ODI’s Occupational Certificate: Project Manager ID101869 (NQF Level 5), is aligned with two of the key global project management standards

• The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) and

• PRINCE2

and provides project management best practices, tools and techniques.

Driven by their quest for excellence across all disciplines of publishing and printing, the CTP Group of Companies enrolled a team of learners to complete the Occupational Certificate: Project Manager (11 Modules). Some learners were in Cape Town and others joined online, facilitated by ODI’s MD: Huibie Jones.

ODI has primary accreditation with the Services Sector Education & Training Authority (decision number 0228). ODI also has further programme approval to provide qualifications, learnerships, and skills programmes through merSETA and SABPP.

The learnerships offered by ODI are carefully selected, to support companies on their journey of Continuous Improvement.

To contact us, click here.

The post ODI’s Occupational Certificate: Project Manager ID101869 (NQF Level 5) with Huibie Jones and the CTP Group of Companies appeared first on ODI.

• increased teamwork,

• improved communication, and

• a more positive workplace culture.

In high-pressure work environments, emotional intelligence helps individuals manage their own emotions and stay calm in the face of stress and adversity. This results in better decision making, increased productivity, and reduced turnover, as employees feel valued and supported.

Moreover, emotionally intelligent individuals are able to understand the emotional needs of their customers, and are able to respond in a way that enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty. This has a direct impact on the bottom line, as satisfied customers are more likely to return, refer others, and provide positive reviews.

Leaders with high emotional intelligence are also able to inspire and motivate their teams, and are better equipped to handle workplace conflicts and negotiations. This creates a workplace culture where everyone is working towards a common goal, and helps to improve morale and reduce turnover.

Emotional intelligence plays a critical role in relationships in the workplace, and has a direct impact on the success and profitability of a company. Companies that invest in developing the emotional intelligence of their employees are more likely to achieve their business objectives and have a more positive and productive workplace culture.

Recently Maryke Snyman facilitated a group of learners from KSB Pumps and Valves (Pty) Ltd, completing ODI’s NQF5 Emotional Intelligence 2-Day Skills Programme in Gauteng.

The purpose of this Emotional Intelligence Skills Programme, is to

• learn what emotional intelligence is all about, as well as the impact thereof. 
• discover tools to help you develop new habits.
• increase your ability to recognise your feelings, to control them, and to express them appropriately.
• learn to empathise with people, and to recognise their emotions, as well as your own.
• apply the principles and concepts of emotional intelligence to the management of self and others.

To read more about the content to be covered in this Skills Programme, click here.

Author: Maryke Bergh

The post The importance of EQ in the workplace appeared first on ODI.

Angela writes:

“My first exposure to the programme came early on in 2019 when I started peripherally assisting with the on-lining of this programme. Once it was completed and open for registration I signed up as quickly as I could. In the first virtual support session I remember asking some really ‘interesting’ questions, the answers to which became part and parcel of the everyday use of the course, but at that time I was still on track for the paper qualification.

At the start of 2021 I was invited to collaborate in the roll-out of the Operations Excellence programme on-site at a plant in Port Elizabeth. I was asked to assist in the facilitation and assessment of the NQF3 (Supervision for Energised Workteams) programme. The Port Elizabeth Operations Excellence programme involved approximately 13 NQF3 learners and approximately 8 NQF5 National Certificate in Productivity, learners. At that time, I was still enrolled – but hadn’t really progressed in the NQF5 blended learning programme.

I started attending the NQF5 discussion sessions and, more importantly, I was included in all of the plant inspections and Gemba walks & checks. This is where I started to get insight as to how little I knew and understood. Soon, some of the terminology from the NQF5 programme and the factory jargon started coming to life for me – including, and importantly, the concept of the Gemba walk. I did have a lot of questions, but fortunately I also had my NQF5 class and an excellent mentor to assist me.

The NQF5 and the NQF3 roll-outs were scheduled to run in parallel and both were offered from the same training venue and plant. The NQF5 class being the senior supervisors to the supervisors, first-line managers etc., the majority of whom were enrolled in the NQF3.

