soft skills Archives - Coorpacademy

“Soft skills training, a question of survival for the company? – what HR-learning managers think

Over the last few months, we have put on our investigator’s hat… Several hundred French HR directors and training managers have responded to the Coorpacademy by Go1 survey in partnership with the Féfaur consultancy firm on the strategies they are implementing to develop soft skills in their company.

French companies are undergoing major changes (arrival of new AI, digitalisation and new forms of hybrid work) and to survive in this new environment, soft skills have become essential. In this article, we give you the 3 key points to remember from our study.

1. Soft skills: the first lever for adapting to new forms of hybrid work

Soft skills are crucial for companies, which see them as the key to cope with changes in the world of work and attracting the talent they need to succeed. 83% of HR-training managers mention new work organisations as their main concern and reason for developing soft skills. Communication skills, problem solving and initiative taking are valuable assets to adapt to the changes taking place in the company.

The talent shortage, in second place (50%), is also a reason why soft skills are essential. Companies find it difficult to recruit and retain employees with the right skills, especially soft skills such as teamwork, problem solving and taking initiative. Communication skills are also in high demand.

Finally, for nearly 45% of the HR training managers surveyed, digital transformation is their main concern. Employees must acquire new skills and adapt quickly to technological tools. The ability to learn quickly, creativity, time management and adaptability are essential skills to meet the challenges of this transition.

2. Soft skills: not just for managers!

According to the Coorpacademy by Go1 x Féfaur survey, almost half of companies (49%) now prioritise the development of soft skills for all their employees, regardless of their position or hierarchical level. This trend reflects a growing awareness of the benefits of soft skills, which can benefit the whole team and help the company grow as a whole. The other half of companies have yet to be convinced that they would benefit massively from such training at all levels. Every employee can benefit from learning these skills to improve their performance and well-being at work.

At the managerial level, 65% of companies think that soft skills are absolutely essential when it comes to recruiting or promoting a manager. It is indeed key to ensure that managers have the necessary skills to lead their teams well.

3. Digital Learning: a key lever for developing soft skills

Digital learning is a popular tool for soft skills training, thanks to its flexibility, accessibility, customisation and skills tracking. Training and HR managers welcome the potential of digital learning to increase access to soft skills training and break down traditional barriers. The variety of formats offered and the adaptability of this tool are also appreciated by the learning & development (L&D) professionals interviewed. The customisation of training according to the feedback and evolution of employees is considered important by 46% of respondents. The social and collaborative dimension of digital learning is also valued by 25% of respondents, encouraging the exchange of knowledge. Finally, 20% of respondents emphasise the possibility of evaluating the effectiveness of training and the transfer of skills acquired in the professional environment thanks to the monitoring of soft skills in action.

To conclude, the results of the Coorpacademy by Go1 x Féfaur survey highlight the growing importance of soft skills in companies and their impact on the overall performance of the organisation. HR training managers are looking to integrate these key competencies into continuous training programmes as well as using digital learning tools to provide flexible, personalised learning experiences tailored to individual needs. This learner-centred approach to training promotes the acquisition and development of the soft skills that are essential for success in a constantly changing business world. Let’s put our investigator’s hat back on and get back to our core business: supporting people in developing their skills through digital learning.

Would you like to know more about our Digital Learning offer? Meet our experts in a demo of our solutions by clicking here.

Sustainable Development Week: a crucial moment to acculturate your employees to the ecological transition

From September 18 to October 8, the European Week for Sustainable Development is held. This year’s theme is “Acting Everyday”. The motto: all actions count, including everyday gestures, to deeply transform our societies.

In companies, it’s the same thing. It is by planting small seeds that we can transform an organization. This is why our clients have been able to offer their learners the opportunity to become acculturated to the ecological transition through a playlist of 5 courses, in order to become an actor in sustainable development. And if we talk to you about planting seeds, it is also because at the end of this animation, a tree will be planted for every 1000 questions answered on each platform. We explain below.

“The Earth is now the one and only shareholder of Patagonia”. On Wednesday, September 14, Yvon Chouinard, the founder of the American outdoor clothing brand Patagonia, announced that he had transferred 100% of his company’s capital and voting rights to two structures responsible for “protecting the planet,” a mission endorsed by the company since 2018. The company’s dividends now fund actions to combat global warming, to the tune of $100 million a year.

Record temperatures, drought, mega-fires: at the end of the summer, the need to invent new models is more obvious than ever. Patagonia’s choices are pioneering, but everywhere employees’ expectations are changing drastically. Indeed, according to a CSA study, for an equivalent offer, 78% of employees prefer to join a company committed to the ecological transition.

The same study reports that 68% of employees have already expressed the wish to be better trained on issues related to the ecological transition. However, only 17% of employees claim that their company offers training on issues related to the ecological transition. Offering training on environmental issues is at the heart of the strategy of companies, which feel a duty to raise awareness and train employees on the ecological transition and, above all, to involve the entire organization in an environmental approach.

