An Australian-based company producing flight simulation programmes for trainee pilots has introduced a simulation programme for call centre supervisors. The Adacel call centre multimedia solution has been introduced to South Africa by the Bryan Hattingh Group, which has been appointed as the local distributor by Adacel.
Adacel GM Alastair Shakeshaft says the program is based on the company`s findings that 30% of a call centre supervisor`s job is knowledge- and procedure-based, and 70% is based on experience.
"Conventional training focuses on the knowledge and procedure aspect, thus overlooking the larger part of the learning requirement," says Shakeshaft. "In the call centre environment operators are often promoted to supervisor status, but the best operator may have the procedural knowledge of the job, but lack the experience to fulfil his duties adequately."
The simulator puts the student in the role of a call centre team leader in charge of full- and part-time agents. It is the job of the team leader to ensure they work as a team and perform to their full potential. Major needs are to maintain high morale and retain staff. "There is no right or wrong answer, but rather a series of real-life consequences for choosing a particular answer to a problem," Shakeshaft elaborates.
At the end of the simulated six-month period, the student develops skills based on five basic competences - leadership, communication, continuous improvement, motivation and monitoring.
BHG director Brandon Sandiford says Call Centre in Action will be a vital tool when sourcing suitable people for call centre supervision.
"Growth of the call centre market is explosive, and there is strong demand for good staff at supervisor level," reports Sandiford. "At the same time the call centre, fast becoming the most important contact zone between business and customer, cannot accommodate on-the-job training. For that reason we have added the Adacel offering to our range of technical and leadership competence testing products to identify where training is needed, and to provide that training - both in the knowledge and the experiential space."
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