Infosys asks managers to recognise talent within the team

In order to nourish and nurture the talent within its workforce, Indian IT giant Infosys has decided to restart its internal leadership institute and reward its executives on the basis of succession planning.

This way, it would also reduce its reliance on outside talent.

To give shape to the idea, a new leadership framework has been put into action, as per which executives are being asked to nurture talent from within their teams.

In the recent past, its reliance on outside talent has resulted in Infosys hiring a number of highly-paid resources from outside India, including over 150 executives that were hired in onsite locations and were given over Rs 1crore a year in compensation.

"We have to develop talent within. A company that depends disproportionately on outside talent is at risk of building a mercenary culture," co-chairman Ravi Venkatesan told ET. "We are rebooting the Infosys Leadership Institute and we have created a new leadership and talent framework."

This leadership institute was created in 2001, and has been on the back-burner ever since its former leader Matt Barney quit in 2013 to start LeaderAmp.

Since then, Infosys has seen a lot of internal turbulence, ranging from founder Narayana Murthy returning and several top executives leaving the company.

CEO Vishal Sikka’s decision to hire highly paid talent from his former employer SAP for Infosys is also said to have caused discord within the company.

"When your top executives are leaving the company in a rush, like in 2013, what choice does a company have but to bring in talent from outside. You can't leave top roles empty. But yes, it is a good sign that they are trying to reduce the dependence on outside talent. Employees are more comfortable when there is growth path within," said an industry analyst on the condition of anonymity.