LEADER (14)

INSIDE F 7102 ,2 .TRQ

FRESH INSIGHT 300 .on  eussI

HR Official Newsletter

CHOITHRAMS CEO

RAJIV WARRIER

SHARES HIS THOUGHTS ON 

LEADERSHIPP.3 
Speak Out P.1
Understanding Job Analysis Exercise P.2
Choithrams Internship Program P.6
Don't be afraid, Say It! P.7 
Managers vs Leaders P.8
Training Achievers P.10

1F Speak Out

Who is a Leader? Neha Tahiliani

E-Commerce Coordinator

A leader is the one who has

the ability to motivate, guide

Sandeep Khimnani and inspire others to follow
their vision and thoughts.

Procurement Manager - FMCG Agencies & Imports Leaders are those who build

Vikal Jagnani In my view point, A good people, encourage them and
leader is one who motivates educate them so that they
and inspires people to engage duplicate this attitude in
with inspiring vision of the others. Basically leadership is
future. an action, not a position so be

HR - Executive, Recruitment Leadership is a process of the leader you would follow.
social influence which
Madhu Nair A good leader has to have the maximizes the efforts of others
perfect concoction of qualities towards the achievement of a
and skills. He needs to be a greater good without using
master of his craft. To be able authority or power.
to do so, a leader must be
dedicated in mastering skills

Store Managers- DEC Marina and learning new ones. Humility, Honesty, Positive

There are several qualities a Furthermore, leaders are good attitude, Passion, Creativity,
person should have to be an communicators. The ability to Confidence, Courage,
effective leader. He needs to listen, share insights, receive Commitment, Communication
have a positive attitude and feedback constructively, are a and Clarity are the 10
good personality to be able to few communication essentials goodness attributes & mantras
inspire people. He has to be a leaders should have. of a true leader.
good listener and should know

how to effectively communicate Lastly, a leader should be

to mobilize people to achieve visionary. He must have an

shared vision. A leader must idea of what the end goal is

also be creative enough to and should know how to get
come with innovative ideas that there.

will propel business to greatest

heights. I believe that if a EdSituograEridDaiMEtaoGslrna-peSiniJnaeaeAa-tgCdltiysanhhJesgiaooeafrcEfksiafsadeahtietnorEretdheitor

person has all of these
qualities, he is a good leader.

Editorial Board

2F

Understanding

Job Analysis Exercise

The Human Resource Department initiated the Job Description
Job Analysis Exercise for all departments of
Choithrams Group. This two-month exercise Sets clear and defined job purpose
aimed to streamline Job Descriptions and identify Serves as hiring template
competencies for all profiles in the company. It Presents transparent employee
also aims to evaluate existing structure for each expectations
department within the organization. Basis for employee evaluation

Competency Mapping

JOB DESCRIPTIONS
JOB DESCRIPTIONS
JOB DESCRIPTIONS
JOB DESCRIPTIONS
JOB DESCRIPTIONS
JOB DESCRIPTIONS
JOB DESCRIPTIONS
JOB DESCRIPTIONS
JOB DESCRIPTIONS

Analytical Thinking Business Acumen Planning & Organizing Strategic

Defines key soft skills Organizational Structure
needed for a job role
Establish proper reporting
Customer Otientation guidelines for task
delegation
Creates benchmark for
performance evaluation Clear understanding of
communication flow
Team Orientation
Identify key positions
Assists in identifying and eliminate
learning gaps redundancies

