INFOSYS Leadership programme The note prepared by the ILI faculty enumerates 'the nine pillars for leadership

development' as: 1. 360 degree feedback This is the mechanism through which the company gathers data about an individual's performance and abilities. This information is collected from coworkers, including peers, subordinates, managers and customers. Personal development plans are prepared on the basis of this feedback. Then, each of these individuals is assigned an ILI faculty member to help prepare the PDP and to follow it. 2. Development assignments Identified high potential Infoscions are trained at various functions of the company through job rotations and crossfunctional assignments. This helps employees to acquire new leadership skills outside their own areas of expertise and experience. 3. Infosys Culture workshops These workshops are designed to fortify the Infosys culture amongst the participants, help instill better communication skills through sustained interaction amongst themselves, and identify with the values and processes involved in leadership development. 4. Development relationships This includes one-on-one interaction in actual on-the-job work climate and leads to better sharing of knowledge and camaraderie amongst individuals. Mentoring forms an integral part of this exercise. 5. Leadership skills training The 'Leaders Teach Series' are workshops that the company's Tier-1 members, including Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani (CEO and MD), hold to acclimatise the next rung with leadership roles and to groom them through their own rich experience. 6. Feedback intensive programmes These are akin to 360 degree feedback, but based on formal and informal feedback from employees that an individual interacts with. 7. Systemic process learning This helps individuals to gain an overall view of the company and its diverse and complex systems, business, operations and processes. It is a continuous process and helps improve the individual and also the systems. 8. Action learning

This exercise constitutes solving real problems in real-time conditions, but as a team. 9. Community empathy The company stresses the need to give back to society through involvement in various developmental, educational and social causes. This programme helps nurture a social conscience amongst its leaders. "The last 25 years for Infosys have been successful. And we are ready for the future. Yes, our growth rates will change, the business cycles will change, our ability to influence the business environment will change, even our leaders will change. But what will not change in Infosys's future is our ability to achieve profitable growth legally and ethically, our guiding set of principles and our values," says Gopalakrishnan. Meanwhile, there is a buzz about the imposing edifice of the ILI set amidst the verdant expanse that is the Mysore campus of Infosys: the next CEO, COO, CFO are being readied there.

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

American Society for Training and Development has rated Indian IT major Infosys Technologies Ltd [ Get Quote ] as the world's best in employee training and development.

Praising the training practices at Infosys's Global Business Foundation School, the ASTD gave the 'Excellence in Practice Award 2003' to Infosys. The award, which recognizes training practices aligned to organizational goals, is a testimony to Infosys' commitment to providing added value to its clients through high quality and trained workforce, said a media release. The Global Business Foundation School is a structured programme to enhance technical and behavioural competencies of fresh engineering graduates. The one-year programme at the school readies freshers for the challenging software career ahead of them. "The spirit of learnability among our people and an organisational commitment to continuous personal and professional development keeps Infosys at the forefront of the fast-changing industry," Infosys' COO Krish Gopalakrishnan said. "The programme requires participants to integrate technology, methodology, people and process elements. In addition to technical courses, fresh entrants are exposed to courses on communication skills, interpersonal skills, management development and quality systems to absorb the company's corporate culture," said Gopalakrishnan.

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT Our training, continuing education and career development programs are designed to ensure our technology professionals enhance their skill-sets in alignment with their respective roles. Most new student hires complete approximately 14 weeks of integrated on-the-job training prior to becoming billable to our clients. We continually provide our technology professionals with challenging assignments and exposure to new skills, technologies and global opportunities. We have instituted an appraisal program that incorporates a 360-degree feedback system recognizing high performers and providing constructive feedback and coaching to under-performers.

As of March 31, 2005, we employed 135 faculty members in our training division, including 85 with doctorate or masters degrees. Our faculty conducts the integrated training for new employees, as well as approximately 150 different two-week continuing education courses in technology and management skills for all employees.

Leadership development is a core part of our training program. We established the Infosys Leadership Institute on a 314 acre campus in Mysore, India to enhance leadership skills that are required to manage the complexities of the rapidly changing marketplace and to further instill our culture through leadership training. We have also completed an employee training facility in Mysore, India which is able to house 4,500 trainees at any one time and is able to provide training facilities for approximately 12,000 employees annually. We provide a challenging, entrepreneurial and empowering work environment that rewards dedication and a strong work ethic