Turn Social Distancing Into an Opportunity to Create Social Closeness
This webinar was about how we can be more successful with our connections even during a pandemic. It was hosted by Bessie Kokalis Pescio, VP of Global Internal Communications at Philip Morris International (PMI). The webinar was virtual on zoom at 1 PM, November 11th, 2021.
The first step to creating a successful virtual environment in your organization is to shift to an entirely different platform such as having a company’s own internal “Facebook” sequel platform. The next step is finding some inspiration. Pescio gave a specific example of using the daily challenges published by the New York Times, and how she could use her personal readings to tap into her own workforce to understand what is important to them right now. She mentions that this kind of inspiration can come from anywhere. The next step after that is to turn the challenge into an opportunity and communicate with impact. Employees should be allowed to communicate with one another and to leaders as well in a democratic fashion. Democratizing communication rather than top-down communication is critical in this phase so that employees can share their thoughts and concerns.
One of my biggest takeaways is that an organization can do fun and unusual things to break the monotony, especially during a time where virtual communication is the norm. Pescio talks about how there was a harnessing of similar interests at PMI through an Edutainment program. Employees were able to share reels of their music and food, and they even brought in a food blogger to talk about their shared interest in food. It’s all about connection – connecting employees with each other and connecting them to leaders in the organization. Organizations have to try new things and keep them authentic, even if they are unusual for the organization to do, but also not lose sight of the business objectives.
This webinar definitely relates to my career goals because COVID has definitely changed how a typical workforce functions not only in 2020-2021, but most likely for the next few years or decades as we know it, and a lot of the advice shared here will definitely be useful to me even after I graduate. When becoming a leader, I will have to understand how to cater to different employees’ needs, whether they are virtual or in-person, so a lot of the advice shared here can be applied to that situation.