Improving the quality of the coaching process for entrepreneurship: a study of the case of France

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1 Improving the quality of the coaching process for entrepreneurship: a study of the case of France Sandra BERTEZENE, Université Claude Bernard LYON 1, France sandra.bertezene@univ-lyon1.fr Cyrille FERRATON, Université MONTPELLIER III, France Jacques MARTIN, Université du Sud TOULON VAR, France martin@univ-tln.fr David VALLAT, Université Claude Bernard LYON 1, France david.vallat@univ-lyon1.fr Introduction In many countries, especially in Western countries hit by persistent unemployment, authorities are encouraging the creation of new enterprises as it is seen as a means to reduce unemployment, to foster innovation, to create new opportunities in an economy (Vallat, Fayolle 2005, Vallat 2001, 2002a, 2003). In the case of France this process creates more than 600,000 jobs per year and is therefore an essential element of economic dynamism. That is the reason why the study of the coaching of the creation of enterprises has become an important theme both from a managerial and a scientific point of view (Léger-Jarniou, Saporta, 2006). In this context we will endeavor to analyze the quality of the coaching process putting the stress on its shortcomings and propose to adopt an approach of continual improvement of the quality (Weill, 2001; Kemp, 2006) right from the start of the process in order to ensure the long-term success of the operation and the passage from a very small enterprise to a medium size enterprise which is one of the major challenges of the coaching in France (Simon, 1999). We will base our study on the results of several surveys carried out by the Lyon Ville Entrepreneuriat network dedicated to helping the creation, taking-over and transmission of enterprises in the Lyon conurbation. The first study examined the coaching and financing initiatives for the creation of businesses in the Rhône-Alpes region. These initiatives are generally aimed at persons in dire economic situations (unemployed, working poor, people on benefits, etc.) who are excluded from the traditional banking system and thus unable to get any financial help from traditional sources. Then the monitoring of the coaching process was realized in three organizations of the Lyon conurbation ( Association pour le droit à l initiative économique, Association Créons, Association Rhône Développement Initiative) Finally a monograph was realized from 29 interviews by 16 coaching organisms for business creation in the Rhône-Alpes region (Vallat, 2002a, 2002b et 2002c ; Ferraton et Vallat, 2003, 2004 ; Vallat, 2007). After establishing the foundations of quality for the creation of enterprises, we will present the results of our empirical research and analyze the benefits and shortcomings of the coaching. Finally we will present some propositions and research tracks that could contribute to the improvement of the quality of the coaching.

2 1. The foundations of quality in the creation of enterprises: literature review Entrepreneurs going to see structures of coaching for the creation of an enterprise often express needs which are deemed irrelevant by the persons in charge of these structures. This gap between the needs expressed by the entrepreneurs and the real needs comes from a paradox; the creation of an enterprise is not done by a professional and therefore is affected by a number of quality defects. We first need then to focus on the quality foundations for a good creation of enterprises. 1.1 An autonomous entrepreneur Classically in economic theory, the entrepreneur is an individual figure motivated by a will for profit, akin to a will for power. This vision of the entrepreneur comes from his status of flagship of liberalism and is the one found in Schumpeter (1939). The Schumpeterian entrepreneur is motivated by the desire of personal success. The profit comes from the success of an innovation in the market, which can be a new product or a new production process. The success, but often short-lived, of start-ups at the end of the 1990s, is a good illustration of this vision of the entrepreneur as a great innovator and the engine of capitalism. But the economic reality is somewhat different (Giraudeau, 2007). However the solitary dimension is a reality. Thus all coaching organisms insist on the necessary capacity of adaptation and autonomy of the entrepreneur. 1.2 A collection of different forms of capital Boutillier and Uzunidis (1999) put the social capital at the heart of entrepreneurial dynamics. The authors define the social capital of an entrepreneur as his/her capacity of identifying and evaluating all the parameters which can influence the success of the entrepreneurial adventure. This notion of social capital was first put forward by Bourdieu (1980) as all the resources present and potential which are linked to the existence of a durable network of relationships of inter-knowledge and inter-recognition, which are more or less institutionalized. On this basis Boutillier and Uzunidis explain that the social capital of the entrepreneur has got three dimensions: a financial capital (financial resources and channels), a knowledge capital (techniques, know-how, education, experience) and a relationships capital (institutional or formal, family, banks, other enterprises, the Sate, etc.). This leads us to the question of the inter-dependency of these three forms of capital and a possible hierarchy between them. The three types of capital somehow balance one another. But they do not influence the creation of an enterprise at the same stage of the process. The knowledge capital has to come at the very beginning of the process. If the entrepreneur does not master the competencies necessary for the activity, (s)he is bound to fail. Strangely enough, entrepreneurship is very much interested in entrepreneurial competencies (Loué et al., 2008) whereas entrepreneurs seem more interested in getting legitimacy through the coaching (Messeghem, Sammut, 2007) in order to build a good reputation (Studdard, 2006).

