interview Archives - Page 2 of 2

Data, Data, Data, but what for?

The Data Touch was born to address a number of missed digital analytics opportunities within organisations and was founded by Penelope Bellegarde, an established digital analytics practitioner since 2007 based in London and English & French bilingual.

Over the years, Penelope Bellegarde has worked with a wide range of organisations: in the private and public sector, big and small, as a consultant for one of the top professional firms in the world and also as a digital analytics manager for top media and travel firms.

The Data Touch launched a content partnership with Coorpacademy to co-edit digital learning courses. There are two available courses on Coorpacademy’s digital learning platforms: An impactful yet simple data methodology for businesses, and The art and science of Data visualisation.

We had the opportunity to sit down with The Data Touch’s founder, Penelope Bellegarde, who answered our questions. This interview is also available in French, just here.

Why did you found The Data Touch?

I founded The Data Touch three and a half years ago in London to address three main challenges. The first challenge is to successfully create tangible value from digital data. Indeed, a lot (too much!) data is collected in this field and it still too often translates into endless reports as opposed to real value for companies.

The second challenge is to break down the barriers that exist between data departments and senior management in companies. These two groups of employees rarely speak to each other indeed and getting both groups of people engaged in a dialogue is a huge source of value for companies. In fact, when managers know the art of the possible with data, they will want to become more data driven! And when analysts better understand the company’s objectives, their analyses will be all the more impactful and will really start influencing!

Finally, the third challenge that I wanted to solve was to “arm” employees and individuals who do not have a technical profile with a data culture and efficient and simple methodologies to set up. In the digital world, new personalised campaigns are launched more and more frequently. It’s therefore becoming very important for companies to understand these initiatives’ return on investment. This results in an increasing demand for quantified results. Therefore more and more people who are not analysts must increase their skills in the data field. That’s why I have designed and have been delivering data training programs for both companies and for Business Schools students, i.e tomorrow’s leaders.

What are the reasons that lead you to consider data as the most important resource of the 21st century?

One of the main advantages of data is that it can provide objective answers and therefore allows consensus within companies. But the questions we ask must be source of value!

Data also makes it possible to grasp new trends and new phenomena that we would not have suspected with our brains alone … For example, machine learning techniques and in particular unsupervised learning such as clustering allows the identification of distinct groups (of customers, etc.) that we would not necessarily have suspected existed.

Data also makes it possible to anticipate and predict behavior and therefore brings a real competitive advantage to a company.

What are the criteria that make a data project successful as opposed to a “waste” of time and investment?

As we make it clear in the course, there are essential elements to keep in mind if you want to succeed in your data projects. First, let’s start by asking a good question: by the time we have an answer to the question, will it drive the company forward and will the company be able to act on the recommendations? Do not hesitate to involve several stakeholders at this stage to get to a rich and precise question. Then, depending on the questions identified, we need to look at what key data in particular we will focus on. Among all the available data, what is a real indicator versus just “noise”? … Once the analysis is completed, it must be communicated effectively to the stakeholders who will make decisions. This is quite fine work because you have to succeed in translating sometimes complex elements into a simple language and above all into findings that are directly addressing the company’s objectives or its strategy or findings that can shape its products or influence its customers…

Until recently, everyone was talking about Big Data, however, now, it seems as if the excitement around Big Data has reduced significantly…

Yes, that’s true! It is now replaced by AI: Artificial Intelligence!

These buzzwords are often a response to a rapid “technological push” that claims to revolutionise everything. But let’s be careful here, just because the technology is advanced, it does not mean that this revolution will create value automatically by simply investing in technology. It is still necessary, as we discussed in the previous question, to focus on what is important.

Why Coorpacademy? How was the process of creating courses with Coorpacademy?

As one of the key reasons to launch The Data Touch was to empower as many people as possible with data knowledge, being able to deliver training online in an engaging way was very appealing to me. So, when I was contacted by Coorpacademy for a first online training project, I immediately said yes!

A very close collaboration followed. First, we worked together on selecting key themes and the content around these themes … Then, it was a question of writing the scripts, the quizzes and finally to produce the videos. For my part, I found this collaboration very effective and enjoyable.

Why do you think lifelong learning is crucial for the years to come and to deal with the uncertainties of the future?

I think there are many factors that can explain this phenomenon.

First of all, technological advances lead to new jobs such as data scientists for example. Although the concepts behind this type of career are not new, it’s only now that data scientists are able to make the most of the data that is available by taking advantage of the growing advances in computers’ processing powers.

Another factor related to technology is the spread of data in all departments of the company, including in departments that traditionally had never used data day-to-day. But nowadays, business leaders expect a minimum of data understanding from their stakeholders.

From a sociological point of view, I also think that we are extremely lucky to live in an era where listening to one’s professional desires has become more of the norm. Even just a few years ago, that was the exception. Now people are much less reluctant to retrain and experiment!

Finally, we have become increasingly aware of the limits posed by traditional education systems. For example, those systems have always favored technical skills over skills that are more related to emotional intelligence. And demonstrating emotional intelligence is a priceless asset in the business world. People are becoming more and more aware of it and therefore decide to train themselves in these techniques.

The need for lifelong learnings is therefore one of the major disruptions that has affected the labor market over the past several years. From now on, each individual is very likely to work in several different jobs and this is a great opportunity! But this obviously requires regular investments in new training and also means that we need to be able to pause and reflect on our career choices on a regular basis…

Being able to train continuously is crucial because it forces us to adapt, to reinvent ourselves and therefore to remain competitive!

From a legal point of view, data collection and the way some companies have chosen to use data has been marred by scandals, in particular with regards to data privacy… Do you think that this global awareness is an opportunity or a threat to the use of data?

