Worldcom Confidence Index 2019 Asia Report

Worldcom Confidence Index 2019 Asia Report

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  Summary and Comparisonswith the Global Results The Worldcom Confidence Index 2019 Asia Report THIS DOCUMENT SHOULD BE READ AS A COMPANION DOCUMENT TO THE GLOBAL STUDY REPORT. IT DRAWS OUT DIFFERENCES TO THE GLOBAL RESULTS AND HIGHLIGHTS KEY TRENDS FROM THE ASIAN PERSPECTIVE.
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  Index The media mattersbut Asian leaders are mildly concerned about communicating with them 25 Asian leaders confident about satisfying customers 26 Part 1 The Asian Confidence 6 | 2019 5 Asian topic engagement - 2019 6 Asian leaders’buck the confidence trend – rising 5% since 2018 10 Influencers become top audience for leader attention 13 Employee-related topics dominate leaders’agenda 15 Leaders have low confidence in their ability to deal with a crisis 24 Part 3 Methodology – a new, breakthrough AI-fuelled approach 34 Using a new method to enable robust comparisons 35 Part 4 Worldcom’s seven communications recommendations to increase the probability of success 38 The need for Purpose driven communications 39 Part 2 The anatomy of confidence and concern in Asia 27 Asia’s CEOs and CMOs have the same levels of confidence 28 CEOs more confident than CMOs for their top five topics 29 Asian leaders experience mid life confidence crisis 30 Male and female leaders share same levels of confidence 31 Asia only region to experience increase in confidence this year 32 Japan has highest CI score in Asia – up 74 per cent year over year 33
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  Artificial intelligence providesunrivalled view of trending topics and leaders’confidence and concern in addressing them In 2018 we created the first Worldcom Confidence Index – an invaluable benchmark for the confidence levels of business leaders. The report captured feedback from 540 business leaders in seven of the world’s largest economies and across three regions – Asia, Europe and America. In this year’s report, we adopted a new and breakthrough way of understanding the issues that concern leaders. We commissioned Advanced Symbolics Inc. (ASI), a research company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to create a fully representative understanding of the issues that concern leaders – and their confidence levels in addressing them. By using ASI’s AI tool, and patented methodology, we have produced a truly global perspective of 58,374 business leaders from seven regions and 15 countries, on the issues of the moment and where they rank in terms of leadership attention. We’ve also calculated the confidence levels for every topic and audience and identify how these change around the world. This global perspective was captured in the 2019 Global Worldcom Confidence Index. Tom Van Blarcom, Chair of Worldcom Asia THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 3
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  The top sixfindings for Asia are: #1 Asian leaders’buck the confidence trend – rising 5% since 2018 #2 Influencers become top audience for leader attention #3 Employee-related topics dominate leaders’agenda • Upskilling and reskilling the most discussed topic with a second highest CI score • Employee-related topics take five out of top six topics • Employees have the third lowest CI score of all audiences #4 Leaders have low confidence in their ability to deal with a crisis #5 The media matters but Asian leaders are mildly concerned about communicating with them #6 Asian leaders confident about satisfying customers How are Asian leaders responding to an increasingly uncertain world? In this second annual Asian Confidence Index, we captured and analysed the online contributions of 12,811 business leaders from 17 countries across Asia. This enabled us to identify which topics are highest on the Asian leaders’ agenda, and how confident or concerned are they about the topic. Since we published our first Confidence Index, world events such as: the US/ China trade war, Brexit, Amazon forest fires, the Hong Kong crisis, the increasing pace of global warming and the resurgence of diseases such as Measles, have continued to create a more uncertain world. Our second Confidence Index shows exactly how confident or concerned business leaders are about dealing with these challenges. We encourage you to review the results globally, regionally and locally to inform your plans and guide your actions for 2020. Our recommendations for communications action - in the Global Report - are a direct consequence of what our study uncovered. They will enable you to focus your communications effort where it will deliver the most value. We hope you find them helpful. THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 4
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  PART1 The ASIAN Confidence 6| 2019 +5%Asian leaders buck trend with 5% rise in confidence +100%Influencers grow their share of attention and leap to first place in 2019 +81%African leaders 81% more confident than Asian for communicating with influencers
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  Asian topic engagement- 2019 In the 2019 report we have identified the topics with the highest levels of engagement across 12,811 leaders from Asia. We’ve focused on the top 23. Chart 1 shows which topics were discussed most by leaders across the region. The most frequently discussed topic was upskilling and reskilling. This was discussed by 6% less leaders than the global average. CHART 1 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% Government and legislative change Global trade agreements tariffs Sexual harassment and other bad behaviour Crisis management Global warming and extreme weather events Use of technology to collaborate and innovate Impact on business of the way political leaders communicate on social media Data privacy and protection Global instability and the threat of war Competition influences success Good leaders influence success Corporate image and brand reputation Cybercrime Family mentorship influences success Financial /economic influences on success Attracting talent Customer satisfaction Employee engagement to improve productivity Economic migration Retaining talent Employment benefits influence on success Impact and role of media Upskilling and reskilling 14.27% 10.77% 10.34% 10.25% 8.09% 6.63% 5.93% 4.82% 4.42% 3.59% 3.51% 3.35% 3.05% 3.04% 1.50% 1.50% 1.10% 0.84% 0.83% 0.72% 0.86% 0.31% 0.28% Asian Leaders’engagement level for topics THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 6