3 The relationships capital permits to mobilize the financial capital. It is possible to reenforce this relationships capital notably through support organisms which will facilitate the access to the financial capital. The central stake for the long-term success of the enterprise is a relevant articulation between the entrepreneur and his/her project. Therefore a major activity of support for the creation of an enterprise is to facilitate the setting-up of networks of relationships. For the entrepreneur, making a network live is the means to find customers, suppliers, commercial and financial partners. That is the reason why businesses created by exemployees in the same domain of activity have more success than those created by newcomers. It is therefore a major role of coaching to open the doors of such networks. Equipped with these capitals, the coaching of the good entrepreneur will then have to make a real situation converge with the model. 13. A quality coaching The objective of the coaching is double: making sure of the match between the person and the project and getting the minimum social capital for the long-term success of the project by including the creator in the network of his commercial, financial and institutional partners. Of course all the organisms playing a part in the coaching of the creators do not play it all along the process, but a common objective must be pursued. Considering the number of organisms intervening and the relative complexity of the creation process (for someone who is not a professional), the aim is to make the process as smooth as possible not to discourage the entrepreneur and leave him/her manage by him/herself (Boutillier, Uzunidis, 1999). 2. The benefits and shortcomings of the quality of the coaching process: empirical results All the coaching organisms which have been studied do not have the same activities of monitoring. These activities vary according to the type of population dealt with and the degree of selectivity of the projects. Certain organisms require from the potential creator a formalized project which only needs to be finalized. This implies that the creator is able to carry out a market study and to build a financing plan and a budget. When the population targeted concerns people who have been long unemployed or with a low level of education, the necessity to have a personalized approach is naturally stronger. In spite of variations, it is possible to identify three phases in the coaching whose quality can be challenged on different points. 21. The reception phase Benefits observed: The reception phase can be divided into two moments. First it is necessary for the creator to present him/herself. What s the professional and personal experience? What s the family situation? What are the financial means? What are the relations with banks? It is also of course necessary to present the project (nature, history, motivation, advancement). The creator can also be asked what his expectations are from the coaching organism. This first contact will lead to the validation of the person s idea thanks to a short opportunity study. This first

4 filter aims at eliminating the most unrealistic projects and the least adequate with the person. Then the creator is led to the design phase of the project. This can be done by an organism whose main activity is to advise on the creation of enterprises or it can be entirely done internally. At the end of this reception phase, in the best of cases, we either have a potential creator of an enterprise or someone who has been advised for his/her professional career and/or the search for a job. The evaluation of the feasibility of a project takes place in parallel with the identification of a match between the person and the project. The aim is to make sure that the entrepreneur has got the adequate knowledge to carry out the project (evaluation of the knowledge capital ), but also that he/she possesses the minimum relationships capital and financial capital. Quality shortcomings observed: Although the primary role of the reception phase is to make sure that the person has got the potential capacity to carry out the project, certain organisms sometimes encourage people who are obviously not able to create an enterprise (for example for family or psychological reasons), which goes against the very objective of this phase. We also note that the relationship of trust, which implies transparency on the part of the supporting organism, is not always present. The advisor does not necessarily show what the objectives and the constraints are, so that a refusal of the project can be felt as a sanction. On the contrary the advising organism should make the person aware of the weaknesses of the project and invite him/her to rework it or even to change it. 2.2 The coaching-advising phase Benefits observed: The advice phase not only aims at helping the creator to formalize the project but also at reinforcing the social capital of the person. This implies a learning process notably of indispensible management notions and commercial culture (knowledge of the market, of the environment, commercial negotiation). The general goal is to strengthen the different forms of social capital. This coaching can take on different shapes of which the most common, and perceived as the most effective, is the face-to-face meeting between the entrepreneur and the coach, but also training periods, the recourse to a godfather, the participation in meetings of entrepreneurs, etc. This coaching is not necessarily limited to the capitalization of knowledge, it also involves help to decision-making as a central aspect. What customers to focus on, how to diversify customers, how to find suppliers, where to locate the business with what sort of lease? Answering these questions goes together with the mustering of the necessary funds. It is not possible to dissociate the two aspects. The coaching can also involve the provision of material support such as IT equipment and premises. Quality shortcomings observed: Normally this process should lead to the construction of a business plan. Yet we notice that

