Leadership

Are You In The List 2017 Winner: Kamiya Choithani

Kamiya Choithani from Myntra would look at leveraging solutions that use statistics, data sciences and predictive analytics to redefine the Get, Grow, Keep equation of HR.

Kamiya Choithani | Sr. Manager – HR | Myntra

I started my journey in HR with Deloitte, an MNC which helped me learn the skill (and importance) of executing at scale. My next stint with Qualcomm exposed me to a relatively smaller scale and gave me the opportunities to build programs and interventions for its India offices. My latest (and current) stint with Myntra has been a thrilling ride. Here, I’ve had the opportunity and empowerment to directly shape and influence the people strategy for Technology and Product teams while also building basic programs from scratch.

My foundation is built on an MBA in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations from XLRI, Jamshedpur and a B. Tech (IT) from Indraprastha University, Delhi. Before pursuing MBA, I worked with Sapient for about 2 years as a software engineer. The exposure to Engineering through education and work experience has shaped my approach towards being analytical & data driven.

What differentiates me from others

I am entrepreneurial – and this one word means many things to me:

a very high sense of ownership
bias for action with a balance between creating perfect solutions and hustling
being a self-starter and enterprising
taking calculated risks and learning from them
influencing people with and without authority

What is my Biggest Talent Priority

Making workplaces ready for millennials: While I was building processes from scratch, I realized during the journey that I needed to look at an evolved version of the processes that I had seen working decently well so far elsewhere, because I was building them for a very different audience – the millennials. It is a set of people who are vocal about their expectations, want to constantly know how they are doing, advocate work life integration, are way too savvy with technology, are not high on employer loyalty, want fast paced career progressions, and want to be at a workplace that reflects their personality. As a result, how organizations adapt to them becomes important. As I grow further in this career, I would continue to look at redefining HR to make it relevant for millennials (and subsequent generations of the workforce) and to maximize their potential.

The one thing I will:

Change in HR: Being an administrative expert puts HR at a confluence of many aspects, in turn building context for them and enabling them to play their strategic roles better. However, I would want to optimize the time invested in administrative activities and make them more efficient using technology, leveraging the time thus created for HR to act more as change agents.

Retain in HR: As HR evolves with the influence of technology, I would retain the empathy and high emotional intelligence. The role should continue to have be approachable, have a strong hold and gauge on the pulse of people, understand their needs and shape the people strategy of the organization accordingly.

This is how I will disrupt HR:

I imagine a future where technology would drastically change HR.

I’d look at leveraging solutions that use statistics, data sciences and predictive analytics to redefine the “Get, Grow, Keep” equation of HR. Applications for predictions include hiring decisions with highest probability of success, attrition in the organization and proactive planning, engagement initiatives that drive business outcomes, talent development programs that prepare the organization for short and long term future.

A basic step in the direction would start with enhanced employee experience. It would mean making all the transactions between an organization and an employee (from pre-hired to post-retired) delightful e.g. introducing chatbots.

And this would be followed up by enabling quicker data driven decisions about people – through better tools to conduct the business of HR; and through well integrated systems that connect data between ERPs in an organization – across Finance, HR, Operations, etc.

Once these basics are in place, possibilities are endless with leveraging all this data.

Here are the other winners: