The year 2020 was one of the most terrible years in the history of mankind. But still, this year has been good in more ways than we realise. Here are some of the reasons why I feel 2020 was a year that was not totally bad, without its good moments.
Discovering new way of working (and living):
Most of the corporates had never thought that work from home for such a long time was possible. The epidemic showed a way around it and it helped us realise that the office is necessary but it is possible to live without the office for days or even weeks. I was reminded of the movie Avatar where Jack and team moves to a remote location and operates and beats the colonel.
It gave us an opportunity to see so many rare species of animals freely moving on the roads of Delhi NCR and other cities. It helped Delhi breathe fresh air, thanks to the temporary halt of traffic induced and factory produced pollution.
Many of us realised that we were living 20-22 hour days as the rest of the time we spent commuting and fretting over the uselessness of the whole thing. This helped us connect with a side of us that we had lost touch with, and this short break helped us rediscover that side of us and it was a pleasant surprise (well for most of us).
This extra time helped us focus on fitness, growing our gardens, developing our culinary skills, catching up on our favorite hobbies and enjoying some guilt free binge watching of our favorite programs on Netflix.
Many of us, used this time to bond better with our families and we lived in our own houses rather than just resting and going out for the next day. It helped families come closer as the lack of domestic help was excruciatingly felt by all members of the house and everyone tried to put in their bit in running the machine called home smoothly.
Internal Communication teams realised they could do so much more:
Remote working was a total chaos and most companies were not prepared for it. This led to another problem – communication. How do we stay in touch and ensure that people felt they were not alone? And work continued as usual? The internal comms teams stepped forward and rose to the challenge. They not just supported the HR teams but also became online DJs and event managers who helped become the hubs on which the entire sanity of the company rested. Emergence of social media clubs and whatsapp catchups were seen and they added a lot of value to companies as stressed up teams found ways to beat stress and live a virtual life together. It was the internal comms teams who made geography become history and everything went smoothly as normal.
Owned media got its due respect:
When everything came to a standstill, the media owned by the company came to its rescue. The corporates started looking at their own websites and portals with renewed respect. The content was specifically developed and designed for the internal media. The social media owned by the companies became super active, they were like the light houses showing way to the ships passing through darkness. They were the hope for the employees who looked at them for signs and instructions.
We developed the attitude of Gratitude:
Abundance had made most of us take basic things for granted. When the lockdown happened, most of us started appreciating the little things we always had in our lives but never really appreciated them. Most of us took health for granted but when COVID 19 attacked the world around us, the ones who were well could not help but thank the Lord for keeping us safe. Many companies came together to offer prayers together virtually for the wellbeing of the world. To protect the world from the harm of the virus and this actually helped us bond at a different level. We were more than individuals; we were a race challenged by a virus and we were determined to forget our little differences and come together to fight this virus and protect what is out own.
What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger:
We are alive and well. The virus may have made us weak and traumatised us for a few months, but it has helped us realise that we are all humans first and together we can overcome any challenge facing the world. Together we can find solutions and help each other overcome our challenges and grow.
2020 has been a year that has shown us that we are stronger than we think, more resilient than we feel and more capable than we give ourselves credit for.
As the year comes to an end and we enter the new year, we are changed beyond recognition. We are entering the new year with experience and wisdom that we as a race will survive and emerge stronger than any challenge that comes up in our way
Happy 2021! May we all thrive in the New Year!
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
DPNC Global is a lead multidisciplinary business consulting firm focused on Tax, Assurance, Regulatory, FEMA & Family Office Services in India.
He has more than 20 years of experience working with large multinational companies – both agencies and corporates. He has held senior communication profiles in French engineering major Egis, Indian Pharma MNC Jubilant and listed auto ancillary company Sharda Motors India Limited, before joining DPNC.
He has worked with some leading advertising agencies from WPP network and with some leading public relations agencies. He has extensive experience in internal and external communications that includes - employer branding, advertising, public relations, corporate communications, marketing communications, events, exhibitions and corporate & product branding.
He has worked on brands like Ambuja Cements, Taj Group of Hotels, Kinetic, Mahindra, Indian Oil etc in the past.
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