This is why our clients wanted to seize the opportunity of the Sustainable Development Week to reinforce the skills development of their employees around the ecological transition, by launching an animation on the platforms Coorpacademy by Go1!

Understand, Imagine, Act

If we had to remember 3 words to understand why training is essential to transform the company, we could remember the following: Understand, Imagine, Act. Indeed, understanding the stakes is key to be able to imagine the actions to be implemented within one’s own company or industry, and these two steps are crucial to take action.

It is in this context that we have suggested to our clients the animation “Become a Sustainable Development Actor”. This animation offers to the learners to train themselves through a playlist of 5 courses allowing them to develop “green” skills, which can help them to act daily in favor of the environment.

The objective being that as many employees as possible play the lessons in the playlist, several emails were sent to learners throughout Sustainable Development Week.

At the end of this animation, trees will be planted in honor of the users who participated. From then on, 1 tree will be planted for every 1000 questions answered, to encourage employees to complete all the courses in the playlist!

These trees that we are going to plant are part of a global project of reforestation of the French forest, in partnership with the company Naudet. Created in 1876, its main activities are the production and planting of young forest plants and the production of Christmas trees. More than 4,000 hectares are reforested each year for public and private owners and more than 20 million young plants are produced. Naudet Reboisement’s projects are managed from the production of the seedling to the planting, follow-up and maintenance of the plantation.

Why plant?

In the 1990s, 110 million trees were planted per year, today it is less than 30 million (Ministry of Agriculture). French forests are subject to fires, whether from natural or criminal sources. The environmental impact of a fire can also be considerable. And as we have witnessed in recent months, forest fires are increasingly numerous and devastating.

In addition to landscape modifications, there is the destruction of environments that are followed by biological losses (fauna and flora usual to wooded areas), the loss of soil quality and the significant risk of erosion, due to the increase in runoff on bare soil. Following these fires, species will regenerate naturally and come to dominate the open environment. It is important to reintroduce improved forest varieties by planting to restore production capacity. Therefore, large areas must be regularly replanted following these disasters.

With our partner, we are proud to be able to participate in our own way in the reforestation of our forests, while increasing the impact of training to change our behavior in a sustainable way!

Do you want to initiate the ecological transition of your company? Let’s talk.

2050: The HR Odyssey – Episode 4

Somewhere in the world, on a date you really don’t need, we have located an advanced technology that allows us to get into the daily lives of employees. This fantastic journey through the experiences of different employees will take you to the edge of the Future of Work and allow you to see the challenges of business transformation. Today in our odyssey, discover the daily life of Aloïs…

“Stop! You just committed a cyber offense by trying to get into this building that is not accessible to you in Metaville. I’m going to have to issue you a ticket.”

In the middle of the Metaverse, Aloïs had just tried to enter the offices of a prestigious metacouture house, which only produces virtual clothes.

“I just wanted to drop off my resume… I didn’t think it was punishable by a fine… Is this new metaloi?”

“Indeed. Find out what the rules are in your country, but in France, the parliament has just voted to set up a metaverse police force. There are many offences that were not dealt with before. Assaults, thefts, and… intrusions! But listen… if you really want to drop off your resume, why don’t you send it by email?”

“Hahaha!” exclaimed Aloïs. “Okay Zoomer. How about a text while you’re at it!”

“You young people… I sometimes forget that you were born with the Metaverse! It’s been 25 years already… I didn’t understand much about it at the time, and here we are in the middle of a conversation with the only physical interaction being smileys above our avatars” replied the metasecurity officer. “Well, I’m not going to fine you, but I can’t give you access, so you’d better go to Cyber Job.”

Aloïs replied with a smiling smiley face, which was immediately displayed above his virtual avatar, and then set off.

While his parents, real Zoomers from generation Z, used to tell him about Pôle Emploi at the time, today one could access these organizations in the metaverse and find… meta work.

“Hello and welcome to Cyber Job. How can I help you?”

An artificial intelligence was facing Alois. A virtual menu appeared before his eyes, offering several options:

1 – Registration

2 – Make an appointment with your virtual consultant

3 – Other request

It wasn’t the first time for Aloïs, who already knew his Cyber Job advisor well. She was the one who had sent him to the doors of Virtual Clothing this morning and who had almost cost him a fine. Maybe the AI data should be updated following the new cyber law… With this thought, Aloïs chose option 2. His advisor was available and Alois would soon be back in the real world for lunch.

“Hello Aloïs! How’s that job search going?”

“Not very conclusive, I was stopped at the doors of the building by a virtual security guard. Results of the races, I return to the starting point. Don’t you have any new offers for me?”

“What a shame. I apologize for the inconvenience. I will update this new information in my system to improve my service. Let me look at the new open positions. I’ll ask you for a moment.”

