Frances Baskerville
The (temporary?) loss of physical presence and the development new communication techniques.
by Frances Baskerville, Secretary-General CIRM
We’ve all fared differently over the last few months, but personally speaking, I’ve found ‘lock-down’ very difficult in many ways. At first I rather enjoyed the very certain instruction to stay at home. I was able to focus and concentrate on work well and the peace, particularly the time to think, develop ideas and lack of interruption, suited me. As time went on however, at around the six week mark, I suddenly felt very low. It seemed to me that I was doing nothing but work and sleep. The routine became relentless. Day in, day out, it was more of the same, and to some degree it still is; but, four months later, I have adjusted into a better way of living. I don’t work all hours, stopping to look after my mental health more and making sure that my friends and family are in my sights, even if not in person.
A CIRM member called me and said he was going stir crazy working at home. Another called to say everything had changed beyond measure and there was no end in sight and another told me that nothing had changed and he was insisting all staff fulfil orders and travel to work as usual. Interestingly, that opinion, months later, is now dramatically changed to approval of working from home.
And work continues. In fact everything is pretty good for us at CIRM. Our internal (online) meetings are quick, efficient and useful. The team and our membership have adjusted to contributing to these well.
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A live experience into a virtual environment; necessity not choice.
The CIRM Board of Directors have a lot that is worth saying. It seems that lockdown and the consequential online meetings have now concentrated their minds into ‘only the necessary’. They are not afraid of the power of silence! Thankfully scarce, buzzwords from our international and culturally diverse group of people, are rare; although we do have many acronyms in the Maritime world to remember. I mention this as recently I was privy to listening to another online meeting of around fifteen people belonging to the world of trading and finance. I found it extremely waring – the clichés abounded, and were augmented by endless on-trend words that I could not understand.
I did notice however, that our own recent online board meeting, comprising 12 members of the 14 strong positions, flew along at fair speed and we were done, on this occasion, in half the usual amount of time. We achieved a good amount, promptly and without the usual conferring. I could not see or feel too much of a ‘wish to engage’ and wondered if this was general fatigue from endless similar meetings or whether we had just become very much more efficient in presentation and delivery. All things considered, I would say it was an appropriately succinct meeting with good outcome and look forward to the next being the same!
This brought to mind the following: Present v non present? Present and engaged in true conversation or present and in another universe? In good company but thinking about something else? A shallower relationship? More wandering of the mind?
Under normal circumstances it’s hard enough to listen to another without trying to decide what you are going to say when they stop. Our own mental dialogue can really get in the way of listening and effectively interacting. We have to make a conscious decision to switch off the last task, or the next one, to enable effective engagement in conversation. So becoming aware of the way our thoughts interrupt our attention returns us to focus and be more present. I.e. If distraction reduces, effectiveness and sense of engagement increases. Is that what everyone has learnt over the last few months?
Visual sense, if not dominant in an online meeting, is not entirely lost; but we cannot really have that eye contact so necessary for sending a message or signal. Eye contact has a large influence on behaviour and gestures are often lost, or worse distracting, on a small screen. Of course, there is absolutely not a chance of passing papers, or touch. I’ve noticed that body movement and posture appears to be much the same from all – is this because we feel trapped into one position, as if framed, rather than the looseness of communal air space? Even tone of voice is somewhat blurred through unnatural earphones or speakers.
So, as a result of COVID-19 and all the restrictions in holding get-togethers, does this mean we are accidentally holding shorter, neater and effective meetings? Perhaps it does. Perhaps, over time we will develop new ways of communicating subtly online; developing different methods of engagement and thus feel better connected as we move on in the strange new world.
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CIRM is the principal international association for marine electronics companies. Members include manufacturers, suppliers, system integrators, service providers and related businesses. Individual companies are joined together to form our powerful and trusted industry body.
Promoting the application of electronic technology for the safety-of-life at sea and efficient conduct of vessels, CIRM facilitates productive relationships between all stakeholders concerned with electronic aids to marine navigation, communications and information systems. www.cirm.org
