#fidelityindia

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Stories of Courage and Hope

The Women’s Leadership Group (WLG) at Fidelity recently held its annual ‘Fidelity Speaks’ event. This time it was virtual, and two associates of #FidelityIndia, Sujana Sathish, a Software Engineer, and Sangeetha Xavier, a Senior Manager – Diversity and Inclusion, shared their personal stories of resiliency along with other speakers from across Fidelity.

This was an exclusive opportunity for these two young associates, who were selected among other speakers from across the Company. Each of the speakers had inspiring stories of grit, strength and courage to share.

We asked Sujana and Sangeetha to share their experiences of the session, and here is what they had to say. 

Sujana Sathish: 

“I had the great fortune of speaking at the Women’s Leadership Group event representing Fidelity India, surrounded as I was by some of the most innovative thinkers, leaders and speakers of Fidelity from across the globe. The journey of being selected as one of the final 12 speakers was an exciting and overwhelming experience. I decided to center my talk on the Japanese concept of ‘Ikigai’—or a ‘reason for being’—while sprinkling in a few of my personal experiences that had made me realize my very own reason for being and waking up every day in going through life. 

Upon my application being shortlisted for the session after a few rounds of interviews, I received tons of support from the WLG core team, the India HR team, my colleagues and my family for refining my talk—‘What's your reason for waking up every day?’ 

I feel fortunate and honored to have been a part of the 12 brave women who shared their personal stories. A special thanks to the individuals who put this event together and supported me.”

Sangeetha Xavier:

“The minute I saw an opportunity to participate in this internal speaker event, I jumped at it. Once the excitement of getting through the selection process had subsided, I had the herculean task of getting my story down on paper. You see, this was my first foray into storytelling, and what a journey it was! I had an entire team from the Fidelity WLG helping me put my story down in a relatable and engaging manner. My story revolved around two parenting events in my life and the lessons I had picked up from them. I got to hear 11 other amazing speakers share their stories of resilience as well. Apart from the fact that this had been an amazing learning experience for me as a speaker, it also gave me the opportunity to interact and engage with a global audience. And in telling one’s story, you discover more about yourself as well!” 

Kudos to these two associates for sharing their stories and inspiring all of us. 

#FidelityAssociate

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Innovating on Accessibility Efforts

By Zameer Ahmed and Pamela Sequeira, Fidelity India

Raising the bar on accessibility requires continues innovation. Fidelity’s ENABLE group—a Company-wide employee resource group focused on creating an inclusive work environment and reshaping the experience of our customers and employees with disabilities—recently conducted Ideahack, an innovation event focused on creating innovative assistive technology solutions for Persons with Disabilities – both Fidelity customers and associates.

The #FidelityIndia Assistive Technology Ideahack event, which kicked off earlier this year, was a first-of-its-kind ideation event focused on assistive technology solutions. Ideahack’s core mission was to “create a limitless customer experience and make the workplace more secure, safe and accessible for our employees”.

The event included a series of activities to educate associates on the problem statements for submitting ideas. Participation levels were high, with several associates submitting their ideas. A virtual Accessibility Zone allowed associates to experience accessibility and assistive technology at play, and to gain insights on disability-related challenges. Associates also got to listen to talks by industry experts, who shared their perspectives on accessibility and innovation. Business leaders across Fidelity India were assigned as mentors to help ideators refine their ideas and solutions. A panel of judges comprising Fidelity leaders evaluated and identified the top three ideas. Over 3,000 associates participated in a social voting campaign to vote for their favorite idea through an internally developed innovation platform. Jury feedback and associate votes collectively helped in picking the top three winners.

Ideahack marked a significant milestone in Fidelity India’s efforts to promote an inclusive, accessible and equitable experience for our customers and associates. Innovation events like Ideahack create many such possibilities to build an inclusive, high-tech accessible world for customers and associates.

