

Guest Column: Meenu Bagla, CMO, Cyient Ltd., writes the pandemic has again highlighted the value of human capital in ensuring business continuity and building resilience within organizations
I happened to switch to a new job in the middle of a pandemic. Besides the personal experience, being a CXO meant that I had the added responsibility of helping my new organization navigate this change and virtually guiding associates who were all new team members to me through this period. It became clear to me from the beginning that breaking down barriers to remote communication and replicating the offline person-to-person approach in a virtual world would be a key challenge for me. Having completed my first 100 days at my new workplace recently, I thought of sharing the biggest lesson for me in these turbulent times:
Technology is blurring lines of communication, and it’s a good thing: As professionals, we have all been raised in a corporate culture in which emails have become the preferred mode of communication. And while there is a definite place for a formal mode like emails for business transactions, it isn’t the best medium gauge a person’s emotions, state of mind, and context. In comparison, a video chat or a voice call allows me to use the tonality, pitch of speech and other non-verbal cues to draw a more complete picture of the person on the other side. In addition to reducing miscommunication, this approach makes the process more effective and creates a stronger bond as well. Fortunately for us, technology has made it a lot easier, and between WhatsApp, WebEx, Teams, Skype and the old-fashioned phone call, we now have a myriad means of communicating to help us.
We are living in an age where one has a range of choices of medium, to communicate. The pandemic has precipitated the adoption of productivity apps and video calls. Emails and phone calls have quickly made way, or should we say we have sacrificed the traditional idea of a workplace. We’re now more receptive to work calls, or emails at odd hours. Perhaps because the tradition notion of working hours has fallen by the way- side. Instead, we now rely heavily on short messages, but more frequent of them. Video conferences have become more focused, and mostly requiring only essential participants. A whole host of apps now promise solution to our work needs, as brick and mortar office spaces continue to shrink.
And finally, while it might sound like the antithesis of everything I’ve just said, I have to admit that I very much look forward to meeting these colleagues in-person once it is safe for us to do so. Until then, it is back to business as unusual with technology as the key enabler.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views of pitchonnet.com.
-
-
99acres.com Unveils New TVC #NoTwistOn99acres
February 26, 2021 By Team PITCH -
Experience Apple like never before @ Croma with #AppleYou&Croma
February 26, 2021 By Team PITCH
-
Reliance Industries tops Fortune India 500 list for second year in a row
December 10, 2020 By Team PITCH -
-
AdLift Wins Creative Mandate for PayU India
June 10, 2020 By pitchteam
-
THE ROAD AHEAD TRADITIONAL MARKETING- “DIGITAL MARKETING”
July 25, 2019 By Anam Khan -
Marketing Herbal, the Lotus Way
July 25, 2019 By Sanstuti Nath -
Archives
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- November 2011
- February 2011
- December 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- July 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- February 2008
- January 2008
- September 2007
- January 2007
Leave a reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.