A loading icon indicated that his advisor was looking for Aloïs’ new opportunity. A few minutes later, Aloïs saw a notification appear on the side of his virtual headset: *New document available in your Candidate Area*

“I have just sent you several job sheets adapted to your profile. All your information and documents are ready to be sent. If you wish to apply, simply press the button at the bottom of each job description. Don’t hesitate to come back to me if you need more information!”

Aloïs ended the meeting and opened the sent document.

NEW POSITIONS AVAILABLE!

Metaverse Team Manager

As a metaverse specialist, you are able to manage a team of avatars in complete autonomy. Your main role is to build and maintain a virtual link with a team of 15 people in the world, within the virtual space of a global organization, directly from the metaverse. For more information, click here.

Metaverse Tourist Guide

Museums, cinema, architecture, there are so many beautiful things to discover in your Metaville! If you have a meta-digital dexterity and you want to accompany the new avatars in their discovery of the virtual world, apply here.

Metaverse Event Manager

Concerts, weddings, exhibitions, galas, corporate events… Are you a virtual event specialist? We need your skills to organize large-scale meta-events that make the eyes of the participants shine in their virtual helmet! If you recognize yourself in this ad, we invite you to click here.

Virtual avatar stylist

Virtual fashion has no secrets for you. You are aware of the latest NFT releases and virtual collections, you have a sense of aesthetics and a good address book? Become a virtual avatar stylist and help avatars navigate through virtual fashion. Ready to revolutionize meta-style? Click here to apply.

This last offer caught Aloïs’ attention. Maybe finally, his skills in 3D realization and his knowledge in virtual fashion will give him access to the building that was not open to him earlier…

Conclusion

In 2050, the job market will be reinvented. Changed by the emergence of the metaverse and new technologies, new professions will develop to manage this new “life” space. At the end of 2021, the American gaming expert Jon Radoff proposed four major families of jobs related to the metaverse and web 3.0. On this basis, Jérémy Lamri, CEO of Tomorrow Theory, has pushed the exercise even further by drawing up a list of 40 professions, which inspired this article.

Kintsugi or the art of making mistakes

Make mistakes. Blunder. That’s how you learn, and how you improve. Indeed, making mistakes is an integral part of any career and business life. While it is common to make mistakes at work, it is not often advisable to brag about them. And yet, it is always possible to make up for our mistakes. We didn’t invent this philosophy… It is directly inspired by Kintsugi (金継ぎ), a Japanese technique for repairing damaged porcelain and ceramics.

Kintsugi is an ancestral art that appeared in the Japanese archipelago in the 16th century. Its name comes from the contraction of kin (gold) and tsugi (joints). A true metaphor for resilience, Kintsugi consists of repairing objects by sublimating them with gold powder. The technique highlights cracks by making them aesthetically pleasing, rather than masking them. It strengthens and repairs, while enhancing the object. This art, both decorative and spiritual, can then be applied as a philosophy to everyday life, to assume who we are, with our flaws and our wounds.

So, let’s follow the 5 steps of Kintsugi together and see what lessons we can learn about accepting mistakes in business!

1- Putting the pieces back together

The first stage of Kintsugi consists of recovering the pieces of the object to be repaired in order to assemble them later using a putty obtained by mixing a lacquer (urushi) and a clay powder.

This first step, transposed to the case of the company, is the moment when the mistake was made. You become aware of the mistake, its internal and external consequences and you gather your strength for the next steps. As the expression goes: you will have to pick up the pieces. The pieces that have fallen apart because of your mistake. So, informing the people involved and expressing your regret will be the best way to start your Kintsugi.

2- Let time do the work

This ancestral Japanese art requires time. Indeed, after having gathered the pieces and delicately applied the resulting putty on the broken pieces in order to glue them back together, it is time to wait for the object to dry and for the resin to harden.

This drying phase is often compared to a healing process in the Kintsugi philosophy. The object takes time to rebuild, and so do you. After a mistake, time is often an ally. In the heat of the moment, you have not yet had time to heal and therefore to learn from your mistake. This healing phase will allow you to analyse what the mistake has shown about your skills or revealed about your situation.

3- Getting off to a good start

The third phase of Kintsugi consists of polishing the ceramics to remove any roughness or irregularities. A thin layer of lacquer should then be applied with a brush directly to the cracks, and finally, you should wait a few weeks for it to dry.

This phase, which comes just after the healing phase, may represent the mourning you have done for the past mistake. In effect, you are erasing the rough edges of your mistake, and you can now start afresh. You can refocus on the present, better prepare for the future and prevent possible mistakes from occurring.

4- Revealing the beauty of cracks

This is the moment we have been waiting for. The stage that brings out the beauty and delicacy of the flaws. The flaws are revealed by the gold powder used to cover and enhance them.