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  0 5 1015 20 25 Crisis management Impact on business of the way political leaders communicate on social media Global instability and the threat of war Government and legislative change Use of technology to collaborate and innovate Global trade agreements tariffs Financial /economic influences on success Sexual harassment and other bad behaviour Impact and role of media Good leaders influence success Family mentorship influences success Employment benefits influence on success Corporate image and brand reputation Global CI average Global warming and extreme weather events Competition influences success Economic migration Employee engagement to improve productivity Data privacy and protection Attracting talent Cybercrime Customer satisfaction Upskilling and reskilling Retaining talent 24.36 23.66 22.61 22.19 22.07 21.77 21.52 20.91 20.66 20.14 19.92 19.79 19.78 19.62 19.25 19.21 18.67 18.29 18.29 18.05 18.53 18.02 17.86 17.71 2019 Asian Confidence Index by topics CHART 2 Confidence by topics Each of these topics has a Confidence Index (CI) score which identifies the average level of confidence or concern in that topic across the entire sample of topics and demographics. Chart 2 ranks these topics by the level of confidence the leaders have in the topic. The scores below the Global CI average indicate levels of concern. THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 7
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  Leaders’engagement level foraudiences – Asia v Global CHART 3 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% Suppliers need the most attention Shareholders need the most attention Government and legislators need the most attention Employees need the most attention Customers need the most attention Influencers need the most attention 26.35% 23.35% 18.72% 13.90% 13.59% 4.09% 26.34% 23.02% 18.34% 14.98% 13.92% 3.40% ASIA GLOBAL Engagement by audience In addition to the 23 topics, we have identified the six audiences demanding the most attention from leaders. For each audience we have identified the level of leader engagement and provided a CI score. Chart 3 ranks these audiences, with influencers getting the most attention and suppliers the least. More than one in four Asian leaders plan to give attention to influencers – the same as the global average. THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 8
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  0 5 1015 20 25 Government and legislators need the most attention Shareholders need the most attention Employees need the most attention Global CI average Influencers need the most attention Suppliers need the most attention Customers need the most attention 19.71 19.21 17.91 17.75 19.88 18.34 22.24 20.54 19.94 19.92 19.88 19.59 16.13 ASIA GLOBAL 2019 Worldcom Confidence Index by audiences – Asia v Global CHART 4 Confidence or Concern by Audience Chart 4 ranks these audiences by the level of confidence or concern Asian leaders have in handling the audience. The scores below the Global CI average indicate levels of concern. Three of the audiences have a below global CI average score. Leaders are least confident/most concerned about government and legislators with a CI score 19 per cent below the global average. Scores for shareholders and employees are also just below the global average. Asian leaders have scores 10 per cent higher than their global peers for influencers, six per cent higher for suppliers and 11 per cent higher for customers. THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 9
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  The levels ofuncertainty globally, highlighted in the Introduction, have not had as much of an impact on the confidence of business leaders in Asia. In fact, Asia is the only region with an increase in confidence. The Confidence Index (CI) score in Asia (which ranks confidence across 15 demographic categories, six audiences and 23 topics) has risen by five per cent – bucking the global trend which saw a 21 per cent fall since 2018. 2018 19.11 2019 20.00 +5% CHANGE CHART 5 Asian Confidence Index Score Asian leaders’buck the confidence trend – rising 5% since 2018 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 10
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  0 5 1015 20 25 30 35 40 Latin America and Caribbean South America North America Africa Average Asia Europe Australasia 20.00 20.00 20.00 19.92 19.90 19.68 19.67 19.10 34.90 25.31 19.11 21.89 CONFIDENCE 2018 CONFIDENCE 2019 CONFIDENCE 2018 CONFIDENCE 2019 Confidence Index by Region CHART 6 Asia’s confidence is highest among all regions alongside Europe and Australasia The CI score in Asia is above the Global CI average score of 19.92, and is equal highest out of all regions featured in the report, alongside Europe and Australasia. These are the only regions above the global average. Asia’s score improved by five per cent. North America has seen it’s CI score fall by a massive 44 per cent. Within the region, China posts the largest drop (down 21 per cent) and Japan the largest rise (up 74 per cent). All three Asian countries reported on score above the Global CI average score – China and India with 20.21 and Japan with a score of 20.35. THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 11
