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Recognizing the need for grooming leaders and ensuring that Infosys has appropriate bench strength
in the Indian IT industry, Infosys
Technologies Ltd. has emerged as the first
Indian company to setup an institute
- exclusively for the purpose of developing
leaders to sustain Infosys' legacy...
Early200l saw the birth ofInfosys leadership Institute
IL! with the visionto be a globally recognized institution
thatnurtures leaders and advances the field ofleadership
development. Over thepast decade the growth wimessed
at Infosys coupled with globalization, provided Infosys
the impetus to focus on developing leaders for the future.
It was in keeping with thisvision that Narayana Murthy,
the founder and chairman of the company, carefully put
together a management council, which is an advisory
body that took strategic decisions about the company.
During the management council meetings Murthy
noticed that young achievers in the company were
hesitant to come forth with their suggestions. On
encouraging them to speak, Murthy found their
suggestions and thoughts had alot of substance and could
help the company significantly. These people had not
contributed to the discussions for the sole reason as they
were afraid of transgressing hierarchy. This bothered
Murthy and front this concern was born his grand plan
to build a leadership institute that would groom and
develop leaders from promising Irifoscions, irrespective
of hierarchy and give them the opportunity to shape the
future of the company they were helping to build.
The institutes main objectives are jotted around the
same, which includes preparing the companyto manage
its global growth anddiversification objectives; to prepare
employees to face the complexities of the market and
the rapidly changing environment; and, to create higher
customer-value through thought leadership around both
the science and practice of developing leaders. In fact,
The charter of IL! is to create a formal, defined system
to develop leadership and management capabilities in
Infoscions by enabling the immediate execution of
current strategy, and to ensure a high probability of board
succession," says, MathewBarnec the head ofleadership
development of IL!. Thus, the institute focuses only on
the senior-most and high-potential leaders called Tier
Leaders and strive to help these leaders realize their goals
and ultimately succeed the board of directors, IL! is
committed to both relevance and rigor in equal amounts.
"We work toward helping execute the business strategy
Infosys pipelines its leaders
through Infosys Leadersh:
Institute that grooms,
develops and provides leaders
the platform to grow fora
globalized environment
42 MARCH2010
of leaders to take on senior leadership positions," asserts
Barney.
To start creating a robust leadership development
process lnfosys defined leadership cornpetencies based
on its vision and core values and defined along four broad
dimensionsviz.Work. People, Technologyand Business.
Each of these was further amplified into smaller
operational elements. Further, a nine pillar dimension
model of leadership was developed that describes
leadership effectiveness in behavioral terms. The nine
pillars were 360 degree feedback, developmental
assignments, Infosys culture workshop, developmental
relationships, leadership skill training, fedbackintensive
programs, system processlearning, community empathy
and action learning, "All nine and Infosys' leadership traits
and values are assessed annually, using multi-source or
360 degree feedback approaches. Multi-source surveys
ask each stakeholder about the leader, including
subordinates, peers, managers, mentors and customers,'
explains Barney.
Recently, ILl began using computer adaptive 360
degree assessments known as the Leadership Journey
Series. While computer-adaptive tests have been used
for over 30 years in physician certification and academia,
IL! is one of the first institutes to use these methods that
ensure short, but highlyaccurate andprecise information.
"Importantly, all are based on the most practical method
for giving feedback, to better focus leaders on the area's
most potent for growth. All action plans are documented
in individualized personal development plans that are
discussed with assigned mentors including chiefmentor,
Narayana Murthy,' adds Barney.
