‍What is the background to the Smart Working project with NUMA?

The Smart Working project has been carried out on a large scale, and proposed to all the managers of the Axa group. Smart working is about the new ways of working that we are discovering and the challenges that lie behind teleworking and hybrid working in particular: a model that is constantly evolving and the need to adapt to it.

We had already deployed a few distance learning courses without much success; we were therefore particularly careful to find a partner who designed his courses for distance learning: both in terms of duration and content or facilitation by a coach.

What were your challenges and goals with this training? 

The human resources department had identified 3 major challenges, 3 managerial postures towards which we wanted Axa managers to strive, and which we summarized as "3 Cs: Cohesion, Communication, Coach". Our objective was to train managers by emphasizing these 3 managerial dimensions in a hybrid environment, so we deployed the Asynchronous Communication, Hybrid Steering and Manager Coach workshops, which corresponded perfectly to our needs.

How did NUMA manage to adapt to your needs and your own operation?

We decided not to personalize the content too much, in order to invite managers to take a step back from their daily life, and not to stop on the technical aspect but to be concentrated on the management posture. 

What we found important was to inform the coach of events that could impact the sessions, to establish his understanding of the participants' context. For example, during the Hybrid Steering workshop, the managers were in the process of reviewing their team agreements to collaborate in hybrid. The coach referred to this to align the workshop with the participants' daily challenges.

What have you put in place internally to engage participants throughout the program? 

As the training is not mandatory, one of our objectives at the launch of the program was to arouse the participants' desire and make them aware of their margin of progress in areas in which they sometimes have the impression that they have seen everything. We therefore created a rarity: each manager could only choose to participate in 2 of the 3 workshops deployed, each having therefore begun to identify his or her areas of development by choosing the workshops.

We also organized the communication by involving several parties: 

Group HRD: raising awareness of the management committee by presenting the project and its value, and involving the management committee in promoting it to operational teams.

HRBPs: promotion of the program during their interactions with managers, both in meetings and individually.

The project team: communication by e-mail, which goes into a little more detail about the sessions and their progress, introduces the coaches who will intervene and projects the participants into the concrete.

What did you appreciate in your collaboration with the project team?

The project team identified and understood our needs very well from the start, including the deployment urgency in which we were operating. I felt like I was in direct partnership with NUMA, with a whole team working together to provide the solution we needed. The process is well established, from the briefing to the follow-up of the invoices, it is exemplary. The transparency throughout the project is also remarkable: for example, we are always told that we will have access to participant feedback in real time, which is rarely the case in practice. With NUMA, we have access to a dashboard that allows us to closely monitor each module.

What was the most important aspect of the program for your employees?

The quality of the speakers is undoubtedly important. Beyond their mastery of remote facilitation, NUMA coaches are convinced of the value of the practices they defend, and are therefore able to create dialogue and welcome objections without compromising their convictions, which gives them credit.

The duration and the rhythm of the sessions were unanimously appreciated, alternating between practical cases in small groups and plenary sessions. It's simple, in 2 hours you can't do anything else as the sessions are so stimulating and require active participation. Finally, participants appreciate receiving a summary sheet to ensure that they can apply the techniques learned in their daily lives.

Did you achieve your goals with this training? How could you go further?

Our objective was largely achieved: we trained our managers, with a great level of satisfaction (4.5/5), some managers are now promoting it themselves... 

This partnership with NUMA has also reconciled us with distance learning, particularly because the entire NUMA team is convinced of its value proposition and aligned with this unique model of 2-hour distance learning with 12 participants. It's a daring positioning but one that works and gives us confidence.