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  CHART 7 18 1920 21 22 23 24 25 Global CI Average Attracting talent Cybercrime Customer satisfaction Upskilling and reskilling Retaining talent 21.36 19.55 21.83 20.93 21.31 24.36 23.66 22.61 22.19 22.07 19.92 ASIA GLOBAL Top 5 Topics of confidence Asia v Global Average All the top five topics in Asia have a CI score above global values All the top five topics discussed by Asian leaders have higher CI scores than the equivalent global score. Asian’s top five have scores that are also higher than the Global CI average of 19.92. The highest CI score for a topic in Asia is for retaining talent. This was #4 on the global confidence list. The confidence in upskilling and reskilling is also much higher (21 per cent) for Asian leaders (#2) than it is for their global peers (#16). THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 12
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  Influencers, an audiencein decline last year, leapt to first place in 2019 – doubling its share of attention. Customers slipped to #2 and saw their share of attention decline by 23 per cent. Employees dropped to #3 with an unchanged score since 2018. Although influencers are getting the most attention, they have the 4th lowest audience CI score at 19.94 (see Chart #4). This shows that leaders are mildly confident about communicating with this audience. CHART 8 -100% -80% -60% -40% -20% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120% Suppliers need the most attention Shareholders need the most attention Government and legislators need the most attention Employees need the most attention Customers need the most attention Influencers need the most attention 26% 23% 18% 15% 14% 3% +100% -23% 0% +7% +40% -79% % CHANGE ASIA 2019 Changes in attention to audiences Influencers become top audience for leader attention THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 13
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  Asian Confidence Indexscore for influencers is much lower than the #1 region Africa CHART 9 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Europe Australasia North America Global Asia South America Latin America and Caribbean Africa 36.04 34.02 27.63 19.94 17.91 16.99 15.27 12.09 Influencers need the most attention – CI scores by Region Asia has the 4th highest CI score for confidence in dealing with influencers (19.94). Africa, the number one ranked region for this topic, has a CI score 81 per cent higher at 36.04 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 14
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  Employee-related topics dominateleaders’agenda • Upskilling and reskilling the most discussed topic with a second highest CI score • Employee-related topics take five out of top six topics • Employees has the third lowest CI score of all audiences CHART 10 Employee-related topics dominate leader discussions Two employee related topics are discussed more in Asia than they are globally – employment benefits and employee engagement to improve productivity. Leaders have developed a three-pronged strategy to attract and retain the best talent: • Invest in upskilling and reskilling current employees – the #1 topic • Invest in employment benefits – the #3 topic • Invest in employee engagement – the #6 topic. 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18% Family mentorship influences success Financial /economic influences on success Attracting talent Customer satisfaction Employee engagement to improve productivity Economic migration Retaining talent Employment benefits influence on success Impact and role of media Upskilling and reskilling 15.23% 10.47% 9.19% 11.06% 8.34% 6.63% 6.17% 5.14% 3.91% 3.34% 14.27% 10.77% 10.34% 10.25% 8.09% 6.48% 4.82% 4.42% 3.59% 5.93% ASIA GLOBAL ASIA GLOBAL This is a trend confirmed by Matt Manners, CEO of the Employee Engagement Awards: “In the last five years we have seen the area of employee engagement become more strategic, with much greater support from business leaders. The entries to our most recent North American awards clearly demonstrate the business value delivered by making employee engagement part of the DNA of a business.” THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 15
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  Employees has thethird lowest CI score for audiences Leaders in Asia are concerned about their ability to connect with employees. This is highlighted by a CI score of 19.88. This is slightly lower than the Global CI average score. CHART 11 CI score for audiences – Asia 0 5 10 15 20 25 Government and legislators need the most attention Shareholders need the most attention Employees need the most attention Global CI average Influencers need the most attention Suppliers need the most attention Customers need the most attention 20.54 19.94 19.92 19.88 19.59 16.13 22.24 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 16
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  Upskilling and reskillingis the #1 topic for Asian leaders (see Chart #10). However, Asia is ranked fourth as a region when it comes to engagement with this topic, behind Europe, Australasia and North America and just below the global score. More than double the number of Asian leaders engaged with this topic than their peers in South America. CHART 12 Engagement levels by region for upskilling and reskilling 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18% South America Latin America and Caribbean Africa Asia Global Europe Australasia North America 16.00% 15.89% 15.81% 15.23% 14.27% 13.52% 12.26% 6.88% Upskilling and reskilling tops the leader agenda in Asia THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 17