Interpersonal Skills Succession Planning

Leadership Creativity & Innovation Communication Result Orientation

3F

CHOITHAMS' CEO
LEADERSHIPRAJIV WARRIER on
by Daniel Jose

Throughout our entire lifetime, only a few This is no other than Choithrams’ newest Chief few years I decided to move to Rediff.com as
would make it to the pages of history. Executive Officer, Rajiv Warrier. their CFO in 1998. We listed Rediff.com at
Strength, charisma, or wit can get you there; NASDAQ in 2000. I also have worked with HCL
however, failures, misdemeanors or Corporate Pedigree BPO Service, Bharti Telesoft & Epicenter
transgressions could also make you a Technologies as CFO before joining Sodexo
character in a story built by time. It is on one’s FI: Tell us something about your career India also as CFO end 2007. I also have
conscious decision to choose on which part of background. worked with Sodexo Central and Southern
history they want to be part of, the good or Rajiv: Where do I start? I have worked for Europe as a CFO for more than a year and the
the ugly. almost 27 years now. I finished a degree in move back to Sodexo India as CEO in 2012.
Industrial Production Engineering. I have
Joan of Arc, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Steve worked for 2 years as an engineer in an FI: From an Industrial Engineer, to a Chief
Jobs, are few of the names you would see in inspection company called Bureau Veritas. Two Finance Officer and now a CEO, that’s quite a
my meticulously chosen list of leaders worth years after I went to take my MBA in IIM big leap. What do you think is the advantage of
emulating. They are individuals who have Calcuta. During my second year of MBA I being an engineer to the different roles you
shown strength of character, resilience and chose to major in Finance. have played and now playing?
grace even when under pressure. They are Rajiv: Engineering gives you a good
leaders who kept their moral fiber as tough as After which, I joined Esaar Shipping of the background because engineering helps you
steel no matter what odds were. Esaar Group, it’s a large group in India. I did think in an analytical way. You have to think
financial reporting for each of their ships logically so it provides structure to your thought
Once in a while we bumped on to people who because of each of their ships is a profit center process. In that sense it has always been a
manifests the same grit and character. so you do a PNL, you do a budget for each of good thing.
Personalities that are as beautiful as a blue the ship, you report on the performance on a
lotus that blossoms even in the slums. I am weekly, monthly basis. Choithrams Experience
very privileged to be given the chance to be
up close and personal with someone who I moved to SCICI, a financial institution that FI: What do you look forward to your new role
exudes undeniable charisma, proven specialized in financing the marine sector. as Choithrams CEO?
leadership skills and surprisingly witty humor. SCICI was merged into ICICI in 1997 after a Rajiv: Today retail has stagnated a bit in the

"My interpersonal style is fairly
relaxed. I tend to talk to people and

listen to them"

Middle East. Not for Choithrams but for the chart. I have visited some of the stores as Choithrams is a well known Retailer Brand in the
retail world itself. By the next two to three well. Middle East. I have of course met with the
years, it is expected that retail will pick up and management when I was interviewed. I know
I think it is extremely important that FI: How do you find our stores? that there a lot of people who have worked with
Choithrams should be among the winners Rajiv: If you look at the format of our store the company for a longer time. There’s a strong
when that time comes. Today there are so and compared to other supermarkets, our loyalty within the company.
many small players. A lot of players have stores are well laid out. Good format. Our
come and go but Choithrams has been meat cuts are superb. Our stores are good. I For the last one month, I understood the
around for the last 44 years. The question is, think the really good question is, how we business more. When I first came I thought
how do we sustain and grow from here and attract attention from the younger consumers Choithrams is traditional but when I went to the
become even more productive? Middle East who keeps coming to this country? We need stores I found out that our stores are good. We
keeps on changing every day. The population to be in the mind space of the consumer. have nice stores. I think I have a better view of
keeps changing and we have a lot of old When a consumer will shop, the consumer Choithrams after a month.
customers. How do we win new customers? will say, “I have three or four names in my
How do we build loyalty to our consumer mind”, Choithrams should be them. How do Leadership Style
base? How do we grow our business and we get into the mind space of the
how to we become important for different consumers? FI: How do you describe your leadership style?
segments of the population? Rajiv: Consultative. I tend to be consultative. I
We need to do more to support our staff. And work with people who reports to me. I like to do
FI: You seem to have learned a lot about the I think that that’s part of my belief. meetings. I like to take their inputs. Eventually I
retail business. How was it studying all of will make a decision regardless but I will think
this? FI: It’s been a month since you joined the through the views that are presented by other
Rajiv: The induction was so good. HR Team company, Is there a change with how you people before I push forward what I think is right.
organized well for me to meet a lot of people. perceived the company when you first joined So I tend to be consultative in my thinking. I’m
I have met the heads of different departments to what you have experienced so far? fairly analytical, I look at all information available
and they have explained to me what they do Rajiv: When I first came in I did not have very and try make a decision based not on personal
and presented to me their organizational much perception of the company. I knew that facts but based on factual evidence.

