Every company with knowledge of its industry should be a driver of creating specific learning, training and skills development, using its knowledge to best effect for that specific market sector.
This is the opinion of Matimba Mbungela, chief human resources officer, Vodacom Group (Africa), who believes that industry has a vital role to play in the development of a country’s economy, as each industry understands where its business segments and offerings are going and where there is growth.
“We should also be creating an enabling environment for government and because companies are versed in specific skills, they are in a better position to articulate areas of focus and improvement to assist government in how and where to improve education, whether functional or academic.”
“For instance,” he says, “if we look at where we were at 10 years ago, very few envisaged the data explosion that we have today or the pace at which the telecomms industry is growing. However, even then, there were the visionaries who were already talking about convergence, triple-play and a data-enabled platform beyond just voice. As industry experts and visionaries, we are better placed to articulate the future needs of the business, as well the capability requirements for the industry.
“We are now much better positioned to analyse and identify and therefore to realise what are the best and most important skills to develop. Industry leaders and companies need to drive training, learning and development because these are important levers to deliver growth.
“Vodacom is fortunate in that we are able to leverage from the Vodafone family global opportunities and talented people in the short, medium and long term.
Business exposure
In 2014, Vodacom redesigned its graduate programme to address the changes of the evolving education system.
The company is constantly on the prowl for intelligent, ambitious and driven graduates that are put through its new Discover Graduate Programme, which it describes as providing an “accelerated career path”. According to Mbungela, the programme offers global excellence platforms by function, and it also takes advantage of local graduate learning products.
“A graduate programme should be a feeder and enabler for future talent and we feel we have achieved this through our on-line academy. Graduates also get business exposure from day one, through rotations in different areas of the organisation. This opens up more scope to realise our strategies around building a diverse and talented team.
“The key differentiator of the Discover Graduate Programme is that most of the learning takes place on the job, with the rest being through academic and functional training, mentorship and coaching.
“We look at investment in skills from a leadership, expertise transfer and day-to-day training perspective to achieve functional excellence. Essentially, companies need to put the right investment in training in place and in turn, each individual needs to own his or her career development.
“I never fight for training budget, but what I do have I spend wisely. We know how critical it is to invest in our people to maintain a competitive edge. Our investment is also about igniting passion and letting our people get involved and feeling that they are engaged, active participants,” says Mbungela.
“Being a leader amongst competition in the marketplace is not by chance, but through the company’s investment in people, knowing that the quality of people is at the core of differentiation and competitive advantage.”
360 degree learning
When discussing the challenges of employing and training Generation Y, with their whole new approach to education, Mbungela describes himself as a “bit of a traditionalist”, saying that he believes every person needs a really sound education platform.
“You cannot come out of school or university and expect to be the next chief executive. The learning has to be complemented by some level of expertise to give the individual the edge.
“Generation Y/millenials have learning platforms at their fingertips. Our role is to establish how to create and make learning and training exciting. Social networking is the new kind of way to do this, as long as we can look beyond tradition.
“There is a new 360 degree way of learning that encompasses all media, from books to YouTube, to Google and Twitter feeds. Educators and mentors have to understand the importance of this 360 degree way of learning and learn how to hook Generation Y. This generation wants to complete the learning experience, but we have to talk to them in the language in which they wish to be engaged.
“We have found the most successful and very popular training method is action learning.What we do is assign an intern or employee with a business problem to solve. They work with a real issue that stretches them as individuals. They [then] have a platform from which to find a solution and an audience to share it with, and they find this incredibly meaningful.”
Educating future technologists
Vodacom trains more than 300 learners annually through its various learnership programmes. More than 100 interns are afforded the opportunity to gain valuable experience in its creative, innovative and technology-driven environment.
Internships are offered to young adults who have completed some tertiary studies and who would like to gain work experience in a structured environment.
Usually an internship with Vodacom is offered for a 12-month period, during which time interns are exposed to their area of study so that they can glean invaluable practical experience in their field.
Vodacom’s internships usually encompass engineering, finance, information technology, telecommunications, property, procurement and project management.
South African citizens may qualify for a bursary for full-time studies at Vodacom’s accredited tertiary institutions in one of the following fields of study: information technology, information systems, computer science, electrical or electronic engineering and computer engineering.
Vodacom’s learnerships are a structured learning intervention, which combines work-based experience with learning and these are typically offered to inexperienced young adults who have completed a National Senior Certificate, or Matric, and who wish to educate themselves further.
Usually a learnership programme also stretches over a period of 12 months and includes the building of a Portfolio of Evidence, with the submission of this leading to the successful completion of their qualification.
Learnerships include business administration, commerce, marketing, finance, call centres and project management. — Rebecca Haynes