Antenna, Signals and Corporate World

Part 1

The word TV antenna will make Indian kids of up to 90’s nostalgic and if you are one among them sure you will recall some of the best moments with smile.

The earlier version of TV’s in India was dominated by Government run Doordarshan , which used to be relayed through signals and every household having TV was supposed to install a good antenna on their terrace to catch those signals.

It was simple technique for sure, but the challenges were during various occasions, unpredictably.

If any large birds use that antenna as it’s pray spot or resting place, it would rotate while landing or take off!!

Similarly, during high wind or rain, the direction will change hampering the display quality and sometimes making it as no show.

What followed it was a family saga of every Indian household.

• ·  The elder ones will be in front of TV, inside house
• ·  Middle age will be in balcony or outside the house
• ·  The younger will be given chance of their adventure , going to terrace, be a signal man

As I recall not every house had a good staircase for terrace and some houses were made of tiles, so some kids had additional task of climbing terrace by scaling compounds, neighbor’s house etc.

The moment signal is gone, everyone knew their tasks, and no one complained and were ready to their part of communication and synergy.

The terrace person adjusts the signals, the one seeing it relay to people inside home who will be adjusting their tuner a bit but keeps communicating on the quality of picture.

Till the quality is good, the one in terrace kept on changing the direction of antenna to capture better signals and would come down once he gets confirmation and with the sense of satisfaction at every level for ensuring their task is done perfectly, entire family continued to enjoy the TV programs.

If we decode this scenes, who was important? The one capturing signal at terrace or the one relaying the message in middle or person watching TV, adjusting the tuner.

Everyone is important in this chain of command.

Adjusting antenna and receiving signals needs ground level work, patience to get feedback and sense of feeling since he would’ve climbed to correct it and standing there in difficult conditions of wind, sun, rain or space constraints or even keep an eye on incoming birds which might strike.

The one relaying signal must be attentive as middle level person since his communication is crucial for both the ends on what is happening, other all will be lost adjusting, endlessly

The main person sitting in front of TV was supposed to be supportive, patience, directing on the quality of signals and knowledge of tuning the TV, achieving the end results, quality of picture, which entire family can enjoy together.

Part 2

If we equate this to any corporate world though most of the houses have moved to digital world, there is similarity in the way it’s operated.

The ground level staff is often the signal catcher, flexible to move across and relays the ground level information. They will be the having less knowledge of overall picture but they know their work is helping the end results and need to work towards it.

The middle level will be the channel who drives the communication top down and bottom up , managing bot the ends of the command chain, with clear expectation, messaging skills and knowledge of the purpose of what everyone are trying to achieve.

The senior most, often someone who had good experience of catching signal in terrace, communicating in middle, in past and due to the position, role, and knowledge would’ve moved to the position of driving the end results. He also would be someone who can decide if the issue is due to signal problem or any other problems, before assigning task to team (family members). His action will ensure the entire company is enjoying the end results.

Again, here everyone is important, the ground staff need to deliver their action, middle level for clear communication and senior for knowledge and direction, keeping everyone happy.

While TV antennas have disappeared in most of the households with advance of digital signals, nevertheless, have we moved away from the human intelligence required at different levels in corporate world? This is an undecided question, a topic for another day.

Disclaimer:  None of the above points are related to any particular  organization. This write up is based on authors understanding through discussion in various forums, reading of articles on evolving situations and experience gained in people management domain. Images credit chatgpt tool.