How are you engaging with your team and distributors considering the nationwide-lockdown situation? Which app do you use for video conference and file sharing?
The team and I are fully engaged on email, Skype video conferencing as well as Zoom video conferencing for external meetings where required. File sharing is being done on both Skype and Zoom. Telephonic calls including conference calls are being regularly used to keep in touch with both internal team members and external clients and advisors. Whatsapp is also being used extensively. A daily 6:00 pm update from all department heads on our Whatsapp 'Disaster Recovery & Business continuity Plan' group makes sure that every employee and their family members are doing well and they are not facing any issues related to technology and work connectivity.
How are you managing your time? Tell us more about your work from home routine.
Firstly, at the start of this lockdown, I got out of most of my Whatsapp groups except the groups related to work and my closest family members. The purpose was to do a digital detox of sorts along with this lockdown. Also, since emergency services everywhere and important work is being conducted from home I felt it would help free up bandwidth. Why contribute to the millions of forwarded videos and images repeated in every group that will probably choke up an important resource during these times. That has helped me gain extra time for additional tasks during the day.
I think most phones give you data on screen time spent. I was amazed to see the average 2 to 3 hours on the phone come down substantially. My data shows that screen time is down 39% this week over last week.
I have a pet and since the dog-walker and other service providers have been restricted from entering our apartment block, I take my labrador Asterix for a walk around 6 am and 5 pm. Just getting out in the compound with the wind in the trees and the silence in which you can hear so many birds, has been therapeutic even if it for short 15 minute breaks. All other activities like morning walkers and joggers have been banned so I am glad I have a pet.
I usually finish replying to emails these days by 8 or 9 am and then spend time reading the email updates from my equity and credit analysts from the various corporate or rating agency calls they are attending. There are some good reports out there as well which the team have been circulating and I have been collating content across categories from the pieces I am reading. I then get on to calls with some of my team mates. There are scheduled sales and management committee catch up calls on phone or video. I also call clients and advisors to get a sense on what they are thinking at this time in terms of their personal and professional challenges and sense of opportunities. I usually wrap up around 6 pm by answering the last of the emails or short support calls with our team in the US.
The day is liberally interspersed with breaks which I use to spend time talking to my wife, daughter and son and I am thankful for the extra time we are getting together now since my daughter will be flying away later this year to start her college. I catch up on video calls with my parents. Have just finished two books and onto my third. Ray Dalio's Principles. I love that I am getting reading time. I am also catching up on shows on Netflix and Prime. Currently watching Money Heist in the evenings and breaks sometimes. And of course, there are tasks to do at home which we are all taking rotations at from sweeping and swabbing to dusting and laying the table etc. I consider doing those tasks as part of my exercise routine and refuse to join my wife in her yoga routine on those days much to her disappointment.
Do you think working from home compromises productivity and quality of work?
Yes it does. Though I would say a lot of this is relative. The main issue is that you can’t truly empathize or sell a concept over the phone or video call all the time. You definitely need in person time. This is especially true when you are trying to really engage new clients or advisors. As the best insights into productivity suggest, you have to first connect and then you can lead. The connect part is only partially fulfilled through the current modes of communication. Quality of work in operational matters hasn’t suffered but in human matters, it is less than what it should ideally be.
What is the most important thing that you are missing at office?
Again, the connect. Just interacting with the team one on one or in teams. And you realise that you don't need to spend useless time figuring out if the password was correct or the meeting ID was the right one or about the sound quality or dropping out of a call and missing out. May be these issues are minor and get better over time but we are all social animals first.
What are the two biggest lessons for you during this phase?
The first one is that health and immunity needs as much attention as you can give it and the second one is that if you can change your routine and your habits you can change the outcome, any outcome, for better or for worse. Focus on the tiny ones that change it for the better and it can be powerful in moving forward.
Finally, what is the one thing that you would do differently once the work from home phase ends?
On the personal level, I think I will change my morning routine for one. I think that will help me be better prepared to make the day more effective. On the professional front, I think I will approach all plans and projections with a healthy dose of practicality and a solid plan B. The article by Seth Klarman titled 'The value of not being sure' reads like a bible on this issue.
What is the one advice that you would give to distributors in the current scenario?
Control the controllable. A lot of points that I have and many of us in the industry have been emphasizing over and over and for long may be relevant and different people will find motivation in different perspectives. It should be taken as a fantastic opportunity to rest your personal perspective and more specifically your personal routines and habits. Bring positive changes to your habits and routines as you come back into normalcy. If not, you will continue to be trapped in what Einstein's definition of madness. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result... is madness.
