Tue, Apr 28, 2020
Read in 3 minutes
Indore Hub, India
I recently came across a meme. It depicted two people having a conversation which went as follows. Person A: Who led the digital transformation of your company?
Person B: COVID 19
The complete digitization of my social initiative happened similarly. I was quite happy conducting workshops on Gender Education and insisted on keeping them in-person. I never agreed to conduct any session online due to the sensitive nature of subject matter. COVID 19 turned my world upside down. After going through the five stages of loss, namely Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance, I came to the conclusion that if I don’t adapt I might perish. After weeks of hard work, I managed to digitize all of the workshops on offer along with setting up telephonic and video psychological counseling services. Under pressure by the pandemic, I realized that even things as sensitive as mental health aid can be pushed to the digital world.
This led me down the rabbit hole of thinking about organizations which spend hordes of time, money and effort in constructing and maintaining offices, paying for employees’ daily commute, setting up IT infrastructure within office spaces, conducting in-person meetings, flying clients and stakeholders across globe, conducting offshore retreats, holding shallow HR rituals under the name of employee bonding and generally, innovating unique methods of wasting everyone’s crucial resources including but not limited to time. Just like me, the pandemic has forced decision makers across organizations to seriously ponder whether that meeting really could have been an email. The idea of efficiency which so far seemed intrinsically linked to the idea of showing up to work on time seems hazy now. Lines are blurring between productivity and the mere show of it. While the latter worked in favor of many office favorites once upon a time, it can no longer be the case. With a global move towards the digital, results are Queen/King. Grapevine and office favoritism might not hold such a strong hold on crucial decision-making anymore.
This also provides an unprecedented advantage to introverts. For the first time us introverts are not worried about several seemingly pointless things such as maintaining the right facial expression, eye contact, body language and tone of voice while also somehow managing to say just the right words at the right time in office. This may seem stupid to the extroverts but they may be surprised by just how much space this occupies in an introvert’s mind. When interaction with people doesn’t come naturally yet our career seems to depend on it, it is natural for an introvert to lay awake at night anxious and fearful of the way their facial muscles and words didn’t coordinate when Alex from HR said “Hello” in the elevator. Gone is the nightmare of making small talk anywhere and everywhere. No more running in the opposite direction upon accidentally bumping into colleagues. No longer are we gasping for breath as extroverts indulge in 90% content-free talk. It seems as if, at least for now, the professional world might favor genuine meritocracy over its long standing tradition of promoting the Boss’ pet. In the security of our homes we introverts can let our guards down, wipe off that fake smile, unclench our jaws and finally assert ourselves the way we know best – via emails or texts.
The digitization move came bearing good news for the environment too. Restricting daily office commute has significantly improved the air quality. This raises a big question – Would the world be a better place if work-from-home is the norm? I am guessing, the answer is in the affirmative.