The Hindu Business Line : Connecting with people

Connectivity is nowadays a much used word. In the sense of connecting with people, it is ushering in a veritable social, sociological and managerial revolution.

For instance, the rapid spread of communications technology has made the processes of coordination and implementation that much easier in organisations. Pyramidal, hierarchy-driven, fat organisations are out and flat, lean, , mutually supporting syner gistic teams of associates are in. Soon the premium will be on consensus, and not on control.

Performance appraisal itself has changed from a top-down judgment to an opinion survey involving everyone from top to bottom who has had dealings with the person concerned. In fact, it is being found that those at the shop-floor (or students in the case of teaching faculty members) are shrewder judges of personal traits than the person’s superiors. The ability to establish quick rapport with the people one comes across is perhaps the most precious of all gifts that help connect with people. It is inborn in the case of some, but it can also be easily cultivated by maintaining a pleasant exterior and reaching out to fellow human beings with genuine warmth and goodwill.

There are rich dividends to be reaped from a friendly interest in others. Connecting with people, as Mr Nicholas Boothman has said, “is not about being phony or acting like someone you are not; it’s about creating a favorable link between your internal nature with its beliefs and values, and the external world where you go to work.”

Thus, the creation of trust and understanding is the key. Likewise, heartfelt and generous appreciation and manifestly sincere praise too work wonders.

The “psychic income” from it gets reflected in balance sheets as well in the form of handsome profits. It is said of the chairman and CEO of Campbell Soup that “at the end of every day (he) gathers his people to hear about neat stuff done that day and then handwrites thank-you notes to the people who did it. If you go around Campbell Soup, all over the world, you will find those notes framed.”

It must be remembered at the same time that people cannot be fooled by superficial phrases and synthetic smiles of social intercourse. They will soon find out, and once they do, all chances of any further fruitful relations will be irretrievably lost.

Speed of light

Connectivity works on yet another plane. Worldwide webs have made for a world without walls.

They make it possible for everyone everywhere to get connected in an instant, and stay connected with everyone else anywhere any time and in real time. Physical proximity or surface communications are no longer a pre-requisite to accessibility. Literally millions are in touch with each other over the web and the net at any given moment, using instant messaging, net telephony, e-mail, mobile phones, SMS, tele-commuting, video-conferencing and what have you.

Never before has the world and its netizens been so closely knit. Never before can trillions of transactions in whatever field be carried out at the speed of light.

If you think the scenario is already mind-boggling, all one can say is: You ain’t seen nothing yet!

From the way things are happening, even the sky may cease to be the limit for advances of technology.

A time may soon come when you think anything, and it will come to pass. In any case, it will not be too long before distinctions of any kind — birth, religion, race, language, rank, status, designation or gender — are obliterated.

A classless society based on equality and fraternity will not then just remain an aspiration but a living reality. Let us fervently hope that it will also mean a world of peace, plenty and happiness for all humankind.

B. S. RAGHAVAN