Marie-Gabrielle's Blog

My Alcan Day

My Alcan Day

by Marie-Gabrielle 

My Alcan Day part I: How she began looking for a White Rabbit

Once upon a time, there was a 20-year old student who was willing to discover the Human Resources world. She waited a long time to see the inside of a universe in which experience, not expertise, was the key, but so far she wasn't very lucky.

One day, while she was at school, she was surprised to receive an offer from a modern kind of fairy godmother, in the form of an international company. They proposed every interesting interested student a chance to spend an entire day in a young manager shoes, in all sorts of departments. The selection process was long, harsh and the number of candidates was quickly decreasing, yet it didn't discouraged our heroine who wanted to fulfill her dream.

But when she chose the Human Resources department, she didn't know what was behind this secret door... She was curious nontheless, and like Alice in Wonderland, she opened her eyes and her ears to learn everything she could during this day, though unlike Alice she had a pencil and a note pad with her, and above all a numerical camera ! Here is one of the pictures she took during this day :

It's a picture of a road and several trees in front of a mountain. Beautiful, isn't it ?

And in this marvelous environment, she discovered the very secret of the HR world...

TO BE CONTINUED.

My Alcan Day (2)

My Alcan Day part II: Following the White Rabbit

“I’m late, I’m late, for an important date!” our young heroin kept repeating while waiting for a cab on the cold night of March the 9th: just after arriving in Grenoble (pict 0030), South of France, she had had the nicest call, reminding her that se had to go as soon as possible to the Ciao A Te, where her own White Rabbit was waiting for her. So she crossed the dark town, and finally arrived in front of the Rabbit hole. “My, my, what is waiting for me in here?” she thought while entering. She discovered a crowded but warm place, full of color and of noises, and a black-tied waiter indicating her the way to her table.

“Here I am, and there is no coming back now.” But her fright soon fled away when she realized that her White Rabbit was completely welcoming her, and being oh-so-smart, kind, funny and open. Not only was she –for our heroin White Rabbit was a woman- listening to her questions and answering as best as she could, but she was genuinely interested in the young student, who was jotting down as many things as she could. As always, our Alice was greedy to learn, particularly if the Rabbit was ready to be not only her guide, but also her coach, for the next day, opening her the doors of the mysterious HR world.

“How can I possibly sleep, when there are so many things left unseen?” Safe in her hotel bed, our heroin couldn’t close her eyes, imagining the fantastic day coming, and all the secrets she was going to discover…)

Clients and suppliers

Good morning people,

and welcome in our show, Inside the HR world, with our special HR expert, Marie-Hélène Vernisse. Let me remind you, dear readers, that you can find an exhaustive biography of Marie-Hélène in the post My Coach, and a quick overview in our previous edition of Inside the HR world, dedicated to innovation and innovators.

This week’s topic is about clients and suppliers, which can seem surprising in HR. Marie-Hélène, what can you tell us about it?

Well, first you’re right, I don’t have clients and suppliers in the literal sense of the words, but I still provide a service to the managers, and thus, they can be considered as my clients. They judge me in function of the basic ratios quality/cost, quality/delay, and cost/delay, and I have to respect their needs and demands.

So, basically, the managers are your clients, and the employees your suppliers?

[Laugh] No! That’s a lot more complicated than that: in reality I don’t think I have “suppliers”, and in any case, the workers are not my suppliers. My job is to make sure that there is the right person at the right place, with the highest motivation possible! And all this to respond to the needs of the managers, that is to say, of the company to reinforce its competitiveness: my clients’ strategy becomes my own.

Hum, let’s see, you’re saying that you have clients, the managers, but no suppliers, for you’re providing a service. Is that right?

Perfectly!

Well, thank you Marie-Hélène for your clear explanations, and we hope to receive you again in another number of Inside the HR world.

If you liked this edition of Inside the HR world, you can also read the numbers dedicated to Innovations and innovators, the International, and many others are on their way…

Innovations and innovators

Good morning everyone,

and welcome in our special edition of Inside the HR world.

This week, we'll dedicate our emission to innovations and innovators, and we'll show you how the Human Resources Department is not only affected by innovations and innovators, but is at the very centre of this problematic.

First, we'll do a quick presentation of our guest, Marie-Hélène Vernisse, HR Manager in Voreppe, near Grenoble. She's 30, and takes care of the entire site of Voreppe. But unlike many sites, Voreppe is not only one structure, it’s composed of various small "chapels", as we like to call them, with no links between them, except for the HR and the Financial departments. That way, there is incredibly more negotiation, because there is no hierarchy: Marie-Hélène’s boss, Spiros Casdas, the Director of the Human Resources, is also the vice-president of all the technologies, so he’s often away, working on other problems, leaving her with everyday trouble.

So, Marie-Hélène, tell us, why is innovation at the very core of your work? Are you an innovator?