ILl has continued to evolve over the years, with a
significant shift in strategy in 2009, when it was
restructured to focus exclusively on the senior-most
leaders and high potentials with advanced leadership
methods. In 2009, the Inlosys board of directors launched
a new 360 survey for themselves and unit heads, which
was used successfullyto plan development of the senior-
most leaders, role modeling the importance of leader
By Ant Shikari
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vnAvhumancapFIaia'ine m HUMAN CAPITAL
& prac/ice
360-degree feedback: Systematically data is collected about a person's
performance and capabilities from a wide range of co-workers including
peers, direct reportees, the manager and customers both internal and
external. ILl uses a comprehensive toot that is aligned to the Leadership
competencies. The feedback received from this 360-degree process is
used as the basis for the preparation of individual personal development
plans PUPs, which are the blueprints that guide the individual in acquiring
new skills and enhancing existing skills, all aligned to the basic Leadership
cornpetencies model. Each individual is assigned an ILl faculty member
to help prepare the PUP and put it in action.
Development assignments lAs: High-potential employees are given
experience in diverse functions through internal job rotations and cross-
functional assignments. OAs enable employees to gather practical
leadership skills outside his or her zone of experience.
Infosys Culture IC workshops: These workshops help participants
understand the core values, purpose and processes followed in the context
of leadership development. The design of these workshops allows for
extensive interaction among participants leading to reinforcement of the
Infosys culture, and ensuring enough empowerment to guarantee
adherence and refinement to the culture of the organization.
Development relationships: These are one-on-one relationships in work
settings that facilitate the sharing and transfer of knowledge and
experience between individuaLs. The Infosys leadership development model
views mentoring as a developmental relationship in the context of
leadership development. A `mentoring for Leadership pilot program is
operationaL and earnings from this program will be used to refine and
extend this element of leadership development across the organization.
Leadership skills training: EmpLoyees go through a series of learning
interventions on topics of relevance to leadership. XLI has started the
process with the `Leaders Teach Series'. These are workshops conducted
by the board of directors with help from the III faculty. This series
includes workshops by the chairman and chief mentor, the managing
director and CEO, and other members of the board. The `Leaders Teach
Series' resulted from the belief that the company is the campus, the
business is the curriculum, Leaders shall teach".
Feedback intensive programs: These are intensive behavioural
interventions, which are based on formal and informal feedback received
from individuals that the employee interfaces with. They are structured
in a manner so that the participants receive and give feedback in a non-
threatening environment and yield a workable plan for setting goals for
continued personal and professional development and strategies for
attaining them.
Systemic process teaming: This is an intervention that enables participants
to view an organization as a whole system comprising innumerable
interacting sub-systems. It yields plans for continuous improvement in
systemic processes and details how an individual will initiate such
improvements.
Action learning: This is a team-based real-time experience used to solve
real, systemic and unresolved organizational problems. It is a pragmatic
process aimed at yielding a resolution to the `problem' or `issue' that has
been identified, and a workable plan for setting goats for continued
development, with strategies for attaining them,
Community empathy: ILl aspires to create, on a regular and structured
basis, opportunities for high-potential candidates to enroll themselves
in causes outside Infosys that contribute to the greater good of the less
fortunate. The importance of community empathy in overall leadership
development is in line with the fundamental belief of the organization
that social conscience needs to be nurtured and enhanced in each one of
its present and potential leaders.
14
development to the rest of the organization.
Also, last year, each tier leader was assigned
an IL! expert to be their individual counselor,
andsinglepointofcontactforall ILlofferings,
including the new Leadership Journey Series
Computer Adaptive assessments.
On grooming leaders, says Barney, "Our
approach is holistic; to ensure the full range
of leadership development interventions are
both necessary and sufficient to grow junior
leaders into board members.' These include
formal classes with external experts, talks by
tier leaders called `Leaders Teach', books, and
feedback from assessments. The `Leaders
Teach Series' are workshops conducted by the
hoard of directors, executive committee and
tier leaders with help from the ILL faculty
Some of the areas under development
include advanced virtual leadership scenarios,
which allow leaders to practice the most
complicated leadership behaviors in a sale,
simulated environment.