Now that the mistake is behind you and you can see more clearly, you can finally learn from it and appreciate the lessons. You fully recognise your skills and the reasons for your mistake, without trying to hide your shortcomings. You are stronger because the mistake is no longer a “roadblock” but a crucial event in your career, which taught you about yourself and your work.

5- Cultivating the art of imperfection

Finally, the last step is to polish the gold lacquered patterns to reveal their brilliance. However, it is advisable to leave a few defects on purpose to give relief, but also to assume the cracks and not to try to make the object “perfect”.

Perfection does not exist. It is a trap that can end up hampering your productivity. It is crucial to cultivate your new philosophy and accept that mistakes will happen. Learn to appreciate the small imperfections of life, personal or professional.

Accept imperfections, mistakes and sublimate flaws. This is the lesson that the art of Kintsugi teaches us. This philosophy allows us to be more peaceful and ready to deal with life’s irregularities and uncertainty. In today’s world, it is important to develop this state of mind, as many unforeseen events are paradoxically to be expected. Thus, working on the way one experiences difficult situations and conceives problems is crucial. If you approach a problem by being defensive and imagining the worst, it is likely to complicate its resolution. This is where training comes in. By developing essential soft skills such as coping, problem solving and resilience, we prepare ourselves for the uncertainties of the future. Finally, the art of Kintsugi also teaches us to detach ourselves from the passage of time, and to accept the change that is part of life, and of us. In an ever-changing world, this is perhaps the best lesson to learn.

Create now your certificates in total autonomy!

Discover how to create your certifications directly from Coorpmanager, your unique entry point to manage your platform in complete autonomy!

Certificates are a list of different courses available on your platform, but completion of which will allow the learner to validate a certificate. This feature allows you to train a specific population on a mandatory topic to ensure that your learners take the courses of your choice. By playing the certificate, learners will be rewarded with a badge, a diploma or additional stars on their Coorpacademy account.

Until now, the certificates were created at the request of our customers, through our Customer Success Managers. Many certificates have been created, such as an onboarding certificate for our client iQera, a CSR acculturation certificate for La Française des Jeux or a series of Digital Passport certificates for Michelin. Today, gain autonomy and benefit from a better customization of your platform by creating your own certificates!

To create your certificate, follow these steps:

Define general information

In the scrolling list on your left, go to the “Certifications” tab under Editorialization. Click on “Create certification”. You will be able to start defining the general information of your certificate: the language, the name of the certificate, the description and the associated logo. As you create your certificate, you will have the option to save your draft for later editing.

Translations

Once the general information is defined, it is possible to fill in the translations of this information. Translations are not mandatory.

Select courses

This is the time to select the courses that will be included. Courses are displayed in the default language of the platform. You can refine your selection by using the search bar, or the drop-down menu to choose what type of content you are looking for. You can choose as courses:

Classic courses; Custom courses; 5′ learning; External courses (podcast, article, video or scorm).

Course Settings

In this section, you can determine the number of courses that must be completed in order to obtain certification and manage the order in which the courses appear when completing the certificate.

Rewards

Last step before publishing your certificate! In this section, you have the possibility to reward your learners after the completion of the certificate. Among other things, you can define the number of stars earned, add a badge to be obtained and finally, make the certifying diploma available by importing a logo and a signature.

Once these 5 steps are completed, your certificate is ready to be published!

To authorize a user to create certificates, you will need to define roles within the Coorpmanager Administration tab. The “User” sub-section will allow you to assign roles and accesses to each user by clicking on one of them and selecting which roles are assigned to them. To give a user the ability to create a certificate, you will need to contact your Customer Success Manager. It is important to note that each role is assigned to the user you designate and not everyone will be able to change it in order to guarantee data security.

A digital escape game to train employees: how to adapt this format to your training challenges?

Innovative and fun formats are always a hit with learners on a digital learning platform. In any case, this is what we notice on our client platforms. The more immersive and engaging a format is, the more popular it is.

We wanted to come back to the initiative of SQLI, a European digital services group with 2,200 employees, which proposed a very original animation on its training platform… A digital Escape Game to raise awareness about recruitment and integration of people with disabilities! In this Escape Game, the situations are reversed: each level of the Escape Game takes the learner to a world where people suffering from attention deficit disorders, autism or visual impairment are in the majority. It’s up to the learner to adapt!

These initiatives are highly recommended to boost the engagement of your learners and this is confirmed when we know that SQLI observed a 280% increase in connections on the platform the week the course was published. So, how do you get hold of this magic recipe that works every time?

Identify a fun and engaging format

Learning without noticing it, isn’t it a dream? But it is possible when you learn through an entertaining format. Alexis Guillotin, Group Development and Training Manager at SQLI, testifies:

“We noticed the great success of a fun format among our teams: the digital Escape Game! It allows you to learn without realizing it, by solving riddles to move on to the next level! So we reused our existing initial content, bringing it into this new format to raise awareness among our employees while keeping the gamification aspect.”

