Compassion, care, confidence: 3Cs that leaders need during challenging times

MANILA, Philippines —The COVID-19 pandemic has far-reaching impacts not only in public health and safety, but also in workforces around the globe.

Many companies, globally and even locally, immediately sought virtual transformation, providing physical and digital tools and allowing employees to work remotely. But to fully achieve workforce continuity throughout a crisis, long-term solutions must be set in place—those that will bring forth human resilience.

To do this, leading global professional services company Accenture highlights the importance of responsible leadership now more than ever. Leaders need to prioritize the health and safety of their people both at work and outside their workplaces. They must also ensure quick yet highly informed decisions that support the needs and goals of both the workforce and the business.

In its report, “Human Resilience: What your people need now,”  Accenture says that responsible leadership has taken on an even deeper meaning today, as workforces and customers find themselves in an unfamiliar, fast-moving global environment. CEOs, chief human resources officers and boards must navigate leadership challenges in this new reality.

Accenture’s report summarized the insights it gathered from over 15,600 respondents across 10 countries and immersed in 15 industries. It found that there are 3Cs that leaders can showcase and practice in the face of a crisis: compassion, care and confidence.

“During challenging times, people look to leaders who they can trust to keep them and their communities safe. They will look for leaders whose faces reflect how much they care. They will yearn to hear voices that are not only familiar but also full of compassion. Lastly, they will follow confident leaders who can guide them in moving forward,” said Lito Tayag, country managing director of Accenture in the Philippines.

Compassion: Understanding people’s needs

Accenture identified three areas where employees would need support from their leaders: physical, mental and relational. While these needs apply at all times, during times of crisis they are magnified.

Relational needs involve the feeling of belonging and connection to give a sense of community, while physical needs provide security to make people feel safe in their environment. Mental needs support the psychological health of people.

As a people-focused company, Accenture has set in place initiatives to provide support for its people. “We have developed initiatives, processes and tools to help, support, guide and keep our people informed and connected. Our employee initiatives are focused on how to help our people adapt and thrive during this time and continue to be engaged and connected,” Tayag said.

“In addition, our people can access mental wellness experts and professional counselors through online and tele-consulting services to help them cope with the emotional challenges and build mental resilience during this pandemic,” he continued.

By being compassionate, leaders will understand their people’s needs, and ultimately, be able to plan and act to meet these needs.

Care: Support in digital ways

Even in fast-moving, digital and remote workplaces, leaders can showcase care by enabling their people to reach their full productivity.

“Leaders who care ensure that their teams are agile. They leverage on technology and accelerate human-machine collaboration to support people as they transition to digital ways of working,” Tayag explained.

As one of the digitally enabled enterprises in the world and with more than half a million Accenture people serving clients in 120 countries, the company has been using the collaboration technologies and infrastructure needed for remote work at scale across its business, along with a highly collaborative culture. Accenture employees worldwide were enabled with collaborative tools and technologies to rapidly connect and shift to a home-based work environment without material service disruptions.

This type of digital enablement is critical especially during challenging times. The current pandemic is giving companies no choice but to find new ways of working. Before the pandemic, Accenture’s workforce report showed less than one-third of respondents were able to make full use of technology to effectively do their job. Leaders are presented with the opportunity to act now and support people through digital ways of working to help take their organizations into the future.

Confidence: Definite action plans

Lastly, leaders must be confident in moving forward together with their people in the next phase of business operations.

Accenture’s Human Resilience report further recommends the C-Suite to take 10 immediate actions to outmaneuver a crisis.

1. Gather feedback from all areas of the organization and all types of workers.
2. Relieve people from unnecessary work and activities.
3. Educate and coach leaders on the five elements: stakeholder inclusion, emotion and intuition, mission and purpose, technology and innovation, and intellect and insight.
4. Now is the time to work in cross-functional, agile teams. Hierarchy be damned.
5. Workers will remember the faces and voices that led the charge during this time. Be sure those voices are not only wise, but compassionate and caring.
6. Integrate your company’s purpose and values into every communication and initiative.
7. People are wired to find meaning and respond best to stories and analogies during times of great stress and ambiguity.
8. Establish strong communication governance, guiding principles and tone among leaders, so they become in sync.
9. You were always going to need remote workforce capabilities for at least a portion of your workforce. Now is the time.
10. Don’t allow the crisis of the now stop you from moving toward the next. 

“During times of crisis, our people are looking for inspiration and motivation. Leaders who demonstrate the 3Cs—compassion, care and confidence—will not only address concerns of their people, but will also help keep them mentally, physically and emotionally strong to face the challenges ahead,” Tayag concluded.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.