5 this aspect is often under-estimated in the advice phase. One reason can be found in the fact that the coaching structures do not systematically work closely with financing organisms. As a result, constraints can be incorrectly appreciated and chances of financing are not maximized and in case of refusal the entrepreneur finds him/herself in a dead end. We also notice that for some coaching structures, it is easier, because it is quicker, to do things themselves instead of the entrepreneur rather than helping him/her to appropriate the method. Thus certain coaching providers briefly meet the entrepreneur, get some information and prepare a business plan on his/her behalf. Although such a method saves time and money, it causes some prejudice to the creator who will not be able to present the project correctly for lack of appropriation. 2.3 The monitoring phase Benefits observed: Once the project is validated and the funds to finance it have been found, in the best of cases, the entrepreneur s activity is monitored during the first two or three years, which is the period during which the majority of small enterprises cease their activities. The monitoring consists in setting up a management dashboard that the enterprise must submit regularly and which permits the person in charge of the monitoring to anticipate difficulties. As soon as an indicator reveals a dysfunction, the monitor contacts the entrepreneur to explain the situation and, if the situation is more critical, visit and work with the entrepreneur to find solutions. Support can be found in the coaching network; other entrepreneurs can be solicited to help the failing business. There tends to be a development in several organisms of a collective form of coaching through clubs of entrepreneurs for example. They meet more or less regularly to follow some training, exchange experiences and sometimes establish commercial contacts. The post-creation monitoring is necessary to have an external view of the development of the business and anticipate problems. Quality shortcomings observed: This phase is often the weak link in the coaching whereas it is vital for the survival and development of the enterprise. The entrepreneur, absorbed in the daily work, may not see opportunities, can make some decisions too late, and does not necessarily know who to ask for advice or for training. Consequently, it is rather frequent that the intervention of a coaching organism comes too late when the enterprise is already on the brink of bankruptcy. And even in this situation, there is no help available to make it as smooth as possible, because the notion of failure is only perceived negatively. 3. Ensuring the quality of the coaching and the creation of an enterprise: propositions and research tracks In the previous part we tried to examine globally what coaching for the creation of an enterprise meant. In order to judge of the quality of the coaching, we propose now some research tracks derived from the literature and our empirical study: a coaching centered on the entrepreneur and his/her autonomy, conforming to the quality charter, carried out by competent and trained people able to manage the quality of the project of creation of an

