Let's tell it like it is!

The benefits of explicitness within organizations

I believe in saying things directly, openly and straightforwardly. In business, as elsewhere, you have to have the courage to face problems head on, to express what needs to be expressed, otherwise you can't move forward. And I have this conviction that whatever the situation, whatever the audience, there is always a way to tell the truth simply.

That's precisely why I was recruited as Chief People Experience Officer at Talentsoft last October: the company needed a French-Canadian - me! - who explains the unsaid, who sometimes highlights where it hurts in order to explain, remedy, amend what needed to be, and always mobilize.

Because at Talentsoft, there is this essential will to transform the corporate culture to allow everyone to express themselves more. So that our employees, empowered in this way, have the desire to fully commit themselves. So that constructive exchanges can emerge, to the benefit of the entire structure. Finally, so that we can develop what is at the heart of Talentsoft's business: human capital. Challenge accepted.

Explicitness as a response to the crisis

The day before Emmanuel Macron's announcement of the covid-19 confinement, we and the management team spent the whole day in meetings in a tense atmosphere. Less than six months after my arrival, my daily life - like that of so many others - was changing: crisis management, work organisation, short-time working mechanisms, changes in legislation, etc. In this unprecedented context, the HR team's sole priority takes on a support role.

Together with CEO Jean-Stéphane Arcis and the entire management team, we wanted to maintain frequent and close contact with staff in all countries throughout the confinement - much more, in fact, than we would normally do. The switch to partial activity for two months at the rate of one day a week with 100% salary security, the request made to employees to voluntarily take five days off: we were careful to always explain to them why we were taking these decisions, without hiding any information to overprotect them, without being anxious either. Employees told us how much they appreciated this transparency.

Even before confinement, I had identified the transition from an implicit to an explicit culture as a major issue for Talentsoft. With the crisis, it became obvious: everyone now saw the importance of transparency. A trend that must now be preserved and nurtured, throughout the entire structure. 

Explicitness as a new corporate culture

Transparency, explicitness - sometimes even assuming a certain vulnerability - are the basis of a new trust. Trust that must irrigate the three concentric circles of the company.

First circle, the employees themselves, who must be confident enough to express their convictions, skills, experiences and emotions freely, knowing that they will be listened to and taken into account. Employees are the heart of the reactor: it is on them that we want to refocus our corporate culture.

Second circle, the Team Managers, who must also know how to express their expectations towards their employees, their colleagues, their own N+1s. They must learn to delegate more widely, to take a step back to allow their teams to see the light. Employees feel this when they are trusted, when they are less controlled, in remote-work for example. They then have more space to take initiatives.

The last circle is that of the company itself: it is up to the board of directors to create the conditions for explicit and transparent expression throughout the structure - by already being exemplary in this respect itself, as it is increasingly so.

This liberation of speech goes hand in hand with accountability at all levels - "I don't wait and see, I express my needs, and so I take matters into my own hands". It is a factor of fulfilment, commitment and creativity for employees, and therefore of attractiveness for the company, which will thus be increasingly able to attract and retain talent.

Now that we've said all this... How do we do it, concretely?

I don't have much belief in "good practices", in "guidelines"... There are no shortcuts: there has to be a global awareness, and for that you have to take the time.

Taking the time to listen to employees and their various concerns - making it explicit is also that - as I had started to do before the confinement: gender equality, pay, governance, strategy vs. tactics... By explaining to employees that we wouldn't find solutions overnight, but that we were aware of their expectations and that we would work with them.

Then, take the time to carry out these individual and collective transformations through training and coaching programs. Each individual leads his own reflection and traces his own path. All this is worked on.

And now it's interesting to wonder if the hardest part is really behind us?

Yes in a way because the rather immediate fear of the disease recedes, life returns to a more normal rhythm BUT won't the challenges that come along be more complex? More difficult to grasp? For example, it may be easier to function with 100% of people working remotely than with 50%. Transition phases are important moments, rich in learning and growth of our skills, but also rich in complexity, blurred areas, constant adaptation to a changing reality...A great challenge for HR teams who will have to manage the exception, the personalization of practices and policies - a great challenge also for managers who have to continue to reinvent employee support. Perhaps the biggest challenges are yet to come, if the hardest part is really behind us?