" as an instrument of Law of Attraction

                Committed towards goad setting process

                Beginning of long Vision process

                Human bonding and strong relationships

                All these added and contributed the success of these two corporations and delivered the results not only to the satisfaction of the Government of Karnataka but also to the expectations of the farmers and every stake holder in the process. The application of the power of process of visualization and creating Vision Boards as a part of adopting the principles and practice of Executive Coaching lead these organizations as model organization / corporations of the Government to excel in the Irrigation sector as Visionary organizations.

                The fourth Chapter examined the perceptions of the organisational coach emphasing on coaching principals applied like Key learnings, in sights, major challenges etc. The Vision Development Process - Contrast between corporate, Government, Non-Government & family has been highlighted in fifth chapter. This is interesting and informative for social scientists and development planners

                The sixth chapter presents the details and process involved in the Vision Boards exercise. It is to be mentioned here that while preparing the Vision Boards, people went out of the venue, sat in the open lawn and prepared their Vision Boards in a relaxed way.

                From seventh chapter to thirteenth chapter the various dimensions on Vision Boards (which cover personal and professional) have been highlighted with coloured photographs and 'sayings' by the different group of participants. These chapters reflects the inner feelings and future perspective for their work. The last chapter gives suggestions, comments and insights from the Vision Board exercise.

                As a result of the raised awareness of all the key and critical employees of these organizations, the Vision with which the Government of Karnataka created these organisations to be special purpose vehicles to complete all the irrigation projects specially so that more farmers will start irrigating their lands. All the engineers and other key staff shifted their attitudes and behaviours to become Good to Great.

                The present book cum volume is a comprehensive and insightful look into the thought process for development and need to work.

                It is a praiseworthy effort on "how to do" and how it can be understood in a globalizing world. The present work would be helpful to social scientists, agricultural scientists, engineers, management experts, development planners and experts, social planners, environmental scientists, academicians besides general public who have positive approach for the work and development planning for their country.

Prof.(Dr.)Satwanti Kapoor

Department of Anthropology

University of Delhi

Delhi-110007