For my part, from an ethical point of view, I think that more transparency was necessary. Consumers have the right to better understand what data is collected about them and for what purposes. However, data collection in many cases is a source of value for consumers. The more a company knows about your habits, the more it will be able to offer consumers more personalised products or services and save them time.

Now from an analytical point of view, I actually remain optimistic about the impact those recent data privacy laws will have on data collection. Indeed, I think that bringing more governance around data is a good thing. Today, we have access to too much data and yet, we don’t do much with it. The more limited the data, the smarter and the more creative the analytics field will become. For example, if some data is no longer available, we’ll be forced to think about what other similar data we can replace it with…

What makes you passionate about data?

Many things! But I must say that the range of skills required to succeed with data is so diverse that this field continues to fascinate and to stimulate me!

When we look at data from an outsider’s perspective, we always tend to only see the mathematical, statistical aspect of data. But data is also an art! Indeed, as we explain in the course it is absolutely critical to be able to translate quantified discoveries into a simple, tangible language that focuses on the value that these discoveries can bring to the company… Not easy !

We have to learn how to keep an open mind. We often have a tendency to want to use data to confirm a hypothesis that is close to our heart rather than letting the data speak for itself.

Finally, it is obviously useful to know a lot of useful tools for data manipulation. And, it’s actually very important to keep up with those new tools by investing in ongoing training. Some very powerful tools for data manipulation are indeed relatively young. For example, Pandas, a fundamental library to manipulate data in Python was created in 2008. Google Data Studio, Google’s data visualisation tool was launched in 2016…

3 Ways Former Google CEO Is Reengaging Workers To Be More Productive – Forbes

To be discovered in Forbes, 3 ways Jean-Marc Tassetto, co-founder of Coorpacademy, is reengaging workers to be more productive.

Following the keynote at Gartner ReimagineHR London 2019 where Stéphan Bruno, CHRO of the Principality of Monaco, and Jean-Marc Tassetto presented the partnership with Coorpacademy to retrain 3,600 of Monaco’s public sector employees, Forbes contributor Heidi Lynne Kurter published an article on 3 ways companies can shake up corporate learning to increase productivity, talent retention and engagement with the help of innovative employee learning experiences.

If you want to read the article on Forbes.com, it’s here.

Or discover extracts of the article here!

3 Ways Former Google CEO Is Reengaging Workers To Be More Productive

[…]

The World Economic Organization recently announced by 2022, 75 million jobs will be destroyed and 133 million will be created as a result of new technologies. Consequently, companies are likely to face resistance in retraining tenured employees who have a limited skill set. Therefore, it’s crucial for them to start preparing employees for change by reopening their appetite for learning and decreasing their fear of the future.

Stéphan Bruno, director of human resources for Principality of Monaco, is determined to be at the forefront of the digital revolution. At the London Gartner ReImagine HR conference, Bruno announced the governments partnership with CoorpAcademy to retrain 3,600 of Monaco’s public sector employees. Known as the Netflix of knowledge and training, CoorpAcademy is an innovative digital e-learning platform that uses gamification to make training interactive and appealing.

[…]

Creating A More Learner-Centric Approach

CoorpAcademy co-founder and former head of Google France, Jean-Marc Tassetto, aims to creatively disrupt traditional e-learning experiences. Instead of imitating Coursera and Udemy by seeking out professors from top universities, Tassetto felt it would be more effective to partner with key industry leaders across the globe. These leaders are entrusted with developing and teaching specific courses relevant to their expertise. For example, Understand Blockchain Technology is a course created by IBM and taught by its current employees.

[…]

Reducing Fear Of The Future

[…]

Both Bruno and Tassetto understand by putting employees in charge of their learning, with guidance from their manager, non-digital natives can increase their digital maturity at a pace that feels comfortable for them. Users also have the opportunity to take advantage of additional content to further develop their skill set. Some courses available to them are feminine leadership, stress management and design thinking, to name a few.

Engaging Through Micro-Learning

A study by Microsoft states on average an individuals attention span lasts 8-seconds. If companies and e-learning platforms want to keep users engaged and on track to complete the course, they need to focus more on mini modules that are short enough to keep their attention. Tassetto states the most successful micro-learning modules typically range from 5-12 minutes in length. Anything longer risks losing the attention of its users. Their micro-learning modules are a healthy mix of asking questions, playing games and keeping players engaged until the end with short form videos.

With clients such as L’oreal, IBM, Nestle and BNP Paribas, the EdTech startup has found great success in their unique and innovate learning approach. By placing learners first, employees are empowered to develop their skills for who they want to be instead of who they are now. Bruno was surprised to see employees at every level of the government sector from gardeners to firemen positively interacting with the platform.”

[…]

Discover the full article here!

What’s next with the French publishing house Dunod? Interview of Éric Pommat, Digital and Business Development Director

At the beginning of 2018, when we started our collaboration with the French publishing house Éditions Dunod, we had the chance to meet Éric Pommat, Digital and Business Development Director of the famous French publishing house to celebrate the beginning of our content partnership (to read this interview, it’s here).

After the co-edition of 4 courses, it was the right moment to see what had been done, to talk about the next steps and to see how we envision the follow-up of this insightful collaboration.

In 2018, learners discovered mindfulness at work, a meditation technique which fits very well in the corporate world to increase one’s energy levels and avoid stress-inducing “attention thieves”. Learners also developed their creativity with mind mapping, a mental mapping technique to leverage ideas, generate more ideas and become more creative at work. Do you sometimes feel non-productive at work? Our Learners discovered 9 tools to work efficiently, including the Eisenhower matrix and the Getting Things Done methodology. And finally, in 2018, our learners (re)discovered inbound marketing and growth hacking, those cost-effective, efficient and fast-to-implement marketing techniques. 4 new skills, between soft skills and toolboxes to feel better at work and work smarter, that pleased Coorpacademy’s learners in 2018 (and viewing numbers prove it!)

