A CMA who was born to be happy

Just one look at her rosy cheeks, bright eyes and peaceful demeanor and I can easily picture her on a large plot, hoeing her flower beds on a beautiful breezy day. Instead, she is in her office on the 22nd floor of a high-rise building in Montreal. This contrast is even more astonishing since Michèle Desrosiers, CMA, is an executive officer at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, an assuredly demanding position with many responsibilities. I wonder, “How does she do it?”

Unintended pioneer
Michèle Desrosiers tells me in plain and simple terms about life and work. Her sentences flow easily, creating the illusion of a picture perfect past. No one would guess that her résumé is thicker than a phone book and that several major projects feature prominently among her numerous achievements. It is true that a lot can be accomplished in 30 years; Desrosiers celebrated her three decades of employment at RCGT in January 2009. “It is not necessary to write my age on the first page,” she continues with a smirk.

This is typical of Desrosiers: our CMA occasionally peppers her comments with surprising bits of humor, catching me off guard. I press on, saying to her, "But the past 30 years have definitely not been mundane! You were a pioneer not only as a woman and CMA but also as a female partner at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton.” Michèle Desrosiers acquiesces, “When I was studying at HEC Montréal, there were very few women and I was often the only one in a class full of men. It is also true that I was one of the two first female partners at the firm.”

The way she tells it, these achievements were entirely natural, even ordinary. She explains that she has always been attracted to accounting and management. Without trying to understand why or analyzing how difficult it could be, she simply fulfilled her desire and has never regretted it.

Blessed with extraordinary energy, she studied full time while working for Québecair as the manager of “30 billing clerks.” After Québecair was sold, she soon found a new job at RCGT, which was then known as Raymond Chabot Martin Paré.

“I earned my CMA designation in 1979 and sent my résumé to some headhunters. Claude Bégin, the partner who was in charge of consulting at Raymond Chabot Martin Paré, was looking for someone who had CMA training, especially in cost accounting. Consulting services were just beginning at the time, the division had just a few people, and he offered me a consultant position. In those days, businesses were starting to computerize and changing their systems as a result. For that reason, they needed consulting services. My first two jobs consisted in reviewing the procurement processes of the City of Lachine and the Montreal Catholic School Board, now the Commission scolaire de Montréal.”

Far from feeling out of place in this new world, Michèle Desrosiers immediately made herself right at home. But didn’t this CMA feel a little alone in this “strictly accounting” setting? She answers unhesitatingly, “Even if I was doing different work, in a developing consulting sector, I always felt appreciated here.”

Clearly! Over the years, Michèle Desrosiers has been so successful at making a place for herself at RCGT that she is now the partner in charge of the strategy and performance consulting group, a member of the firm’s Board of Directors and the Montreal regional management committee, as well as the coordinator of consulting services for the Montreal region! The consulting sector, which she coordinates, has also developed a lot, since it now has 175 professionals and posts $32 million in sales. The Strategy and Performance Consulting Group alone, which she has always managed, is composed of 75 employees and completes Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton’s multidisciplinary offer.

Being happy from 9 to 5 is a necessity!
Although she denies it, Michèle Desrosiers has most certainly played a primary role in helping Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton expand to become one of the largest networks of public accountants and administration consultants in Quebec. Specialized in the public and parapublic sector, she has completed hundreds of high-profile projects, especially in sensitive fields like healthcare, social services, education and municipal organizations. She has helped a number of hospital centres, small towns and big cities, school boards and universities transform their organization and improve their performance. After meeting such complex and varied challenges for more than 30 years, isn’t she a little weary?

Her reaction to my question is cheerful and unambiguous. “I like what I do even more now than on the very first day! I love my job and enjoy it every day. Besides, if that wasn’t the case, I would do something else.” Intrigued by such a young-at-heart attitude, I ask her what makes her so happy. “The conviction that I do something useful, I help my clients move forward and my team and firm advance.”

During the interview, it became clear that being happy at work is a priority for Michèle Desrosiers. Not her career or financial ambitions. Happiness. This personal view heavily influences everything she does. “For example, during the annual planning process, as a team, we identified the adjustments that needed to be made to our practices. We are also in the middle of making changes in our administrative services and I said to the professionals that we had to make these changes to improve customer service of course, but also to improve their quality of life. You know, more than two days of unhappiness per year is too many!”

Did I hear that right? A job should be satisfactory almost every day? Isn’t that too much to ask from happiness? “We are responsible for the state of things. If we are unhappy, we must ask ourselves questions and find out the answers. Oftentimes, all we need to do is review the way we do things or gain a better understanding of a point of view. We are responsible for contributing to the development of our working environment.”

As a result, for this executive, the human contribution is the most important in a firm. "I work to improve the performance of organizations, and quality of life is a part of performance. I can change processes, but if the people involved do not understand what they are doing or are not motivated and don’t want to get involved, the chances of success decrease.”

And the future?
Her next birthday cake will have 60 candles. So is she thinking a little bit about retirement? “I want to work at least another 10 years,” she assures me. In good health, Michèle Desrosiers is not afraid to arrive at her office when most people are just getting out of bed so that she can do some work before the telephone rings and e-mails flood in by the dozens. And when the telephone is not ringing? “I find a way to make it ring!”

“I have consulting in my blood! I like to listen, raise questions. The conditions have changed in 30 years. Back then, we used to talk about reviewing systems and methods, in the 80s, it was about total quality and continuous improvement, and in the 90s, reengineering. Nowadays, we talk about globalization, partnerships, operational excellence. But my mission is still the same: help organizations do the right thing at the right time, by getting the right people involved.”

I tell her that she has every reason to be proud of her career. “I am especially proud of my group,” states the eldest of her family who loves to get her entire family together for celebrations and believes the team concept is very important. While I am getting ready to leave, I ask her: “Do you have any hobbies?” “My husband and I live our lives to the fullest. We love to take trips involving the arts and gastronomy. And on weekends we go to the country, work with the earth and take in the fresh air.” Now I understand!