Newsletter
The Co’s Words
I’m pleased to share with you our 2025 motto and the potential paradox associated with it.
Embracing difference has always been one of my fundamental values, linked to my family history. The paradox is that when we believe strongly in a value, we are no longer open to difference, and even less able to embrace it…
Today, I accept that this value might not be shared by all, for reasons related to each and every person’s life experiences. When I feel balanced, when I consider myself & the others to have value, I am open to understanding where they are coming from with their own filters. When I manage to do this without judgment, others, more often than not open their door to mine and we can then communicate, create a bond, build together.
I wish for us all throughout 2025 to take the time to create the conditions for human beings to meet and embrace difference.
Géraldine Berruto
Co-gérante
Food for Thought
Is CARPE DIEM in the workplace a good idea?
CARPE DIEM is one of the key concepts of the Pleasure pillar of MMAPPER. A concept that rarely leaves our learners indifferent, brings a sparkle to the eye of some, leaves others skeptical. A notion which for many doesn’t have a place in the workplace. Just as it had no place within the walls of the prestigious Welton academy in “Dead Poets Society”, A film that is a reference for ImpaQt in terms of pedagogical philosophy.
CARPE DIEM is a famous verse from the “Odes” of the Roman poet Horace (23 or 22 BC).
La formule complète est « Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero », littéralement « cueille le jour, et [sois] la moins crédule [possible] pour le [jour] suivant. It summarizes the text which precedes it where the poet seeks to persuade Leuconoé to take advantage of the present moment and derive all possible joy from it, without worrying about death.
Psychological studies on the subject demonstrate that an active carpe diem approach has two facets:
- – Focus on the present
- – Being aware of the value of each moment of our life, in connection with the awareness of the inevitability of our death.
However, this quote is often misinterpreted, and seen as an invitation to hedonism, to enjoy the present moment and satisfy immediate needs, without asking yourself any questions, hardly compatible with the serious and reasonable world of work.
However, Horace’s CARPE DIEM is associated with a notion of balance in pleasure that we find in MMAPPER with its cursor. CARPE DIEM is not “All play & no work”; it’s bringing touches of lightness and pleasure into our daily life, it’s tasting and savoring “the marrow of life”; for example, by offering and receiving gratitude and recognition from colleagues, or by taking the time to celebrate and savor individual and collective success.
It is also and above all an invitation to change our relationship with time.
The famous English translation “Seize the day” by Dr Keating invites us to be an actor of our life, to dare to seize opportunities without postponing them until tomorrow. In MMAPPER terms, CARPE DIEM is associated with both the Pleasure pillar and the Actor pillar. It’s about not wasting time dwelling on the past but learning from our past mistakes, and not worrying about the future but acting now to build it rather than postponing things until later.
Here are some examples of how it can be applied in the world of work: deciding to focus on a priority subject during a meeting where usually all subjects are quickly reviewed and actions postponed until later. Or organizing an “off” moment to connect with team members rather than promising to do it when the team will be less busy…which will probably never happen. It is not a question of not taking into account the constraints of the organization and the reality of the situation, but of not giving in to the system and constantly postponing the important things.
This is how an active individual and collective CARPE DIEM approach can allow a team to flourish and take on extraordinary challenges.
Remember and savor without moderation the enigmatic voice of Dr. Keating whispering to his students:
« Carpe…carpe…carpe diem….
Seize the day boys
Make your lives extraordinary ! »
MMAPPER Insight
Coming soon : Learning to Listen online!
What a joy it has been to dive back into the CD-Rom ‘Learning to Listen’ that I created in 2003 and this time with the help of Jean-Marc Dollinger, Thomas Delafosse and the ImpaQt team of language learning experts.
The objective is to refresh it, bring it up to date and provide learners with a pertinent online learning tool.
I was delighted to discover that it still rings true as a product and remains very useful and innovative in its approach.
Taking the time to think about how we learn is often pushed to one side with a tendency to do and to engage; we often see learners listening to the target language without asking themselves why and how they are listening. That’s where ‘Learning to Listen’ kicks in.
The art of the performance
When we take drama, music, singing or dancing lessons… the show is the culmination of one’s work. It enables us to highlight personal and collective investment and to share a message, a story, an emotion with an audience. Everything has to be coordinated coherently and fluidly with the added capacity to manage last minute hick-ups to achieve the desired goal.
The applause, an indicator of success, enables us to savour it, and criticism – as long as it be benevolent, lucid and constructive – helps us to continue to learn and grow.
We at ImpaQt have the same approach.
The successful communication of a message involves multiple elements: rhythm, intonation, pronunciation, the choice of words, spontaneity, the tone of voice and paralinguistics such as gesture and posture… Each of these aspects is worked on individually and collectively during our sessions and throughout our programs. The performance is the opportunity to bring all the pieces of the puzzle together to obtain an effective global result.
It is also the opportunity to put into practice the work done in a real-life situation (ACTOR), to test the knowledge and know-how assimilated in an interactive context (RISK) and to benchmark the performance with feedback from the audience.
Is the professional objective attained? (PROJECT)
Is the learner satisfied? (PLEASURE)
Has the work put in paid off? (EFFORT)
What improvements could be made? (MIRROR)
How to go about it? (METHOD)
The curtains rise with MMAPPER!
News
Save the dates !
Julia’s Q Corner
More questions to answer?
Before starting language training, there’s the audit and evaluation process which includes a level test, a questionnaire to fill in, the MMAPPER audit of language needs and an interview with one of our facilitators.
Why?
If the level test gives us information about the start level of the potential learner, it’s the interview based on the answers to the questionnaire that reveals his/her motivation, needs, sometimes also fears and concerns.
In each MMAPPER section of the questionnaire, we ask the learners to position themselves, for example in the Mirror pillar to analyze their skills and evaluate themselves on three levels of comfort in a variety of professional situations. During the interview, we compare our perceptions with those of the learner and so begins the positioning process which they’ll carry through right to the final concert!
Scores on the doors !
In 2024 we increased our return rates for our satisfaction surveys, and the language one reached 82% which is an increase of over 25% in comparison with 2023.
Our learners have their say…
Feedback following a « connection » day between executive management and management teams from Schneider Electric Dijon.
« A very useful and appreciated training which gave us the keys to work better together » Simon de Romémont, Financial Controller
« A day to leave the day-to-day business to one side and to share with management teams, to understand better their behaviour and their expectations. » Gaëlle Da Fonseca, HRBP
« Good training, adapted to the current situation in the factory » Christian Maire, Maintenance manager
« Improved cohesion between executive management and the management team, alignment with the site strategic visio,n» Cyril Reigner, Suppliers Quality manager
« Even though it was a large group, it was really appreciated that everyone was able to contribute » Nadia Schmid, Plant Manager
« Bonds and interactions have been created during this programme ! » Marc Thabourin, CS&Q manager
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