5F

My interpersonal style is fairly relaxed. I tend an open view. What I really want to bring to the and not just the client. The change we initiated
to talk to people and listen to them. organization is more interaction, more became permanent and until now they still
transparency, more openness with our follow the same structure.
FI: We all know that Choithrams is family interaction with people more inter-departmental
business and there are quite a number of interaction, more meetings. I would love to have FI: Listening to your achievements as CEO of
employees who have been with the company a town hall meeting. We need to visit our stores Sodexo, I can’t help but ask, what’s the perfect
for a very long time. I want to know what is more often. We need to talk our staff more often. leadership equation?
your stand on traditional and contemporary Rajiv: There are many aspects to it, I think you
way of leading? FI: What do you think is your greatest leadership need to listen. Listening to employees is an
Rajiv: I think both will have their strong points achievement? important aspect. Listening to the market and
and I think that there is a lot that can be Rajiv: You are actually asking very tough the stake holders is important. Listening is
learned from how we do things and have questions (laughs). It will be being the CEO of important.
been doing things for so long. At the same Choithrams, I hope (laughs). I’ll talk about
time, we need to know when we have too Sodexo. I spent about 9 years in Sodexo. When I Being clear and focused and defining clear
much of a good thing that we need to look at joined Sodexo I joined them as a CFO in 2007. goals. Simple, straight forward goals is very
something new. I think we should, going As a finance person I had some achievements important and so it is extremely important for
forward, be able to combine the bestselling like splitting the business into two different the company to define its vision and then make
traditions more on for us to be able to businesses. After 3 years I went to Europe for a sure that everybody’s goals and visions are
continue to sustain the perception of being a year. I was CFO for Central and Southern aligned to that vision. Every employees goals
good brand providing good quality items and Europe for Sodexo. I was in Prague for more should in some way should be linked to a clear
innovative on how we reach out to our than a year. In 2012 the CEO in our India office direction. Every employee must know that they
consumers. resigned and I was to come back and take that are contributing to that objective for the
role. organizations.
FI: We quite have definitive division among
our employees. We have the tenured ones When I came back we were in a middle of crisis. A good leader must bring about transparency
and the young ones. We have noticed that a All the large merchants stopped accepting our with information and dealings with people.
lot of the young ones or the so called voucher. They only began accepting Sodexo just
millennials have bigger tendencies to leave before I joined. In the meanwhile, a lot of A husband, a father, a book worm, a cook, a
their jobs compared to the tenured consumers had stopped using Sodexo. music aficionado, an engineer, then CEO of an
employees. How do you think can we avoid international food service company and now
this from happening? I think one of my achievements would be my CEO of the longest running supermarket chain
Rajiv: What I would like to really do is to role in the course of one to two years from in the UAE.
create a more interactive organization. Most joining. We changed the perception of the Mr. Warrier’s extensive experience, knowledge
organizations which have been around for market by going back to our merchants. Setting on business processes and consultative
some time, department seems to work on up a proper merchant department. We didn’t leadership style coupled with Choithrams’
silos. I think it is important for us to interact to have a Merchant Head so we appointed a strong tradition of retail excellence, gives the
each other. Learn from each other. Merchant Head and Customer service. We group the power to create glorious milestones
began working with our clients and our that will forever mark in retail history.
There is a lot of value that people who have merchants. We were able to change the
been working for 20 to 25 years brings to the perception of the market and we started growing
table but there’s also value that the young the company again. Doing that allowed me to
brings. They come with a fresh eye and has restructure the company focusing more on our
merchants and consumers