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  Asian leaders areconfident about their ability to upskill and reskill CHART 13 Confidence about upskilling and reskilling by region 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Australasia Europe North America Global Asia Latin America and Carribean Africa South America 36.15 28.80 26.18 23.66 19.55 16.17 15.95 14.91 Asian leaders are confident about their ability to upskill and reskill. This topic has the second highest CI score (see Chart #2). Asian leaders’ confidence is significantly higher than Australasia, Europe and North America. Within the Asian region, Japan has the highest CI score globally for upskilling and reskilling at 36.14. China is #4 with a score of 25.55. India is just above the Global CI Average score with a CI score of 21.32. LinkedIn’s report on workplace learning shows that upskilling and reskilling will be centre stage in the battle for talent. CEOs in Europe obviously agree. THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 18
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  Asian leaders havethe highest confidence for retaining talent Asian leaders are confident about their ability to retain talent. Asia’s CI score is the highest for all seven regions. Within the region, Japan has the highest CI score globally at 29.76, China is sixth with 23.39 and India eight with 21.54. All three countries have scores above the Global CI average. CHART 14 Confidence about retaining talent by region 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 North America Australasia Latin America and Caribbean Europe Global Africa South America Asia 24.36 23.49 22.24 21.36 20.94 16.80 15.47 15.31 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 19
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  Asian leaders mildlyconcerned about their ability to get employment benefits right Employment benefits are #13 in the Asian CI table and below the Global CI average score (see Chart #2). This shows that leaders are mildly concerned about using benefits correctly in the battle for talent. The CI score is 12 per cent lower than the score of the #1 region, Europe. CHART 15 Confidence about employment benefits influence on success by region 0 5 10 15 20 25 Africa South America Latin America and Caribbean Asia North America Global Australasia Europe 22.51 22.08 21.00 20.87 19.78 18.33 17.82 16.45 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 20
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  Economic migration createslittle concern for Japanese leaders but Chinese leaders are very concerned CHART 16 Confidence in economic migration by region 0 5 10 15 20 25 Latin America and Caribbean Australasia North America Europe Global South America Asia Africa 24.82 20.91 20.80 19.67 18.92 18.16 17.79 17.43 Economic migration has the fifth highest topic engagement for Asian leaders (see Chart #1). It also has the eight highest CI score for topics in the region – at 20.91 (see Chart #2).This is slightly higher than the global score for the topic. Within the Asian region, leaders in China are most concerned about economic migration. They have the second lowest CI score for this topic among all countries and regions at 16.77. This is 32 per cent lower than the highest CI score of Japan (24.51). THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 21
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  Asian leaders areslightly concerned about using employee engagement to improve productivity Asian leaders are slightly concerned about using employee engagement to improve productivity. This ranked #7 in the region’s CI league table (see Chart #2). This is just below the global score for this topic. The score is 35 per cent higher than the lowest ranked region – Latin America and Caribbean. However, within the region, Japan has the highest CI score for this topic at 23.76 and China has the third highest score at 22.97. India at the other hand has a below Global CI average score of 18.89, which shows Indian leaders are concerned about using employee engagement to improve productivity. CHART 17 Confidence in employee engagement to improve productivity by region 0 5 10 15 20 25 Latin America and Caribbean South America North America Asia Global Europe Africa Australasia 23.09 23.01 21.79 21.56 21.52 20.52 17.86 16.22 The benefits of doing so are now clear according to Ruth Dance, Managing Director of the Employee Engagement Alliance the membership organisation for engagement professionals around the world. She believes there is a fundamental shift taking place. Organisations are proving that focusing on the employee experience for each individual is having an incredibly beneficial impact. Always on, continuous listening, consistent feedback and purpose-driven teams, are rapidly replacing traditional ways of working. THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 22
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  Asia the mostconfident region for attracting talent Attracting talent, which has the 5th highest CI score in Asia, has an above Global CI average score of 22.07.This is the highest score across all seven regions. Within the region, Japan has the highest CI score among globally at 23.41, and China the third highest CI score at 23.09. CHART 18 Confidence about attracting talent by region 0 5 10 15 20 25 Latin America and Caribbean South America Africa North America Global Europe Australasia Asia 22.07 21.75 21.56 21.31 20.25 18.39 18.24 14.31 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 23
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  Asian leaders haveconfidence issues when it comes to dealing with a crisis. This topic has the lowest CI score in Asia (see Chart #2). At 17.71 it is below the Global CI average score. Japan has the second lowest CI score for this topic globally at 13.70, which is 28 per cent lower than the global score for this topic. CHART 19 Confidence in dealing with a crisis by region 0 5 10 15 20 25 Africa Asia Global North America Europe Australasia 21.37 20.90 19.62 19.09 17.71 13.71 Leaders have low confidence in their ability to deal with a crisis THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 24