Here we are with Éric Pommat for a new interview, to discuss prospections for 2019.

Hello Éric, thanks for meeting us again. First of all, what did you think of the co-edition process with Coorpacademy? How the publishing house Dunod ensures the communication with content creators and Coorpacademy’s instructional designers for the course conception runs smoothly?

The co-edition of the first 4 courses Dunod by Coorpacademy was flawless and efficient!

It’s important to note that Dunod is an atypical kind of partner for Coorpacademy. At the end of 2017, our publishing house – and it’s distinctive enough to highlight it – recruited its own team of instructional designers. Developing a new Digital Learning activity was indeed one of the major steps of our digital transformation.

Today, in addition to our legacy core work of publishing books, we want to put our editorial know-how, our pedagogical and digital expertise and the depth of content we have already to the benefit of companies and organisations. In order to advise them and to support them in their communication, custom edition and digital learning projects. Naturally, we’re on Datadock!

Those first courses have been created by our instructional designers, with experts on the topics and with the help of the instructional design team at Coorpacademy: everything was reunited to create engaging and attractive content for learners.

And a few months after our courses came out, the statistics speak for themselves: the Dunod by Coorpacademy courses are among the most played and appreciated on the Coorpacademy platforms.

How are topics selected for next courses?

We proceed in a “collective thinking way” by crossing propositions made by Dunod and Coorpacademy.

The Coorpacademy Team submits hot themes and topics among Coorpacademy’s customers or spots inspiring topics in the Dunod content catalogue.

On our side we use our editorial know-how, our experts network and our sales numbers to pick the most interesting and Coorpacademy-friendly matters.

After analyzing both insights, the collective intelligence of both teams then define the courses we’ll co-edit together!

What are the new courses to be released this year?

In 2019, we’ll be working on soft skills with 4 new essential themes:

1 hour to stop stressing and stay zen.
The best Lean tools for improving performance
Intrapreneurship and change makers
Learn how to learn

Are you noticing – in your day-to-day life – the importance soft skills are taking over hard skills?

Of course. The necessity to develop soft skills is becoming tangible everyday, in our jobs and day-to-day tasks. Sales techniques change, our readers’ ways of consuming content change, technology is becoming more and more important in our lives.

“…We’ve entered in the planned obsolescence of skills era (which have a life span between 6 months and 5 years)” as Jérémy Lamri says it very well in its latest book 21st Century Skills: how to make a difference? “The skill to learn how to learn new skills become the central skill for someone, to allow that person to maintain his or her skills portfolio, to keep improving and to save his or her adaptability, meaning in the end his or her employability.”

It’s becoming obvious: uncertainty lies with the future of the job market, with the game-changing technological innovations or with jobs creation. How do Dunod publications adapt to this fast-changing environment?

We learn and we try to reinvent ourselves everyday, supported by our triple expertise (editorial, pedagogical and digital) and our content catalogue (7,000 books written by 5,500 experts, enriched with 365 new books every year, both digital and paper).

Let me show you a few examples.

At the end of 2016, facing the structural decrease of our specialized markets, we started a transformation by creating a general public department at Dunod.

In 2017, we started to work on the digital learning market, first with soft skills programme (Stress Management/Self-confidence, Management, Time Management) developed for a group of private universities, and then with Coorpacademy.

In 2018, we launched an innovative online training tools for infancy professionals with the Pros of Infancy.

In 2019, we just launched the Dunod Atelier, a new B2B service of custom edition.

What is your favorite course co-edited with Coorpacademy? And why?

“Mindfulness at Work“, “Boost your Creativity with Mind-Mapping“, “Working efficiently: The 9 tools you need to know about“, “Inbound Marketing & Growth Hacking“, “1 hour to stop stressing and stay zen“, “The best Lean tools for improving performance”… and the list will grow bigger!

Each new course is our favorite. We are in a continuous improvement process, we learn and we do better each time. It’s very motivating. I can’t wait for the next course to come out!”

Interview BNP Paribas Asset Management: Digit’learning, an upskilling tool with gaming elements

To accelerate the upskilling of branch advisors and “deliver durable returns on investment for our customers in the long term”, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT, the group’s division specialising in asset management, chose to complement its training package (in-class and online) with an innovative digital learning solution: the Digit’learning platform.

Developed by Coorpacademy and co-created with the company’s marketing department, the platform offers several training courses on BNP Paribas Asset Management’s financial products. 6,000 advisors have used the platform since 2018 to develop their expertise.

On the forefront of innovation, the company headed by Frédéric Janbon just announced the reinforcement of its commitment to sustainable investments.

We sat down with Sylvie Vazelle-Tenaud, Head Of Marketing For Individuals, Advisors and Online Banks, and Camille Lafon, E-Marketing Manager, who were kind enough to answer our questions.

What are your main functions within BNP Paribas Asset Management?

Our role is to conduct the promotion of BNP Paribas Asset Management products within the BNP Paribas group’s distribution networks and towards individual clients. We also provide our sales teams in different countries innovative digital marketing solutions to help them conduct efficient training and provide the right information for branch advisors.

What was the problem you wanted to solve with Coorpacademy? And what was your objective?

We wanted to increase the expertise of our branch advisors on BNP Paribas Asset Management products. Considering the number of people targeted (nearly 12,000 employees), we needed a solution that would complement the training and information provided by BNP Paribas Asset Management sales representatives in the field. The digital solution was the most efficient way to reach that objective quickly.

