The last few months have changed many things. When the lockdown started in March, many of us thought this would be lifted in three weeks, but that was not to be. Once Unlock 1.0 was announced, many of us believed that life would be back to “normal”—but that has also not been the case. Today, while many of us are trying to live our Before Covid (BC) lives or as we say, “normal” lives, the reality is that we have all had to adapt in some way or the other. Our Post Covid (PC) lives are different: For some the change has been dramatic, for others not that dramatic. But a change has surely come in all our lives.
We lived in a world where work from home was the exception and now it is the norm; video calling was another tool of communication and now it is the backbone of our communications; not travelling was not an option and now travelling is an exception. We have had to adapt to dramatic changes and it’s incredible how our innate ability has enabled us to do so. While, as we all hope, many of the BC norms will return, there are some adaptations of the PC era that will continue.
The most important is that “virtual” and “digital” will remain in our lives. Over the last few months, there has been an 87% rise in social media usage, video calls have seen a 17-20 times increase, working digitally has become the norm, and our daily lives including shopping, transacting, entertainment, education, etc., have all moved online. While this usage may see some decrease as the unlock progresses, these operating models will continue as the cost, convenience and speed are a huge advantage.
The move into the digital world has made it imperative that the balance between formal and casual, and serious and non-serious is well maintained. For instance, WhatsApp has become the accepted mode of business communication and is no longer just a “messenger”, and video calls are the new meeting rooms. The digital persona is critical and the new medium for brand building. Therefore, it becomes imperative to focus on how one “behaves” online: the use of the right words, tone, correct spellings, impeccable grammar and punctuation. A quick WhatsApp/140-character message/one-minute video has never been more powerful. The norms of etiquette for calls/videos are important: muting one’s mike when not speaking, allowing others to complete speaking, dressing appropriately for video calls, presenting on camera, tracking chats on video platforms, etc.
This is even more important in the start-up world. Founders, investors and ecosystem catalysts are all engaging constantly. They are in effect “selling” and therefore impressive communication is imperative. Immaculate communication is not just a matter of optics but is the tool for business building. If a founder is unable to communicate the potential and power of his company’s proposition well, coherently and clearly, she will just not be able to attract customers, talent or investors. And this is not a matter of language: One can communicate in any language, but it needs to be crystal clear. It is not a matter of just getting the message across, but also impressing upon the recipient that the message is coming from someone who knows the subject. And even more important, it is not a matter of expertise, it is a matter of according respect: a message with errors conveys a “don’t care” attitude and the recipient will also adopt a “don’t care” attitude towards you. You start on the back foot from the word go.
Virtual pitches are here to stay and a good thing too. It does save time as entrepreneurs can pitch to investors quickly and investors can take quick discussions: delays due to physical meetings have surely come down. But this does have challenges: virtual does mean that communicating through body language is not possible. Therefore, the need to articulate well is even more critical as the audience still needs to be engaged. Reading off slides is a perfect recipe for disengagement. Hence, it will need some storytelling to convey passion, understanding and depth. Pausing at the right point and inviting questions allows for an engaged audience, which also helps gauge the listener’s interest. Switching during the presentation from one presenter to another needs to be well synchronised. And all of this will need some dry runs.
Technology has placed in our hands both power and speed: the mobile, laptop, etc., have provided us different ways to engage and with the speed of lightning. This has really created an opportunity for us to create value and credibility for ourselves and others. We have often heard that the power of the pen is far greater than that of the sword: this is applicable even more today. Lives, businesses and relationships are today largely built on how we engage, network and communicate with each other.Covid-19 has forced us to rethink and the lockdown has made us learn new life skills, communication skills being one of the most important ones. It’s imperative that we don’t forget these soon.
PADMAJA RUPAREL
Co-founder, Indian Angel Network,and Founding Partner, IAN Fund
(Email address: padmaja@indianangelnetwork.com)