Also, IL! is accountable for applied
research that is both rigorous and relevant to
I! Infosys business problems. "We have begun
to establish relationshipswithworld renowned
leadership scientist-practitioners, such as
Professor David Day of the University of
Western Australia, for a 3 year program of
research and teaching related to accelerating
individual leader development," updates
Barney
Apart from imparting knowledge, the top
management of Infosys, including the
chairman, the CEO and the board of directors
are closely involved in the design and roll out
of programs forthenextgeneration ofleaders,
making this initiative a unique blend of
pragmatic expertise and professional
experience. In addition, ILl faculty consists of
stall members with global experience in the
science and practice of leader development;
senior leaders from Infosys and eminent
academicians. LU, currently, has three Ph.D.
faculties, including the head, Dr. Barney one
in training and the third one is masters-
trained. However, ILl is a very small team of
six, one external consultant a former Infosys
employee, and two support staff to support
750 leaders. To increase the ILl team, says
Barney, "We are activelyrecruitingleadership
experts in a hot labor market."
The institute has dished out several leaders
who have been successful in implementing
their knowledge in various interventions that
aid in solving real business issues. Vor
example, ILl worked closely with Infosys'
successful Finacle unit on their plan to grow
to sIB dollars, from its current !JSD $250M.
Finacle, Infosys largest and most successful
software product has received the highest
humanoapt&anne Iiut4At4 Cniw

ratings from analysts, and has significant marketpzesence
in dozens of countries around the world. "The challenge
however, was to scale globally, including new markets
with leaders,,who could sell, and implement Finacle's
banking solution to banking boards. IL! worked closely
with the entire Pinacle leadership team on a series of
interventions to improve the unit head and his top leaders'
on time management skills; empowerment and
delegation; organizational process improvement using
Lean Six Sigma and Dr. Barney's Cue See model; and
organization design," illustrates Barney
As he describes, "This resulted in a powerful business
case to investinFinacle thatwas recognized byonelnfosys
board member as `The Big Bet' for the company. ILl's
first patent, now pending, was developed in response to
specific leadership challenges faced by Finacle's
leadership team and leveraging original IL! intellectual
property IL! demonstrated that its early interventions,
such as our `Time Quadrants' intervention was effective
through formal Rasch Measurement Analyses; and
ultimately our work in collaboration with Finacle's
leadership team demonstrated our relevance with rigor."
A second example oflU's success is, in thisyear, with
Infosys' I3IJS unit head and senior leadership team to
define their strategy to grow past$1B. "Using Dr. Barney's
Cue See Model, including self-paced learning, the entire
Jrprczclthe
approach to his peers, as a useful model to ensure ILl
relevance and rigor," elucidates Barney.
Since the new ILl was finalized at the end of 2009,
and is finalizing governance measurements, including
measurable impact with Infosys' chief risk officer, with
encouragement from the risk subcommittee of the
boani, "We will he systematically collecting and reporting
on these data to ensure internal operational excellence,
de-risk succession and providing appropriate
measurements to academic research partners," states
Barney.
On future plans of IL!, Barney shares, "We are actively
creating development roadmaps that include advanced
simulations for leaders to practice difficult and riskyskills
in a safe environment. One research area includes
advanced psychometrics in virtual environments for
better feedback to learners, mentors and managers that
are less tedious than alternatives. We are continuing to
expand our network of expert academics to teach, and
publish with us. Our first book will come out later in 2010
entitled, `Authentic Leadership at Infosys', designed to
teach Infosys leaders and to provide a platform to get
closer to customers and prospective customers with
Infosys thought leadership."
"IL!wants to be knownfor evidence-basedleadership;
and for using lnfosys strengths software as a significant
- -

leadership team identified their bottlenecks, and set lever to grow leaders. Besides, we welcome dialog and
action plans that set the tone for the leadership team's partnerships with others who embrace authentic
action plans, and team coordination for the next fiscal leadership with measurable impact," he adds.
year. The unit head was pleased to recommend this

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