HOMELidea Academy is the internal university of Lidea, Euralis’s Seed Division. Its ambition is to develop the skills and leadership of Lidea’s managers by drawing on the expertise and know-how of its teams and serving the division’s strategic priorities. Four areas of training are covered through a variety of original teaching formats and an approach that breaks with academic tradition, focusing instead on agility, ease of implementation and measurable post-training effectiveness.
The Lidea Academy is an internal university unlike any other, the result of a collaborative effort from its conception to its implementation. « In creating an internal university, we set ourselves several objectives » explains Jean-Michel Mathieu, HR Development Manager. « The first is to strengthen the leadership of our teams spread across 16 different countries. This multicultural dimension is at the heart of our educational objectives, and our ambition is to enable employees to contribute even more effectively to the achievement of the division’s strategic objectives. By identifying internal experts who could participate in the design of the modules and co-facilitate them, we also aim to leverage the skills capital within the division and develop the commitment and motivation of the teams, both contributors and learners. » Of course, these modules are also linked to those offered by Campus Euralis, the Group’s training centre.
Varied and original teaching formats
« When we designed the training modules, » continues Jean-Michel Mathieu, « we wanted them to be short, easy to digest, and varied in format. These knowledge capsules can be made available via e-learning or used in tailor-made training sessions. The emphasis was also placed on efficiency and pragmatism: remote assessments are carried out to ensure that the concepts or methods taught have been understood by participants and applied in their daily work. »
Several formats are available, depending on the topics covered:
- E-learning focusing mainly on the specificities of Lidea’s professions: the modules are short and can easily be integrated into the agenda.
- Podcasts: mainly intended for sales staff, who spend a lot of time on the road. This is a simple and fun way to explore a specific topic.
- Expert videos: short and entertaining.
- Team-building workshops focused on real-life cases.
- Coaching and micro-coaching: to focus on a specific case to be resolved.
- Co-development (see box below).
Some formats – notably e-learning – are co-developed by teaching specialists from Lidea’s internal university and internally identified experts. « We started by taking stock of existing materials, » explains Aurélie Isure, Internal Communications Manager and Mobility Manager at Lidea. « And we realised that we had a wealth of raw material at our disposal, including presentations, product sheets, operating procedures, and more. This material was very useful in designing the modules and identifying the experts we needed to bring on board. For them, it’s rewarding to see their knowledge highlighted and their expertise recognised. »
Several areas of training
Four main areas of training have been identified, with specific teaching formats for each:
- Technical expertise (agronomy, industry, R&D, marketing, finance, IT): e-learning, podcasts, expert videos, websites, micro-sessions, etc.
And, alternating with the training courses offered by the Euralis Campus:
- Leadership and management (leadership model, prevention of psychosocial risks, managerial posture, feedback model, change management, management cycle): co-development sessions, management cases, coaching, team building, etc.
- Soft skills (assertiveness, personal effectiveness, communication, feedback model, living with change): e-learning, podcasts, expert videos, websites, etc.
Interim results in figures
In the leadership and management modules, there have already been around 20 co-development sessions (particularly in research and marketing), 10 feed-back model sessions and 3 team-building sessions (research and industry). That’s more than 200 employees trained.
In terms of technical expertise, 90 employees have been trained in Lidea’s sales and coaching methods in Romania, Poland and Germany. « We are very satisfied with the programme – which we wanted to be light and agile – and with the roll-out of the modules: employees are keen to participate and give positive evaluations at the end of the modules and during remote reviews. This bodes well for the future and encourages us to continue the process and distribute expertise simply, quickly and effectively to the right place at the right time, » concludes Béatrice Duverneuil, HR Director at Lidea.
Focus on co-development
Some training modules use co-development. The unique feature of this teaching approach is that it identifies an employee facing a professional problem and invites their peers to work with them to find practical solutions. At the end of the session, an action plan is drawn up and a remote review is organised to ensure that the recommendations are relevant and effectively implemented. This simple and engaging method makes it fairly easy to assess the return on investment and educational effectiveness.
ABOUT LIDEA
At Lidea, we believe that seeds are the foundation of the entire global food chain. For more than 80 years, our commitment to agricultural research and genetic progress has enabled farmers to fulfil their essential mission: feeding the planet. As a company focused on the needs of farmers, Lidea offers a comprehensive range of high-quality seeds and customised solutions to optimise farm profitability throughout the year. Its portfolio covers a wide range of crops: maize, sunflower, cereals, rapeseed, fodder crops, soya, sorghum and cover crops. Each variety is developed to meet the specific requirements of the human food, animal feed and energy markets, combining performance and sustainability.
Press contact: Nathalie Salmon – +33 (0)6 48 08 52 88 – nathalie.salmon@euralis.com