Ovation, Author at iFundi

Marking Training for iFundi

by Ovation | Jul 28, 2023 | Blog

Storytelling has always been a powerful tool for communication, and it’s no different when it comes to creating learning material. In fact, incorporating storytelling into your learning material can be a highly effective way to engage learners, enhance their understanding, and help them retain information.

Here are some ways in which storytelling can help you create better learning material:

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Capturing attention: Storytelling can help capture learners’ attention by creating an emotional connection and setting a context for the learning material. Stories can be used to introduce a topic, grab learners’ attention, and help them focus on the material.

Making learning memorable: Stories are often more memorable than facts or figures alone. When you use storytelling in your learning material, you can create a memorable experience that learners are more likely to recall later.

Enhancing understanding: Stories can help learners understand complex concepts by making them more relatable and concrete. By providing examples and analogies, learners can better connect with the material and apply it to real-world scenarios.

Increasing engagement: When learners are engaged, they are more likely to participate in the learning process and achieve better outcomes. Storytelling can help make learning more interesting and engaging, leading to better retention and understanding.

Fostering empathy: Stories can help learners develop empathy by putting themselves in someone else’s shoes. This can be especially useful when teaching subjects such as diversity, inclusion, or communication skills.

Creating a sense of community: Stories can help learners feel connected to each other and to the material. When learners share their own stories, they create a sense of community and foster deeper learning.

Inspiring action: Stories can inspire learners to take action by providing them with a clear motivation and a sense of purpose. When learners feel motivated and inspired, they are more likely to apply what they’ve learned in their own lives.

In conclusion, storytelling is a powerful tool for creating effective learning material. By using storytelling to capture learners’ attention, enhance their understanding, and foster empathy, you can create a more engaging and effective learning experience. So, next time you create learning material, consider incorporating storytelling to make it more impactful and memorable.

Storytelling

by Ovation | Apr 21, 2023 | Blog

Storytelling has always been a powerful tool for communication, and it’s no different when it comes to creating learning material. In fact, incorporating storytelling into your learning material can be a highly effective way to engage learners, enhance their understanding, and help them retain information.

Here are some ways in which storytelling can help you create better learning material:

Capturing attention: Storytelling can help capture learners’ attention by creating an emotional connection and setting a context for the learning material. Stories can be used to introduce a topic, grab learners’ attention, and help them focus on the material.

Making learning memorable: Stories are often more memorable than facts or figures alone. When you use storytelling in your learning material, you can create a memorable experience that learners are more likely to recall later.

Enhancing understanding: Stories can help learners understand complex concepts by making them more relatable and concrete. By providing examples and analogies, learners can better connect with the material and apply it to real-world scenarios.

Increasing engagement: When learners are engaged, they are more likely to participate in the learning process and achieve better outcomes. Storytelling can help make learning more interesting and engaging, leading to better retention and understanding.

Fostering empathy: Stories can help learners develop empathy by putting themselves in someone else’s shoes. This can be especially useful when teaching subjects such as diversity, inclusion, or communication skills.

Creating a sense of community: Stories can help learners feel connected to each other and to the material. When learners share their own stories, they create a sense of community and foster deeper learning.

Inspiring action: Stories can inspire learners to take action by providing them with a clear motivation and a sense of purpose. When learners feel motivated and inspired, they are more likely to apply what they’ve learned in their own lives.

In conclusion, storytelling is a powerful tool for creating effective learning material. By using storytelling to capture learners’ attention, enhance their understanding, and foster empathy, you can create a more engaging and effective learning experience. So, next time you create learning material, consider incorporating storytelling to make it more impactful and memorable.

BPeSA industry survey bodes well for entry-level contact centre learnerships

by Ovation | Oct 18, 2011 | Blog

Based on a recent proposal rolled-out by industry association BPeSA, a profile of respondents encompassing companies, staffing-solutions agencies and training stake-holders show that a once prevailing demand for experienced call centre consultants is fast in decline.

The call centre industry is one of a few to have enjoyed consistent growth in job-creation when most industries saw a dwindling demand in the wake of the recession – its placements were doubled in the 100 000 positions filled during a five year run-up to the global economic downturn.

This article highlights three pivotal points raised by the survey:

1. Finding good consultants is no longer a challenge as it used to be
  What the survey reports is that in recent years, many contact centre managers have resorted to grooming their own talent as opposed to poaching experienced staff in a market that’s prone to moving for slightly higher hourly-rates at a more frequent pace. This has had the effect of minimising attrition and has at once seen more motivated, cost-effective and dedicated entry-level staff preferring to put down their roots and grow with their employers enter the workplace.

SETA and Monyetla learnerships are proving to be viable and valuable alternatives
Such programs which have grown in popularity and preference with many companies (out of the 57% participating, 80% have reported positive feedback). These learnerships are not only introducing the numbers needed for the industry to grow, but candidates who are meeting the same levels of productivity as seasoned, better-salaried consultants within a three month period on average…at a fraction of their pay.

