4.1. Introduction

It is customary to present leaders as being on the side of apprenticeship managers, i.e. those who teach and transfer knowledge, rather than those who learn new things. But these leaders can themselves prove to be formidable apprentices in the first sense of the term, especially when it comes to approaches to competences in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), or even very small enterprises (VSEs). Of great importance in these organizations, competence approaches are the subject of a continuous learning process, which guides the leaders concerned to discover levels of competence that have never before been suspected, particularly through its collective, strategic and interorganizational dimensions.

4.2. Realities of competence approaches in SMEs and VSEs

Managerial literature agrees that “competence approaches” are management practices, whether formal or informal, that aim to acquire, stimulate and/or adapt the competences of employees (Defélix et al. 2006), of teams (Retour and Krohmer 2006) or of the company as a whole (Rouby and Thomas 2004; Dietrich et al. 2006).

In very small enterprises (VSEs) and SMEs, the analysis of competence approaches began in the 1990s. Multiple identifications of these realities have been made at different levels. Competence was first identified as a key concern for Human Resource Management (HRM), particularly through the difficulties and challenges faced by managers in attracting, developing and retaining employees (Mahé de Boislandelle 1998). Competence approaches as such were thereby identified: they can manifest themselves in a rather reactive dimension, based on the requirements and belonging to an instrumental approach (Scouarnec 1999); be the result of devices linked to the company, linked in a variable way with the strategy and presenting very unequal degrees of formalization; or even have a connection to knowledge management (Géniaux and Mira Bonnardel 2001).

Since the 2000s, the observation of competence approaches in SMEs has become more systematic in France, thanks in particular to the work of the ANACT (French National Agency for the Improvement of Working Conditions (Masson and Parlier 2004; Parlier 2005). Then, the collective works and state of the art of “SME researchers” systematically mentioned competency management as a real aspect of human resources management in SMEs (Louart and Villette 2010). But it appears that effective practice does not always go hand in hand with practice as carried out: competency management is identified when the SME manager values the resources and skills of his employees, even if he does not necessarily use a formalized tool.

4.3. In SMEs and VSEs, apprenticeship along the way

VSEs and SMEs appear to be particularly dependent on their leaders, who must constantly combine a dual action of piloting and entrepreneurship, which is necessary for the sustainability and development of the company. In the case of these entrepreneurial leaders, the managerial literature emphasizes that the strategy is neither planned in advance nor respected. This is what is put forward in the theory of execution and that of the “strategy along the way”.

The study and analysis of the path taken by many entrepreneurs revealed that their strategic decisions were not systematically driven by a predetermined goal or a series of conscious causes. This is what the so-called theory of effectuation (Sarasvathy 2003), taken up by Silberzahn (2014), proposes. This theoretical approach underscores the fact that entrepreneurs act pragmatically and progressively on the goals to be achieved, without always respecting their initial business plan. This principle of execution is based on the consideration of the available resources, taking risks for an acceptable loss; valuing interactions and emerging ideas; having the ability to react to the unexpected and even to value the unexpected; and finally, making the assumption that nothing is determined in advance.

4.4. Learning to manage competences by leaders-entrepreneurs: beyond individual skills

When leaders-entrepreneurs “perform” competency management, their natural entry point is most often that of individual competency or skills management. This dimension of competence is often a matter of evidence or reflexive posture because it is the one that has been driving the notion of competence since the 1980s. But it is also the dimension that is first mobilized in the VSE-SME through recruitment, training and development actions. However, other realities related to competency management emerge as an apprenticeship progresses. Leaders and entrepreneurs often move on to other realities of competency management, sometimes unconsciously. Three recurrent dimensions of competency management are finally the subject of “path-finding” apprenticeships: those of collective competence, company competence and inter-company competence.

This factory of competence by leaders-entrepreneurs can be linked to the “new dimensions” of competence management characterized by Retour et al. (2009) in the literature on the subject. On the collective dimension of competence, Krohmer and Retour (2006) analyzed how a work team; when it has a common reference framework; a collective memory; a shared language and a subjective commitment; manufactures; and has a collective competence that cannot be reduced to the sum of individual competences.

Yet competence also exists at the level of the entire company. It is then illustrated through the synergy of the different services and functions, generating a global know-how (Javidan 1998), which can be expressed through different products, markets or services. This corporate competence is considered strategic if it generates a competitive advantage, which can even become a key competence if it is difficult to imitate (Hamel and Prahalad 1989, 1990). Finally, at the level of supply chains and territories, the networking of economic actors makes it possible to build interorganizational competences (Sanséau 2009; Defélix and Picq 2013).

4.5. Conclusion

Competency management practices, like many other managerial practices in SMEs, remain difficult to identify, observe and model. The structure and identity of SMEs, and among them the very large number of VSEs, often very much grouped around their leader, sometimes make it difficult for the manager himself to read managerially from the outside and from the inside.

Nevertheless, the support systems that exist in professional or academic environments are a powerful lever for taking a step back, for confronting the manager with his internal and external environments, and for completing his apprenticeship. When they allow for a rich and demanding review, these devices reveal tacit, informal and unconscious, but sometimes very accomplished practices. Such places are then real “schools” of competency management, far from academic textbooks or training from major consulting firms, for a real apprenticeship experience.