Initially, I was very nervous about committing my thoughts and understanding to paper, in the workplace activities because I realised how much of an outsider I was to the actual operations excellence programme. However, I realised that to get the best understanding of the whole process I had to work through it, so that I would be better able to reflect and use all of the learning in each situation.

One of the things that worked out to be very useful or was intentionally designed to be very useful, was that quite a lot of the contents of the NQF3 and the NQF5 complemented one other, so what I was learning in NQF5, I was teaching – at a different level – in the NQF3 programme. For instance, initially I was going to work with some of the other members of the NQF5 to create and be part of their mini-business, however, at the NQF3 level the training department needed to create its own mini-business, and so I became a member of the training department’s mini-business. We had to create our mini-business’s vision, mission, values etc and for our vision, we settled on:

“We will be a centre of Excellence for Learning and Development for the footwear industry, aiming to increase the productivity and sustainability of South African products and footwear producers.“

Ultimately this turned out to be very ironic – but we’ll get to that later.

One of the things that I hear often, which I sure most facilitators hear is: “Are the bosses being told this?” – and in this roll-out I could answer in the affirmative, and even show the NQF3 learners the page reference!

At the end of last year, I was encouraged to push past the rest of my group to finish ahead of schedule. This, of course, had its pros and cons but I felt that by then I had sufficient real-life information to do the course some justice. I did my final FISA presentation at the end of last year.

Some of the areas that have inspired me the most are:

• When my NQF3 delegates learnt about the leadership element of courage, and they realised that they have an obligation to stand up for their teams.
• My NQF3 learners saying that they can see the NQF5 learners trying to make the changes, the physical ones to the plant are relatively the easy ones in comparison to the personal changes being undertaken. The fact that parties have realised that they need to act differently is inspiring.
• The learner who tried to get out of the course for at least the first 3 modules, is now one of the trail blazers in handing in work on time, or ahead of time.
• My NQF3 learners saying that at the start of the training they couldn’t understand why they should be doing this training and why they needed to be involved – they have done things like this for the last 28 years, why change now, and now they are seeing the changes and enthusing about the why change now and showing their teams and new recruits the importance of the new ways.
• The physical changes made at the plant – and the learners asking why it took so long to make these obviously beneficial changes.
• The vision that we set as the vision for the training department was, as set out above, to be “a centre of Excellence for Learning and Development for the footwear industry”. Although this was displayed on our mini-business dashboard, I made mention of it in my FISA presentation, and I was surprised when I went to the plant the next time and found that they had taken the vision to hand and re-designed the storage area into an extended classroom, including such details in the plans to adjust the plant’s air conditioners to cool the room in summer and reverse them to warm it in winter, so that it could become a true ‘centre of excellence’.

Initially, the changes, as all change processes are, were resisted and somewhat opposed, but now the changes have a positive infectious effect:

• Where one area gets a model machine, other areas want model machines.
• Where more flow is successfully achieved in one area, other areas want less work-in-progress.

Hopefully it will also be the case that where some see NQF5 & NQF3 qualifications from ODI, others will also want to get those qualifications.”

For many businesses, it is a priority to improve the skills of their employees, and face-to-face classroom training is not always possible. ODI, however, believes that a blended approach, where there is an element of classroom, as well as technology-based learning, is stronger.

To view our online Qualifications and Learnerships index, click here.

The post NQF5 National Certificate in Productivity: An Operations Excellence game changer appeared first on ODI.

Digistics (Pty) Ltd. offers Supply Chain Management and Value-Added Logistics Execution. They operate out of six Distribution Centres in Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg and has become a significant player in leading multi-temperature distribution operations throughout South Africa.

Digistics’ journey began in 1995, when ASP Distributors (Pty) Ltd opened up in South Africa, in partnership with Spar. With a national infrastructure, ASP pioneered multi-temperature distribution within the South African Quick Service Restaurant industry.

