Wipro to create global leadership pool

With its employee base crossing 1.3 lakh and with big ambitions to expand globally, Wipro Technologies is taking major new initiatives to strengthen its leadership resource pool.

The IT giant has identified 100 middle management employees who will constitute its second line of leadership and who will be groomed to take on bigger roles. Next year, it plans to hire 100 people overseas, who will be trained to take on global leadership roles.

T K Kurien, CEO of Wipro's IT business, said the 100 identified internally over the past few months were from all across the organization. "We looked for values like accountability, ability to energize people around. We looked for their ability to execute," Kurien said.

The hundred selected will be groomed over the longer term. "The idea is to make them really good in what each of them is doing," Kurien said.

As IT companies grow in size, with massive numbers of employees, such leadership development is becoming critical. In 2007, Infosys Technologies had begun a similar programme, where they identified select employees below the age of 30 to induct into the management councils of their business units. The idea of such initiatives is also to give younger employees greater voice and be able to retain high-potential candidates.

On Wipro's overseas leadership development plan, Kurien said, "The idea is to globalize aggressively. The 100 people we hire will work in India for six months, then they'll go to another country outside their home country for three months, and then they will go to their home country. They will create for us the seeds for the future. And they eventually will be people who will be mobile globally. You could have a guy from France going and working in Algeria."

Wipro already has operations in many countries, and country heads in some. These include the US, the UK, China, Australia, Japan, Germany, France, Canada, South Korea, South Africa, Romania, Hungary . With protectionist walls and competition rising, the pressure to establish a deep local presence in countries is strong and underlines the reason for the global leadership development.

Wipro has even begun recruiting war veterans in the US aimed at transitioning the service men and women from duty in Afghanistan and Iraq to careers in the software industry.

Saurabh Govil, head - HR, Wipro, said that the programme is designed to identify separating service members that either are currently qualified, or can be qualified for employment in the software industry with training. They will be used in roles of software test engineers and technical or customer support.