Love in the time of COVID-19: How empathy can strengthen a business

Alongside the devastating human health impacts of COVID-19, people are contending with threats to the very businesses they rely on for their livelihoods. In the UK, we face evolving Governmental measures; workforces being asked to work from home, and huge economic uncertainty. Amid all this anxiety, companies are having to make tough decisions about how to successfully negotiate the next few months. But amid the studying of balance sheets and impacts on the market, there’s an important tool for employee engagement that must not be forgotten: empathy.

Often derided as being of little tangible value, with the very term ‘soft skill’ being viewed as laughable, empathy is not always considered vital to business activity.

But in reality, empathy packs a punch that few might expect, and can actually help to strengthen a business.

it’s just about nodding at the right times, isn’t it?

It’s hard to quantify empathy. I mocked my wife for being emotionally invested in a 30 second Mr. Kipling advert; and yet I bawled at the end of Paddington 2.

Because the thing about empathy is that it is different for everyone: shaped throughout our lives by our own values, experiences, cultures, influences, ambitions and more. (Though to be clear, I am not a Peruvian bear.)

And while some people appear to convey it more than others; there are people who don’t appear to have it at all. (Bet somebody just popped into your head…)

But nevertheless, we all understand more or less what empathy is: the ability to relate to (or even actively experience in some cases) the thoughts and feelings of others.

Sounds lovely. But it’s not business-critical, right?

Here’s the problem: at first glance, empathy appears to have no place on the tangible chess board of business. You don’t see the queen looking concerned for the welfare of a pawn when it’s taken; instead, she fights back.

Empathy often carries a stigma in the workplace: as if the very term ‘to act professionally’ means removing all emotion wholesale, and becoming a productive automaton instead. And it’s true that there are some circumstances where ‘high’ emotions can become obstructive to agreeable outcomes.

But when it comes to the crunch, genuine demonstrations of empathy can help to strengthen businesses in real-world ways – particularly when it comes to things like staff productivity and motivation.

The Businessolver 2019 “State of Workplace Empathy” report, for instance, found that 78 percent of surveyed employees would work longer hours for a more empathetic employer. Meanwhile, 93 percent said they were more likely to stay with an empathetic employer. So in terms of staff retention and satisfaction, empathy is vital. In fact 82% of employees said they would consider leaving their job for a more empathetic organisation.

Empathy is essential for day to-day business transactions . It can help us to understand the needs of customers better; to help colleagues to feel valued; to recognise why a colleague might be behaving or performing the way they are if they are under stress; or to be able to see where a business partner is coming from during negotiations.

What’s COVID got to do with it?

COVID-19 is impacting almost everyone in the world, and it is causing great fear. And fear can be a driver of irrational behaviour; knee-jerk reactions; and stress.

As leadership work on their action plans, and share them with colleagues, it can be easy to focus on delivering the facts and figures – which will be stark and challenging for many.

So now is also the time for leaders to truly demonstrate empathy for their colleagues. Compassion and understanding can help put employees at ease; enable them to think more clearly; and motivate them to want to work through challenges instead of shying away from them.

It’s especially important in a time when so many people are working remotely, and conducting meetings over the wires. Hunched over the desk in the spare room/kitchen/garage, we miss out on those visual cues, the nuances in the voice, and all the human connections that we forge by being physically near someone.

Self-isolation can also have a significant impact on wellbeing and motivation. Businesses therefore need to be compassionate when it comes to performance expectations, and perhaps even be prepared to compromise on these in order to focus on the priorities.

When isolated from humans, we urgently need humanity to shine through.

How business leaders can demonstrate empathy

Think about the diversity of your organisation. Whether you work in a local, small business; or in an international business; a workforce anywhere can encompass a smorgasbord of backgrounds, cultures, views and values.

Leaders, then, need to be able to see and understand the range of perspectives of their teams, and to be able to convey empathy effectively.

Here are a few quick tips that leaders can do to demonstrate empathy in a way that will reward them, their teams, and their businesses.

  • Remember empathy in corporate messaging: When sharing challenging updates with the organisation or your team, don’t forget to incorporate language that is compassionate or values-based. Thoughtful language goes a long way.
  • Remember you are a role model: What you do as a leader shapes what is seen as acceptable among your team. You could consider small changes – such as not sending emails out-of-hours, so that your team doesn’t feel pressured to work at the weekends.
  • Listen actively: Show that you understand the person sharing concerns with you, by asking questions, and summarising their concerns to ensure you understand properly. This is especially important when meeting online or on the phone when visual cues are scarce.
  • Reflect on your own experiences: If you’ve felt overwhelmed or anxious about being in a certain position, you’ll have a better idea of what a colleague must be going through emotionally when they’re in a similar position
  • Have a wellbeing strategy: create opportunities for employees to discuss their mental health and wellbeing with others in a safe space, and promote wellbeing tips across your platforms. And don’t undermine this by then imposing unrealistic deadlines and expectations on staff.
  • Celebrate: Empathy is not just about understanding the worrying stuff. It’s also about sharing in joy during successes and good news. Recognise your colleagues when they perform well, and show your happiness for them.

