When the way we communicate with each other is ever-changing, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and lost in translation. So, where do we begin?
Development workers have ambitious goals. Navigating how to reach them can be especially challenging and in a fast-moving digital world. Yet, keeping up with the latest digital communications tools can feel like another full time job. Who has time for it?
Throughout this podcast series, we speak with United Nations Development Programme personnel around the world, while in the field and in the office, about their digital communications needs, challenges, and ideas, and we ask digital communications experts all the questions you were afraid to ask. Wherever you’re coming from, we have your back. The digital revolution is here, but you won’t be left behind.
Elyse:
[Skype call comes in]
This is one of the most recognizable sounds in the world today… when I hear this sound, there’s this comfort that at the other end there will be a human voice…this immediate, yet invisible connection.
We live in a world where we can connect with friends and colleagues thousands of miles away, almost anywhere, at any time of day… it’s easy to take for granted… I mean the first thing I do in the morning is reach for my phone without even thinking about it. But if in the past someone had told me that our world would be like this, I wouldn’t have believed them.
There’s an ancient Greek saying, “the only constant in life is change”… and this could not be truer today. The way we communicate in the digital age is ever changing… and it’s hard to keep up. At the United Nations Development Programme it’s especially tricky –spanning across 170 countries and territories– we are increasingly dependent on this network of digital communications to solve the world’s most pressing development issues. But when the ways we connect are changing so fast, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, like you’re lost in translation. So, where do we find common ground? How do we navigate this digital labyrinth? And what do we mean when we talk about digital communications anyway?
Estelle:
That’s a really hard question, harder than you think.[laughs]Is it right?
Dominique:
That’s a good question, I don’t know, I think it’s kind of difficult to define it…
Victor:
Well, huh….
Marley:
That’s a hard question…
Nisar:
Ahhh, for me I would say…
Alice:
Um, okay. So basically, ahh…
Estelle:
I’d like to hear your definition...
Victor:
So this my inner geek answering now… Digital communications is when content travels from somewhere to another in bits and bytes.
Rodrigo:
For me, digital communications is effective and immediate communication.
Marley:
Communicating in a way that just transcends borders I think..?
Avis:
It’s just another way of storytelling. It’s just a medium.
Alice:
People communicate differently and you have to be able to adapt to all of them.
Marley:
So it’s the medium, it’s the people, it’s everything that enables us to communicate from one centimeter to the other side of the world.
Yosief:
It’s amazing, ah, you don’t need to be in one place to perform your job. You can do it remotely, I cannot even express it in words.
Aitor:
Oh, for me, it’s been mind blowing. Personally like a total transformation. You know since I started working in communications that I had to embrace all these new ways of communicating. It has been a process that I will never finish. You know because what is being used today is maybe not used anymore in 5 years, 10 years time.
Victor:
I don’t know how I would do without it. My parents and siblings are in Nigeria, my family is in the US, I’m here in Fiji, and our innovation hub is in Bangkok.
Aden:
You know some of these platforms are double edged-swords.
Nasima:
People can spread negativity very quickly.
Avis:
The things that excite me are also the things that terrify me.
Monica:
If you are using digital forms of communicating I think colleagues need to be trained.
Aitor:
I am not a native digital, I was born in the analogic world, but my target audience is digital.
Monica:
I was like I don’t know how to do any! Okay, I’m doing it on Word! And then I get an email and they say, no you’re not going to do it on Word, so you know it can create very frustrating interactions.
Marley:
Connecting to Baghdad, which is our main office, they are really often impacted by the internet issues. So just connecting in any form can be quite difficult.
Yosief:
My access here is very limited.
Monica:
You don’t want people to resist change. Because change will never happen. You want people to embrace change, and people will embrace change when they know, they feel comfortable, and they have been consulted.
Avis:
Every human being wants to be heard. They want to be seen, they want to be witnessed. It’s a basic human need.
Dominique:
The thing with digital communication is that you cannot really develop a real relationship with the other person and sometimes you’re not able to build some empathy.
Yosief:
I’m here in Mogadishu, I have space to improve and to learn new things. But also we have to not be able to leave our colleagues behind and make sure they also know what we know. Therefore communication would be smoother.
Aitor:
We cannot fall behind. We have to be agile in the way we communicate, in the way we adopt new technologies, in the way we change, you know, our way of working, in the way we implement changes in the organization. And UNDP has to embrace those.
Marley:
Living in digital communication world, I have yet to really see that there is an ultimate solution to bring everyone on the same page and make digital communication simple and streamlined, but that is also the beauty of it, I think, because it’s constant innovation.
Elyse:
The world is at our fingertips, but are we ready for it?
In this three-part podcast series, brought to you by the United Nations Development Programme, we will engage colleagues around the world in conversation about how we connect with one another and how we approach the challenges that we face in our digital work life. We will meet Aitor in Denmark, Marley in Iraq, and Victor in Fiji. And we’ll converse with experts who will shed some light on how we become better digital communicators.
I’m your host, Elyse Blennerhassett. Stay with us.
Francisco:
I can talk for hours.
Aden:
I’m sitting here waiting your interview, but as soon as I finish I’m gonna cook some pancake or something like that so that I can eat it with a little bit of honey and a glass of milk and I’ll retire, go to bed.
Elyse:
This podcast is produced by Oscar Durand and myself. Original music by Lemon Guo and sound design by myself. Special thanks to UNDP personnel who took the time to speak with us: Aitor Rubio, Marley Tinnock, Victor Ladele, Monica Rijal, Francisco Filho, Avis Mulhall, Estelle Fach, Dominique Rodriguez, Yoseif Abraha, Walid Baharoon, Rodrigo Barraza, Nisar Ulhaq, Aden Ali, Nasima Akter, and Alice Wadstrom.