Well, first, as you mentioned it, I have to deal with everyday trouble, so I oftentimes have to solve ten different problems at the same time. That’s one of the main reasons why I love my job, (on that point, please refer to My Coach, Part One), but this requires an innovator spirit. Each problem is different, and when it’s not a new one, it involves different people, so you can’t always use the same solution. I have to make up most solution, discover another viewpoint for the workers to be content. I work in innovation, but also in optimisation, because I have to use the resources at our disposal, and build the best way out of them.

Basically, you build solutions like some people build the Eiffel Tower using LegoTM?

Yes, but not only. There is also the innovation in terms of organization, you can organize a new unit for example. In 1999, when I was working in a plant in Gardanne, we had to build, ex-nihilo, a Logistical Unit to be the link between the productions constraints and the commercials purposes. So we had to decide everything, from the number of workers, their activities, the hierarchy, to the means they were going to need, etc. Here in Voreppe, it’s slightly different, because of the structure of the site. But once again, we’re confronted with unheard-of issues thanks to this structure, and then, everything has still to be invented…

Thank you very much, Marie-Hélène, and dear readers, we will remind you that you can find other numbers of Inside the HR world, particularly concerning Clients and suppliers, the international and so many more to come…

About my coach (3)

The fabulous destiny of Marie-Hélène Vernisse 

Part Three : A Woman in a Men's world

The HR world, along with the Marketing Department, are often labeled as "women department", or at least I thought so. When I asked Marie-Hélène, she simply laughed.

"Maybe at a lower level, but honestly, in HR as everywhere else, the managers are often men. "

In her former office, in a plant, she was one of the only two female executives, out of a dozen.

Plop ! another bubble of dream bursts. But as in every other field, Marie-Hélène keeps smiling and takes charge : she's a woman, but she's also competitive and smart. So, there is no reason whatsoever for her not to succeed, right ? I have now to precise something : she used to work in a plant. which means a lot of male workers, and she was their HR manager. When they had a problem, she was their savior. Want to know her secret ?

"As long as you respect people, they will respect you. My coworkers know that I respect them and trust me not to abuse my position, even if I'm clearly on the managers side."

Waouh. Efficient, isn't it ? She's treated as an equal because she treats people as equals and because she definitely has expertise, and where no expertise is available, experience.

"That's what I liked in my school (NDLR: L'Institut de Gestion des Ressources Humaines), was that our teacher were all professionals, and they were talking about their experiences. And we also had a lot of practical work to do, and long internships too."

So, yeah, basically, Marie-Hélène may seem young, but she's been studying since she's even younger...

Here I include a picture of Marie-Hélène amongst her Unions representatives (you can learn more about that part of my Alcan day... posted very soon). I know that the photograph is a little fuzzy, but you can still see the contrast between Marie-Hélène (center right), and the three slightly sterner men sitting with her. And try and remember that they're fresh out of a negociation ! And ther're not faking their smiles, because, they worked hard, but found an agreement in a friendly atmosphere !

I think that this pictures illustrates quite well who is Marie-Hélène Vernisse. She's a hard-working woman amongst hard-working men. She's an executive, but she's fair with everyone. She's a take charge woman, feminine but practical. She's a mother and wants to set an exemple for her daughters.

About my coach:

Part One : First Impression

Part Two : A Mother and an Executive

Part Three : A Woman in a Men's world

About my coach

The fabulous destiny of Marie-Hélène Vernisse

   

Part One : First impression

            Everything begun on a cold Wednesday in Grenoble, in the South East of France. After a three-hour travel that had worn me out (mostly because I've been working my statistics the whole morning too ;-) ), after fifty minutes taxing (ie waiting for a cab and the explaining to the driver, who didn't seen to understand, where I was going) I finally arrived at the Ciao A Te, a cosy Italian restaurant where I was supposed to meet Marie-Hélène, my Alcan coach for the next 36 hours. It was a cold night and it was late, but somehow, Marie-Hélène was smiling. She had just spent an hour working in a crowded restaurant (because of the late arrival of my train), but as I entered and saw her, I immediately felt welcome. She was joking with everyone, talking, but also listening to me and asking questions ("of course", she said when I made her the remark, "otherwise you might have felt like my analyst !"). To put it in a nutshell, Marie-Hélène is nothing but a fantastic human being.

            The dinner went on and on, Marie-Hélène and I interviewing each other and sharing a laugh when finally settling for the same dessert (profiteroles au chocolat, humm). Then she drove me to my hotel, telling me the places she liked to go in Grenoble, describing the atmospheres and the people, then looking at me while I was crossing the 50-meter-large place, separating the street from the entry (for more information, please go to the Second Part : Mother and Executive), and making sure everything went right, and driving back home only once I was secure behind close doors. That's how when I was finally alone in the room, I didn't felt left alone, though I was in an unknown city, where nobody knew my name, and with no one to talk to (that's because at that time it was 11:30PM). I knew that she'll be there the next morning, talking to me, explaining and answering. She had truly became my coach.

About my coach :

Part One : First Impression

Part Two : Mother and Executive

Part Three : A Woman in a Men's world

How to navigate in my blog

Welcome on my blog !