How do advisors become familiar with BNP Paribas Asset Management products?

We use two ways to help them build their expertise and learn on BNP Paribas Asset Management products.

The first way is conducted either through physical presence in the field or via web-conferences with BNP Paribas Asset Management sales teams in every country where BNP Paribas has a distribution network.

The second way is done remotely, with pedagogical videos, online learning modules and games on digital platforms deployed across the entire network worldwide (challenges for building virtual allocation portfolios, for example)

What did the Coorpacademy platform add to the equation?

The Coorpacademy platform provided innovation and pedagogy. It is different from traditional online learning thanks to its additional gaming aspect. It also offers flexibility in learning without being time-consuming, as the average duration of an entire learning journey is 20 minutes. Employees build their expertise in record time while having fun!

The learners seem to be open to playing and use the gaming functionalities a lot (over 70,000 battles have been initiated). Do you think gamification is a key success factor in acquiring expertise?

Yes, absolutely. We present the platform as a tool for gaining expertise with a gaming aspect. In our communication, we mainly highlight the functionality of “lives” (to complete a level, an employee has 3 lives, represented as hearts on the platform; one wrong answer and they lose a heart/life, after 3 wrong answers, they must start again with a new quiz). We also highlight the fact they can earn stars (stars reward the completion of a course: the ranking of employees is ultimately defined by the number of stars earned). This functionality enables us to generate emulation between employees and make them want to take the courses again. Conversely, we didn’t communicate very much about battles (a functionality on the Coorpacademy platform which lets a player challenge another one on a course, with stars to win for the player with the most correct answers) but the employees discovered that functionality on their own and loved it!

What are the main results you observed?

Lots of enthusiasm! User feedback is a good indicator:

“Great digital initiative! Very good pedagogical approach.”
“The platform is user-friendly thanks to the battles, much better than traditional online learning!”
“Very clear, the videos are graphically pleasing, and just the right length!”
“A way of revising that is quick and efficient, very succinct content, congenial platform.”

And once people are connected, the activation rate is high, the courses are often taken to the end, and the employees are even asking for more programs. The gaming functionalities are highly used and have a strong part in the enthusiasm surrounding the platform.

How do you create your tailor-made courses on the Coorpacademy platform?

We work according to the commercial calendar of each country and create upskilling programs designed to support the reach of pre-defined commercial objectives. At the marketing department, we define with the BNP Paribas Asset Management sales teams the content of the courses, which is then validated by the concerned distribution network. Once this step is over, the marketing team takes charge of the writing process of the scripts, makes suggestions for the videos, and everything is sent for production to Coorpacademy.

We generally launch one program per trimester in each country. We have already completed 10, and we have a dozen more in the pipeline for 2019!

Thank you very much!

Thank you!

How Manor’s top executives and managers train on soft skills and digital culture: exclusive interview of Graziella Ribic

Manor is the largest department store chain in Switzerland. It has its own online shop. With a market share of 60%, it is the market leader. The company employs around 9,750 people in its 60 department stores, 28 Manora restaurants, 31 Manor Food supermarkets, 4 distribution centres and in its headquarters in Basel. Tradition and innovation come together in this company; since its founding in 1902, it has reinvented itself time and again. After all, change is – and will remain – a great constant. As the dynamic, fast-paced and innovative company that it is, Manor began working with Coorpacademy in October 2018, mainly to help its employees adapt to digitalisation.

The partnership with Coorpacademy is based on the following premises: no content generated, but the desire to train Manor employees on topics related to digital culture, the future of retail, management and leadership skills. On the occasion of the beginning of this partnership, we met with Graziella Ribic, Head of Executive Development, who is leading the project.

How does Manor implement its innovation strategy in everyday life, particularly in the areas of human resources and employees’ personal development? What does the company do in real terms?

We offer a range of professional development courses in these four areas: Digital Basics, Sales, Leadership and Purchasing. These courses are tailored to the future needs of the company and of the market, which we continually adjust in the face of emerging changes. For example, we are currently offering our managers the ‘Leading Change’ training course, which is made of 2 parts: digital courses with Coorpacademy and a subsequent classroom training component. In addition, our managers have free access to all Coorpacademy course offerings. This allows them to engage in continuous training in an independent manner on a whim.

You already have a process for designing training content. What were the requirements and what did you like so much about Coorpacademy and its catalogue that you wanted to add it to your existing content catalogue?

Since we were primarily looking for content and methods that would help us in the areas of digitalisation and leadership, Coorpacademy suited us immediately. The playful approach also appealed to us, as we already make sure our self-made e-learning courses have content that is as easy to understand as possible and that the knowledge is tested using short quizzes. The option of doing a five-minute learning session on a break or on the go is something that really goes down well with us, as our days usually have too few hours. Such short learning nuggets always fit in somewhere in the day!

Why do you think having a proper digital culture and learning soft skills are a key 21st century challenge?

Digitalisation has brought with it – and continues to bring with it – so many innovations that directly or indirectly change our daily lives. Who can imagine life without smartphones today? And we must know about all these innovations and learn how to use them. People who cannot keep up will one day – sooner rather than later – be left standing puzzled in front of a machine, helplessly looking around for staff that will no longer be available. But in my opinion, the question will not be one of ‘humans or machines‘ but rather of ‘both humans and machines‘. There will be areas where machines will dominate, but there will also be areas where humans will prevail. In order to find our way in daily life, we need to engage with the digital world. After all, digitalisation has come to stay.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Discover Graziella Ribic’s interview in video! (in German).

