An evening with Ms. Manisha Saboo
On Friday, July 8, we had a very important session by Ms Manisha Saboo, an Associate Vice President and Delivery Head at Infosys, responsible for delivery of software testing projects for the Financial Services clients of the company across Europe, Asia and Oceania.
About Ms. Manisha Saboo
Ms. Saboo has successfully implemented distributed agile delivery and has spearheaded dev-test-ops adoption by large organizations. Her focus on the industry and the geographies has helped her create customized service offerings like ‘Assurance of operational resilience for banks’, ‘Open banking testing for finance industry in Australia and Europe’, ‘Legacy modernization’, as well as digital assurance solutions for newer technologies like AI, Big Data, RPA, Mobility, IoT, Cloud, Virtualization.
Ms. Saboo is also Head of Infosys campus in Pocharam, Hyderabad. It is one of the largest IT campuses in the world: 450 acres and ~35,000 associates. Her role involves enhancing client experience, employee right skilling, employee engagement, improving operational efficiency, managing relationships with industry, academia and government, CSR, etc.
As a woman leader, Ms. Saboo is committed to helping other women– be it inspiring young girl students to pursue a career, enabling young women returning to work, or guiding mid-level women managers to meet their career aspirations.
Ms. Saboo’s papers have been published in prestigious conferences worldwide. She has been invited to the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad to speak about Digital Transformation. She has been a speaker in the prestigious IIIT Hyderabad Foundation month Distinguished Lectures series. The Telangana Government has honored her with the Women Achiever Award for leadership in the corporate world.
About investing in ourselves
Ms. Saboo once sought some investment advice from a mentor. He mentioned that the best investment we can make is not in property or stocks but in ourselves. Ms. Saboo has taken this advice seriously and put considerable effort into improving her skills and personality.
Ms Saboo added that for people with about 6-8 years of experience, (the main audience for the webinar), a typical aspiration is to grow faster and reach the top. The only way to make this happen is to invest in developing ourselves.
On how to reach the top
A necessary condition for moving up the corporate ladder is mastery of the core knowledge and skills needed for the role. We must keep upgrading our knowledge and keep pace with the latest technology and domain trends.
But mastery of the core skills is not enough. We may be very good at our job but if we are the best kept secret in the organization, i.e. no one knows about us, we will not be able to go far. We need some visibility.
We can do various things to improve our visibility. We should take part in discussions and meetings. It is ok even if we just attend a meeting and agree with what is being discussed. We should network. Indeed, our net worth is proportional to our network! In virtual meetings we should not just log in and remain silent. We should dress well, switch on our video and actively take part in the meeting. Those who switch on the video will be noticed and have an advantage compared to the others.
We should spread positivity. It is good to be a devil’s advocate once in a while but doing so in every meeting is not good for our career progression. It is the people who spread positivity who are remembered more. Not that we should always say yes. But when we disagree, we must do so in a professional manner.
The first impression is often the best impression. What matters here is not so much our depth of knowledge as the way we walk, dress and conduct ourselves and how punctual we are. These are the simple things which can create a good impression.
Consider two people turning up late for a meeting. One comes late and walks into the room casually at a leisurely pace, as though he is going for a stroll in the garden. The other walks briskly and apologizes and quickly takes his seat. We can very well imagine how the two people will be perceived. In other words, we should create the right persona with our behaviours and actions.
We should be visible and create the right perception. That is important because the competition is intense. We are competing with thousands of people for a handful of opportunities.
The people Ms. Saboo remembers are those who raise their hands when some new work is to be done, go beyond their boundaries, spread positivity and are always present in important meetings. These are the people who get the preference when some new opening emerges.
Q&A
On some memorable experiences
Ms. Saboo recalls fondly her interactions with Mr. NR Narayana Murthy, the Infosys founder. Since women usually kept quiet during these meetings, at the end of any meeting, he would always encourage the women employees to ask questions. Ms. Saboo would go well prepared with at least one good question to these meetings.
Similarly, she has a mentor, who is a President in Infosys. After every meeting he conducts, she shares her observations and feedback on how the meeting went and what others were saying. Over time, this senior person has begun to value Ms. Saboo’s opinion.
In other words, Ms. Saboo emphasized that we must find ways to communicate to and stay in touch with senior people.
On the biggest challenge she has faced
There was a point in her career, when Ms. Saboo thought that her career was going nowhere. She was stagnating and seemed to have hit the wall. It was as though she was in shunting like a railway compartment! Ms. Saboo realized the importance of patience, faith in the system, resilience, persistence and self-belief.
Looking back, Ms. Saboo feels that our behavior patterns during a tough period determine the outcomes after that phase is over. During a tough period, we should remain focused and continue to spread positivity. It helps to have mentors. Line managers will be of limited help during these tough times. But mentors can be of great help and provide the much-needed support.
On leadership
Leaders should have vision. They should be able to visualize how they want to shape the future. They should then put it in words and explain clearly to people what their vision is. They must get support from the team and get people to work on achieving the vision. To ensure smooth implementation, they must put in place a governance structure and monitor the outcomes and take corrective action from time to time. So both vision and execution are important. Many leaders launch new initiatives but only a few succeed.
On understanding the context and reading the situation correctly
We must develop the skill to read between the lines. Not everything is said or put in writing. We must understand both the organizational dynamics and the people dynamics.
Ms Saboo’s practical advice is that we cannot afford to fight with a company’s strategy. That has been framed based on the inputs of various stakeholders. We should focus on implementing the organization’s strategy and not on questioning it.