Here you'll discover everything about the fantastic day I spent at the Alcan quarters of Voreppe, about my also fantastic coach, Marie-Hélène Vernisse, and her job, HR manager, but also about a lot of other things !

In order to facilitate your reading (and my posting), rather than writing long posts, I will piblish them as episodes of a story under the same name. Right away, you can check out the first two episodes of About My Coach.

Have fun, and don't hesitate to post on my blog in order for me to improve it !!

about my coach (2)

The fabulous destiny of Marie-Hélène Vernisse 

Part Two: Mother and Executive

           As a every twenty-something female student I'm often wondering how I'm going to manage a balance between my professional and private life. That's the tricky question every wicked recruiter asks to any female applicant, for there is no good answer. As a good student, ready to learn, I asked it to Marie-Hélène (in fact, it was my second question to Marie-Hélène, right after "why did you choose the RH ?"). Her answer was mythical:

"I have a very good husband."

Waouh. I was in shock. It's not something you can tell during an interview, but that is the secret: you don't do it alone. At that very moment, I realized that Marie-Hélène had it all: a career and a balanced family life. But that was because she was building them every day, thanks to the wonderful science of time management.

           Marie-Hélène is 30, she has two young daugthers (Océane and Camille) and a working husband AND she's a successful executive in a fast-growing company. At the office, everybody knows that she works from 7:30AM to 6PM. At 6PM sharp, she's gone (okay, make that 6:15, but not another minute!). During this time she's focused, hard-working and consciencious. From 7PM to 8PM, it's mother-time. She plays with her daughters then puts them to bed. Afterwards, she can, if need be, switch back on worker mode and connect on the Intranet to ckeck out her latest work. She's also alway available, either during week-ends or vacations; she lets her cell phone on "in case I'm missed and needed", she says.

            And what about travel, now that she's working for an international company with its headquarters in Canada ? Well, she takes the best out of it, takes advantage of the long-time trips in business class, and the wonderful places she discovers (here you can see a picture from her latest trip in Québec), then she brings something back to her daughters to show them that even away, she thought about them. She makes an occasion of feast and joy out of a week-long absence: that way, her daughters know that their mom is working, and has a life outside the house, all the while being there for them anythime they need her.

"You can't have a successful working-life if you don't have a balanced life, and that includes a family life."

      

       Here is her secret for balanced professional and personal lives : they are entwined, but not taking place over each other. And the most important thing is, of course, her family.

See other parts :

Part One: First Impression

Part Two: Mother and Executive

Part Three : A Woman in a Men's world

Rules and regulation of my blog

For once, I'll try to be serious while I'm writing a post.

You're currently on my blog, and you can write me any comment you juge useful or funny... HOWEVER there are some rules. Nonetheless, a compadre of mine was kind  enough to post them before me. Since the same rules apply, just go and read them on David's blog.

And, David, thank you.

About me

Hi everyone !

Here we are ! The big opening of my blog, my first post (er... almost). And all that to achieve the unique goal of answering this question :

WHO IS MARIE-GABRIELLE ?

Tough question ! And I don't think I have the answer. But I'll try to make you discover her in the best way I can.

I was born during the coldest winter of the last three decades in France. But to make it bearable for a new-born, I came into the world in a well-heated hospital in the south of France, in Toulouse. As I had absolutely no intention of being born on the Day of the Dead people (November the 2nd), but wanted my birthday to be a day during which I could always rest, I chose a public holiday instead, November the 1st. It was my very first decision.

Like most Alcan bloggers, I'm quite multicultural. Now, my mom and my day are both French, born in French territory... one in Algeria the other in Viet-nam. And then History (and wars) made them come to France. My sister and I are the result of this unprobable mix.

Though my father doesn't think that learning Vietnamese is useful (small country, small economy), I still managed to learn several languages : French, first and foremost (and when I realize the difficulty of learning it when speaking with strangers, I feel lucky that it's my mother tongue !), then English, the international business tongue, and Spanish (my great-grand parents were Spanish, so it kinda was in my blood, at least in a quarter of it) and finally German, because there were good German teachers in my junior high school. Add to that some classical studies in junior high and high school (meaning I learnt Latin and ancient Greek), and the fact that, well, I love to discover a new language and a new civilization... That's how I learnt Russian in high school and am currently studying Japanese in ESSEC. Geeky isn't it ? Well, maybe, but I like to know that I can manage to speak (sometimes not much I admit) in most parts of the world. I'm still lacking in Chinese and in Italian, but I still have time...

That's what I mostly did during my early years (apart from playing with my Lego and not liking vegetables, but which child didn't ?). Oh yes, I mentioned my sister. She's much younger than me, so I really had the opportunity to live with her, understand that we have to enjoy our childhood... and to play with my  Barbies longer than most girls (I had to, I couldn't let my kid sister play alone, could I ??). I think I really love to have a sibling, it's like a friend you can't lose (how optimistic I am today !!).

Now I'm studying in a business shool, hopefully to become a great financier one day...

That's all folks ! For now at least, but I'll be back soon. And next time I'll include some pictures...