The start of 2020 is the most significant moment of change for companies worldwide, and Talkinc is no exception. Like any other company, many of the company’s expectations and hopes are hanging on at the beginning of 2020 as a new year’s resolution. However, pandemic Covid-19 changed plans and hopes for 2020.
The clients of Talkinc’s companies gradually decreased, starting from canceling the contract to delaying the training indefinitely.
“Yes, however, in the end, we have to make peace and fight to survive,” said Becky Tumewu, the Founder of Talkinc, at the E-Talk Series MBA ITB entitled “Business Communication After Pandemic, What Changes?”, Thursday (1/7/2021).
As the founder, of course, Becky can’t just give up on the pandemic. However, she must be ready for a different world, undergoing a new normal. “Not only to survive, but also to strive,” Becky said when explaining that she decided to make peace, just like Singapore with their decision to make peace with a pandemic in a complex, fluctuating, uncertain, and ambiguous world.
Becky believes that the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) era is an opportunity to change our paradigm as the world changes. This includes changes in paradigms and ways of life. Therefore, Becky presented the strategic planning to survive and come alive better with the following steps: surviving, brainstorming, plan journey development, and reviving.
In addition to strategic planning, the company’s internals must also be addressed using the 3R technique from McKinsey. First is resolve, calming the employees, and providing information and solutions regarding the current situation. Second is resilience, communicating simply, freely, and frequently to build optimism, creativity, and momentum to re-build the business. Last is return, re-imagining, making peace, and working together to build a new motivation for the future after a period of grieving.
Resolve, resilience, and return can be implemented by uniting purpose, person, and people. Communication built for the market and the company must also be based on the flow of mind, a tool to communicate what is in mind using three questions: what? So what? Now what?. It should also be remembered that the communication made must be delivered with logic and data to touch the heart and encourage listeners to take action.
At the end of the talk show session hosted by Stacia Edina Hasiana Sitohang, Becky stated that adaptability is the key. “The speed and scale of COVID-19 create uncertainty and emotional turmoil. How organizations communicate about it can create clarity, build resilience, and catalyze positive change,” concludes Becky.
