Impact

The initial targets set for the Performance through Confidence (PPC) initiative have been exceeded:

• Established a network of PPC facilitators – 100% of the regions are covered with 30 facilitators in regions and one in each area of the Directorate General.
• Implemented PPC governance.
• Co-designed 10 founding principles for the approach including collective intelligence, agility and shared governance.
• Deployed a methodology kit with dedicated tools – a GPS to guide agencies through self-diagnosis, a self-diagnosis for agents and one for managers to identify strengths, areas for improvement and recommendations of progress plan, inspirational videos and a podcast series.
• Implemented many projects under the label PPC for example, recruitment of a manager by a team of advisers, tested the removal of badging in an agency and implemented improvements to travel management by allowing carpooling and the use of Airbnb-type accommodation platforms.

The PPC approach has been fully integrated in Pôle emploi. The organisation has transformed itself and now acts with unprecedented agility. For example, during the COVID crisis we quickly deployed concrete and useful tools for all agents to help them talk about how people were feeling and co-construct a shared vision on recovery. 

The approach is led by top management and deployed at all levels. As noted by the Director General, the PPC approach has reinvented the management of the organisation to offer more leeway and be more agile. This has allowed the organisation to bring more value to users and respond more quickly to overcome the health crisis of COVID-19.

Context and challenges

Pôle emploi has built a comprehensive innovation system, of which the "LAB Pôle emploi" organization is one of the pillars. An emblematic and offbeat place promoting collaborative innovation, we use the Accelerated Solution Environment (ASE) method to accelerate projects and the production of services by mobilizing all the stakeholders to develop solutions to address challenges. Since September 2014, the national LAB has organized 126 collaborative sessions, 212 events (open doors, visits) and welcomed more than 6,600 participants. We have developed an internal network of regional Labs providing responses adapted to local issues: this is the largest network of Labs within a single institution.

Over the past few years, several in-depth transformation initiatives have emerged in Pôle emploi in parallel:

• Agency of the future: develop collaborative work to personalize the reception in the agency.
• This is our performance: moving from piloting to performance management.
• New Confidence Challenge: implement a more agile, collective and empowering operation.

The Managing Director of Pôle emploi, Jean Bassères, wanted to unite these three approaches under the label Performance through Confidence (PPC) to achieve:

• synergies and capitalize on the commitment of agents associated with these 3 approaches
• greater clarity both internally and externally
• objectives of improving the service provided to our users more quickly.

Project objectives

The objective was to:

• Identify the common points and the differences between the 3 approaches.
• Co-design the PPC vision and determine the sustainable transformation produced.
• List the conditions for success including the articulation of support.
• Collect feedback on the GPS tool and other self-diagnostic tools.

The goal was to transform Pôle emploi into a more agile organisation.

Approach

Facilitation was used at all stages of the project:

• Before the session: facilitation of sponsor meetings bringing together representatives of the 3 approaches > challenge: guaranteeing a balance of points of view.
• During the session: facilitation of workshops bringing together the various internal stakeholders of the project> challenge: hearing the needs of the agents responsible for the process in the field.
• After the session: facilitation of hot and cold debriefs and design of a new session with the objective of maintaining the momentum> challenge: maintaining the momentum and readjusting to better meet the needs of the agents carrying the process.