#FidelityAssociate

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Leadership Journeys and Lessons

By Niti Jain, Director – Analytics, Research and Data, Fidelity India

Ellevate, the special interest group for women in analytics at #FidelityIndia, recently organized a ‘fireside chat’ with Shalini Puchalapalli, Director, Amazon India, and Tina Muthanna, Vice President – Personal Investing, Fidelity India. The two leaders engaged in a conversation where they candidly shared their professional and personal journeys, and the impact of various experiences in shaping and influencing the various choices and decisions they had made during their careers. 

The discussion brought to the fore the importance of continuous learning for staying relevant, and the need to always give your best in whatever you do. After all, leadership is never about titles but about how we show up and perform to the best of our ability. 

We also had a fun rapid-fire segment at the end, and Shalini and Tina were at their witty best as they answered questions on their favorite drinks, movies, vacation spots and the like. Overall, it was a highly engaging, inspiring and fun session.

#FidelityAssociate

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Catalyzing the Learning Experience

By Ashish Rana, Manager – Talent Development, Fidelity India

At #FidelityIndia, we have a constant focus on fostering a learning culture to accelerate the growth and development of our associates. One of the key initiatives to support this culture is the Learning Catalyst program. This program helps us harness the knowledge of internal experts by offering them a platform to share their knowledge with other associates. In 2020 alone, around 100 Fidelity India associates have gone above and beyond their day jobs to generously share their expertise with other colleagues.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, this army of learning catalysts has displayed a tremendous growth mindset and agility, swiftly adapting to facilitate learning sessions for other associates virtually. Not only do these associates receive excellent feedback scores at par with external facilitators, but they are also able to strategically align associates’ broader learning objectives to Fidelity’s context through their learning sessions, which further enriches the experience.

Like every other year, this year too around Teacher’s Day in India, we recognized and celebrated our Learning Catalysts. Seema Unni, Head of HR for Fidelity India, thanked them for their contributions to the learning ecosystem. Vijai Kishan, Head of Personal Investing for Fidelity India, also addressed the Learning Catalysts and shared his personal perspectives on learning, which left the associates truly inspired. Thanks to all the Learning Catalysts for their contributions towards elevating the learning experience for their colleagues.

#FidelityAssociate

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Quality learning

By Fidelity India Communications

Sandhya Kamath, Director – Operations, Fidelity India, takes care of capability building and upskilling efforts for Operations associates in the Defined Benefits (DB) space. This includes designing, developing and executing DB upskilling programs. She also co-leads initiatives on strengthening the controls for regulatory mailings and transactions. Here, she shares his career journey story.

Tell us about your role. 

At Fidelity, I have had the opportunity to partner with and, at times, lead projects and initiatives. A few examples include: 

Capability building for existing or new work migrations to India 

Transformation projects, including the design, development and execution of new-hire and upskilling programs 

Design and implementation of cutting-edge tools to benefit customers

From a domain learning perspective, I have not only pursued a certification program recently, but have also mentored associates and conducted domain learning sessions. Given the nature of my role, I need to constantly keep myself updated on industry trends and business priorities, to best service the business.

How has your role benefited you? 

My role allows me to be hands-on and work on different projects, apply the knowledge I gain through learning, work with various teams and build connect with more people. Roles such as mine allow one to design and implement solutions backed by deep domain knowledge and experience.

Tell us about some of your mentors and role models who have enabled your journey. 

I have had some great mentors who have guided me throughout my career – by believing in me and my capabilities, listening to me express my aspirations, providing guidance, and connecting me to others who could support me.

What have been your key learnings through your career journey? 

It has been a tremendous learning experience so far. Here are some lessons I have gained along the way: 

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know. This makes me want to learn even more about various subjects and connect with experts.

During the initial years of my career, it was always about wanting new work. Today, it has evolved more into a deep desire for knowledge and learning. 

Having a mentor has always been important for me to seek guidance and feedback on my work.

What are your future aspirations? 

With so many opportunities available, I am looking forward even more to the journey ahead, to learn more and grow in my career, especially in the space I’m in.

#FidelityAssociate

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Casual Conversations and Connect

By Priya Mathew, Senior Manager – Corporate Communications, Fidelity India

Seema Unni, Head – HR, #FidelityIndia, regularly conducts a series called Casual Conversations with associates to hear what’s on their minds one-to-one and address any concerns they might have.

