A valuable lesson on communication

A couple of weeks ago, when we were all waiting eagerly to get started with our Monday morning classes, Dr. Mandi walked in. After his initial exchange of pleasantries with the class, he took out from his bag, a collection of 27 different cubes of 9 colors. While we all were thinking on the lines of a ‘Rubix cube’ challenge, he challenged us to arrange the cubes in such a manner that no face of the larger cube thus formed, would have any repetitive color among it. In a more clear manner, it meant that each color should occur once and only once in each and every face of the larger cube.

With every challenge there is the initial enthusiasm. We all started having our own tries at the assignment without a bit of planning or coordination. One or two of us, even boldly ventured out to take it as a challenge and try it in front of the class. Mr. Mandi ridiculed us for having an unorganized approach of doing it and took an opportunity to show the class how it was to be done.

Following this, he challenged us to make a demonstration video of the activity, so that anyone watching the video could understand how the task could be accomplished in a simple manner. The catch was this: There had to be 2 volunteers; one who would talk about what is being done; and the other who would actually perform the process of arriving at the answer. It is anyone’s guess as to whose hand would’ve shot up to the air first. Yes, me and my friend volunteered to do it and I’d let you people have a look at what unfolded after we did.

As all of you have already seen, it was a very valuable lesson for us on how one should convey a message across the virtual medium. The systematic manner in which our professor conveyed the methodology left us ashamed at the job that we had done. This was followed by another team’s attempt and then we were asked to present the same in our vernacular in order to maximize the reach of the video. Overall, it was an enlightening experience where we could hone our communication and marketing skills which go hand in hand with organizational efficiency.