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This month, meet Ana CAMARGO, professor of Human Resources & Leadership, on the Paris campus.

With more than 700 faculty members, including 200 permanent professor-researchers, IÉSEG offers its students a high-quality learning experience based on four pillars: active learning, interdisciplinary studies, focused on skill acquisition, and personalized curricula.

Each month, “Faculty in the Spotlight” invites you to meet one of the School’s professors who presents their vision of teaching, their methods for imparting expertise and passion to students, and shares their best memories and anecdotes at IÉSEG.

Ana, what’s your background?

I was born in Bogota, Colombia and when I was six, my family and I moved to Miami. It is a very multicultural city, so I grew up with people from Australia, Spain, Ireland, Argentina, Colombia, Sweden… We moved quite a lot when I was a child until high school… about 20 times, I think. So, moving and meeting new people from different cultures and backgrounds all the time, was the norm for me. After high school, I wanted to go to France as I was very curious about the language, the history, and the food too…. So, I arrived in France and I did a Bachelor’s degree in psychology in Grenoble. I completed my Bachelor with a Master’s degree in work psychology, at Paris Descartes university. Then, I did a PhD in creativity and psychology and started teaching at the same time. After finishing my studies, I worked in a company for a little while but I quickly realized that I missed teaching. I feel useful when I teach and it gives me such a sense of satisfaction when I see that someone understands what I’ve been explaining. Feeling useful is paramount to me. So, I looked for a research and teaching position and joined IÉSEG in 2022.

What do you teach at IÉSEG?

I mainly teach courses related to leadership and Human Resources. The courses related to leadership are taught to master’s students in the Grande École Program. It’s very interesting because we’re looking at what leadership is and how to become a leader. We’re also looking into how leadership varies depending on the cultural environment we’re in. These courses are even more relevant for students who want to go abroad or who are going to work in an international company where they have to manage multicultural teams.

Regarding the Human Resources part, I teach two courses. One of them is dedicated to second-year Bachelor in International Business students. I really enjoy this course as most of the students are international and I feel at home with many different nationalities mixed together. In the Human Resources courses, we essentially focus on how a company can and should prepare to welcome a new employee from A to Z. So, we get into analyzing all the different job positions that will be necessary in the company, how to determine who does what, how much to pay each person in different job positions, how to evaluate performance… And another course is dedicated to International Human Resources Management for first-year master’s students. We cover similar topics specifically applied to multinational companies.

I think that most of our students aspire to become managers, so it’s essential for them to know what good management practices are like. I want them to see the course like a toolbox, where they can find many different leadership styles and useful tips, and can pick and choose whatever works for them and for their own personal style. I think that it can also be very useful for them, as future employees, to know how it all works.

Have you noticed an evolution in teaching methods overtime?

Compared to when I started teaching in 2016, I would say that now we really emphasize the importance of students’ critical thinking. It’s no longer about coming to class, lecturing, letting students take notes, and then having students take a final exam to assess the knowledge learned. I think that, especially now with Artificial Intelligence, asking students to write something on a certain topic isn’t relevant anymore. My way of ensuring that they have understood a concept in class is by asking them questions live and asking them to explain a concept in a very clear and simple way, as if I was a 7-year-old child.

Do you have an anecdote to share?

At the beginning of the academic year, I tell my students that respecting others and valuing their time is essential. At first, when a student was late, it made me feel uncomfortable. So, I now set a ground rule: if the door is closed, it means you’re late. If you’re late, you’re allowed to come in only if you bring chocolates for everyone in the classroom or tell a joke that makes everyone laugh, otherwise, you’re not allowed in. I think this rule sets the tone for my class: we’re here to learn while having fun, but we must always remain respectful of one another. The first week, I usually have tons of chocolate on the table but after that… students are on time.

What are your strengths according to your students?

Students appreciate that I give them feedback on whatever assignment they have to do. And I try to make it as fun as possible. So, I don’t provide theoretical feedback, but rather useful things that they could actually apply once they start working at a company.

The other aspect they seem to appreciate is that I don’t put much distance as a professor. On the contrary, I would say that I’m very approachable, and I strongly emphasize  that there’s no shame in asking, there are no silly questions.

How do you foster students’ engagement?

Of course, I use business cases and I invite companies to do presentations in class. But overall, I would say that I’m very old school. So, I have a huge yellow foam ball called Sally, that I bring to class. And sometimes I just throw Sally in the class and I tell them “Sally is feeling curious  today. She wants to get more answers out of you”. So I try to make it interactive. Rather than being very techie, I go very old school. Sometimes Sally is feeling hyperactive and she wants to interact with a lot of students. Sometimes Sally feels calm. I feel that helps motivate students to participate more and to remove the fear of making a mistake or giving the wrong answer. It’s a way of setting a relaxing and fun atmosphere.

Do you put in place things in particular to support students in their learning?

I would say that it does depend on the course, but for instance, in the leadership course, there are coaching sessions and in those coaching sessions, I do tell the students to take this course, hopefully not just as a grade for the semester, but also as something that will hopefully be useful, for them after IÉSEG. It’s usually a moment when they ask for career advice, which is also fulfilling for me because it shows me that they trust me. They ask me questions like: “should I choose this company or that one? What do you recommend? What are the pros and cons of these options?” It’s gratifying to see that they value my input. A lot of students taking HR courses tell me at the end of the semester that they thought HR was just about hiring and firing people… but after the course, they see that it’s much more than that. I love to know that I help them make informed decisions for their professional future.

How has been your experience at IÉSEG so far?

My experience here has been even better than expected. It’s a very welcoming environment, and my colleagues are from all over the world, which is enriching. Regarding students, I try to bring cultural aspects into my classes to foster appreciation and understanding among students. It’s also an opportunity to learn from one another, especially in courses where there’s a lot of international students. Humor sometimes doesn’t translate from one language to another. So, I like to ask students to send me a cultural idiom, for instance, and I’ll have them guess what each unsual expression means and from what country it is.

What is your area of research?

My research focuses on how to make people creative at work, whether individually or in teams. I explore different “switches” that can enhance creativity, such as cultural interactions, language use, and sensory experiences. I conduct research on creativity and more specifically how people can be more creative at work. One aspect I emphasize is the role of culture. For example, in an experiment, I asked participants to think of different ways to use a water bottle, alternating languages between French and English. Those who switched languages between ideas showed more creativity. This demonstrates how mixing different languages and cultures can enhance creativity. I believe that interacting with different cultures, even if one hasn’t lived abroad, allows us to see the same situation from different angles, enriching our experience and broadening our mind. Having interacted with many different people from various cultures, I see that together we can achieve great things because we perceive the world differently and we focus on different aspects.