Thus, and we have been certain of this since the creation of Coorpacademy, to make learning more impactful and make training a long-term success, the quality and originality of content is crucial.

2 ) Define a theme

Cluedo, Babel Forum, police investigation… The Escape Game can take place through a multitude of different themes, it’s up to you to imagine a scenario and an adequate universe, and which will allow you to rely on it to develop the desired skills.

Of course, you are not alone! Our educational team is there to co-construct the course and imagine together the form that the Escape Game could take.

3) Adapt the theme to your training objective

The effectiveness of your Escape game is certainly based on the educational mechanisms linked to its fun aspect, but you must not lose sight of your objective: to train on a particular subject or skill.

In the case of the Escape game designed by SQLI, the objective was to show how the five disabilities listed (essentially non-visible disabilities) impact the daily lives and therefore the work of the people concerned. This digital Escape game was designed as part of the European Week for the Employment of People with Disabilities (EWPD), and was used to raise awareness about the recruitment and integration of people with disabilities. The pitch was as follows: “Travel aboard a ship in other dimensions where the disabilities you know are mostly shared. Practice with our simulation module to better understand the daily consequences of each of these disorders and diseases.”

4) The icing on the cake: an excellent communication strategy

To make your digital Escape game a real success, it is essential to promote it to your learners. To do this, there’s nothing better than to make the event a success! You can plan an event to promote the course and think about an appropriate communication plan. We recommend that you send a teasing email to your learners one week before the launch, followed by follow-up emails throughout the course. Finally, a summary email with all the steps and solutions to the Escape game puzzles, to encourage employees to finish or redo the game at their leisure.

Whether you already have a theme in mind, or a subject on which you wish to develop a course… unlike any other, we are here to guide you. The co-production of your custom Escape Game can be done in as little as 3 months for a single level Escape Game! Contact your Customer Success Manager directly to discuss this, or go to [email protected] for support.

And if you are not yet a Coorpacademy customer but are interested in this innovative course format, do not hesitate to contact our sales team: [email protected]

2050: The HR Odyssey – Episode 3

Somewhere in the world, on a date you may one day need, we have located an advanced technology that allows us to immerse ourselves in the daily lives of employees. This fantastic journey through the experiences of different employees will take you to the edge of the Future of Work and allow you to see the challenges of business transformation. Today in our odyssey, discover the daily life of Gaudia…

“Hello Xoe. My name is Gaudia and I’m Coorpacademy’s mental health referent, formerly Chief Happiness Manager! How are you?”

“Hi Gaudia, nice to meet you! I’m doing very well thank you, how about you?”

“I’m doing very well too, I recharged my batteries well this weekend! You recently joined your team, and it’s time for the monthly wellness talks. Are you familiar with these talks?”

“Not really… Are you going to ask me any questions?”

“Indeed. The purpose of the monthly well-being interview is to evaluate the well-being of employees and to assess their needs and motivation. It’s a free and confidential exchange, it’s up to you to tick off the information you wish to disclose to your hierarchy once the interview is over through a report that is automatically displayed at the end of our interview. Are you comfortable with that?”

“It’s very clear thank you! Yes absolutely.”

“The interview can begin. First of all, how did your onboarding go? Do you have any specific comments about the conditions in which you were welcomed?”

“Hmm… I thought the onboarding was great! I was at a distance and I was still able to visit the premises, meet my team and talk with my manager thanks to the virtual onboarding. All my tools were in place, I didn’t encounter any major difficulties!”

“I see. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much would you rate your onboarding?”

“I would give it a 9. Only because I still would have liked to have physically come for my first day but it was a bad set of circumstances.”

“Thank you. So you found out about the office remotely, but you were able to get there quickly. Are you happy with your workstation? Do you have any unaddressed needs or difficulties booking a workspace?”

“No, it’s perfect!!! 10 out of 10. I love being able to change desks and vary my work environment. Each station is well equipped and comfortable, I really don’t see anything to add.”

“Noted. Now we’ll move on to a series of teamwork questions. How is it working with your new colleagues?”

As the interview progresses, Gaudia gradually gets to the questions of commitment to work, and the meaning Xoe gets from her assignments – “We’re almost at the end of our interview” she announces.

“We’re coming to the end of our interview soon,” she announces. “This is a more direct question I’d like to ask you. Do you find meaning in your work?”

“Indeed, that’s very direct! I should ask you the same thing. And you, Gaudia, do you find meaning in your work? Why are you a “Happiness Manager”?”

Gaudia takes more time to answer than usual. She installs a small pause, the time to collect her “thoughts”…-

“I am Gaudia, an artificial intelligence programmed for this role. My mission is to collect the information necessary to assess the well-being of employees and to promote engagement at work. I find it meaningful because without this job, I wouldn’t be here to talk to you Xoe!”

