Another Chapter - My time in the B2W training so far.

 

I started this course not having a clue of what I could possibly learn,  the most important thing for me was getting back into the job market and if this was going to be the way then sure sign me up. I have had some experience working in customer services so I believed it most likely will be like a refresher training  and I'll probably just learn 1 or 2 new things, there's no harm in that right ? Well how well was I surprised, my time so far on the course has taught me a lot of things that I didn't even realise I lacked knowledge in, you know when you feel you know something and then you're in a situation and boom your head goes blank, that explains it. My writing ability has seriously improved, I am mean I'm writing a blog who would have thought!.

The first day was quite interesting, I met our tutor Jacqueline, and Kavita who is in charge of reviewing our assessments. They were very nice and they explained throughly everything we need to know to get started. Our first lesson was basically on portraying good work ethics or behaviours, I really liked the style of teaching that Jacquline used, like you learn while doing the work, it wasn't just about teaching the course but making us work on our test alongside made the learning very interactive. We were also introduced to some of the learning platforms we will be using to work as a group like Jamboard and Padlet, I actually found these to be very interesting plus I haven't come across them before so it was a good experience using it. 

As the course went on we delved deeper into the course components like digital awareness and safety were understood the importance of being digitally safe especially in fast paced digital world that we find ourselves in and this will also be very essential when we are working in contact centres. We took a look into digital security risks and measures to mitigate these risks, we were asked to use Jamboard and Padlet to put down our thoughts on this and eventually put those thoughts together to answer our questions. This approach was really good because then you can really see how people have different answers to the same questions. After this course, I understand the importance of being safe online, how data can be store securely and ways that data could be comprised if we are careless with the way they are handled.  

We proceeded to learn how the way we behave can affect customer satisfaction. This included; how to greet customers properly, how to provide information about product and services, how important it is to make sure that the information provided is understood by the customer, the importance of adhering to a company's regulatory requirement while dealing with customers, the processes involved in handling customer escalations, maintaining a respectful and professional demeanour when dealing with customers because our behaviours can affect customers positively or negatively, ones manner of approach can leave the customer with a bad experience after the call, if the customer isn't satisfied, they will go ahead and leave bad reviews. 

We delved deeper into the Part 2 of how our behaviours can affect customer experience where we discusses negative body language that can affect customer satisfaction, how to give a positive review to a customer, characteristics that will ensure good customer relationships and possibly distractions that can occur when dealing with a customer and how to avoid it. I believe this module both part 1&2 aims at improving our people skills and the ability to understand how behaviours, tone, body language can have a negative or positive effect on good customer experience. 

We were given the opportunity to work in groups which I believed was aimed at improving our team collaboration skills and ability to work and deliver results on a team. I was put in a team with 2 lovely ladies, we were tasked with doing a presentation on a topic we chose. We went with Titanic and we spent about 2 days working on our presentation before we were asked to present. Working on the presentation was really fun, I have read a lot of stories about Titanic, I have seen the movie more that 2 times and I have even visited the museum in Belfast but it is exciting to know that there were still a lot of information I hadn't come across. We found a lot of exciting facts about the ship which we added to our presentation, one of the girls came up with the idea of looking into the menu of the passengers on the ship. We did some research and found the menu for all classes of passengers on board, it was really insightful because I had never come across that information and our tutor Jacqueline commended that effort so it was worth it I'd say. Another fascinating thing about the presentations is that we were more than 2 groups that worked on Titanic as a topic but it was surprising to see that we all came up with different informations about the incident and the ship. 

In week 2 of the training, we went into cybersecurity We learnt about different types of threats including malware, phishing, ransomware etc. It was quite a new area for me because I have no previous background in it but I found it very interesting. Putting ideas on the Jamboard and Padlet made it easier to understand. We were again put into groups and put in a breakout room to discuss the cyberattack that happened to British Airways in 2023.   After the presentation, I got to know about different ways that cybercriminal explore against victims which included individuals to big cooperation. 

We also had to do a group presentation on Artificial Intelligence; its history, advantages, disadvantages, its effect on education, threats and the future, which I also found quite insightful. The ethical considerations in cybersecurity caught my interest because they served as a reminder that this job requires more than just technological proficiency—it also requires ethical judgement.

Overall, I have lernt a lot in the course of this training, I have enhanced my existing skills and competencies with regards to communication, providing excellent customer service and team collaboration. I have also acquired knowledge in cybersecurity. I am excited about the remaining parts of the training and I'm sure they will be as insightful as the ones we have done so far. 

Thank you for reading. 

chiomaachima@gmail.com