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“Passion, energy, results.” This is the philosophy by which Michelle Painchaud runs Winnipeg’s Painchaud Performance Group and S.C.O.R.E. Consulting, a division of PPG.
An energetic entrepreneur at heart with a solid training background, Michelle has worked passionately for the enhancement of organizational performance for the past 20 years. What drives her? “Helping organizations look at their people as talent and human capital and how to leverage that talent” she says.
During her first job at Robertson College, Michelle obtained valuable experience. With labour market shortages in some areas, Michelle identified the skill shortages and lead Robertson College to expand their offerings from secretarial courses to travel counsellor, pharmacy technician, radio broadcasting, computer accounting, and other courses. At this point, Michelle realized that helping people and organizations grow was her calling.
Michelle began pondering the best manner in which to enhance performance through training. She observed that participants rarely change their behaviour after training, putting their training manual away, and never consulting it again.
This observation made Michelle ask the critical question, “How do we measure the return on investment? If people and organizations are spending money on training, how will it make a difference individually and corporately?” Clients are particularly impressed with this outlook and Michelle’s fervent and straightforward manner. Moreover, they appreciate her natural listening and problem-solving skills, customization, and level of empathy that she brings to each assignment. Michelle credits this to putting herself into others’ shoes, thereby understanding management’s and employees’ perceptions.
As Manitoba’s first Certified Performance Technologist, Michelle follows a strict methodology to improve her clients’ organizational performance. She starts by performing a “culture audit,” which identifies and isolates the source of a corporation’s problems, enabling it to eliminate as much of them as possible. A common problem is that “toxic individuals” don’t realize the impact their behaviour has on other employees; through training and/or coaching, Michelle can improve their behaviours and overall corporate culture and climate.
In addition to running her business, Michelle participates in triathlon training, marathon running, and rock climbing. She credits her success to her mentors. “The right mentor at the right time will provide a sounding board, some direction, and objective feedback,” she says. “More importantly, they give you that often needed reality check”. Success also arises from her ability to get right to the point and “not to sugarcoat anything.” “One of my clients tells me that the reason he hired me and continues to work with me is that I am honestly blunt,” she says.
Her advice to people starting their own business is: “Have a passion, light that fire, set goals, and see results. Clarify your vision but remember that a vision with action is a hallucination”.
Written by: Olga Cordeiro |
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