6F

Choithrams Learning Internship Program

Building Next Gen  

Choithrams Human Resource Team launched the first ever formal Learning Internship Program of the company. The team collaborated with IMT
University, Dubai Campus to identify students who will be part of the program. Six students taking up Master’s Degree in Marketing have
meritoriously succeeded the Choithrams Learning Internship Program.
The budding retail aficionados were fortunate to be chosen among all other students who applied for the Learning Internship Program. Collectively, the
interns were able to share valuable information needed to improve Choithrams’ products and services. A detailed market study looking into, competitors,
market share, customer behavior and customer feedback, were presented by the students as a final output for the program. Several pivotal marketing
strategies were shared during the presentation.
Different departments of the Choithrams Group worked hand in hand to create an extensive Learning Internship Program. QHSE Department trained the
interns on the principles of HACCP. Human Resource Department, on the other hand, challenged the leadership skills and assisted the interns in
developing their personality through the Leadership and Personality Development training. Retail Operations Department tackled the more technical
Retail Business Math to solidify the technical know-how of the interns. The Marketing Department was instrumental in overseeing all the activities of the
interns in the entire duration of the program.
The Choithrams Learning Internship Program is a groundbreaking initiative of the Human Resource department. It started in the month of March 2017
and culminated with the presentation of their marketing plans last May 31, 2017, held in Choithrams Deira Office. Here is what the interns have to say
about the program.

Anurag The internship was filled MohitaThe internship was Hitesh The experience at
with challenges and enriching both personally Choithrams has given me
opportunities. Personally, it and professionally. I a new perspective towards
was a good team gained insights on the the Food & Grocery Retail.
experience for me. Also, various aspects of market
the leadership and research, customer journey This exposure helped me
personality development and feedback, social media in knowing how one can
sessions gave me insights marketing, etc. My skills of satisfy the needs of
about my own personality working in a team got different nationalities by
and how I need to mould enhanced and further understanding their
myself for future leadership augmented my personal shopping behavior. The
roles. The routine growth. interaction with the
interactions with people consumers on the floor
helped me understand the and personal dealings with
dynamics of professional Retail Operations were
world. Overall, the helpful in getting insights
challenging job let me about the retail industry.
explore my abilities and
learn where I need to
improve.

Lakshay The Learning Internship Gayatri Being a fresher, it was Siddhant The internship helped me
with Choithrams was an my first-time exposure to think strategically. Some
amazing experience, to corporate of the tasks were time
wherein we got insights environment. The bound and needed a
into the Food and Grocery internship experience thorough planning before
Retail sector in the UAE. helped me gain insight starting the day at work.
The internship was a mix- into Dubai’s grocery The internship helped me
bag of fieldwork and retailers, imbibe to gain knowledge about
analysis, which kept us corporate work culture the retail sector in Dubai
engaged throughout. There and enhance my and some valuable
were few interesting learning in Customer insights.
sessions delivered by the interaction,
Choithrams team on Retail Networking, and self-
Mathematics, Personality confidence.
Development, etc. All these
added to our theoretical
knowledge.

7F

DON'T BE

SAY IT!AFRAID,
THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE CHOITHRAMS ANTI-HARASSMENT POLICY

An office is a place most people consider as a second Verbal & Non-Verbal
home. It is an abode built from trust, courtesy, and
respect. It is a refuge where one feels safe and free to Different forms of harassment
act according to a set social norms and share their
thoughts and opinions in proper venues to maintain VERBAL NON -
harmony and balance. VERBAL