Behind the scenes… Changing your life successfully: interview with Jean-Marc Tassetto, co-founder of Coorpacademy, on BFM Business (French TV)

BFM Business (French Television Channel dedicated to business news) was interviewing Jean-Marc Tassetto, co-founder of Coorpacademy and former Managing Director of Google France on Tuesday February 26th. The show was anchored by Stéphanie Coleau, journalist for BFM Business.

The video is in French but you can find the transcript in English below:

Stéphanie Coleau: “Every night, in After Business, we discover the personality of a CEO and how they became entrepreneurs. Where did they get their inspiration? What gives them the desire to make a difference. Tonight, I’m with Jean-Marc Tassetto. Good evening!

Jean-Marc Tassetto: “Good evening!”

Stéphanie Coleau: “You’re the former CEO of SFR, more recently the former Managing Director for Google in France, and you decided a few years ago to leave everything to create your own startup, a corporate digital learning startup called Coorpacademy. Why this change? It’s pretty rare to see a big boss leave everything for a small structure…

Jean-Marc Tassetto: “I left everything for a small company but for a major project. The major project is the transformation of education; in this case continuous training and learning. In this end, it’s taking part in the skills revolution. We’re now facing the 4th Industrial Revolution which transforms all organizations – such as this beautiful TV studio which is completely digitalized for example. The revolution impacts all organizations but also individuals who are facing new stakes and new skills. So I wanted, with my two business partners Arnauld Mitre and Frédérick Bénichou, to launch a digital training platform project.”

Stéphanie Coleau: “How do you decide to leave Google for example? What happens inside your head at this moment?”

Jean-Marc Tassetto: “A lot of recklessness, a lot of envy, meetings like always. With this feeling that, deep down, everything converges. The teacher’s son that I am, the former teacher, the manager facing the mediocre skills of the bad understanding of what’s really going on, a meeting in California with a Stanford professor, Peter Norvig, who told me that he gave a lecture to more than 165,000 students – so the discovery of massive open online courses – and a lot of discussions with Arnauld and Frédérick on what we could do to impact and transform continuous training and learning. Everything happened at the same time. I had this feeling that I had to do it. A real impulse.”

Stéphanie Coleau: “I welcomed here a few days ago Guillaume Poitrinal, former CEO of Unibail-Rodamco who left to create Woodeum. He told me: “There was a moment where I was not learning anything, where everything became too comfortable, there were no contradictions anymore, no challenges. Is this what you felt?”

Jean-Marc Tassetto: “Theres’s indeed this rush of adrenalin. In large corporations, I thought to myself that too many people had the power to say no. Sometimes, it takes 4 month or 6 month cycles to just take a decision, with a lot of people that need to be involved in the process. It’s a bit of a mood killer when you want to make a difference, when you want to be an intrapreneur or an entrepreneur. When you launch your own project, you have this adrenalin rush – I have to admit that I was also panicking a bit on the first day. You’re facing your laptop, your Powerpoint, your smartphone, and it’s on!

Stéphanie Coleau: “How did that first day go?”

Jean-Marc Tassetto: “I panicked. It never happened to me before. I was more than 50, I had two business partners extremely excited about the project – we’re very complementary. Despite all that, you’re all alone on the first day. On the second day, you have your first taste of freedom. On the third, the adrenalin rush, and nothing will make you look back because you’re creating a real project with people you love supporting you. And then it was on!”

Stéphanie Coleau: “And you’re the only one in charge.”

Jean-Marc Tassetto: “Well, the only one, with business partners, with coworkers, with bankers, with clients. But yes, you’re becoming an entrepreneur, with an autonomy level that is probably higher than the one I had in large corporations.”

Stéphanie Coleau: “What made you start Coorpacademy? You’re the son of a teacher, is this a return to your roots in the end?”

Jean-Marc Tassetto: “It’s not really a return to my roots, it’s more a projection into the future. The 4th Industrial Revolution is transforming organizations, so we need to rethink training. We need to rethink everything. We need to rethink pedagogical processes, tools, integrated experiences between contents and platforms. We need to massify and scale fast. So no, it’s more a projection into the future, with the certainty that, facing the uncertainties, training and learning will remain critical factors of personal evolution, personal fulfillment and employability. It’s more the need to lead an impactful project.”

Stéphanie Coleau: “Is it the meeting with a Stanford professor that triggered this desire?

Jean-Marc Tassetto: “It was a triggering factor that made me think to myself: “it’s possible.” But it was particularly the meeting with Arnauld and Frédérick that made me want to do it. We met in a small office in January 2013 and we told ourselves: “do we take the plunge?” Frédérick a serial web-entrepreneur, Arnauld was working with me at Google, and we told to ourselves: “if we take the leap, it’s to do something ambitious. This is the Google mentality with the moon shots, the big bets: if we do something, we might as well do something ambitious and impactful. Then we decided to jump in, and I don’t think any of us had any regrets for the past 6 years.”

Stéphanie Coleau: “What does Coorpacademy represent today?”

Jean-Marc Tassetto: “Coorpacademy, it’s now more than 800 000 learners, including 40% outside Europe. It represents 71 coworkers and we’re very proud of the quality of our team, of these young people who wanted to participate in this adventure, these people who wanted to give meaning to their professional projects and who decided to get involved with us. But Coorpacademy also represents more that 40 content partners, more than 1,000 courses on the platform, and is acquiring a European leadership in the workplace, which is our playground. All this create even more ambition for the future.”

Stéphanie Coleau: “Speaking of which, what is your ambition today? You worked in large corporations, you’ve created your own company, what do you want today? What is your ambition?