Generous training grants are accelerating the professionalism of learnership staff
In addition to learners entering companies hosting them at low cost, government and affiliate organisations have also seen to it that these learners get up-skilled and developed on a regular basis so as to give them a competitive edge against their more experienced counterpart. This has encouraged them to remain in the industry and build rewarding careers for themselves. It’s not just the industry, respective companies, or learners that are benefiting but countless customers who are in call centre queues for shorter periods and are being satisfied more regularly than was previously the case.

Ten things to look for in a learnership partner

by Ovation | Oct 18, 2011 | Blog, News

Having an ongoing learnership programme yields many rewards for the companies involved, and these range from increments to the Broad-based Black Empowerment Equity rating, SARS tax-breaks of up to R50 000 per learner per anum, as well asreduced overhead costs and sundry considering that a typical learner costs a third of what an entry-level staff member does –the former having the advantage of having been trained on reasoning skills, customer service and communication skills, to skim through a few learnership benefits.

But the most crucial and often unobserved question is how to identify an accredited and authorised learnership partner? We’ll deal with this query in 10 bullets to be precise…

Quality people: Training being a foregone conclusion, the process has to start at the recruitment stage with the screening of the candidate pool. Any relationship that exists between a recruiter and said learnership partner is advantageous in choosing the best nominees.
Cost of candidates: You want a learnership partner that guarantees motivated learners at a fraction of the cost. The ball-park rule is that learners will cost a third of the entry-level market value.
Nationally recognised certifier: The learnership partner should have the necessary SETA accreditation to certify learner applicants that exit the learnership with an accredited and high quality qualification
Candidate short-listing capabilities: On average, only around five to ten percent of nominees that apply for learnerships are worth being consideredfor a skills development program. The learnership partner should have sound processes to carry out or oversee a selection process effectively and fairly. Again, ongoing collaboration with a recruitment agency is vital.
Meet 100-90-80-70 standard: SETA has parameters in place which call for 100% of projects to be completed by learners, 90% learner retention during the program, 80% of applicants to acquire national certification and that 70% find permanent positions with host employers.
Consistent track-record: The learnership partner’s ability to get things done correctly and in an effective and standardised fashion.
Highly effective monitoring system: Legitimate learnership partners need effective monitoring tools to track learner progress and alert management of any implementation problems in order to trigger corrective action.
Proprietary evaluation tool:Used by prospective learnership partner to track project’s impact and return on investment (ROI) to ensure training leads to measurable outcome.
Compliance: You should be able to rely upon a learnership provider to assist when it comes tothe implementation of good-practice operational and learning compliance measures, be it by way of efficient admin, relevant contractual submissions etc.
BBEEE: Anyone who promises to help you improve the Broadbased Black Empowerment Equity (BBEE) rating of your organisation should have a good score to show to your procurement department, therefore demand certification and credentials.

Why Learnerships play such a crucial role in Skill-Retention and Attrition

by Ovation | Oct 18, 2011 | Blog, News

The scourge of good, solid experience in the workplace and job market in general is attrition, and the call centre industry is no exception when it comes to this. Walk into any corporate call centre setup and the agents gracing monthly-target notices in cafeterias are the same ones making a move to the neighbouring company while the coffee’s still hot in the pot; and for what you ask…better working shifts, perhaps; better hourly-rates –you bet!

Quality consultants are hotly contested all the time, and this is partly the reason why end-of-month customer satisfaction stats show spikes one month and dips the in next one. It boils down to inconsistent service, where in one instance, a bright front-line seasoned staff member might enthral and exceed a client’s expectations with their assertive and pleasant manners, and when this same caller rings again months later the unanticipated result is that of alienation because an agent of lesser quality handles the call.

On the other hand you have learners, eager to put down their roots and stick it out with their prospective permanent employer. Since the inception of accredited learnerships in keeping with SETA standards, such enthusiastic entrants to the job-space come ready with an instilled professional etiquette, high-bill of manners and motivation. Most of them have suffered the hardships of joblessness and are resolute in making their stay a lasting one and their impact felt – they’re not rejoining the unemployment ranks!

Findings from the collaboration of relevant SETAs and host organisations show that amongst learnership benefits is the parting of industry good-practices to their applicants, from good communication and people skills, excellent product knowledge coupled with the ability to solve problems as they arise. It needs to be mentioned again that these pupils are prone to out-performing seasoned employees due to their insatiable hunger and self-motivation, plus the bonus of never having acquired bad-habits from a previous working experience (as is often the case with experienced agents).

Thus, upon entering the workplace, they are sharp from having undergone intensive screening and countless assessments. On average it will take a learner a month’s conventional on-the-job training and orientation to come up to speed and start pursuing targeted productivity levels – this runs contrary to the misperception that learners place the company’s reputation and customer satisfaction at stake.

Of utmost importance to a learner is a credible résumé: it should show their healthy level of commitment; so job-hopping in the early stages of their tenure they feel would count against them in the short and midterm – they are after all building a career path with as high an ambition as a lawyer or any other professional harbours; they’re prepared to work at a fraction of their comparative worth in light of the entry-level market worth – and no better hourly-rate or shift from a generous neighbour will deter them from their goal. Give them enough time and they too will have amassed enough confidence, call-handling finesse and call-control skills to rank amongst the most experienced lot on the floor…for a fraction the cost.