New people may move into key roles. So we must build equations with them. Building new networks is key to success. We should also be aware that what got us here will not take us there. We must develop ourselves (technology, domain and skills) in areas which will be crucial for future success. Ms. Saboo’s current priority is personal branding.
On how women should plan their career
Women face various challenges during their career on account of marriage, motherhood and expectations from in-laws. During these junctures, women must realize that it is ok to go slow. But we should not give up. A comma is ok but a full stop will be the end of the road. Ms. Saboo recalled that for about 13 years after marriage, she was in a slow “comma “phase. But she was able to bounce back and make it to the top.
On whether she would have done anything differently
About 20 years back, Ms. Saboo believed that her work would speak for itself. Now she realizes that visibility, dress sense, the ability to communicate clearly and spreading positivity are as important as delivering outcomes.
On the traits of high potentials
They raise their hand when there is something to be done. They look at additional work as an opportunity rather than as a burden. They are happy to be part of a new initiative. They do not worry about the ROI. They jump in with a positive mindset: I have the capability to contribute and make the organization better and I will do it. In contrast to these high potentials, some people raise their hands but disappear soon. Others do not raise their hands and are happy doing merely what they are told to do.
On why some people do not take the initiative.
The most common reason is complacency. These people think they are good. Unfortunately, they do not have a mirror to tell them that they need to improve. Such people do not look inwards. They blame the system or the management. This kind of mindset is difficult to change. Ms. Manisha’s advice is that belief in the system is important. Blaming the system does not take us forward.
On emotional intelligence
It is important to manage stress. Otherwise, we will not be able to live in the moment. We may end up wasting time thinking about the past or the future instead of focusing on what needs to be done now.
Empathy is also important. We must listen to team members, understand their problems and stand by them.
On leadership by design
A leader should strike the right balance between doing things and getting things done by the team. For this to happen, the leader needs to assemble the right people. Together, they can deliver. Thus, an architect, an interior designer, an electrician and a plumber must all come together to make a stellar building. A leader must bring good people together, give them space and make them glued to the common goal.
On creating an innovative work culture
Innovation is a survival skill today. To nurture innovations, leaders must make people feel that they can innovate. They should treat it as part of their day to day work. Not all innovations have to be breakthroughs, leading to IP creation. Incremental innovation is also important. We must also create an ecosystem where people are not snubbed when they talk about problems. Recognizing problems is the first step in innovation. An idea is like a butterfly in our hand. We should nurture it and not allow it to escape from our hands.
On work life balance
There is nothing like work life balance. It is about integration and living in the moment. When we are at home, we must enjoy the company of family members and tell the world to wait. When we are at work, family members should realize that we will not be available. Setting expectations with different stakeholders is the key. It is not about making sacrifices. Rather, it is about understanding the priority and taking a conscious decision on what needs to be done at that point of time. When we use the term sacrifice, it does not help anybody. We end up feeling greater than what we actually are.
On building the Employee Value Proposition (EVP)
This is extremely critical for retention. The EVP cannot be written in stone but must evolve in response to the needs and aspirations of employees. Younger employees today have very different aspirations compared to those who started their career 20 years back. Many of the new entrants today are not looking for safety, security or growth. Rather, they are looking for money. Earlier, young people were happy to go to the US. They did not want much else. But today, things are different. But aspirations do vary across people. So we must talk to employees and understand what they are really looking for.
On the limits to being ethical
While it is important to be ethical, we must be practical and use our judgment in some situations. It is not always easy to speak the truth. In such cases, we must either not answer the question directly or we must do so partially. It does not make sense to tell the truth, if as a result, someone will get killed! Sometimes, we may have to postpone telling the truth. Instead of an immediate response, we can buy some time and rehearse our answer.
On her role as president of HYSEA (Hyderabad Software Exporters’ Association.
Ms Saboo considers this a great opportunity to serve the industry. Her immediate priority is to get more people to become members. Once she has the membership, Ms Saboo feels that things will start to happen.
On managing the aspirations of middle level leaders
The middle managers are important and act as the movers and shakers of the organization. If they do not feel their career is moving forward, they will feel demotivated. We should enable these leaders to contribute.
All of them may not be looking for a promotion. We must give them more opportunities and new kinds of work. We should make them feel valued. It is not possible to promote all of them, but we can strive to make them feel more satisfied by expanding their role. We can send them for training programs or sponsor them for courses. We can also explain to them what it takes to get a promotion. If we provide a ray of hope, they will feel more comfortable.
In general, people look for salary, location, promotion, learning/job content. If there are more than three areas of dissatisfaction, they come in the high-risk category. Dissatisfaction in one or two areas is acceptable as it does take some effort and motivation to look for a new job. Infosys has a tool to capture this information. Ms Saboo also keeps a record and updates the data regularly. The corrective actions need not be taken immediately and as long as people feel they are being heard, it is ok.
On how young people should start their career
The first job is often difficult to get. We should not be choosy. Instead, we should make the best of what comes our way. Rather than waiting for the dream job, we should get started.
If we have options, we must choose a job where we can learn more. It is learning which should take priority over earning. If we learn a lot in our first job, we will have a strong foundation.
It does not matter where we start, what our background is, etc. It also does not matter where we are today. What matters is our vision and where we are heading. We can work hard and smartly and passionately towards our vision or we can carry our baggage. The choice is up to us.
One book, which Ms Saboo recommended to all of us is : “The power of your subconscious mind” by Joseph Murphy. She wished she could have read the book early in her career.