Jean-Marc Tassetto: “Our ambition is to become the European leader of Corporate Digital Learning. There’s a big move in the US, with major players such as LinkedIn Learning – it’s something, it’s Microsoft. Jack Ma, in China, said he was leaving Alibaba’s operations to focus on – guess what – education. We think there’s a geo-strategical space to take. Are there any European giants? We would like to be the European giant of Corporate Digital Training.

Stéphanie Coleau: “What do you like the most about being an entrepreneur? To be free?”

Jean-Marc Tassetto : “I come from Marketing, and I learn my job at Danon. I’ve always wanted to put the customer – in this case the learner – first, at the heart of everything. I’ve also always loved going from the strategic vision to the operations. Just thinking is not really interesting. At Coorpacademy we have a vision that we share, we feed ourselves with the field, with our contradictions, with our complementarities, and then we apply all this, we do the work. And seeing that customers take part in this project, partner with us, seeing that there’s a high engagement rate within our learners, that they finish and pass the courses: this is a tremendous delight!”

Stéphanie Coleau: “Thank you so much, Jean-Marc Tassetto!”

Jean-Marc Tassetto: “Thank you!”

Sitting down with James Lawrence, Founder and CEO of Knightsbridge Trading Academy

Knightsbridge Trading Academy aims at developing the trading skills of their students by equipping them with the latest strategies and technology. Their programmes will help students learn to earn from the elite traders, CISI accredited tutors, brokers and financial analysts in the industry, who have worked for some of the most prestigious institutions in the world. Their tutors have a combined experience of over 75 working years in the financial sector. Their mission is to improve clients’ understanding of trading and investing, along with their general understanding of financial markets. Knightsbridge Trading Academy – in association with the London Stock Exchange Group Academy – has developed a programme designed to improve investment strategies using fundamental and technical analysis, investment psychology, risk management, asset allocation and how to interpret news.

It’s a new recent addition to the Coorpacademy catalogue. Knightsbridge Trading Academy has co-edited two courses on the platform, which aim at explaining to learners the key principles of trading, from the stock exchange to the different types of asset class. These courses are also giving tips and techniques for traders. Following the release of these two courses, we had the chance to sit down with James Lawrence, Chief Executive Officer of the trading academy, who answered our questions.

“Thanks a lot for your time. Before joining and founding Knightsbridge Trading Academy, what were you doing and what made you want to create a trading academy?

Prior to founding Knightsbridge Trading Academy I worked in financial markets as a FX & Equities broker, working with mainly private clients and corporate customers. I decided to found Knightsbridge Trading Academy largely due to becoming frustrated in the poor quality professional education available in the marketplace, more specifically FX (Forex – Foreign Exchange Market) related education designed for retail customers. Unfortunately financial education is not a regulated activity in the U.K. (it is in Australia). This leads to many FX educators making wild and misleading statements and have a “get rich quick” style theme.

I decided to work towards operating in a highly professional and expert manner only providing factual information, providing complete transparency. Today our programmes are fully accredited, some by multiple accreditation bodies and Knightsridge Trading Academy is accredited by the British Accreditation Council for Independent Further and Higher Education as a Short Course Provider unlike any other company which sits within our competitive landscape.

For a lot of people, trading can be unknown, sometimes obscure. How do you think your courses are creating a new, fresh way of looking at trading?

All our programmes are designed for people with little or no experience. Financial trading can seem daunting, this is one reason we ensure our trading programmes are accredited. We provide our students the assurance our programmes have been laid out in a format a student can understand and digest.

We provide a methodology whereby delivering small bite size video programmes followed by short exams, and once students understand the basics we move into a more intermediate learning process. Our programmes are a mix of theory and practical based learning, so students can adopt what they learn into live trading environments. There is still some demystification needed to break down perceptions to who can learn financial trading. We have trained hundreds of students all from varied walks of life.

In the actual – and future economy – how do you think trading will evolve?

Trading is currently moving into a new future at a extremely fast pace with the use of technology and fintech. Today it’s easier than ever to create strategies and use Machine learning & Artificial Intelligence to trade more efficiently without human errors.

We work alongside several universities creating strategies designed in Machine learning & Artificial Intelligence. Whereby training robots via Artificial Intelligence allows a trader to trade the markets seamlessly, create strict risk parameters, create rules based systems without technical errors made via counterparts…

Do you think a better common knowledge in trading – for everyone – can help avoiding further economic crisis?

I think that general people and businesses will make better informed decisions if they fully understand the risks associated across all asset classes of finance including what drives these assets & markets.

Your training include accredited, 2 day classroom bootcamps, 5 day classroom programme and 5 week online trading programme. What do you think about short micro-learning Corporate Digital Learning and how it can be complementary with your programmes?

It’s a great concept and allows users to digest smaller content in there own time, either during or after work hours. The digital learning programme provides a great foundation to our more dedicated industry specific programmes we offer. In this two courses, learners can train on the principles of trading, but also some tips and techniques, using new teaching methods. By using flipped pedagogy, learners start with the questions – if they know, they pass the questions, if they don’t, they access the video lesson from Knightsbridge Trading Academy. The fun and social aspect of the course also allows learners to access knowledge in a more engaging way, by competing with their peers on the different types of asset class, for example.

Thanks a lot for your time, James!

Thank you!

Learner engagement: why any corporate learning has to have the learner at its centre

This piece has been written by Jean-Marc Tassetto, co-founder of Coorpacademy, and originally published on Training Zone. To read it in its original form, it’s here.

For too long, our business learning culture hasn’t really been working, but times are changing. Today’s always-on working environment requires a system with users at its heart.

The speed of technological disruption is accelerating and in our rapidly changing job market, with new job roles constantly emerging, we need to up-skill to survive, so training is crucial.

