Ms.

Rachana Panda, Chief Communications Officer & Citizenship Leader for GE South Asia,
started the session on 09 August 2017 interactively by asking us the role of a Communication
Officer. She provided us an insight into her role as CCO in GE by covering the following points:

 Reputation Management.
 Create other leaders in the right channel with right messages.
 Message Penetration.
 GE has been shifting from Financial to Industrial to Digital. So her role is changing the
company, environment and mindsets. – Transformational communication

She explained that communication is an extremely strategic function, where you can demand to
change things, culture and mind set. Cultural Communication at GE happens in the following
ways:

 “Go Direct Strategy” - Speaking directly with people.

 “GE Voices” – Encouraging and enabling suppliers, employees and partners to share
their stories.
 Through yammer groups, round tables – coffee conversation with CEO
 Performance Development i.e. appraisal system which done in GE using an App. In the
App they mention what needs to be continued and considered and instead of a simple
rating system.
 They are changing all the offices to digital to become quick and real time.
 Every employee will be provided with an open office. The leader i.e. the CEO of the
Company chose to lead by example and started utilizing an open office for himself.

GE aims at employing 20000 women employees by 2020.

The key learnings from her session for MBA Students were as follows:

 Be a continuous learner throughout your life.

 Be humble so that you will be able to learn fast
 Try to have an elevator pitch
 Use leverage technology in best possible manner
 Always try to pen down your thoughts. Try to adopt a writing habit.
 Have a clear aspiration.

-Complied by Kranti and Dibyadeep

Q&A

GE: Q&A Session

Q.1 Which channel of communication is preferred in an organization like GE?

Ans.
The channel of communication adopted by an organization depends on the culture it has.
A lot of organizations prefer the formal channel of communication over the informal one.
However, in the current age of young leaders and millennials, with organizations shifting
to digital mode of operations from the conventional physical ways, the culture of
organizations is undergoing rapid changes.
GE adopts both these channels along with the integration of transparency in its operations
to keep its employees empowered, motivated and feel involved in the operations.

Q.2 GE is as global as a brand can get, there are communication leaders for every region
in which GE is present. How do you people communicate to each other and plan
individual action plan in order to overcome linguistic and cultural barriers, while staying
on point with the global goal of GE?

Ans.
GE adopts matrix reporting, where you report to 2 to 3 people, and is functionally and
regionally aligned. Strategizing functions come in from the global team and are
communicated functionally among the communication leaders and the regional
communication comes in directly from the CEO.
GE follows the policy of GoDirect which involves direct communication with all its
stakeholders, customers, employees, and the government. It conducts quarterly meetings
where communication leaders from across the world meet and develop communication
strategies.

Q.3 How did you overcome resistance when transforming from cabins to open offices?

Ans.
The general concern of having open offices is that it is impossible to maintain privacy
about confidential matters as is possible in closed spaces. But a good leader can
overcome such issues with his courage and integrity.
At GE, the CEO himself encouraged having open office spaces while others placed their
trust in their leader. GE believes that the process is more important than the outcome
which makes it easily adaptable to changes in its environment.

Q.4 How do you deal with employees in case of layoffs?

Ans.
At GE, they try not to lay employees off but to move or rescale them. However, in case
of layoffs, we remain transparent and put it right on the table. And in all cases, the
employees are made aware of the situation that makes them apprehend the crisis at hand.
They understand the problem and never has anyone said that the organization’s approach
is incorrect.
Q.5 How can one separate personal life from the professional life?

Ans.
When a person is working for a global organization like GE where you need to
communicate with people from different time zones, you really cannot separate the two.
A person needs to effectively integrate the two and try to find a balance. The company
makes it up by providing you with the flexibility of working hours or giving you the
opportunity to even work from home if required.

Q.6. Being such an old and established organization how does GE still remain relevant in
today’s rapidly changing world?

Ans. There are a lot of things that G.E happens to do to stay relevant in these changing
times and few of the most important ones are –

1. Innovation – At G.E there is a lot of focus on constantly innovating in the bid to

stay ahead in the market.
2. Mergers and acquisitions – We try to get hold of the good companies which hand
help us improve.
3. Learning from different cultures of the country we are present in – We try to
engage with all the stakeholders in the region like government, local people, communities
etc. and try to adapt to their needs and demands.
4. Being futuristic – We tend to make long term business plans and anticipate the
changing trends.

Q.7 How do you maintain the balance between having an open structure in the
organization and still maintaining a level of professionalism?