“I get it, for sure. Finally, with all this data, the meaning of your job is kind of the continuous improvement of employee well-being?”

“Exactly.”

No one had ever asked Gaudia that question. Her system hadn’t seen it coming and the interviews had always gone smoothly. So she built that variable into her internal algorithm, her digital brain as she likes to call it.

“Speaking of data, I need to ask you for permission to connect your health data to my system. This will allow me to collect data such as your fatigue rate, your heart rate or, if you are concerned, your cycle in order to plan your menstrual leave! Of course, you have the right to refuse access to this data at any time, and you can choose which data you want to track. All this remains confidential and the data is automatically deleted every 6 months. I’ll let you think about it of course! All necessary documents will be forwarded at the end of the interview. Well, thank you Xoe for your answers! Here is the report of our interview. As explained at the beginning, you just have to read it again, and check the information you want to keep confidential or not. We’ll see you next month, and this time no trick questions please.”

Conclusion

In 2050, the digitalization of companies will have changed the way we organize ourselves, but also the existing jobs.

Thanks to artificial intelligence and data, it will be possible for companies to take advantage of tools to improve certain processes, such as employee engagement.

Currently addressed during annual individual interviews, employee well-being can be better monitored if it is automated. This way, the information can be reported frequently and quickly. In addition, this will eliminate the relational bias that can sometimes create a barrier for employees who wish to confide in us about a situation.

This way, taking into account the well-being of employees as well as their level of commitment will be better monitored and will save time for managers. In addition, it will make the information flow more smoothly and thus accelerate the solutions implemented.

5 good CSR practices to remember

According to an IFOP study published in 2021, 84% of respondents believe that sustainable development should be a mandatory course in all vocational and higher education programs.

Today, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a strategic issue for companies. It is a crucial ingredient in the recipe of a company that is committed and concerned about its environmental, social, and economic impact, yet it is often relegated to the background. In this article, we propose an action plan in 5 key points to effectively engage your employees in an environmental approach!

Make your employees aware of environmental issues

The environmental issue is nowadays at the heart of people’s concerns. Your employees are therefore more and more sensitive to these issues. Nevertheless, the issue of climate change is not new, and if it is so difficult to change things, it is mainly because the work is dizzying: we can quickly feel overwhelmed. Thus, one of the keys to implementing an effective CSR strategy is above all to make employees aware of the complex challenges of the environmental issue. How can we do this? One way that has recently emerged and is gaining momentum is through the “Fresque du Climat”. “To act on climate change, we must first understand it”. Here is the conviction that the French association created in 2018 displays. It then proposes a cooperative and playful workshop that aims to raise public awareness of climate change. Being able to be carried out on-site or remotely, the “Fresque du Climat” is based on a game of cards proposing causes and consequences, and whose players must connect them. This allows everyone to link the causes and consequences of climate change and thus, to better understand the extent of the problem.

Develop the skills of the teams on the solutions to be implemented

Once they are aware of and ready to fight climate change, it is necessary to deepen the knowledge of employees, particularly in the search for solutions. Thus, increasing the competence of employees on environmental issues is crucial to implement short-term solutions and to already outline the long term. This can take several forms. First of all, you can extend the awareness phase with brainstorming and situation workshops to find solutions. This allows you to apply the knowledge learned and to identify the processes to be transformed. Moreover, each industry, each department, must find adapted solutions, and this can only be done through the first concerned: employees. Finally, to ensure that your commitment to the environment is not confined to a single day, it is important to guarantee continuous training on these subjects, which are evolving at lightning speed. This is why we also recommend integrating an online training solution that will allow you to train your employees on these issues daily. If digital learning is an indispensable tool to train all employees massively and quickly, it is also more engaging and fun, thus promoting employee interest in training.

Define a group of committed employees to promote the company’s CSR culture and involve all employees

To imagine a different way of doing things and transform the company, it is necessary to spread the CSR culture within the company, at the heart of each business. The multiplicity of actions to be taken is such that all employees must be involved in this approach. Thus, stakeholder management is essential to the success of this mission. On a more global level, we note that networks of companies committed to the social and ecological transformation of the economy are increasingly being formed. These initiatives, such as the Impact France network that recently participated in Cop26 or the Makesense organization that creates tools and programs for collective mobilization to take action and build an inclusive and sustainable society, give everyone the power to act. Thus, within the company, it is also useful to create groups of employees who wish to commit themselves to the ecological transition of their company. As pillars of the CSR strategy, they will help to mobilize teams around common objectives to instigate change and develop a collective dynamic.

