Training

Learning and Development

I have worked in Learning and Development for three and a half years in Australia, New Zealand and England for large Corporate companies – most notably Telecom and Volkswagen Group.

During this time I have been exposed and had experience in all areas of the full training life-cycle including:

• Training Needs Analysis
• Facilitation
• Induction
• Learning Styles
• Blended Learning
• Instructional Design
• E-Learning
• Coaching, Feedback and Mentoring
• Management Training
• Evaluation
• Softskills
• Sales
• Overcoming Objections
• System Training
• Career Development
• Health and Safety

Volkswagen Group National Contact Centre Migration

In february 2007 Ventura won the contract to manage the NCC for VWG. This involved migrating the 5 major brands (Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen CV) to one company. I initially started for the Volkswagen brand and along with 4 other trainers was responsible for:

• Learning and mapping all processes
• Developing and writing a 5 week induction course
• Training new induction groups
• Evaluating success and implementing required changes
• Delivering ongoing training and attrition groups
• Achieving a balance between the needs of the client and the business

Challenges

Migrating such a complex business was an exciting and difficult challenge. During this time I was faced with many obstacles to overcome and learnt many valuable lessons.

Incumbent Suppliers: When Ventura initially won the contract many of the previous suppliers lost their largest client and subsequently had to release many of their staff. During the migration we were having to learn from suppliers and people that were losing their job, this was a delicate situation and required a fine balance of diplomacy, perseverance and persuasion.

Starting From Scratch: A contact centre (or call centre) is a complex and varied business that requires many different departments – all with their own agenda’s – to understand and work with each other. Myself and 4 other trainers were given 5 weeks with the incumbent supplier to completely learn all aspects of the Customer Service Centre. After training the initial Customer Service Agent’s we were required to provide all the support and help balance customer satisfaction while still meeting the business objectives.

Client Expectation: Volkswagen Group is the third largest automobile maker in the world. Understandably as a client they had very high expectations. Ventura UK is a large company with over 8000 staff and this was still their biggest contract. The period of migration was a high pressure environment with massive expectation from both sides. During this time I learnt a great deal about not just acheiving business requirments but also managing client expectation.

Telecom – New Zealand’s Largest Telecommunication Company

While travelling in New Zealand I got a part-time job as a CSA for Telecom’s 123 Call Centre. I thoroughly enjoyed training and decided that it was something I would like to do, so I proactively volunteered for as much responsibility as I could take on before being promoted internally to the position of Learning Specialist.

Coming from an I.T background my debut into the world of Learning and Development was a baptism by fire which I absolutely loved. I am very passionate about people and learning and consider myself fortunate to have been able to work in an area that provided me not just with a good income, but also personal fulfillment.

After three and a half years I consider myself to be an excellent trainer. At Volkswagen I was evaluated by over 200 people I trained and received an average evaluation of over 91%. However this wasn’t always the case, during my time I have made mistakes and most importantly learnt and grown from them.

Training Lessons Learnt

Underpromise, Overdeliver: To make an impact as a trainer people must respect you. In order for them to respect you they must first trust you to deliver what you say you will. It may be a corporate buzz phrase but by delivering what you say you will people will quickly come to respect you and appreciate you as a capable individual.

Conversely, not delivering on promises made is one of the quickest ways to erode your credibility.

Set Clear Expectations. Immediately: People are comfortable with boundaries. When someone is new to the business they usually want to make a good impression, however if you are running an induction course there will inevitably be a time when you have to correct a behaviour. If you were not clear about what is required from the outset you run the risk of people resenting you for correcting them. By being clear from the start you have a point of reference that you can always go back too, if done well the others in the group may even correct their peers unwanted behaviour for you.

Provide Challenge, But Don’t Overtax: Some people learn subjects faster and much easier then others. This can present problems such as; fast learners becoming bored and slower learners feeling stupid. I quickly learnt to have further challenges ready for faster learners and to be patient and encouraging with slower learners.

Give Sincere Feedback: In order for people to want to continue learning they have to be motivated. As a trainer I learnt not to expect people to manage their own levels of motivation. I recall one mistake I made, going into a feedback session with an Agent without enough preparation, I understood that this person lacked confidence and needed to be told or shown what they were doing well. Because I was not prepared when I tried to give them some positive feedback it was obviously insincere and had the reverse intended effect.