We demand it from our employers, but things are amiss with the whole corporate training model. A top down approach that is slow and inflexible secures user engagement levels as perilously low as 5 – 10%, and completion rates as low as 2 – 3%, which just won’t suffice.

This is mainly because it’s money down the drain. To translate these numbers into annual L&D budgets, that means that even the low number who agree to go on internal training courses, or download company supplied e-learning barely complete what the HR leadership thinks they should.

This is a serious waste of valuable corporate budget in unforgiving competitive times, which no CFO or CEO can be sanguine about.

We need training, as organisations. We need to get team members updated on vital new data protection (e.g. GDPR) legislation, changed health and safety regulations, equality and diversity initiatives, as well as task-oriented learning to help them do their jobs better, for example equipping the global sales team on the compelling new features of the latest release of our core product.

HR and training leaders need to place the learner’s experience back at the top of the priority list for any new learning project in order to bridge the gap.

To get corporate learning back to being a great and worthwhile investment, the picture needs to be flipped – urgently. We need a way to connect back with the learner and find a way to deliver what they want and need. We also need to rethink the way content is delivered.

We must ask ourselves if it is realistic to expect people who work remotely and anytime to stop everything and sit in front of a trainer droning on at them with a Powerpoint presentation and a laser pointer for eight solid hours.

Too much business training is the product of a learning culture that does not reflect the reality of work pressures and our daily digital lives, and how we want to learn.

It’s also a culture that assumes learners are passive objects that can just get shuffled in and out, uncomplainingly, of all those unexciting company training rooms.

The missing element

The siren of change is getting louder. According to the new Market Guide for Corporate Learning Suites from global analysts Gartner, HR and training leaders need to place the learner’s experience back at the top of the priority list for any new learning project in order to bridge the gap.

Gartner provides useful clues on how to do this by identifying a new corporate L&D aid plus new market segment – the Learning Experience Platform (LEP). This is an additional portal layer that expands the range of content and enhances learner engagement with training content.

LEPs are a class of HR support that include content creation and off-the-shelf content that are designed to improve the learner experience by embedding learning into daily activities or the applications on which staff spend the most time.

The next frontier in this user-centric business learning culture is the move towards adaptive learning, in which content and teaching frameworks are definitively customised to the individual.

What does this way of supporting training look like in practice? It’s actually pretty close to what you and I are already doing in our day-to-day lives – for a reason.

We live on our phones. We all try and make dead time waiting for a train or a phone call as useful as possible, looking for content – and we refuse to be delayed by a knowledge gap, turning to the internet to plug any lack of understanding when identified. To let off steam, we might play a mobile game for a minute or two.

Imagine training delivered that way – mobile, always available, in short episodes, and where appropriate, in a quiz or battle format for fun.

Need to know about Blockchain? You could send me on a two-day residential course once a year – or offer me a way to grab five to eight minutes of useful content, supported by video, when I have focus and want a bite-sized hit of learning then and there.

Asking the learner questions before any teaching takes place (the flipped pedagogy model) pinpoints their level and means they’ll be offered the lessons they actually need.

The picture I hope you see emerging is of a new, powerful and flexible learning culture to help the learners on the ground and day-by-day.

A user-centric culture

Finally, the next frontier in this user-centric business learning culture is the move towards adaptive learning, in which content and teaching frameworks are definitively customised to the individual.

We know Gartner have spotted a genuine change here, as we have seen it ourselves with our clients who use learner-centric LEP technology to do the very thing Gartner wants.

“We are witnessing growing buyer requirements for better personalisation, especially for learner recommendations and individual learner paths. In addition, with the improvements in mobile, video and collaborative capabilities, coupled with learner preference for ‘bite-sized’ learning, we’re seeing mounting demand for micro learning,” says the Gartner report.

The next step for any L&D leader who wants to help develop staff human potential, in order to up-skill and future-proof their workforce, is to complement their existing training support with the best of a customised LEP approach. It’s a great way to secure your competitive edge, and the very best of your staff.

Exclusive interview with Gwenaëlle de la Roche, Group Director of Marketing and Prospective at ManpowerFrance

We sat down with Gwenaëlle de la Roche, Group Director of Marketing and Prospective at ManpowerFrance. She also manages “Eclaireur Office”, the Group’s open-innovation unit, created in December 2015.

The Coorpacademy Team will be at the ManpowerGroup Lab during the two days dedicated to BtoB at the VIVA Tech trade show in Paris, on May 24th and 25th.

Hello Gwenaëlle de la Roche,

Thanks for meeting us!

This year again, you’re the HR partner of the VIVA Tech tradeshow which will take place in the Paris Parc des Expositions on May 24th, 25th and 26th… Why is that important for you – a major HR actor – to be present at this type of events, dedicated to innovation and technology?

For the 3rd year in a row, ManpowerGroup is the HR Partner of VIVA Technology. Expert in Human Resources and in employment for more than 60 years, Manpower Group aims at making the HRevolution that is transforming the corporate world an opportunity for each individual and each company.

The work market and jobs are changing, so how can we anticipate now the evolutions of recruitment and the jobs and skills transformation, so that anyone can find jobs in more easier ways?

We think that technological innovation is key and needs to be at the service of companies, but also employees, whom skills are to evolve during the whole course of their lives.

To put technology at the service of the human potential and to make evaluation, learning and recruitment processes more fair and more performing for all: these are our main goals!

What will you display at this 3rd VIVA Tech edition?

For VIVA Technology 2018, the ManpowerGroup Lab will welcome large companies and startups, actors from the employment market, innovative entrepreneurs and experts of the future of work. HR innovations, customer feedbacks, case studies, talks: the Lab will be a privileged place for meetings and discussions around HR and employment.