Make the CSR strategy an integral part of the company’s overall strategy

An effective CSR strategy can only work if it is a long-term commitment for the entire company. Whereas in the past, a foundation or a donation could be enough to show their credentials, it is now essential for companies to adapt to new legislation such as the low-carbon objective proposed by the Paris Agreements. Therefore, it is essential to think of CSR strategy as an inseparable element of the global strategy. This is necessary so that the company can adapt upstream and take up the major challenges of tomorrow, instead of reacting on the fly (literally and figuratively), once it is too late. The idea is to banish greenwashing and accelerate a profound transformation of corporate activities. From then on, the CSR strategy must be supported and promoted by the whole company, starting with the top management. In concrete terms, the entire company must be involved because every decision and every action plan must be thought through by including CSR objectives and by establishing measures on the resulting impacts.

Objective: BCORP certification

The “B Corp” label is a certification granted by the independent NGO B-Lab. This label is awarded to companies that set extra-financial social or environmental objectives and that meet demanding criteria in terms of responsibility and transparency. To obtain this certification, 200 questions must be answered in five areas: governance, employees, communities, the environment, and customers. If you exceed 80 points, you can apply for certification. Why is this important? The “B Corp” label is an international movement that already brings together more than 4,000 companies of all sizes and sectors in 74 countries, including more than 145 in France. It is a sign of a committed company that wants to make a difference.

Want to go further? Discover our article on the skills you need to acquire to reinvent yourself!

Protecting biodiversity: an asset for companies

CSR, Stakeholders and Jobs: Everyone’s Business

Sustainable transformation in 20 questions

Do you have a plan B?

The game gradually began to slow down as they came out of the opening phase without having made a single mistake and entered a tight middle game, each having lost a knight and a bishop, with their kings well protected and no holes in any position… Negotiation can sometimes resemble the famous Netflix series, the Queen’s Gambit. Everyone is protecting their king and no one wants to end up with checkmate.

Negotiation processes are becoming more and more complex, often with a host of interlocutors to convince. The chess game becomes a tournament, where the stakes can be raised several times. Therefore, training in negotiation techniques is essential, in order to know simple techniques to implement to win the game.

The “Become a Great Negotiator” playlist includes lessons that will help you boost the negotiation skills of your teams. Agenda, plan B, haggling, managing emotions and toxic subjects, pauses and silences… This playlist is full of tips to know how to conduct your negotiation masterfully. Aimed at a wide audience, these courses will provide your employees with the essential basics to negotiate in all situations.

So essential that we have selected 5 principles that no one can ignore for a successful negotiation, and these pro tips are directly issued from the “Become a great negotiator” course playlist:

The plan B

In your negotiation you always want to keep the advantage, but it is possible to face a wall. That’s the whole point of your Plan B, which is there to make you stronger… in the negotiation of Plan A! Just as a game of chess can sometimes go against one of the players, the winner will be the one who is several moves ahead. Plan B is what you plan to do if you can’t reach agreement on Plan A. It must be concrete, unilaterally feasible and satisfactory, regardless of the current negotiation. Do not hesitate to disclose it whenever you need to, for example when your interlocutor, aware of a crucial deadline for you, intentionally shifts the discussions to increase the pressure on you.

Leading the discussion

Negotiations are often conducted with several people, unlike chess games. In a multiparty negotiation, you should make sure that you discuss with the strongest players first. This way, you can be sure that the agreement reached will not be questioned. This is also a way to get the minor players on board. In a chess tournament, the strongest players are the ones who will be the hardest to beat.

But be careful! In a partnership with several partners, it is necessary to identify the most important interlocutors and to negotiate with them first, without offending the others. This is the only way to avoid any form of pressure from your minor partners.

Negotiate on principles, not positions

Like Beth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit, anticipate! As a preventive measure, before starting the negotiation, systematically prepare yourself to have to explain the principles underlying each of your positions. Thus, you always begin by presenting the principle(s) that underlie your position, i.e. the reasoning that justifies it. Your counterpart will then have less time to prepare a response to this position, and will instead react to the reasoning.

And what if the opponent sees through your game? If he analyzes everything in detail and asks you to justify this or that point? Don’t be impatient! Keep your cool, don’t get overwhelmed like Beth did by getting depressed and drinking. Stick to the facts, avoid interpretation and present the proposals from the point of view of your partner’s interests.

Leading the meeting

In chess, as in poker, the attitude of the player is as crucial as his game. The expression “poker face” testifies to this. Emotions are put aside and the affective dimension does not pull any strings in the game. Conversely, in negotiation, the emotional dimension is very present before, during and after the game. But this is a trap, as negative emotions are contagious and can cause the discussion to fail. It is therefore necessary to keep business and emotions separate!

Nevertheless, unlike chess, cooperation is the most effective dynamic in negotiation. Indeed, if you treat your partner as an adversary, he will act like one and this can put obstacles to reaching an agreement.

Negotiation is one of the trickiest aspects of business and few people can claim to be true negotiators. But the good news is that negotiating is a skill that can be learned! Whether you’re negotiating deals with Chinese investors or discussing who’s going to cook tonight, the principles of negotiation are the same.

Find out how to become a great negotiator :

The fundamentals of negotiation

Do you speak emojis?

