Altab Khan Credit Success to Late Mom

‘I had strong emotions and felt that inner happiness to see people growing! It was a huge release of oxytocin in my brain! ’

Altab Khan is the senior manager learning and capability at the Raffe Hotel & Resorts. He is also a Justice of Peace as he loves serving the community. He loves to connect with people and has about 26,000 connections on LinkedIn, and enjoys networking and learning.

Being raised by a single mother, gave him the ignition to persevere and to always excel in what he does.

Now with more than two decades in the Tourism Industry, Mr Khan is diving into strategies to continue to raise the standards by providing learning for those working at the resort to have a standard and professional ap-proach to its clients.

Mr Khan and his older brother were raised in Vomo Street, Lautoka by their mother, a primary school teacher for almost three decades.

After his senior year, he joined the University of Hawaii’s Honolulu Community College.

“I worked and studied in Hawaii for about five years and graduated with a Hotel Management Program. Since I had worked in Nadi McDonalds prior to going abroad, it gave me that opportunity to work for McDonalds in Hawaii, where I was trained and became the manager. Later I pursued my career in the Tourism Industry. My first resort of employment was at the Shangri-La’s Fiji Resort and Spa as a Service Leader – Training Focused.”

He is now a senior manager at the Raffe Group of Hotels and Resorts which owns the Fiji Gateway Hotel in Nadi, Plantation and Lomani Island Resort in Malolo Lailai.

He lives in Vomo Street, Lautoka with the memories of her late mother, ‘who is now my guardian angel’.

Tell us about your educational background?

Post Graduate Studies in Human Resources Management from University of Fiji, Hold a Diploma in Hotel Management from Hawaii, accredited with TAFE – Training and Assessment, workplace assessor accredited with Fiji Higher Education Commission, Registered Trainer with Fiji National University, a Fiji Business Excellence Evaluator, hold a COA in Food Safety Management, done studies in areas such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming by Internation-al Society of Neuro-Semantics, various courses in the areas of Human Resources from our local universities and am currently about to complete my Certificate IV in Counseling with University of the South Pacific.

How do you manage the demands of professional and personal commitments?

I induce this with a lot of “Self-Time”. I love to create a work balanced life and I am doing that quite well. I make sure to schedule time for my deep tissue massages from various spa’s, my coffee hangouts, thrilling and scary movies are my favorites.

What is the most rewarding thing about your current job?

I love to see my team members learning, growing, climbing ladders in their careers. As I speak today, I just ran into one of my colleagues in a Corporate Organization in Fiji and this person holds a senior management role. She told me that she has learned so much from all the training that we had together. This was so fulfilling, I had strong emotions and felt that inner happiness to see people growing! It was a huge release of oxytocin in

my brain!

What is your philosophy about business as a whole and your vision for your businesses?

Tourism is a winning business of people and accommodation. My perception about business is to nurture a “Learning Culture” or a Coaching

Culture. People make the difference in any business and an organization which offers a psychological safe place- is the winner and at the same time fosters productivity.

Here at Raffe Hotels, we are people centric and nurture a working environment which deploys the highest level of Diversity and Inclusiveness. This has encapsulated a great workforce, and this is quite reflected through a collaborative organizational culture and our people are thriving every day. We are a value driven organization, and our leaders are very compassionate and represent this well across the business.

What have been some of the highlights of your career so far?

Becoming a Fiji Business Excellence Evaluator.

Apart from this, one of the elements of learning that I am spending a lot of energy with is Psychotherapy. I am very keen and inspired to be a therapist specializing with elements of “Talk Therapy” such as Counseling, Cognitive Behavioral therapy, People Centered therapy, and other mind reframing activities. I was very fortunate to be part of this program called Neuro-linguistic Programming facilitated by a fantastic Coach – Sandra Viljoen.

How would you describe yourself as a leader?

I would say- I am a “work in progress”, learning everyday to be resourceful, better, becoming more self-aware, and make necessary changes to become more! But as a leader, I believe in love, compassion, humanity and the greatness in others! We all live in our world view and that needs to be valued and respected.