And we’ll also present a series of major HR innovations: an interview platform with a virtual recruiter, a sensibilization to the construction and public works in virtual reality or even soft skills evaluation modules that’ll be 100% digitized.

To discover all these ManpowerGroup’s innovations that’ll be showcased for VIVA, please visit the website: http://vivatech-manpowergroup.fr/

Why did you invite startups in your Lab?

With the creation of “Eclaireur Office”, its open-innovation unit, ManpowerGroup wanted to take a broader view, rethink its organization and transform its relationships with its service providers to make them partners, starting with startups. It does then make complete sense, since the first edition of Viva, to welcome startups we collaborate with in a shared value creation dynamic. Our partnership also aims at facilitating their access to the market, to our customers, which are large companies.

What opinion do you have on the French HR / Training startup scene?

The HR market is going through a huge revolution. A whole generation of entrepreneurs is disrupting the big employment machine and is committed to transform it from top to bottom. For ManpowerGroup, the idea would be to meet them and to integrate them into an innovation ecosystem which will be unique in France. By associating the startups dynamism and the large companies experience.

How have you been introduced to Coorpacademy?

We’re facing disrupting times, and we needed to work on our own transformation. We understood that nothing would be possible without the transformation of our own management, in depth. Following that idea, we launched the project “Leader Effect”, a transformation program for ManpowerGroup’s 85 top managers – for them to become connected leaders. Thanks to the work of our innovation unit “Eclaireur Office”, we rapidly identified Coorpacademy as the reference in digital learning to accompany us on creating courses on digital culture. The partnership with Coorpacademy has been very structuring to meet our goal: making our Group a learning company!

What type of collaborations are you setting up with startups which integrate the open-innovation unit of ManpowerGroup “Eclaireur Office”?

These collaborations can take many forms. From a classical relationship of privileged commercial partner to the development of a shared offering, from a “sponsor” through events like VIVA or our challenges, to HR initiatives, mentoring and reverse mentoring – for example.

See you soon Gwenaëlle de la Roche, and thanks for this interview!

Exclusive interview with Didier Noyé, expert in Management

I’ve just been named manager of a team, how am I supposed to do? What to do just before being in charge? How to drive the performance, but also the well-being and the cohesion of the team? How can I do to communicate well everyday, while knowing how to anticipate and handle the crispations that can occur? To become a manager is a job by itself, and it’s necessary to be prepared for it and to learn continuously.

Didier Noyé is a renowned specialist of change and skills management, and advises companies in their HR development. He published at the É ditions Eyrolles several books on communication and management. Through a partnership with the Éditions Eyrolles, Coorpacademy is about to launch a series of 6 courses, inspired from Didier Noyé’s books, which will come out during 3 months on a regular basis. To know everything on the basics of management.

On this occasion, we were lucky to sit down with Didier Noyé.

How did you, during the course of your career, feel the need to theorize management and to become an expert of it?

I wanted to specialize in this because I worked as a consultant for a lot of different companies, of different sizes and different fields of expertise. I then learned a lot about practical management thanks to very results-oriented experimentations. And I then got interested in research about management. How does an efficient team work? What are the reasons why employees commit – or not – to work? These are examples of research topics. I did then cross my experience in companies and my views on research topics.

We usually present the job of a manager as a job by itself, additional to the one the person is already doing. Do you agree? How would you define management in a few words?

Being a manager means bringing the team to a high level of performance, making it strive to do better. It’s a profoundly human job. You need to create the others’ engagement. Generally, where you’re named a manager for the first time, you’ve been named in a field where you’re already skilled, where you know the job. But sometimes, when you get to a second job as a manager, you can be transferred in a completely different field, where you don’t know a lot about the job in the first place. Which means that you’ll have to focus on the human aspects. And you need to give a complete human dimension to the job if you want to be a good manager.

According to you, what are the soft skills a manager needs to have to manage an efficient, performing team and where people are happy at what they’re doing?

I’ve taught two skills that I deem important.

First of all, listening (and empathy): it’s the keystone of leadership. You need to listen to people in order for them to listen to you.

The second one is positive thinking: what are the employee’s strengths? When you focus on strengths of people, and when you get people to use them, you create engagement. It’s contrary to the usual ways of doing and thinking. If your child tells you he or she had an A in English and a C in Mathematics, there are chances you’ll only focus on the C, inviting your kid to improve his or her level in Mathematics. In management, it’s the contrary: you highlight the qualities of people, and help them give their bests on their strengths. And their weaknesses? Use the strengths to fix problems. If your child has a bad grade in Mathematics, you’ll invite him or her to write an essay on Mathematics, in a very good English. Don’t focus first on difficulties; it’s counter-intuitive. You need to keep a positive thinking.

The first two courses co-edited with Eyrolles and Coorpacademy are released very soon. Can you talk to us about it?

First thing that stroke me was their length: they are short. And this is a real plus! Thanks to new web usages, learners like to focus on one precise topic meeting their needs, while going straight to the point. Content is clear, interesting and solid.

I particularly appreciated the different parts: key learning factors, the “did you know that?” section or the learner’s path to go from a chapter to another as soon as you answered correctly.

What did you like in the creation of this collection “the Basics of Management” with Eyrolles and Coorpacademy?

I think it is an interesting formula. It makes you go straight to the point and allows learners to follow courses at their pace while choosing their points of interest. From the moment learners are acting in their own trainings, you must be able to answer their questions with multiple entry points. Moreover, there is a strong complementarity between e-learning and books. You can start learning about a topic thanks to e-learning and then go deeper in this subject with books. Or the opposite, according to what learners/Internet users want.

Thank you Didier!

Thanks to you!

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