Support in times of crisis: lessons from PULSE and R3 during the Impact Lab webinar

On October 7, theImpact Lab of the Mouvement Impact France brought together their supporting members and the members of theImpact Lab Academy for a webinar devoted to a central issue: how to support impact companies in an unstable economic, social and political context?

Moderated by Inès Djaoud, Project Manager at Impact Lab, the session gave the floor to Eva Sibel (PULSE ) and Timothée Elkihel (R3), who shared their experience in adapting their support, offerings and teams to the crisis.

A tense environment for support professionals
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Between political instability, regulatory uncertainty and declining public funding, support structures are having to redouble their agility. The sector is experiencing a marked slowdown: the creation of start-ups is on the decline, almost a third of employing associations have a cash flow of less than three months, and demand for CSRD support has been divided by five in 2025. Against this backdrop, maintaining solid programs while preserving a viable business model becomes a daily challenge.

Adapting your support: feedback from PULSE and R3
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The two speakers shared concrete levers for maintaining the quality of their support while adapting to the crisis:‍

💡 PULSE teachings:

PULSE has identified a number of levers to counter the contraction in financing and the decline in entrepreneurial morale:

• Review program formats to make them more flexible and accessible: for example, transform long courses into short, modular formats, better adapted to the economic realities of project leaders.
  
• Adapt content to the expectations of today's entrepreneurs, by integrating more modules on economic viability and organizational resilience.
  
• Refocusing on our core business: strengthening support in the field and links with local players.
  
• Acting in a spirit of cooperation and pooling: PULSE has developed collaborations with other incubators to co-construct resources and share speakers.
  
• Explore new sources of revenue via hybrid schemes, combining public funding, private partnerships and beneficiary contributions.‍

‍⚙️R3 teachings:

Consulting firm R3, also affected by the slowdown in the CSR market, has had to adapt its offering:

• Find new sources of growth by pooling efforts with other consulting firms: for example, by building joint offerings with communications or strategy agencies.
  
• Refocus our offerings on our key areas of expertise, giving priority to assignments with a high measurable impact.
  
• Link economic and ecological performance, by showing customers in concrete terms how sustainability can boost their competitiveness.
  
• Reduce out-of-pocket expenses for supported companies, by adapting invoicing and developing internal digital tools.
  
• Seek productivity gains through digitization and automation: R3, for example, has deployed an in-house tool to automate part of its ESG diagnostics.

Preserving teams: caring while adapting
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The crisis is also having a profound effect on the sector's human resources. Both organizations stressed the need to take care of their teams:

• Supporting employees as their job descriptions evolve through ongoing training and regular feedback; at PULSE, existing positions and recruitment have evolved towards profiles capable of juggling leadership, coordination and strategic monitoring.
  
• Preserving the mental health and motivation of teams: PULSE has set up times for listening and informal exchanges to prevent psychological fatigue.
  
• Reaffirming the structure's mission as a common compass, a key lever identified by R3 for maintaining cohesion in times of tension.
  
• Demonstrate transparency in the management of priorities and constraints, to reinforce internal trust and team support.

For R3, as for PULSE, these HR adjustments are inseparable from collective work on the meaning and coherence of our actions.

Building on cooperation and solidarity
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Beyond their own structures, PULSE and R3 insist on the strength of the collective. Support structures benefit from forming consortia to share their databases, pool their expertise and co-construct common tools. These dynamics also make it possible to create peer groups, where managers can exchange ideas, support each other and break the solitude of management in times of tension. 

It is in this spirit that theImpact Lab Academythe first learning community dedicated to impact coaches.‍

💬 Further information

➡️ Replay available to Impact France members
➡️ Find out more about theImpact Lab Academy the first learning community for coaches who integrate greater social and ecological impact into their practice.
Starts on November 13, 2025 - annual membership