New tools, management of employees’ teleworking, generational shock, multiplication of tasks… “We ask a lot of managers!” notes Alexandra Carlier Cadiou, director at Demos, a French training heavyweight. However, numerous studies prove that quality management benefits the performance of the company. So you might as well pamper them by giving them the keys to success. But the idea is still struggling to gain ground in France. In most cases, an employee who becomes a manager has not been prepared for it. “You can be a good cook, doctor or technician, but the moment you have responsibility for a team, it’s no longer the same job,” warns Hervé Coudière, trainer for more than twenty years and leader of the Men and Cooperation organization. “It’s a skill in its own right, it can be learned,” says Frédérique Jeske, founder of the Uskoa firm and former general director of the National Cancer League. You still have to find the right method. “Chief happiness officers, ping-pong tables and table football cannot solve everything, we need in-depth work on the state of mind and corporate culture,” warns Isabelle Rey-Millet, who has been developing her training firm since 2008. Ethikonsulting after a long career in companies, from Medef to Lafarge.
To meet this need, organizations abound, offering a vast catalog: communication, meeting management, conflict management, recruitment, collective animation… “There is something to eat and drink,” regrets Frédérique Jeske. The methods are also very diverse. “Since the 1990s, I have experimented with numerous psychological or personality tests which tell you how you function. The problem is that this places a label, which can prove counterproductive,” points out Isabelle Rey-Millet. The lively consultant has come to develop her own program dedicated to “management rebels”, these scratchy employees full of ideas. Rather than making them fit into the mold, they are invited to develop their capacity for discernment and their creativity. To the greatest benefit of their organization.
Apart from diploma courses, provided by universities and business schools in continuing education, there is a vast network of organizations labeled as management trainers with practices of variable quality. “The problem with management is that it is a young discipline. It is fifty years old in France, a little more in the United States. However, there is scientific production, knowledge which does not depend on schools of thought and which are supported by business cases”, underlines Laurent Cappelletti, professor at Cnam. There is no single method, but pay attention to fashions, such as the 360° interview, which had its heyday. “A tool can work in a context, but its generalization must be based on a knowledge base,” specifies the researcher.
Qualiopi certification, “a gas factory”
Seriousness does not exclude a touch of playfulness. For Isabelle Rey-Millet, who even created her own board game box, “we can no longer do purely top-down training. Interaction, sharing of experience, especially when it comes to management, are essential. “business is heavy. We need to lighten it up as much as possible. Our trainees tell us that our training is a breath of fresh air for them.” Gaël Salomon, founder of Bérénice Conseil, agrees: “The only thing that works is the ultra-concrete, transposable into daily life the next day. Ten years ago, management training was very conceptual. Today , managers want methods that can be applied quickly.”
Faced with standardized training, requests for highly personalized modules have multiplied, especially since Covid. “This responds to a need to optimize time: companies are looking for training designed for them, which focuses on what interests them,” notes Gaël Salomon. Whether to resolve a crisis or to anticipate a transformation. With this in mind, “to check that the content both really supports managers and is fully adapted to the company and its culture, it is better to work upstream with the organization’s consultant”, recommends Frédérique Jeske.
Aside from word of mouth, how do you choose from the maquis of non-degree management training organizations? “In France, there is no regulatory authority, unlike the United States, where the Academy of Management has existed for a long time,” laments Laurent Cappelletti. The only compass in this jungle: Qualiopi certification. A recent creation – it results from the law of September 5, 2018 for the freedom to choose one’s professional future – which approves training organizations. For small businesses, this stamp is even a prerequisite if they expect to benefit from public or pooled funds to finance the training of their employees. A gas factory, some say. “It is extremely restrictive. We were asked for a lot of information which, for us, is obvious, but which was complex to find and prove. The process is bureaucratic and only concerns the form”, criticizes the leader of an organization. “The audits take place every eighteen months, at a cost of several thousand euros, a cost reflected in the training prices. However, this does not guarantee their quality,” laments Sébastien Duizabo, director of continuing training in Paris -Dauphine. In fact, certifiers do not attend any sessions and do not survey participants to judge the relevance of the teaching. Qualiopi, however, had the merit of cleaning up a little. Its level of requirements has discouraged more than one, say professionals. Among the 120,000 training organizations of all kinds listed in France, around 45,000 have won the prize.
Professionals who have never held managerial positions
Auditor Alexia de Nombel knows this certification by heart. It admits its limits, notably the difficulty in measuring the benefits of management training: a quiz at the end of the cycle is an easy piece of evidence to add to the case, but it struggles to reflect the skills acquired in this area. Also a consultant, to support certification candidates in this tedious exercise, she nevertheless emphasizes that “Qualiopi has made it possible to professionalize training organizations, to encourage them to structure themselves, to formalize an oral culture”, through 7 criteria scrutinized: public information, adaptation of training, evaluation of acquired knowledge, reception arrangements, monitoring of educational innovations, etc. but also qualification of trainers. “Certification requires the formalization of skills such as job descriptions and CVs.” Thus, this former cosmetics salesman converted to self-confidence training, who did not provide proof of his competence in this area, saw his file revoked.
Qualiopi doesn’t do everything. Without control, anyone can declare themselves a trainer overnight. It even happens that professionals have never held managerial positions. A shame. “All our trainers have business experience, that’s fundamental,” says Gaël Salomon. At Demos, “we are not looking for facilitators, but speakers who are experts, who are skilled, capable of answering participants’ questions without giving ready-made answers”, insists Alexandre Carlier Cadiou.
In order to judge the quality of training, we could draw inspiration from “the controls carried out by National Education in classes, but this requires more resources. You have to confront the course, that’s another approach” , estimates Jean-François Foucard, secretary general in charge of career paths, employment and training at the CFE-CGC. Furthermore, it is better to plan for the long term. Two days of brainstorming may be of little interest to apprentice managers. Certainly, the search for efficiency has led to shortening the duration of training, but follow-up is appropriate, with objectives to be achieved, so that the techniques and methods learned during the training are well integrated.
At Berenice Conseil, Gaël Salomon prescribes two to three days of training, with 5 to 10 daily workshops from which learners emerge “flushed but happy”, and then recommends individual support. For her “rebels”, Isabelle Rey-Millet distributes six one and a half day training sessions every six weeks. Between each, one hour of support to encourage practical application. Very varied approaches which will not have the same cost, especially if senior management figures are asked to intervene. On this aspect even Qualiopi, which demanded transparency of the prices charged, had to backtrack. It only asks for “tariff conditions”, a vaguer notion.
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