A management buy-out in 2003 led to the establishment of Digistics (Pty) Ltd. With an aggressive growth plan, the company secured a number of new, long-standing contracts.

Due to significant growth over a short space of time, the decision was made to bring a partner on board. 51% of the shares was sold to Super Group Holdings in 2012, making the business a Super Group subsidiary company. In 2017, Super Group bought out the balance of the remaining shareholding.

It is said that people are an asset; Digistics believes that everything revolves around people. In order to do what they do, Digistics need leaders to build a best-in-class customer-focused business. They do have those leaders on their team. You will find leadership at every level, and each employee in their team of more than 795 makes decisions every day to put their customers’ businesses first.

Striving for world-class supply chain management and operations excellence, Digistics enrolled members of staff to complete ODI’s NQF3, 4 and 5 Generic Management Learnerships facilitated by Mbali Tshabalala, Michael Foxon and Maryke Bergh.

Learners were welcomed by their HR Executive – Cheryl Farley.

ODI’s Mbali Tshabalala, facilitated the NQF3 Generic Management group of learners.

Micheal Foxon facilitated the NQF4 Generic Management group of learners.

Maryke Bergh facilitated the NQF5 Generic Management group of learners.

The learnerships offered by ODI are carefully selected, to support companies on their journey of Continuous Improvement. To find out how ODI can help your Continuous Improvement initiative, contact us, by clicking here.

The post NQF3, 4 and 5: Digistics & ODI striving for supply chain operations excellence appeared first on ODI.

As a global leader, Gold Fields believe that their high-performance attitude staff are their most valuable asset and enrolled a group of learners to complete ODI’s NQF5 Generic Management learnership.

The purpose of the National Certificate in Generic Management (Skills Development Manager) – NQF Level 5, is to enable a person to manage first-line managers in an organisational entity. Comprising of 6 modules, this learnership with Gold Fields South Deep, is facilitated by ODI’s Director – Johan Benadie.

Martin Preece Executive Vice President and Elzani Olivier, HR Manager, is opening Day 1 of the NQF5 learnership at Gold Fields South Deep mine.

To view the ODI/Gold Fields & NQF3 Supervision for energised work teams with Maryke Bergh album, click here.

The post ODI/Gold Fields NQF5 in Generic Management and Johan Benadie appeared first on ODI.

NQF Level 5 in Productivity can be done as a stand-alone Continuous Improvement System, or through a Qualification.

Implementing continuous improvement (kaizen) to increase productivity in an organisation is more than merely drawing up action plans, and implementing them. To be successful and sustainable, it requires a transformation of the organisation’s culture. Just as with changing habits, it takes exceptional measures to make this transformation complete and successful.

ODI’s Director – Johan Benadie, facilitated this group of learners.

To find out more about ODI’s learnership qualifications, using a blended online approach, email e-support@odi.co.za

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The topic of discussion was “How smart leaders are adapting to the next normal”. The guest was Grant Schreiber – a South African author, editor, publisher  and founding editor of Real Leaders, a leadership magazine that focuses exclusively on sustainability and ethical business.

The following is a summary of the discussions and opinions.

What are smart leaders doing now? Showing lots of Empathy! They have the ability to understand the emotional make-up of other people and have the skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions. People are going through lots of emotional trauma and grief, and leaders – now more than ever before, need to have that “generosity of spirit”.  They need to have an “extended family mentality”.

Leaders are becoming more human. People will ask,” Where were you during the lock-down”? “Did you help?” Leaders need to be real advocates for helping people and society.

Business and society are now firmly linked. Philanthropy and charity should be embedded in the purpose and values of organisations. Companies need to re-look their values and values need to reflect more of serving mankind and not only shareholders, staff and customers.

Leaders are realising that they cannot work on their own to resolve issues. They are gathering a team of problem-solvers around them, because they realise people need help. They are not swamped by these emotions but they come up with clear solutions.

Leaders are encouraging staff to WFH, the new acronym for “WORKING FROM HOME”, where possible.

