Being a leader and spearheading innovative aspects to better the functioning of any business is a difficult task. It is an art that allows the blending of various developing factors in order to fabricate the pavement of success. A leader has to be imperative with his/her thoughts to provide an apt and all-encompassing solution to eradicate the issues if any. He/she leader must be able to consider every individual’s perspective in the team to present a mutually satisfactory resolution. Very few such personalities have been witnessed that have transformed the customary organization’s ways by implementing the essence of decisiveness and positive energy; one such is Zaitun.
Meet Zaitun Khan, the Director – HR at MouthShut.com, an avid business personality who has strategically brought a disruption in maintaining human resources. She drives with compassion for her employees wanting to assist them in procuring a productive approach to the betterment of the business. With a diverse industry experience of 10+ years, she has been a strong team player who is attentive to detail and has the ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
In the year 2005, Zaitun earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from SVKT College, followed by a degree in business administration. However, as she belongs to a family of lawyers, she was always motivated to acquire that degree for herself. Thus, she went on to study at NBT Law College for her Bachelor of Law – LLB, Criminology, and Business Law. “In all my years of experience, I’ve found that having a law degree has benefited me from comprehending the nuances of working in the IT business since the beginning of her career,” she asserts.
Changing the Customary Ways
Prior to joining MouthShut.com in 2016, she had the opportunity to work with major organizations such as Mahindra Lifespace Developers, MattChariot Education and Technology, and others. With extensive experience, she has been able to direct MouthShut to excel in reliability, emotional stability, workplace structure, and functional skill. It is India’s most popular social network for people to assess and review goods and services; a forum where customers can review thousands of items and resources that are accessible to everyone for free. It has earned a reputable stature in the market that combines all-encompassing information and provides access to customers in order to improve their awareness of the products/services and make it easier for them to make purchasing decisions. Simultaneously, Mouthshut enables businesses and companies with a large archive of reviews to help them improve their offerings, products, and company image. She mentions her company highly invests in Research and development (R&D) to develop and strengthen the business through market research and meeting consumers’ demands with superior products and services. “Businesses that have an R&D plan have a better likelihood of success than those that do not,” she emphasizes. She firmly believes that a research and development strategy can increase productivity and innovation while enhancing one’s sustainable competitive position. “Innovation can only be brought about by Research and Development, which is an essential component of any organization, and without it, the company would be dormant,” she continues. Moreover, the company desires to expand its operation in India and add additional brands to the platform from a variety of categories. “The future is bright because most businesses are now using reviews to enhance or develop new product lines,” she adds.
Overcoming all the barriers
One of the most difficult aspects Zaitun faced was to manage the entire company’s HR single-handedly. “It was the most challenging experience I’d ever attempted,” she mentions. There were times when she was the sole point of contact between the CEO and the staff. She has taken on roles that entail a high level competence and knowledge base. She used to inspire departments and assist in the formation of new teams, particularly in marketing and communications. “I’ve seen the essence of every job in the company,” she says. She feels grateful to her CEO, Mr. Faisal Farooqui, for trusting in her ideas and measures to build his business to a successful stature. Further, she says “I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to manage the complete functionality of the HR team.”
One of the most significant aspects of her career has been shattering the glass ceiling to ensure that all employees should accomplish progress and can relate to strategic initiatives in order to maintain a healthy work-life balance. By phrasing Betty Bender, “people should never have to leave their hearts at home when they go to work,” Zaitun tries to explain that empathy should also be implemented as a factor in creating a healthy work environment.
Insights to Cherish
Being a compassionate and optimistic leader, she recommends every business leader to be energetic, motivated, and inspired, for their employees to follow. A leader must maintain a decisive approach and sheer enthusiasm to complete his/her task. She reckons that empathizing with employees and offering imperative feedback to them can elevate their confidence substantially.
Personally, she encourages her employees to bring their A-game to work each day. Thus, she understands the possible benefits of offering imperative feedback to employees and empathizing with them. She advises companies to start their workforces immediately in order to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 quandary. “COVID-19 has accelerated the use of totally digital approaches to re-create the best of in-person learning through live video and social sharing,” she adds.
It has been predicted in the future that a larger priority on category-based emphasis, will be placed in order to help end-consumers, make better purchase decisions and its clients handle difficulties and develop their products. Thus, she also suggests to aspiring business leaders to research the population and demographic-economic statistics for the targeted area/zone before starting a business. He/she should also ensure that market is vast and powerful enough to accommodate the type of consumers or targeted audience. Zaitun also states that one must he/she invest in employees who are committed to the company’s success and also share its values and ambitions.
To conclude, Zaitun as an exceptional HR professional will continue to encourage her employees and their leaders to acquire a strategy to cumulatively provide a better solution for the greater good of the company. She believes that as IT sector is growing at such a rapid speed, one must constantly focus on the quality, modernity, and distinctiveness of the work. With this industry’s ever-increasing expectations and the world recuperating from a pandemic, it is critical to find the correct balance between the company, the customers, and the staff. It has been critical to keep employee morale at an all-time high. It is a difficult experience to keep an eye on everyone else’s mental health while preserving your own. It is harder to cope with such a volatile and high-stress workplace. Now that things are gradually returning to normal, she highlights that she envisions an exponential growth in this industry.