What was it like joining Novacroft?
I started at Novacroft in September 2020 after a career break and it’s been the quickest 6 months in my life for years – I love it! I joined as a Contact Centre Advisor. The support, from my very first day, was phenomenal, and the training for the project I started on was phenomenal too. There was, and still is, always someone on hand to help out, there are plenty of resources, and the team is a very close one. Everyone within the company is accessible and willing.
How have you grown here?
From starting as a Contact Centre Advisor, I’ve then been a floor walker, supporting the team as they take calls, and then taken on the Training Facilitator position, becoming a Team Manager.
Tell us about your role as Training Facilitator…
This was a project that lasted 5 – 6 weeks in total. It was to deliver training to people that would then support the roll out of a short-term, national project by answering calls from members of the public.
With a background in pub management and running a Virtual PA company, I’d trained people before, but always face to face, one to one. The idea of online training was alien to me. I had serious nerves about the task of engaging up to 33 people that you can’t see, motivating them to listen to you, interact and ask questions.
Within a couple of days of starting as a Training Facilitator, I was asked to rewrite and reorganise the training documentation. I had the team around me to help, but it was time-sensitive. We became an incredibly close, tight knit group, and, in the end, we knew the course content through and through! The Project Managers, Jo and Jordan, were awesome throughout. Nothing is too much for Jo, and she’s great at focusing on what’s important. Jordan is one of the best managers I’ve had.
After 8 days of learning and recreating the training materials, it was time to teach our groups of learners. There were 20+ people in a group – I had 33 in mine. There were diverse education levels in the people we were training, some had no headsets, some had equipment challenges. It was incredibly interesting, very taxing and it brought us, as a group of Training Facilitators, together as a team like no other project could. We were a cohesive team able to lean on each other with any questions we had. All of us have moved on to different projects now, but that camaraderie is still there.
Not only did I have to train my own group, but as a Team Manager, outside of the set training times, I had to check in on my team of Training Facilitators, ensuring they were okay, looking after their wellbeing, helping them with any challenges they had.
100% of my learners passed the end-of-course assessments.
At the end of the training course, somebody in my group said to me that in all their years of corporate training, they’d never learned so much in such a short period!
As well as getting on brilliantly with the learners, I got on really well with the team on our client’s side, and they gave me really positive feedback. That made it all worthwhile – you want to be recognised for achieving what you’ve set out to, it means a lot – the little things make you want to do your best.
The project itself was such a huge mountain to climb. Together, we delivered a good result.
What do you love about the role?
Although we were working remotely, It was like being in an office. The support and camaraderie we’ve had is second to none. Daria is a training ninja! As a team, we were always making time to check in with each other, and each one of us (our group was 24 Training Facilitators) brought something different. I’ve made some amazing life-long friends. It’s been an absolute pleasure.
Meredyth is full of life and energy. She runs towards everything. She is a remarkable, inspiring, caring and supportive lady who I am honoured to have had the privilege to work with.
– Jo Toes, Senior Contact Centre Team Manager and Training Facilitator Project Manager, Novacroft
What are the values that drive you?
I love speaking to people, resolving issues, making sure my team is happy. At the end of the training course I delivered for this project, having people saying that they could do their job now was awesome.
Share a fact about yourself!
I’ve run a virtual PA company from my garage, organising events, bookings, managing diary planning. Then my husband and I took over a pub and turned it into a thriving live music establishment!
What’s next for you?
This role has given me back my confidence – I didn’t think I could do another corporate role, but taking on this opportunity has made me realise that I can. The whole ethos behind Novacroft is great. Everyone has the same goals. I’d like to stay with Novacroft, I’ve had a blast. It’s been fantastic and it’s been interesting. Any project that I can get my teeth into, I would be over the moon to be involved in.
If a project like this came up again I would grab it with both hands.
#GrowWithNovacroft