The series has been accepted very well by associates, who have appreciated the intent of our leadership to connect with them and incorporate their inputs towards enhancing the associate experience. Here is what a few of them have had to say.

“It was a refreshing experience during these times. I appreciate the leadership taking time out to have these conversations and give attention to every question that is asked.” – Vijay Alwar, Chapter Lead, Fidelity India

“I like how we can engage with leaders and voice our questions and concerns in a direct and authentic manner. It helps promote a good dialog while keeping the interactions open and fluid.” – Anviksha Shastry, Senior Manager – Audit, Fidelity India

“The Casual Conversations reinforce the fact that Fidelity is truly interested in listening to the voice of the associates. The senior leadership’s investing time and energy in hearing us out and engaging in meaningful conversations is reassuring, especially for someone like me who joined during the lockdown.” – Padmavati Sridhar, Senior Lead, Fidelity India

#FidelityAssociate

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Accelerating Agile

By Kannan Radhakrishnan, Director and Agile Coach, Fidelity India

At #FidelityIndia, the agile journey has matured across our business units and teams towards delivering on our customer obsession and the goal of providing the best possible customer experience.

In this journey, we are always conscious of the need to avoid getting lost in operational details but to always move ahead with firmness of purpose. To this end, we recently organized a symposium of agile practitioners to further boost our efforts towards enhancing the culture of agile. Our group focused on key objectives to ensure success:

•Continuously enhancing competencies: We have launched coaching programs aimed at developing core competencies among associates, which have experienced considerable success over time in driving towards the Firm’s vision. 

Improving awareness on agile across teams through education series, coach connect sessions, and cross-business unit learning events. 

Promoting collaboration and measurement of our transformation success: We have launched a dedicated portal and measurement frameworks for teams, to ensure collaboration and that we are constantly raising our standards. 

Career journeys: We hold workshops to educate associates on developing agile skills and how to leverage them to take one’s career forward.

What started as a small group of passionate agile enthusiasts has grown over time into a strong team of catalysts with participation from across business units at Fidelity India. 

It’s a continuous journey, and we are glad to be a part of it as we continue to explore ways of truly imbibing a culture of agile. 

#FidelityAssociate

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The Joy of Giving

By Audi Sakthi Vijaykumar, Senior Lead – Analytics, Research and Data, Fidelity India

We all know how great it feels to receive gifts. Do you know the joy is so much more when we give gifts to others? 

Yes! Our lives become so much richer when we share with others, and great inner joy comes from helping others enhance their lives. The #AnalyticsResearchandData (ARD) team at #FidelityIndia experienced this happiness recently when we all came together to support the educational and nutritional needs of less-privileged children at a not-for-profit educational institution Fidelity India supports. 

With the current pandemic affecting all of us in some way or the other, the parents of these children are mostly daily-wage earners, and their livelihoods have also been impacted. The institution has been supporting them with the home delivery of groceries at regular intervals, and also delivering educational material to their homes to enable them to continue with their studies remotely.

ARD has had a prior connect with these children, as we had invited them to our annual offsite at the beginning of the year to sing a medley of songs, and hence, we as a team could feel a deep sense of connect with their cause.

The team, therefore, decided to organize a ‘Joy of Giving Week’ recently, during which time we came together to collect money towards procuring educational material and food items for the children. We now plan to institutionalize the Week as an annual event towards promoting a culture of giving among us. The money we collected will now help support 79 children at the institution for this year.

Ambar A., a Lead with ARD, says, “According to author Mary Anne Radmacher, ‘As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way.’ I take particular interest in children’s education and try to align my monetary charity towards organizations that are involved with children or education. The trouble definitely is identifying which ones are reliable. I have known of this institution’s long association with Fidelity and was happy to do whatever little I could in furthering their cause.”

Satya Prakash Ranjan, Head of ARD, said at the start of the campaign, “It’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.”

We are delighted to have rallied to the cause as a team towards making a difference in the lives of children. #MakeADifference.

#FidelityAssociate