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  0 5 1015 20 25 South America Latin America and Caribbean Europe Australasia Global Asia North America Africa 23.52 20.00 19.21 18.83 18.48 18.23 16.36 15.30 The impact and role of the media was the #2 topic discussed among Asian leaders and it’s an area of mild concern. Although the third highest scoring region, the Asian score is below the Global CI average of 19.92. Asia’s score is 18 per cent below the score (23.52) for the #1 region Africa. Leaders in Japan are confident about connecting with the media with a score of 26.07. Chinese leaders have the fourth highest confidence score of all countries of 22.47. CHART 20 Confidence about the impact and role of media by region The media matters but Asian leaders are mildly concerned about communicating with them THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 25
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  Asian leaders confidentabout satisfying customers CHART 21 Confidence about customer satisfactionAsia has the second highest confidence score for customer satisfaction at 22.61. This topic is #3 on Asia’s confidence list. WithinAsia,Japan(28.98)hasthesecondhighest confidence score behind Italy (30.22), and China thethird(25.83).Indiahastheninthscoreamong all countries (22.33). All thee countries are above the Global CI average score. 0 5 10 15 20 25 Latin America and Caribbean Africa Europe Global North America Australasia Asia South America 23.27 22.61 22.47 22.43 21.83 21.00 20.16 18.55 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 26
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  PART 2 The anatomyof confidence and concern in Asia +16%CEOs more confident than CMOs about retaining talent Zero difference in confidence between male and female leaders Leaders in Generation X least confident in Asia
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  Asia’s CEOs andCMOs have the same levels of confidence Contrary to global results, Asian CEOs and CMOs have the same level of confidence. Both these confidence scores are higher than the global CI average of 19.92. CHART 22 Confidence levels of CEOs and CMOs CEOs as confident as CMOs in Asia 20.00 CI Score for CEOs 20.00 CI Score for CMOs THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 28
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  CEOs more confidentthan CMOs for their top five topics Asian CEOs and CMOs share three of the same topics and differ on two. CEOs are more confident than CMOs for all their top five topics. Employee related topics appear three times for CEOs and four times for CMOs in their top five CI scores. CEOs more confident about cybercrime and upskilling and reskilling than the global results where these topics don’t feature in the CEOs’ top five. Upskilling and reskilling and family mentorship influencing success, feature in the CMO top five results, unlike the global results. CHART 23 Top 5 topics of confidence - CEO vs CMO 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Employee engagement to improve productivity Attracting talent Retaining talent Family mentorship influences success Upskilling and reskilling Attracting talent Cybercrime Upskilling and reskilling Customer satisfaction Retaining talent 25.09 23.56 23.54 22.34 22.25 23.38 21.84 21.65 21.43 21.13 CEOCMO THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 29
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  Asian leaders experiencemid life confidence crisis Like many of the other regions, Asian leaders show a dip in confidence for leaders between the ages of 45 and 54 compared to all other age groups in the region. CHART 24 19.4 19.5 19.6 19.7 19.8 19.9 20.0 20.1 6555-6445-5435-4425-3425 19.89 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 19.61 Confidence by Age THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 30
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  Male and femaleleaders share same levels of confidence Contrary to the global report where female leaders were significantly less confident than males, Asian leaders show equal levels of confidence. CHART 25 Confidence by Gender Females as confident as Males in Asia 20.00 CI Score for Males 20.00 CI Score for Females THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 31
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  Asia only regionto experience increase in confidence this year Asia is one of the top three most confident regions. The CI score improved by five per cent – the only region to do so. The confidence level for North American leaders crashed by 44 per cent. CHART 26 Confidence by Region 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Australasia Asia Europe Average Africa North America South America Latin America and Caribbean 25.31 21.89 19.11 34.90 19.10 19.67 19.68 19.90 19.92 20.00 20.00 20.00 CONFIDENCE 2018 CONFIDENCE 2019 CONFIDENCE 2018 CONFIDENCE 2019 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 32
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  Japan has thehighest CI score in Asia and globally (20.35). This increased 74 per cent year over year. China and India have the same CI score – 20.21. China’s score reduced 21 per cent year over year, roughly in line with the global reduction. CHART 27 Confidence by Country 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 JapanIndiaChinaGlobal CI Average 25.89 25.31 20.21 20.21 11.67 19.92 20.35 CONFIDENCE 2018 CONFIDENCE 2019 CONFIDENCE 2018 CONFIDENCE 2019 Japan has highest CI score in Asia – up 74 per cent year over year THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 33
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  PART 3 Methodology A new,breakthrough AI-fuelled approach