Unfortunately, balance and harmony are sometimes Derogatory Inflicting physical
challenged by the opportunistic and barbarous comments or pain or injury
behavior of some. The alarming occurrence of statements about Distribution, display
workplace harassment in the corporate world race, religion & or discussion of any
prompted the Choithrams Group to draft a policy that gender written or graphic
would protect its employees to any form of Epithets, cat calling, material intended to
harassment. Sugar Espadera, HR Manager - L&D, slurs, negative ridicule, denigrates,
believes that such policy is timely and relevant for the stereotyping and insults, belittles or
staff and the company as a whole. “The Anti - racial and gender present hostility to
Harassment Policy is a good way to prove to everyone jokes anyone
that we have a zero tolerance to any form of
harassment. This policy will provide proper handling of An Anti - Harassment Committee was created and is
grievances and investigation of any issues related to given the sole right to cease, inspect & collect relevant
harassment, bullying, and discrimination,” added Ms. information, resources and materials that will be important
Espadera. in establishing facts & resolution of any complaints raised.

Policy in a nutshell Complaints lodged to the committee will be highly
confidential. Each case will be objectively and collectively
Objectives of the Anti-Harassment Policy evaluated to ensure that the decisions of the committee
are free from any form of prejudice.
LAW AWARE
ABIDING OF Employees are also reminded not to use the Anti -
Harassment Policy as a platform to take revenge or ruin
STAFF INDIVIDUAL someone's credibility. If the committee proves that the
RIGHTS complaint is not valid and was only forwarded to tarnish
someone's reputation, the complainant will be subjected
CONGENIAL DUE to a disciplinary action.
WORK
ENVIRONMENT PROCESS Report any harassment case to:

[email protected]

Managers 8 F

vs

Leaders
Access your actions and find out if you are a
manager or a leader

Is being a manager tantamount to being a leader? Does strong management skills
equate to leadership skills? These are a few questions that have baffled many over
the years.

Let's look into the qualities of managers and leaders to understand the difference
between the two. ResourcefulManager.com shares the characteristics of both
managers and leaders to shed some light on this topic.

Here is an infographic representation of 6 important differences between managers
and leaders.

MANAGERS LEADERS

TELLS SELLS

Gives instructions Convince people to take part
on what to do and in achieving goals by
how to do it. showing them how it could
impact theirs lives &career.

DOESN'T TAKES
RISK RISKS

Focused on Takes risks to
accomplishing achieve beyond
tasks the soonest what is expected.
possible way.

MANAGERS LEADERS

F9 HAS HAS A
VISION
OBJECTIVES
Begins with an end
Follows plans and in mind. Focuses on
sticks to routines the bigger picture

STICKS TO EYES THE
STATUS QUO HORIZON

Strictly adheres to Forward and
rules and processes innovative thinker

SEES FINDS
PROBLEMS OPPORTUNITIES

Sees problems as a Dissects issues and
hindrance to problems to identify
achieving goals opportunities to
improve

CONTROLS INSPIRES

Sets rules and Builds trust and
processes for people commitment among
to follow its subordinates

pImropcoessessersPuElOePsLEaL'SEnAPdODTEERNSTHIIAPLISTOUNBLEOCCOKMINEGBETTER 

BILL BRADLEY

CHOITHRAMS HR-T&D

TRAINING ACHIEVERS
2nd QUARTER 2017

Leadership
Training

NEHA UDASI - The Greens Supermarket
GAYATRI PANDEY - Intern

INDIKA GUNARATH - The Greens Supermarket
HITESH YADAV - Intern

cashiers
Job Orientation

VARSHA YADAV - Bay Square Supermarket
SHARATH KUMAR - Emirates Lakes Supermarket

stockers
On the Job Training

ARBINDRA JOSHI - Al Ghazal Supermarket
INKESH SINTAN - Al Rais Supermarket

MAHESH MURALI SARASWATHY - Bur Dubai Supermarket
PRADEEP GYANANI - Al Rais Supermarket

AJEET CHAUDHARY - Rashidiya Supermarket
VIJESH CHIRAKKAL - Al Ghazal Supermarket

Keep up the good work!

"A leader is
one who
knows the
way, goes

the way and
shows the

way. "

- John Maxwell