Monisha Saldanha, Executive Product Manager at Deutsche Telekom in Bonn, delivers outstanding customer experiences in our mobile apps. Together with her cross-functional team she screens the market for partners with innovative B2C solutions. She comes with great experience, having worked for companies like eBay and the Guardian in the past, she finally moved from UK to Germany to enjoy flexibility, independence and freedom at Telekom. Get to know her personal career tip in the interview.
Monisha, just talking to you makes people around you feel energized. How do you motivate people in your team, what is crucial for you as a leader?
Monisha: I’m working in a non-hierarchical, cross-functional and international team, so it’s important to me “how” my team achieves results and that we all work towards the same goal. As a leader I like to find ways to identify and nurture the individual competences we all have and empower people to bring their best. My goal is to build high performing teams that are proud of the results they have achieved and to make sure they had fun along the way.
What is your key message to people who want to make a next step in their career?
Monisha: Be brave, say yes to a new topic. I always ask myself two questions: what value am I bringing to my organization and what am I learning? If I find that I no longer have a good, positive answers to one or both questions, I know that it is time for me to move. Stepping into a new role forces me to perform at my best, to bring my best self to work, because I need to prove my value from scratch all over again. This isn’t comfortable or easy – but I think it has served to make me highly effective in learning and adapting, taking lessons learned from one role to the next.
From what you are saying you are a passionate and curious learner. How has the company supported you to grow?
Monisha: I actively take part in the “LevelUp!” program for leaders and experts across Telekom and attend trainings including diversity, mindfulness and agile methodology. I also had the chance to join the Ada Fellowship, which is a pan-European collaborative learning program to promote digital transformation within organizations. I have learned about topics from AI to Mindset, from Quantum Mechanics to Adaptive Leadership.
There are so many possibilities for knowledge sharing within the company, for example I just signed up for a “Search Inside Yourself” course that is led by internal experts who are trained in this Google methodology.
As you said, I am a curious person who asks questions and explores various avenues of thinking. This often lead me to surprising new areas of opportunity. That is something Telekom is offering to me right now.