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  Using a newmethod to enable robust comparisons In 2018, with the help of two respected independent research firms, we captured feedback from 540 business leaders in seven of the world’s largest economies and across the three main regions – Asia, Europe and America. Their responses created the first Worldcom Confidence Index. The insight we gathered was invaluable in creating a benchmark for the confidence levels of business leaders. However, it was based on responses to questions we asked rather than on the topics that CEOs and CMOs were talking about in online channels. So,wedecidedtoadoptanewandbreakthroughwayofunderstanding the issues than concerned leaders – and their confidence levels in addressing them. As a result, we commissioned Advanced Symbolics Inc. (ASI), a research company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to create truly representative understanding of what audiences are saying. By using ASI’s AI tool, Polly, we were able to capture and analyse the online contributions, in nine languages, of 58,374 business leaders. This enables us to identify which topics were highest on the leadership agenda, and how confident or concerned leaders were about the topic. 35 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | GLOBAL REPORT
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  Using the totalsample size confidence, the expected number of confident responders was extrapolated. For example, if the sample for CEOs of very large (1000+) companies in Canada is 253 people, then the expected confident responders is 53 people (253* 21 per cent). The actual number of confident respondents is compared against the expected number and the difference is calculated.To further illustrate the concept, if 41 CEOs of very large (1000+) companies in Canada were confidently engaged on retaining talent, the difference is 12 less people than expected (53 – 41). The ratio of the difference is calculated and added to the average confidence. Continuing the above example, 12 less Canadian CEOs is a decrease of 5 per cent (12/253). Five per cent is subtracted from the average confidence of 21 per cent giving a confidence for CEOs of large Canadian companies as 16 per cent. This is the differential confidence method. In most cases, the differential confidence is the same as the raw confidence, which is the ratio of confident responders divided by the number of people in the sample. In the above example, the raw confidence is also 16 per cent: 41 Confident responders / 253 CEOs in the sample. The differential confidence differs from the raw confidence when the sample for a segment (i.e. Job title) is small or the confident engagement is small. In these cases, the small denominator may exaggerate the change in confidence. The differential confidence minimizes the impact from small denominators, allowing accurate comparison between segments no matter the size. Using the differential confidence method to enable robust comparisons 36 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT
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  Creating a representativesample and comparative data A sample of 58,374 individuals who fit the ‘global business leaders’ classification was constructed from publicly available social media information using a patented process known as Conditional Independence Coupling. Polly (ASI’s AI) analysed the social history ofthesamplefortheprevious12monthsanddeterminedifaperson was engaged on a particular topic. If a person was engaged on the topic, the AI measured if the engagement indicated confidence in the topic (I am not worried about this area) or concern toward the topic (I am worried about this area). For each topic, the percentage of people in the sample who engaged confidently on the topic was measured. For example, if 5,137 people were confidently engaged on“retaining talent”, this is an 8 per cent confidence (5,137 / 58,374). When changing methodologies, comparing against past numbers can be tricky. In many cases the best approach is treating the new data independently from the old. Because online data is persistent, the calculations run for 2019 can be repeated on 2018 data. The 2018 calculations are compared against the previous methodology. Model heuristics are adjusted for the best match against the previous study. While not all numbers exactly match, most agree within statistical significance. • Demographic splits The following demographic details were collected as part of the methodology. • Role Only contributions from CEOs or CMOs/CCOs were captured. • Gender • Age Participants were grouped in six age ranges: • Under 25 • 25-34 • 35-44 • 45-54 • 55 - 64 • Over 65 • Business size Four sizes groups were created: • Very small 50 to 100 employees • Small 101 to 250 employees • Medium 250 to 500 • Large 501 - 1000 • Very large Over 1000 employees THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 37
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  PART 4 Worldcom’s seven communications recommendations toincrease the probability of success
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  Based on ourfindings, we offer the following communications recommendations to address the issues identified and the lower levels of confidence. The study shows that leaders now see Influencers as an audience they must give attention to, but that employee- related topics dominate leadership thinking. It shows that macro scale issues, such as how an organisation manages the impact of global trade agreements and tariffs, need to be taken into account. It also shows that leaders are concerned about their ability to protect their brand in a crisis. We believe that rigorously planned communications that always connect to your Purpose will increase your ability to succeed. As a result, you will see that Purpose runs through all our recommendations. The need for Purpose driven communications 39 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | GLOBAL REPORT
