While energy, biotech and digital tech are still promising areas of expertise at Grenoble Ecole de Management, other sectors have suffered greatly from the Covid crisis. How can these sectors adapt and innovate to overcome this situation? What training options are available to help them after the crisis?
In all sectors, the Covid-19 crisis did not lower demand for skill training. At GEM, several trends are becoming apparent: "Currently, when Grenoble Ecole de Management 'loses' a work/study student it's because the participant has accepted a long-term contract. The same goes for data jobs such as data analyst or scientist, which are in high demand. The crisis has reinforced demand for short-term training in digitalization for various jobs such as the Digital HR Certificate delivered by gem," highlights Gaël Fouillard, director of Executive Education at GEM.
Greater agility and co-innovation
At the same time, we are noticing greater demand for specific skills related to the crisis: "How to innovate with less resources, manage projects, implement agile management and design thinking… All of these are efficient means to manage the consequences of the crisis. The idea is how to do more with less, and in particular, how to do things differently in order to cooperate, co-create and increase innovation, especially for customers and suppliers. Re-focusing on sales and marketing will also be essential for many companies," adds Gaël.
Certificates and degrees to improve skills
GEM offers various certificates and degrees that help improve one's employability. "Growing unemployment in future months will certainly encourage employees to rethink their positions and re-orient themselves towards new jobs, in particular digital jobs. Employees in support jobs such as HR and communications could also evolve towards consultant jobs, project managers, IT systems or coaches. The Badge Coach or the IT Systems Manager program are examples that could help support employees make such changes successfully," says Gaël.
A change in program format
"During the crisis, we switched all of our company training programs to online solutions. For custom programs, we adapted to our clients requests: either to switch to online solutions or delay training to a later date. Several of our clients asked us to rethink our training in order to offer new solutions come September."
GEM is currently working to expand its short-term training offer in order to offer highly digitalized programs while still favoring a blended approach that mixes digital and face-to-face training.
Managing with resilience
GEM is also developing its expertise on economic peace. "Over the short-term, companies will have to face challenges in terms of starting up their activities and supporting teams that were highly disrupted by the lockdown and the crisis. This is really the time for managers to learn about Servant leadership, how to listen to their team members, in order to anticipate and manage worry and stress caused by this unique situation. We recently launched an online training certificate on the topic of managing with resilience, which focused on telecommuting and management during a crisis. It's a highly operational program focused on practical solutions for companies in this particular context."
A unique offer for training programs
- The GEM Learning Model implements a teaching philosophy built around active participation through tools such as serious games. "Interactive learning methods are particularly underlined for online training in order to ensure a unique learning experience."
- GEM has integrated and extended its off campus learning models, in particular for companies, by offering programs to train teachers, which will be essential for work/study and custom programs.
- Program topics focus on relevant issues related to the crisis such as technology and innovation management, customer orientation or economic peace.