Interested in demonstrating more empathy in your business? We can help you think about your internal communications and messaging. Get in touch with us here.

Brands and behavioural change: learning from UK coronavirus communication

Panic buying. BBQ parties. Crowding in parks. Why have so many people not heeded the UK Government’s guidance? The answer may lie in the approaches taken to behavioural change – something that brands must also be conscious of – as social norms undergo a dramatic paradigm shift.

The UK Government has faced many criticisms around how it’s handled COVID-19 strategies and communication. Nobody could pretend it would ever be an easy task, and we are all prone to mistakes – it’s just in this case, mistakes could have distressing real-world impacts, ultimately contributing to rises in mortality rates.

Where communications have been concerned, from my perspective, there’s been an unhelpful wooliness to much of the messaging. As the government balanced national health considerations against economic concerns and a respect for democratic rights, the guidance unwittingly became just that: guidance. It came across as optional, and spoke to the sorts of undesirables (we all know ‘em) who think that rules only apply to ‘other people’.

And a lack of specificity breeds uncertainty, which breeds more anxiety. Time and time again we were told to ‘only buy what we needed’: but what does that actually mean? What we need for a normal grocery shop? For two weeks of self-isolation? Or for a potential three-month lockdown?

Perhaps we would have seen (and continue to see) more effective results, if there had been more clear direction for people from the outset – backed up by a real understanding of what actually drives behavioural change.

A nudge in the right direction

Our news headlines are crammed with facts and figures: some are unnerving; some frightening; some numbers have almost too many zeroes on the end to be properly comprehensible to the average mind.

And when something is too big or complicated to think about, we put up psychological defences: it’s the same behaviour at play when we hear about the devastating effects of climate change and – counterproductively – decide that it’s too big to think about right now.

The ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ mantra – while charmingly British and reassuring at a surface level – is all too easily distorted, engendering an insidious and dangerous attitude of apathy. A call to inaction. Keep calm, sure. But carry on? Nuh–uh. ‘Keep calm and change your lives’ is more appropriate for the current war we’re fighting.

Unfortunately, human beings tend to only worry about something when it’s on their doorstep. A man-eating tiger three villages away is news. A man-eating tiger in our own village is a crisis.

The World Health Organisation knows that changing human behaviour is essential for managing pandemics and reducing the spread of an outbreak – by as much as 80%.

And of the methods used in behavioural change, the “nudge” technique is one of the most prevalent. As social animals, we tend to change our own behaviours when we see that our peers are doing it. So if you can demonstrate that many other people are doing something, this has a good chance of ‘nudging’ us to change our own behaviour and – therefore – of fostering compliance.

The heart of the matter

Appealing to our compassionate natures (which at most of us hopefully have) is another great way to change behaviour.

With COVID-19, a predominant message has been that most people ‘will only suffer mild symptoms’ – which, while intended to be reassuring, may also unintentionally give people leeway to ignore the fluffy guidance.

A recent survey, for instance, found that that 85% of US residents washed their hands more often in the previous seven days: an act to protect one’s self. However just 61% had self-isolated: an act that protects other people too.

So perhaps the message needed to be more empathetic: By demonstrating how high-risk groups in our society are vulnerable and need us to act differently to protect them, experts can give us a better understanding of why the measures being taken across the country are so critical

What brands can learn about behavioural change

Marketing exists to change people’s behaviour. It demands your attention to show you a product; it explains why you need that product; and it shows how you can get the product.

But in a time of great upheaval, when the norms of social behaviours are evolving by the day, and people are living their lives by different decisions, how can brands get their own messages across?

Here are a few ideas.

  1. Complement facts with values: Facts and figures are important. They demonstrate credibility. But while they engage the brain, they’re not so good at appealing to the heart. Your brand should have demonstrable values that come out in your messaging and help your audience to care.
  2. Identify your influencers: In times of uncertainty, people listen to the people that they respect.  Who is on your social media channels? A faceless logo, or real people with opinions and ideas? Remember Dr. Jack? For many people, coronavirus was still an abstract until a voice from the front-line spoke up revealing harsh realities and making a desperate plea that people change their own lives to save those of other people.
  3. Have stories: Stories are what help people to understand the fluid state of the world that we live in. Case studies of real-life successes, and indications of what peers are doing, can ‘nudge’ us to better understand how your business can offer the support that we might need.
  4. Be positive motivators: People are spending much, much more time at home. How can your brand help people to impose productive structures in their daily life? How can you help your audience to feel positive about the way they are spending their time?
  5. Be creative: Now is the time to explore new ways of engaging with audiences. The usual methods do not all apply right now. By showing agility, leadership, and empathy through creative approaches to business, you’ll be in a good position to gain your audience’s attention, and drive changes in their own behaviour.

If your business is thinking about how to drive positive behavioural change among your audience in this time of large-scale disruption, get in touch to chat about how we can work with you on your brand and your messaging.

Trial by Fire: How COVID-19 could change the way we work for good

Among the challenging elements of coronavirus-related self-isolation and lockdowns, there is one that may have a permanent positive effect: the flexible working revolution.