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  I’m not surprisedemployment benefits features so highly on the leadership agenda. If you want to win the war for talent and make people more productive, you need to get the total rewards mix right. This increasingly includes some potentially surprising areas such as providing employees advice for financial wellbeing. Our own research shows that you can undermine all your good work if you pay people late or make mistakes with their payroll. This has anincrediblydamagingimpactbothonemployee productivity and your employer brand. John Petter CEO Zellis Make your organisation’s Purpose a magnet for the best talent As we predicted last year, many organizations have increased their investment and activity to compete for the best talent. They are now investing in an array of areas to improve the employee experience to keep people loyal. Central to success in this area will be how committed you are to enabling your people to develop, and to link this personal development to the achievement of the organisation’s Purpose. THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 40
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  Differentiate your employerbrand by promoting how you engage employees to deliver the organisation’s Purpose. Show how your employee benefits reinforce your values and behaviours. In our 2018 report we recommended all organizations involve employees in defining the values and behaviours. This year we recommend companies build on that by promoting how they involve their people in delivering the Purpose for the company. Setting up a careers channel on YouTube, which highlights the role and contribution of employees, is a very simple way to do this. The 2019 Confidence Index shows that getting employment benefits right is vital to attracting and retaining the best talent. But employee benefits have evolved well beyond including things like free coffee, or quirky benefits like duvet days. Consequently, we recommend companies take a holistic approach to benefits that ties them to the Purpose and core values. For example, if your core values say that you want to create a strong sense of community in the workplace, then the way you provide coffee needs to help build that sense of community. The Leesman Index identifies how the workplace drives employee sentiment. Their report shows that coffee is more important than you may think. If your values say you want to create a happy and healthy workplace, then we recommend your review all your internal processes – with the involvement of your people – to make sure that you don’t do things that undermine that goal. For example, research by Zellis shows that making mistakes with payroll or paying it late – can have a very negative impact on mental wellbeing, financial wellbeing, employee retention and your employer brand. 1 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 41
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  Link personal developmentto your Purpose so that employees recognise how their development adds value to the organisation. Use this to drive your upskilling and reskilling decisions. We recommend that organisations make it very explicit how personal development contributes to the achievement of the Purpose. Too often we have seen a disconnected approach to learning and development that confuses employees about how their daily performance adds value. By making these connections stronger, you will not only reinforce the reasons why people joined the company but also create tighter emotional bonds that aid the retention and attraction of talent. Support your Employee Engagement program by training all managers to operate by the tenets of the SCARF neuroscience framework. The 2019 Confidence Index demonstrates that many leaders now see employee engagement as part of the DNA of a business. For engagement programs to be effective, however, every line manager needs to understand how to energise and involve each individual in their team. We recommend training all managers to operate according to a neuroscience framework called SCARF. This provides each employee with the five innate needs their brain has for them to feel a valued and connected part of the organisation. The impact on productivity,innovation,businesschange,andemployee happiness can be transformational. 2 3 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 42
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  Behave like aconfident organisation by making it clear to all audiences that the organisation has a very clear Purpose and a plan to achieve it. This includes explaining how the organisation will respond to the macro level challenges it may face. Macro level issues such as global trade tariffs, extreme weather events, the threat of war etc., have increasing influence on success. Employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers and influencers want to understand how an organisation will respond to those challenges. If you make the approach you plan to take very clear, it will satisfy one of the key tenets of SCARF – providing certainty. By explaining what will happen next, you will build confidence and eliminate the anxiety caused by the unknown. We recommend that the way you describe your Purpose explains how you will operate effectively in a changing and increasingly challenging world. This level of foresight and forward planning will demonstrate a high level of confident leadership. Make sure you actively influence the achievement of your Purpose The 2019 Index identifies the increasing importance of influencers and the need to make sure that the reputation of your business and brand is not only protected but grows in power and influence. 4 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 43
