It's July! ?Best wishes for making Q2 Count ?

This a letter to my team as we start our Q2 at Infosys. Sharing this as one of my team members really pushed me to get this out as the person felt that it has a broader appeal and that I should share for broader conversations. This was shared internally with my team on Jul 5, 2023.

PS: Edited and truncated a bit for avoiding sharing internal details on the public forum.

Dear Team,

We are embarking on our second quarter of the financial year FY 24, and this is also the first quarter marking the beginning of a new FY for Microsoft. There is much work ...< truncated/hidden as it's internal to the team>.

As we start this quarter, I wanted to share some reflections, thoughts and suggestions. I am working on some of them myself and wanted to share them so that it may allow all of us as a team to grow?together. I have grouped them into five areas (beyond what I had shared at the beginning of last quarter). They still are relevant and needed from our focus perspective.

1. ?Progress Over Perfection -?Taking small steps forward often is better than overanalyzing the situation. With fast-moving items and transactions, you may feel burdened and wait endlessly for all pieces to fall in place. Please do not wait, just take measured progress on what is achievable and sustainable. Do highlight the ownerships, bottlenecks and attribute actions and next steps though. ?You will have full support from your leads and of course, from my side on this, I can assure you of this!
2. Be the Untangler - In our roles, we need to untangle the knots and make the entire organizational and ecosystem machinery worth its salt. My request would be to see yourself as a preventer (I have penned a blog many years back on this). In the dynamic world of today, maybe you can't prevent everything, but we can be an "Untangler". I know it's not a word, but the idea here is to remove bottlenecks and move ahead in the interest of the larger objective for self, team and practice. It is not easy, but we need to move ahead with this mindset. More on this later, happy to discuss if you have any thoughts on this!
3. Learning, thinking multi-dimensional -?Workplace learning is a quintessential element for success, self-growth and attracting more business. I believe that this learning is actually an integration and assimilation of learning, knowledge or skills (through formal or informal means of engagement) across our processes and structures. I?would always encourage learning for the joy of learning, rather than as a measure to judge anyone's performance.?The goal is to help all of us learn fast, apply fast, move forward, share knowledge and create deeper synergy.?The first step in achieving this kind of workplace learning is through active listening i.e. not selecting what we want to hear but being aware of our own cognitive biases and our tendencies to listen to what we want rather than the totality of things. My request would be to consciously expand our learning horizons and actively participate in conversations. I am also trying to imbibe this myself and am not yet there! Stay hungry to learn more and more.
4. Take Actions, after Learning -?Learnings and insights, when left unprocessed, remain mere thoughts! Translating the thought into action is key. This enables everyone to move forward. I read somewhere that "reflective learning" is best experienced the moment the event happens - pausing to reflect, learn and journaling those insights at that moment is key. Our fast-paced workplace demands quick results, but this often impedes us from slowing down to reflect and gather these learnings. Reflective learning doesn’t have to take excessive time but should happen when this event happens - and success follows. Let us try and reflect as and when in the micro-moments!
5. Command Respect, As you give to Others -?Workplace Respect needs no definition, yet it is the most overlooked and undiscussed part. To help future-proof our workplace and create a healthy and supportive environment, we all need to embrace this concept of not meekly expecting but commanding respect for the great work we all do. Work ethics from our side always need to be at the zenith. Call it out, if you see anyone in the workplace interactions, whether in the team or outside, is disrespectful to you. There are professional ways to handle it and we all can respond as per our personality. We have imbibed the culture of open communication within the Microsoft practice and any such incident can be openly discussed with the leads and?you can reach out to me too anytime!

Looking forward to more success and growth for all of us.?All the very best for a great Q2 and the rest of the FY ahead. Cheers!

?Rgds, Sachin

?PS: Once again, if there are any thoughts, questions,?or?concerns about anything I have mentioned,?please let me know. Happy to discuss this!