Pic: IMAGESBAZAAR

Today, organisations, in a quest to develop and groom leadership are initiating unique training programmes

Fostering leadership

The Infosys Leadership Institute (ILI) was established in 2001 with the vision to be a globally recognised institution that nurtures leaders and advances the field of leadership development. ILI focuses on providing a highly specialised approach for its senior-level, high potential leaders, thus honing their leadership skills and thereby preparing them to take over some of the pre-identified 'destination' roles within the company.

How does one recognise a potential leader? Dr Matt Barney, vice president and director, Infosys Leadership Institute explains, "We identify people based on several criteria like their personality, performance, behaviour, their openness to learn, result-orientation, etc. The Infosys Leadership Model consists of seven performance metrics namely - Strategic Leadership, Adversity/Change Leadership, Operational Leadership, Talent, Networking Leadership, Content and Entrepreneurial Leadership," informs Barney. "Leadership development at the institute is done through coaching and mentoring, rotational assignments and classroom teaching," adds Barney. According to Barney, it is extremely important to groom leaders within an organisation as senior talent with a systematic focus is critical for organisational success.

Nurturing leadership

According to Dayanand Allapur, HR head, Tesco HSC, grooming leaders for tomorrow is the biggest challenge faced by many organisations. "There are several challenges involved in assimilating senior leaders from outside," feels Allapur. To overcome such challenges Tesco has started its own leadership academy. Tesco has a 'Leadership Academy' in South Korea with a capacity to train around 24,000 people every year. "The academy is set up with the objective of providing quality leadership and mentoring and training senior managers and directors. It helps us develop leaders within the organisation, thus equipping them with leadership competencies across the globe," explains Allapur. "Leaders, during the training, get opportunities to hone senior leadership skills, their confidence, mentoring skills, talent management capabilities, etc, at the academy.

Honing leadership

Leading@SAP is a leadership training programme that strives to build top-quality leaders within SAP. "This programme, grounded in SAP's strategy and leadership competencies, has been created to provide leaders with the necessary skills and competencies that are essential to successfully lead and drive the business and achieve targets," says Bharathi Srinivasan, director - talent learning and organisational development, SAP Labs India. At the programme, a personalised leadership development plan is created, which is aligned to short- and long-term professional and career aspirations of individuals. It builds the capability of mid-level leaders to become authentic and transformational. Srinivasan concludes by saying that the success of an organisation lies in the ability of the leader to tap the vast resources available to them and it is imperative to have leaders with a global mindset as markets are rapidly going global.

- Priya C Nair