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  Carry out regularrisk/threat assessments and crisis response tests to protect your brand and reputation. The same recommendation was in last year’s report.The 2019 Index shows that challenges never go away and nor do the expectations that leaders will rise to them to enable the organisation to succeed. However, this year’s Index shows that leaders are much less confident about their ability to protect a brand in a crisis. It is therefore essential that frequent risks assessments are carried out. The conclusions of these risk assessments should then inform updates to crisis and issues policies and procedures. By demonstrating that an organisation is prepared for the worst, it will further demonstrate the leadership’s confidence in the ability to achieve the organisation’s goals. Identify who will have the most influence over the success of your organisation and build programmes to develop effective relationships with them. Business leaders have identified that influencers need moreattention.Thedefinitionof ‘influencer’willdepend on what your organisation is trying to achieve. It could include traditional influencers such as journalists and bloggers, as well as other business leaders, activists, academics, researchers and analysts. We recommend that you review your Purpose and the barriers to achieving it. Armed with the clarity this provides, we recommend you identify and communicate with the influencers that can help you to lessen or remove barriers to action, and those that can help to accelerate your success. 5 6 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 44
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  THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCEINDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 45 Help your customers to buy-in to your Purpose and show how it will satisfy their needs. Our study shows that confidence in the ability to satisfy customers has fallen since 2018. One of the possible explanations may be that customers are very uncertain about how macro scale changes may impact an organisation’s ability to meet their needs. For example, the British Government published its Yellowhammer Factsheet to explain how the Government is preparing to mitigate the potential reasonable worst case scenario impacts of Brexit, if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. As a result, millions of UK consumers may now have doubts about the ability of their chosen supermarket to meet their daily shopping requirements. In this case, it would make sense for UK supermarkets to make it clear what steps they are taking to protect supplies. This will not only inspire confidence that the supermarket is prepared to meet the challenge, but also show that it cares about meeting consumer needs. We recommend that every organisation creates communications programmes designed to build confidence in the ability to meet customer needs. These programmes should use well-publicised challenges to accentuate the value that is delivered to customers. The old adage,‘out of adversity comes opportunity’, is a neat summary of how organisations can use responses to challenges as a smart way to accentuate their difference and give customers more reasons to stay loyal. 7
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  Useful links If youwould like more information on the topics raised in this Report, you may find the links below helpful. https://advancedsymbolics.com https://www.ee-awards.com/blog/ https://www.ee-awards.com/engagement-101/ https://ee-awards.com/content/ebooks/ebook-the-future-of-work-insights-from-global- engagement-101-influencers/ https://learning.linkedin.com/resources/workplace-learning-report-2018 https://the-eea.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_Too_movement https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-13/nobody-benefits-from-a-u-s-china- trade-war-with-no-end-in-sight https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-09/the-massive-cost-of-not-adapting- to-climate-change https://www.wired.com/story/ios-hacks-apple-response/ https://www.advancedsymbolics.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CIC-Whitepaper.pdf https://www.zellis.com/blog/research-one-in-five-employees-has-quit-job-over-poor- payroll-experience/ https://www.leesmanindex.com/research/ http://worldcomgroup.com/scarf-framework https://brexitfacts.blog.gov.uk/2019/09/12/yellowhammer-factsheet/ https://worldcomgroup.com/resources/confidence-index https://worldcomgroup.com/resources/confidence-index-regional-country THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT 46
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  Group’s Board Chair -Roger Hurni Past Chair - Patrik Schober Americas Region Chair - Brad Fishman EMEA Region Chair - Andras Nagy Treasurer - Errol Chapman Marketing - Stefan Pollack Business Development - Crispin Manners Membership/Recruitment - Stephanie Paul Partner Engagement - Serge Beckers Knowledge Sharing/Practice Groups - Angélica Consiglio Asia Pacific At Large - Tom Van Blarcom Americas’ Board Chair - Brad Fishman Chair Elect - Monty Hagler Past Chair - Sean Rossall Treasurer - Leah Mussay US Recruitment - Scott Willyerd LATAM Recruitment - Luis Avellanedo Ulloa Partner Engagement - William Beutler Meetings - Deb Vilchis Professional Development - Jessica Phelan Partnerships - Cory Stewart At Large - Rhiannon Ruff Emea’s Board Chair - Todor Ianev Past Chair - Andras R. Nagy Treasurer - Hans Karperien Business Development - Crispin Manners Peer Review - Caroline Prince New Membership - Corinna Voss New Membership - Bjorn Mogensen Retention - Serge Beckers Young Consultants - Andras R. Nagy Marketing - Frederic Bolhorst Worldcom’s Board of Directors 47 THE WORLDCOM CONFIDENCE INDEX 2019 | ASIA REPORT
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  Contact us If youwould to inspire direct action from your stakeholders in a way that delivers immediate results and lasting outcomes – or discuss the contentofthisdocument,oritsrecommendations - please contact: Todd Lynch toddlynch@worldcomgroup.com Crispin Manners crispinmanners@worldcomgroup.com If you would like to receive helpful insights and other white papers and reports, just sign up by using this LINK For regular updates and insights, why not follow us on ©2019TheWORLDCOMGroup,Inc.