Ans.
It is not an easy task to incorporate them but we try to do mainly by 3 ways –
1. Reducing the layers of seniority in the organization thereby giving a lean structure.
2. We tend to promote meritocracy which helps us to maintain the fine balance.
3. There is a well-defined structure in place where honesty and transparency are
appreciated.

Q.8 What advice would you like to give the students who are pursuing MBA?

Ans.
The most important things to keep in mind are –
 1. You should always be open to learning new things.
2. Be humble. Never let your ego take over you.
3. You should never be afraid/shy to ask questions about anything that you do not
know.
4. You should always have an elevator pitch ready to introduce yourself to someone
in a unique way.
5. You should acquire the art of selling yourself effectively.
6. You should read a lot to stay relevant with the happenings around you

-Complied by Jay and Mantasha (Div C)

*********************************************************

Feedback:

Ms. Rachana Panda, Communications Head at GE, conducted an interactive session, detailing
the role of effective communication in any organization. Focusing on GE, she detailed the
workings of her department, elaborating on the different roles that communicators have to play
in a global conglomerate like General Electric.

She invited students to contribute by providing their ideas about the communication department
and its key roles. She continued by enlisting all the important functions of her department, some
of them being:

o Training leaders
o Creating communication channels within the organization
o Reputation management of a firm, including branding
o Ensuring message penetration
o Issues and crisis management
GE, sticking to their policy of continuous innovation, is also moving towards a better and
completely digital mode of internal communications, which will generate more interest from
employees and improve message penetration through the ranks. Innovative modes like doodle
series are also being used to increase engagement.

Besides describing the importance of communications, she also focused on other aspects of
working in GE. GE is a work in progress, always innovating and always trying to achieve the
next level. GE is currently working on an open door policy, taking guidance from their CEO,
who believes in leading with example.

- Anubhav Arora

*****************
GE being a global giant has numerous eyeballs gawking at it, both within and without. The
company is going through a transition from being a capital organization to financial and now to a
digital one. The Herculean task at hand is of braving resistance and sailing through it, which is
very well carried out by the Communication Department along with the support of the others.
Ms. Rachana, Chief Communication Officer, General Electric (South Asia), enlightened us on
how the CEO, himself became the example for change.

Good communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity not just between individuals
but between the organization and the stakeholders as well. Ms. Rachana’s advice on how
sometimes working backwards and analyzing who one will be dealing with in the future, what
communication does one need to put across to them and then deciding the way one should
communicate, validates that communication works for those who work at it.

Food for thought would just be an understatement for the wise words ma’am shared with us, the
future managers and global change leaders. We should continue being a learner all our life, be it
from our mistakes or from others or by mere experiences, learn and evolve- that’s what makes
humans, humans. People may hear your words but they feel your attitude to this effect Ms.
Rachana pointed out to invariably be ready with an “elevator-pitch”, know what you will say to
someone if you meet them just for 30 seconds.

The overall interaction with Ms. Rachana Panda might have just lasted for around 90 minutes but
the experiences shared by her will be fruitful to us for many years to come.

-Nilakshi Agarwal

*********************

The session was absolutely influential as it was not at all conventional, all queries were received
and satisfactorily answered. The best part of the session was a change in the opinion, where Ms
Rachana gave us the insight to think twice about communication's importance and functional
value. These kind of lectures are once in a lifetime opportunities.

- Pragya Shukla

**********************

Ms. Rachna Panda, the Communications Head, GE conducted a session on the role and
importance of communication in an organization. It was a pleasure to attend this session on
communication taken by the communication head of one of the oldest and biggest organizations
in the world. By illustrating various examples and practices held at GE, she was able to give an
overview of the communication flow in organizations. Multiple initiatives by GE to smoothen
the communication process and eliminate the barriers as much as possible gave us a glimpse into
the innovative practices which the organizations are undertaking in the 21 st century. She also
emphasized on the fact that Communication is more of a strategic function for any organization
today which helps in facilitating all the business functions and getting more business.

She talked about how new communication channels are made at GE for a faster, smoother and a
more transparent communication flow. Some of these channels are Go Direct, Advocacy, and GE
Voices. She also explained her role in giving a shape to the communication to all the
stakeholders of the company (employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders, etc.) by the top
leaders of the organization as it goes a long way in motivating them and shaping the image of the
company.

The interaction in the session brought out the queries held by the students which helped in a
better understanding of the processes at GE. The interaction went a long way in telling the
importance GE gives to innovation when it comes to solving organizational problems, like the
open office concept being adopted across all its offices.

No doubt, each and every one of us left the room with a richer knowledge about how
communication takes place in modern organizations. I am sure we all will be able to apply these
concepts in our future endeavors.

- Sachin Singhal