6 enterprise and favoring the implementation of a quality approach inside the enterprise to ensure its long-term survival. 3.1 A coaching centered on the entrepreneur and his/her autonomy To help the realization of the project it is necessary to know it well and the person who carries it. This requires time. It thus implies to have several interviews with the entrepreneur so that there is mutual understanding. The success of the project will depend on the personality of the creator, the competencies in the sector of activity, the experience, the professional environment, the time devoted to the project (Garnier et al., 1992). The more the coach knows the project in its details, the better the coaching will be, especially as the information delivered during the coaching can increase the doubts of the creator and influence his morale (Lévy-Tadjine, Paturel, 2006). That is why there is a consensus both among researchers (Livian, Marion, 1991) and practitioners (Ettinger, 1995) about the consideration of the human factor in the coaching practices. If the creator who masters the project is able to answer all sorts of operational questions (level of investment, equipment, etc.), he may not be able to explain them to a banker studying a business plan which has been drafted without a real involvement of the creator. All along the coaching then, a key element is make do rather than do in the place of. The aim is to have a real appropriation of the project by the creator and make him/her capable to act autonomously (Sen, 1987, 1999, 2000). The coaching should include the management of failure. From the reception of the project, the creator must be made aware that the project could fail, and the coach must be ready to explain why and to manage the reactions of the creator in such a case. So the coach does not only have a technical job to accomplish but also a psychological job. The refusal of the project should not be presented as a sanction against the entrepreneur and should be motivated by objective reasons. Later, if the business goes bankrupt, the coach should also be able to support the entrepreneur through this difficult period whose legal and administrative technicalities are a challenge for him/her. 3.2 A coaching conforming to the quality charter delivered by competent personnel In order to guarantee the professionalism of the coaching structures and the quality of their services, the Etats Généraux de la Création d Entreprise in France required from them in 2000 to provide quality services and to coordinate and harmonize their activities. Within this framework the Conseil National de la Création d Entreprise (CNCE) worked out a quality charter for these supporting structures and defined and implemented a training programme for the personnel of the support networks. The charter defines the commitments of the coaching structures towards entrepreneurs (Gogue, 2006): - welcoming the entrepreneur and presenting the role, the services, the conditions of intervention of the structures and the public they will address; - orient, if needed, towards another organism or person more apt to meet the needs; - accept the presentation of the project and help to complete it to get the best chances of success and facilitate the intervention of the financial organisms;

7 - preserve the confidentiality of the project; - appoint a correspondent responsible for the monitoring of the relationships; - provide the competent intervening persons; - answer according to defined deadlines; - facilitate the provision of equipment adapted to the project; - consider the remarks of the creator to improve continually the service rendered; The charter also defines the commitments regarding the CNCE: - Give the CNCE the mission to promote the quality charter and to organize the evaluation and control of its implementation ; - Contribute to exchanges between the actors supporting the creation of enterprises; - Provide evidence of a conforming implementation of the commitments towards entrepreneurs. The implementation of this charter implies that the advisors are trained and competent. This must be underlined as there has been a tendency for a long time to consider that coaching for the creation of an enterprise (particularly by unemployed people or people in difficult situations) required more social than economic competences. Even, as we have seen, psychological qualities are essential, the eventual success or failure of a project will rest on its economic merits. It is therefore unfortunate that quite often the coaching organisms use people who are fully motivated to help entrepreneurs but do not possess the knowledge, competencies and experience in the field. 3.3 A coaching to help manage the quality of the project of creation of an enterprise The creation of an enterprise according to Giard (1991) is a project made of non-repetitive activities resulting from a technical and/or economic stake. The coaching of the project after the creation also has the objective to improve the performance of the business to ensure its long-term survival. This requires a mutual commitment and trust between the entrepreneur and the coach, the capacity of the entrepreneur to challenge him/herself and the competencies of the coaching structure. The project will at the start be rather vague and slowly materialize (Boutinnet, 1990), hence the necessity to have coaching from the beginning to the end whereas in most cases the coaching focuses on the phase before the creation and ignores the phase after the creation, which as we have seen, is as critical. The creation of an enterprise should follow the rules of project management as a specific approach permitting to structure methodologically and progressively a reality to come defined and implemented to answer the need of an user or customer with an objective and actions according to given resources (AFNOR 1991). In our case the direction of the project (the strategic decision) is assured by the creator and the management of the project (advancement of the implementation of the project) is assured by the coaching structure. Therefore the management of the project will adapt to changes in the environment and consider all the aspects involved, which requires organizing it around a work group involving at least the creator and a representative of the supporting structure (Joly, Muller, 1994).