💡 92% of online users use emojis according to an Emogi study. Most commonly used to make a point or share feelings, they have become an integral part of our daily lives. Yet interpreting emojis may become increasingly difficult with the advent of new technologies such as animated emojis or augmented reality, according to Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University and author of the article “Emojis and the Law”, published in the Washington Law Review.

Originating from the Japanese “e” (image) and “moji” (character), the word Emoji means drawn letters. These emoticons have been democratised by communication developers such as Apple and Android over the last 10 years, but the first emoji was created in 1999 by Japanese artist Shigetaka Kurita. Today, there are more than 2,000 of them, they have their own World Emoticon Day – 17 July – and are embedded in 2.3 trillion mobile messages every year.

💬 The new codes of communication

Social networks and instant messaging allow us to communicate massively and quickly, whenever we need to. Thus, communication today relies on a tool that allows us to share information more quickly and emojis aim to shorten our messages, to save even more time and to respond to a message in a simple emoticon. They have become an almost universal form of communication, a 🙂 emoji will be the same in France, Spain, the United States as well as in Japan, and it is still difficult to do without them today to give a more human tone to your virtual message.

🚀 An opportunity for businesses

Emojis have become indispensable for punctuating a sentence, accentuating an emotion or slipping an innuendo into a digital conversation. Indeed, some companies or associations are taking advantage of emojis for their advertising campaigns: Domino’s Pizza recently launched a Twitter campaign where people from all over the world could tweet the company with the Pizza Emoji to order one. Associations have also understood the effectiveness that these emojis can bring to their digital communication, such as the nature conservation organisation WWF, which launched an awareness 2.0 campaign using Emojis through the hashtag #EndangeredEmoji in 2016. Thus, it is clear that emojis are no longer just a private conversation and are no longer considered a decorative or innocuous element; they represent a new and improved form of language that has its roots in digital, breaking down language barriers for brands.

And it works! According to a 2019 study by Adobe, more than half of emoji users are more likely to engage with brands that use emoticons online: 60% say they like it when a brand uses emojis that match their personality, 51% say they are more likely to comment on a social media post when it contains emojis, 48% are more likely to follow a brand, and 44% are more likely to buy a product as a result of an advert using emojis.

👥 And for employees

The Adobe study also reveals that 61% of emoji users also say they use emoticons at work, most often (36%) with people at their own level. Employees who use emojis at work report a positive influence on friendliness and camaraderie among colleagues. Indeed, 78% believe that emojis have this influence on affinity between professionals, 74% also say that emojis make positive information or feedback more sincere and 53% believe that they make negative information or feedback easier to accept.

So check out our tips for speaking digital Esperanto at work:

1/ Use emojis yes, but sparingly

The purpose of emojis is not to abuse them. They can be used to soften a message or to structure a post on social networks between several paragraphs, but be careful not to use them to punctuate each of your sentences.

2/ Beware of double meaning emojis!

The same emoji can have different meanings in different cultures, and therefore be a source of misunderstanding. There are already some pitfalls you can avoid:

🙏 Two hands placed firmly against each other, meaning “please” or “thank you” in Japanese culture, have turned into high-fives in our Western cultures.

🍑 Some fruits and vegetables have been hijacked and are no longer truly representative of the produce department we know.

😭 The “Crying Face” emoji is more commonly used to express intense feelings, such as uncontrollable laughter, pride or overwhelming joy. It became the most used emoji on Twitter in 2021, ahead of the “Face with tears of joy” emoji.

To make sure you don’t get it wrong, refer to the emoji encyclopedia.

3/ Test the ground before you start

Find out what people are doing before you start using this new digital language! Take the time to observe whether emojis are common in exchanges and with whom it is more appropriate to use them. The risk? That your message is interpreted as too familiar or impolite.

4/ The keyboard shortcut is your ally

To find your emojis on windows, type Windows logo key + . (dot). This will bring up the emoji keyboard. Select an emoji with the mouse or keep typing to search for an emoji among those available.

If you are a Mac user, simply press Control + Command + Spacebar simultaneously. A window will open in the middle of the screen allowing you to choose from the thousands of emojis in the catalogue.

5/ Be yourself

Finally, emojis can be compared to the non-verbal communication we use in real life. The important thing is to be yourself and not to overdo it, nor to force ourselves to use them if we are not comfortable!

The development of digital technology has forced us to adapt to new forms of communication and to adopt new practices. The introduction of emojis into our online conversations has democratised them, making them an integral part of our digital culture. As society has evolved, emojis have also diversified, offering different skin tones, gender-neutral emojis, and even taking disabilities into account. In fact, 73% of emoji users would like to have more options for customising emojis to better reflect their personal appearance and identity. Thus, the Emoji is now part of modern culture and impacts our daily communication. It has become a form of language that is understood by the majority and should be used wisely.

Tag: soft skills