Meet Gregory Gallic, Offer and Expertise Manager

As part of our series of portraits, we are happy to give you the opportunity to meet Gregory Gallic who is offer and expertise manager. The aim of the series of portraits is to present the teams who day after day ensure that the Cegos solutions available on the market remain innovative and reflect the high quality level our partners and customers can expect.

You previously had the opportunity to meet Carolina Gracia Moreno, Hanelise Wagner,Liliana Louro, Zairo Samssudin, Mario Stofenmacher, Christelle Delavaud, Nuno Moreira and Elise Racinais. Today, we invite you to discover how Gregory contributes to the Cegos offer's innovative approach.

Could you tell us about yourself in a few words?

My name is Grégory Gallic. I'm 45 years old and I've been immersed in professional training for over 20 years, having started out at Club Med's Internal University - a wonderful school! There, I was able to discover what training for sales functions is, gained experience and then broke new ground in e-learning in 2005 with the implementation of asynchronous distance learning projects to train sales staff "just-in-time" for Club Med products and culture.

Why did you choose Cegos?

It was Cegos who chose me! 😊 Joking. We had chosen Cegos as our service provider for the production and hosting of our e-learning modules. I was then able to seize the opportunity to join one of the international leaders in the sector and continue my progress on a variety of tailor-made assignments with leading companies.

And how did you become an expert in training the trainer?

It doesn't happen overnight, and there's no initial training to become a trainer. And even better, because a trainer is credible if he or she has his/her own professional experience to illustrate what he or she is sharing with concrete examples and anecdotes.

Furthermore, there are undeniable assets to gain confidence: experience of running and designing courses in a variety of contexts and formats (face-to-face, small group, large group, digital learning…), a good understanding of learning mechanisms, an ability to synthesize information, the potential to question oneself and the curiosity to constantly learn.

Of course, we mustn't underestimate the fact that this is a profession that cannot be improvised. Training is required to acquire the essential methodological foundation for pedagogical engineering, as well as the postures and techniques of the "good" presenter. For my part, over and above the formal training courses I've attended, I've learned a great deal through peer coaching, in real-life situations. I remember that when I started out, we used to do a lot of "back room" work for each other, to make progress thanks to the feedback we received.

Today I am responsible for the Learning and Development range at Cegos France. I help develop the new Train the Trainer collection.

As part of your job, did you ever had to deal with tricky situations, and how did you manage?

Of course, like any trainer! I think it's important to keep these situations in perspective, as they are rarely extreme. I'm convinced that if you put in place the conditions for success (reassuring, empowering, valuing and involving participants right from the start of the training) and if you adopt the right posture (we're no longer at school and we're talking to adults), everything will go smoothly. All that's needed is a zest of regulation to manage the group dynamic and enable each participant to find his or her place. After that, the group naturally regulates itself. Another important point is to always ask yourself whether the delicate situation is bothering you personally, as a trainer, or whether it's hindering the group's progress. If it's only bothering us, we'll just have to deal with it, and it shouldn't be seen as a difficult situation… So, I don't have many very tricky situations to share with you, because they've never really happened to me.

Just one anecdote to illustrate the importance of considering the environment and cultural context we are evolving. I've been running training courses for trainers in Morocco and, after discussing the mechanisms of adult learning, a participant raised his hand and said to me: "Okay, I've got it all, but what about women?" I confess I was not prepared for this question, which took me by surprise! I questioned him to clarify his thoughts and, based on an open discussion with the group as well as scientific facts, I finally managed to reach a consensus that we, men and women, have the same cognitive functioning and that brain size or weight has no bearing!

What do you see as the challenges facing face-to-face trainers in 2024 in the age of AI?

The trainers in 2024, especially in the age of AI or the digital era, face multiple challenges.

First, the mindset: the trainer must accept that he or she is no longer the sole owner and producer of content. Increasingly, he or she is becoming a facilitator, providing tools and resources, contributing to the co-creation of knowledge, developing critical thinking and encouraging human interaction. However, this also means that the learners have some control over their learning journey and process. They negotiate and decide what and how they will learn. We must also consider the potential of AI or digital as an opportunity to enrich its pedagogical practices, rather than as a potential threat.

The other challenge is the subject of "techno-pedagogical" monitoring. Technological acceleration is abounding, and it's often difficult to keep up with the pace of change. Defining a structured monitoring strategy, making time for it and equipping yourself with the tools to do so are becoming essential skills. With more than 1,000 IAG tools being created every day, I also think that sometimes you have to let go and define targeted objectives so as not to be overwhelmed!

How can we use AI to improve training experiences and meet the changing needs of learners in the future?

AI will enable us to develop the logic of learner self-determination as mentioned earlier, because the promise of Adaptive Learning is to individualize courses; no longer offering the same menu to everyone, according to the needs but also the motivations of each learner. It's also likely that the training experience will become an increasing part of the workflow, responding "just-in-time" to individual and collective development needs.

Generative AI will also offer new pedagogical interactions in the classroom or remotely. We can predict, for example, new "trainer-learner-machine" tripartite feedback to consolidate learning, new opportunities for synthesis or, conversely, access to large quantities of content on a given subject. Finally, we can imagine new simulation experiences using avatars capable of taking on the role of a customer, an employee or a negotiator, and providing a true-to-life dialogue to practice conducting interviews and obtaining feedback in real time.

How do you think corporate learning communities help to foster innovation?

From my point of view, learning communities offer several advantages for encouraging innovation:

First, a well-functioning community is based on trust and cooperation between its members. This encourages risk-taking, the expression of ideas and problem-solving. And therefore, potentially, innovation!

Furthermore, learning community shares various and relevant resources, namely documents, experts, networks or tools. This helps to enrich participants' knowledge and skills, and stimulate their curiosity and motivation.

Last but not least, a learning community can be a laboratory of ideas to be tested by the "happy few", to make the benefits of a training course tangible, before disseminating them more widely within the company.

Related information

To find out more about the AI and digital learning offer from Cegos, contact us.