Commuting can be a horrible business. It can be time-consuming, environmentally destructive, boring, stressful and expensive. It can also put restrictions on the precious time we have to spend with family, exercise, and relax.

Many workers are better set up than ever before to work from home, and COVID-19 is now putting this to the test. So why has it taken this long for so many businesses to try it out?

Fear or flexibility?

Perhaps the answer lies in our learned behaviour. We’re used to the ritual of going to the office. We kid ourselves that the business – or at least our team – might fall apart if we take a day to work from home.

Or perhaps it’s because some of us haven’t had the time or enthusiasm to learn how to use Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and other collaborative tools that can facilitate working from home.

Alternatively it could be a trust issue. Managers want to be sure their teams are working, and not watching Countdown, and the easiest way to do that is to be within close physical proximity of colleagues. (This isn’t without solutions though – regular catch-ups and performance reviews can help to ensure that work is getting done remotely.)

There are other compelling reasons to continue being office-based too: many people are genuinely needed to be on hand; some people favour the change of scene; others may not have the necessary resources at home, and businesses may not be equipped to handle overhead costs and other implications.

BUT… What if the current global emergency is actually challenging some of these behaviours, preconceptions and business norms in a way that could (eventually) result in happier and more productive employees?

Learning to work from home together

Lockdowns have put undesirable restrictions on many business operations – and the devastating impacts cannot be ignored. Yet if we want to identify something positive to take from this situation (which we should) it’s that this crisis has offered an unparalleled learning curve to work-forces in effective flexible working. Trial by fire, as it were.

Webcams are being switched on. Teams are discovering the collaborative opportunities offered by Office 365, G-Suite and other applications. Individuals are finding out how to structure to their working days (often around childcare) and learning how they can work most effectively from home.

The result? A swathe of individuals and businesses who are discovering that it can be done. And whenever the worst of this global health challenge is over, and staff are welcomed back to offices – we might just find that many of them are more comfortable with living the flexible working dream. And we might also find workplaces making it possible.

Are your Internal Communications working flexibly?

If your business is seeing people working from home for the first time, your internal communications methods and structures should reflect this change. If you’d like to find out how I can work with you on employee communication strategy, get in touch here.

Friend or foe? Social media for businesses during COVID-19

I don’t know about you, but my home has never felt more like a castle. Perhaps not in terms of proportions, regal occupants, or attractive crenellations – but the portcullis is certainly up more than usual. And while I hope we’re all still smiling at the humans we might see passing by our windows, we need to be more wary of the house-guest we’re all cheerfully welcoming in: information.

As a quarter of the world’s population waits in varying degrees of lockdown, and many small to medium businesses anxiously close their shopfronts, the need to stay in touch with each other has never been so acute.

And never before have the tools to do that been so accessible – with digital and social media having the ability to reach out to people in near-hermetically sealed homes.

But in this age of misinformation, having trusted messaging remains critical to getting through the crisis together.

Look; WHO’s talking!

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is now arguably the world’s most important influencer.  But its influence isn’t entirely accidental either. The organisation have worked hard to understand the purposes of the channels they are using, and to speak their audience’s language.

The WHO’s motivation to be a prominent voice is clear: while the world suffers a pandemic, the online world is falling victim to an ‘infodemic’. Facts and statistics are soon paraphrased, misread and misinterpreted; truth becomes obscured by confirmation bias and conflicting agendas. This fosters anxiety, confusion, conspiracy theories, and – in the worst cases – racism and even death.

What this means for your business

Social media platforms thrive on information – whether it’s factual or not. Here are five ways businesses can use social media now to be a voice of truth, and battle misinformation.

  1. Build your reputation: For any business, especially during a time of confusion, integrity and authority are absolutely critical for getting messaging across. Businesses who put the groundwork into building their brand’s reputation through regular trusted communications are likely to retain audience trust during confusing times.
  2. Know how to use your channels: What flies on Twitter will sink on LinkedIn. Knowing how to use channels means understanding the different identities and audiences they have, and recognising what kind of content will work best for each.
  3. Be authentic: While the WHO is a dominant influencer, it is director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who is the visible super-star on Twitter. With more than 700K followers (and counting), ‘Dr. Tedros’ provides the human touch to the WHO’s social presence, and is a voice of intelligence, reason and humanity.
  4. Use only content of value: Communicating a lot is not the same thing as communicating well. Decide what your key objectives for any campaign are, and work out what content will be most valuable both to you and to your audience.
  5. Think local: If your business generally speaks to a local audience, use this to their (and your) advantage by gaining an insight into local concerns and behaviours, and providing the right, tailored information.

Finding solace in social

While misinformation might abound, there’s no reason to step back from social. Social media can and should be used as a force for good in times like these. People crave connection, and we are (comparatively) lucky to have such accessible platforms that can ease loneliness, and help people to be better prepared for the changing world we live in.

I hope this has been helpful as you plan social media content for which people will be only too happy to raise their digital portcullis. If you’d like some help creating social media content, find out how I can work with you here, and get in touch.