The world has moved towards digitalisation. One can see this by the increase in online traffic and this will continue. Communication via Zoom, Skype, WeBex, Gotomeeting and Whatsapp is booming – becoming the new norm for socialising.

Leaders are looking at supply chains and asking how it can be changed to accommodate this new world of work? The challenge is – how do you influence people by sitting at home? A large part of leadership is influence.

There is now a proliferation of studying and learning from home opportunities, more so than ever before. Learning and studying from home will become the new norm.

In every crisis there is opportunity. There are many examples of this. During the war, Coca Cola wanted to distribute their products to the frontline. To do this they opened up distribution hubs. After the war this served as distribution centres and gave them an advantage over others.

We must not embed the words “social distancing”. The correct word is physical distancing + social connecting. #Togetherapart

This is now our Kairos moment – a propitious moment for decision and action as we enter the new normalcy. Some brave decisions are required from leaders. Old habits and old behaviour need to change and bold new decisions are required.

From the comfort and safety of your home, you can now learn how to develop your Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ), by signing up to NQF5: THE IMPACT OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE.

To find out more, click here.

Author: Gerald McKinnon : Director at ODI

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The trip as a whole had exceeded my own expectations. We had the privilege of flying to the conference. What made it so special was that it was my very first time on an airplane. My other two colleagues also flew for the first time.

With the arrival at the conference, the ODI team went out of their way to make us feel welcome. For me, it was actually such a great privilege to have acted as an ambassador for GWK for the day.

The following drew my attention:

• Old ways don’t open new doors.
• Good managers make use of the 20 Keys system to improve their work.
• Do the right thing right the first time.

What make these statements so unique is that they “tick” all the boxes on which I base my values. Every day I strive to work harder and to improve, because, if there is something the 20 Keys system taught me, it is that one should never just settle to be satisfied with everything – each and every one of us can improve!

The best was left for last, when I received the award as one of ODI’s best achievers of the NQF 3 National Certificate in Management.

It was a proud moment to not only stand up to receive the award for myself, but also, on behalf of my entire team at Barkly West Products, and GWK as a whole. I have been taught that you are just as strong as the team that moves with you, and that recognition should not only go to me, but to us as a team at Barkly West Products. It opened my eyes again to what it means to receive acknowledgement as an employee. ODI taught me, ‘To share as a mentor and a leader – your knowledge, so that others can also be successful’.

At the moment I am busy with NQF 5 National Certificate in Generic Management. It is a good motivation for me to work hard as a GWK Ambassador, and to be able to receive the recognition for NQF 5 along with my team. With the return to my Depot, it was a privilege to share my experience with everyone – as if they were part of the conference. The two days away made me realise how strong our team has become since implementing some of the Keys successfully. Changes in morale, and improved communication through management are so important.

To have a look at the 2019 ODI Conference album where we celebrated 30 years of operational excellence, click here.

  

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Facilitated by ODI’s Maryke Viviers-Bergh, a group of learners recently completed their NQF level 5, National Certificate in Generic Management learnership.

NQF 5 for Energised Leadership is designed to enable a person to manage first-line managers in an organisational entity. The focus of this qualification is to enable learners to develop competence in knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values.

To read more about ODI’s National Qualifications and Skills Programmes, click here.

The post ODI/Festive, NQF 5 for Energised Leadership & Maryke Viviers-Bergh appeared first on ODI.

For GWK, the most important element on their journey of Continuous Improvement has been to involve people in the process. Click here to read more about Forona Stephens’ (Human Resources Business Partner at GWK) topic of discussion at our recent ODI conference – “Think Big, Start Small, Unlock Excellence.”

GWK works daily to move the boundaries of agriculture, to help people discover new and better ways. GWK – Innovate agriculture.

ODI’s National Valery Hansen facilitated a group of GWK learners completing their NQF 5 National Certificate in General Management.

To read more about ODI’s Continuous Operations Improvement System, click here.

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