8 34. Developing a quality approach to favor the long-term survival of the enterprise created The entrepreneur has got the responsibility to put quality at the centre of his/her strategic preoccupations (with the help of an advisor if needed). Then the coaching structure will be responsible for giving the entrepreneur the information and tools required for the implementation of an approach of continual improvement of quality in order to guarantee a better competitiveness and a bigger flexibility in front of environmental changes. This can be a way of fighting against the precocious mortality of the enterprises created. For example, if 580,200 enterprises were created in 2009 (58,500 in the Rhône-Alpes region), mainly by selfemployed people (55%), their survival rate after three years is only 66% (INSEE, 2010). Darbus (2008) also shows that most of the failing enterprises are not coached, contrary to those meeting more success. In this context, we think that if the creator implements a total quality inspired approach with the help of the coaching structure from the beginning of the project, the chances of survival of the project are increased, notably through a higher efficiency in the use of the resources to develop the quality of the product or the service and a reduction in costs, as long shown by various authors (Pavis Latour, 1985; Wissler, 1986).This result is possible because total quality corresponds to an organizational system aiming at continuous improvement and fully involving the different partners in the enterprise (including financers, suppliers and customers). The continuous improvement of quality is of course assured through the compliance with standards but is also assured through the consideration of the evolving needs for the product or the service (Garwin, 1984; Crosby, 1986). The role of the coach then is to transfer the know-how in matter of quality management to the entrepreneur: how to involve the customer, identify the explicit and implicit needs, how to master the cost constraints in the valorization of the product or service meeting the needs (Oakland, Porter, 2003; Hoyle, 2006). The strategic integration of quality leads to higher effectiveness and efficiency and thus increases the chances of success of the enterprise. Conclusion A quality coaching of the creation of an enterprise implies that it covers the reception, advice and monitoring phases of a project. However we have observed various defects and shortcomings on the part of the coaching organisms that can be summarized in the tables below. Phases Reception Advice Table n 1 The quality shortcomings in the coaching of the creation of enterprises Quality shortcomings Some organisms encourage persons not able to create an enterprise. Lack of trust in the relationships between the organism and the creator who does not understand the constraints and perceives a refusal as a personal sanction. The preparation of the business plan is under-estimated; the coaching organisms do not systematically cooperate with the financing institutions, so the chances of financing are not maximized. Certain structures do the work instead of the creator, so there is a lack of

9 Monitoring appropriation. Sometimes non-existent whereas it is necessary to ensure the survival and development of the enterprise. These shortcomings damage the project and the creator. Therefore we propose different actions to reduce them. Table n 2 Propositions to improve the quality of the coaching of the creation of enterprises Propositions to improve the quality of coaching A coaching centered on the person and his/her autonomy A coaching conforming to the quality charter, delivered by competent personnel A coaching to help manage the quality of the project of creation Develop a quality approach to favor the survival and development of the enterprise Consequences for the improvement of quality The coaches should take into account the human factor in their practices to improve the quality of the coaching. The coaches should let the creators do instead of doing for them, so there can be appropriation of the project by the creator who gains in autonomy and acting capacity. The coaching should include the management of failure, explaining the reasons for it and trying to find new ways. If the enterprise goes bankrupt, the entrepreneur should find help during the procedure. The coaching organisms should systematically conform to the requirements of the charter and refer to the CNCE. The implementation of the charter supposes that the advisors are trained and competent in the field of enterprise creation. The majority of the coaching systems is designed for the pre-creation phase and ignores the implementation leaving the creator in a difficult situation after a few months. The structure should set up a project management group with the creator making the strategic decisions and the supporting structure ensuring the good management of the project. The monitoring of the project after the creation should permit to anticipate dysfunctions and enhance the strong points of the project. To fight against the early mortality of enterprises, there should be a quality management approach. The implementation of a total quality inspired approach, right from the start, could have a positive impact on the efficiency of the management and the quality of the products and services offered. It could also improve the control of performance and better integrate all the functions and the environment. The role of the advisor would be to transfer the know-how to the creator of the enterprise. These propositions will have to be tested to be validated, but they try to answer the defects noted for long by numerous observers (Larrera de Morel, 1996; Besson, 1999; Guérin & Vallat, 2000; Mulliez et al., 2004; Passet, 2005). Coaching actions are often too superficial and the training needs of the entrepreneur are not fully identified and taken into consideration.

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