Meet Dr. Manzoor Khan, who heads Corporate Human Resources for Aster DMK Hospital one of the premiere Hospital in Jaipur City, Rajasthan, India:
Please share your professional journey with us and how did you reach where you are. (How to reach a leadership role in HR)
The bottom line is to do your work honestly and focus on the things at hand. Wherever you are in your professional journey, it is important to be honest with your responsibilities at hand. My idea has been pretty much to add value in the moment first and then look beyond it throughout my career.
To reach a leadership position in HR, or for that matter across any role, you have to have build trust and credibility. Trust with what you do, trust in the value you deliver, and trust amongst your colleagues and team members. To build trust, you really need to be fully involved and passionate to deliver outcomes. As the cliché goes, there is no shortcut to success but it is about sustained delivery, perseverance and inspiring yourself every morning and forgetting how last evening was.
Ideally, you’d want people to trust with what you can deliver; however, they won’t do that unless you deliver quality. What is that you do better than others? What do you bring to the table apart from your core set of responsibilities? What makes you a trusted resource and a respectable colleague? These are some of the things I am always cognizant of no matter what I do and try and work on them every moment .
Which aspect of your role do you enjoy the most? What do you love about Aster?
I genuinely don’t look at it from a role, importance, initiative or project perspective. I don’t look at a task at hand and create an impression about how big or small that job is. A task is a task delivering that to the fullest is all you can do.
What I do enjoy the most is the problem-solving part of my role. I want to be where the most significant problems are, to be able to really contribute to helping solve those challenges and move ahead. Sometimes, all that team or I require is just the leadership support and faith that they will deliver and and I try not to devoid anyone of that. Like anyone growing up in their careers, I too often struggle to choose my priorities, and I have to constantly tell myself of what the team can do better than I can and where can I add value to them and the work without being interfering and overbearing.
It is also important to realize that you cannot just be there and wait for the most exciting project to come to come your way, or on the contrary be everywhere, but constantly evaluate how you are supporting the greater good, and if whatever you do is enabling the people and work around you, you should focus on doing that with the task at hand without really worrying about the credit or recognition. This is something I am constantly working upon and remind myself repeatedly.
What is your favorite way to de-stress after a long day at work?
Thankfully, I have ways to rewind after a long day at work. I adore spending time and having quality conversations with my loved ones. And it’s not an escape, it’s just another dimension of your life, right? Work and personal life run parallel to each other, and that’s something which one needs to constantly learn to manage.
I also love exercising and going for a run. I have always believed that a sound mind resides in a sound body and physical activities go a long way in keeping yourself sane. Like most of my contemporaries, I enjoy reading and watching great content too.
Luckily, while work could sometimes be challenging, I am rarely stressed. I owe this to the fantastic work that I do at Aster DM Healthcare with the leadership and my super-generous colleagues and team members.
Please share your favorite books or authors with our audience.
Some of the authors that have profoundly influenced me over the years include Youval Noah Harari, Adam Grant, Malcolm Gladwell. I love their work as it is so insightful and yet so humane and have really admired them. On the personal front I have been deeply inspired and influenced by the practice of Vipassana and the writings of SN Goenka .
Do you live by any particular motto?
I have always emphasized the need to focus on the things at hand. “Here and Now – Living in the present, to be in the moment and flow or the power of now ” is something I try to live by no matter what I do. This is a long journey and I try my best to practice this every day. I hope to get there someday.
What advice would you like to give to the jobseekers who are struggling to find a job during the times of COVID-19?
COVID-19 has impacted the global workforce in a plethora of ways, and it’s been a tough couple of years for everyone. The truth of the matter is the world was not ready for such a disruption at all, but at the same time, it’s commendable how corporates and individuals have risen to the occasion to adjust and rewrite the “new normal” with such flair.
For those who are still struggling, I would advise them not to lose hope. As they famously say, “If winters have come, can spring be far behind,” and patience, perseverance, and relevance would be the key in their search for the right opportunity. Things might look hard, but trusting yourself and your skills is essential. I would also suggest they utilize the undesired break to focus on their mental health, the wellbeing of the family, and probably upskill themselves if they deem suitable.
Any suggestions for job sites to help them become more relevant in the post-Covid -19 world?
I would suggest job sites shouldn’t lose the human touch completely. Rather than merely being a recruiting platform where people can look for jobs through predetermined algorithms, job sites should play an active role in talent matching.
Their broader goal should be to help recruiters narrow down the target audience through both new-age techniques and AI/ML activations. The first step of shortlisting can directly be done with the help of intelligence; however, making just a listing platform should not be the primary goal. Deeper penetration and understanding are required to make an enormous impact and connect talent with opportunity and to industries and companies, and that’s what job sites should focus on more actively