4.3 APPLICATION OF THEMES AND FACTORS PERTAINING TO RESEARCH
4.3.5 COACHING AND MENTORING
When learners sat together for the core learning and they had a problem, they should help one another.
Collaboration was maximized during the facilitation of the core unit standards. Adelle related:
During group discussions for the core unit standards, there were learners there who have completed 4 or 5 learnerships and are clued up and they are there to assist. And in a group, when a question is raised, and if there are new learners there, they would not know what is really happening if they had no past experience in the footwear industry. Usually people with experience will talk and assist other learners.
Althaaf also shared an alternative view about collaboration and teamworking during the learners hip programme. According to Althaaf:
I did more assisting than the other people. I was more qualified than the others. I had more knowledge than them. The others were like first-timers. If I knew something 1'1/ explain it to the group.
Although collaboration was a key driver that had a positive influence on the performance of learners, the lack of teamwork opportunities had the opposite effect.
The facilitator would discuss the meaning of productivity and during discussions we were asked questions like what do we understand about productivity and whenever we did not understand something, Krish, the facilitator, would call us in on an individual basis and repeat what he discussed with us by breaking it down into very simple parts because each individual grasp concepts differently.
Joanna went on further to describe the facilitation of the practical work. She recounted:
You are afraid sometimes to handle the machinery and the operator together with the facilitator will tell you exactly how it is done and advise you on your correct body position and if you get it wrong, they will teach you until you get it right.
She added to this by commenting on the intervention of the facilitator:
At times I did not understand an operation, I would come up to the facilitator and he would actually open up his books and he would try and get me to understand. He would not only speak to me, but he would take me down to whichever operation it was that I was unsure about and he will explain it to me while it was being done.
Coaching and mentoring was facilitated by the availability of checklists for the practical component of the learnership programme. Joanna related:
In the case of the electives, learners would go through a checklist. When assessments are done, the facilitator guides them from the beginning and he will also explain to the learner the areas they were found not to be competent in and he will re-explain the entire process and even take the learner to the factory floor and explain it step-by-step until the learner becomes competent.
According to the learners, the facilitator always encouraged them to work a step ahead and if there was anything they did not know, he was always on hand to guide the learners. Adelle also recalled an instance when she was doing the gel active. She related:
I was dOing the gel active. I remember I had to do what we have learnt and when I was doing the toelasting operation, I had to explain that this is the bar, you are going to put heat before taking it out.
He looks at you. He's watching you and calms you down. He tells you, you know what toelasting is so you can toelast without depending on him.
She also related an instance during the learners hip programme when they was assisted by Krish during the making elective,
We had to start the making line and during the backtacking process learners had to tape the upper and back tack in readiness for the toelatsing process and when the process was finally completed, it goes
down for solutioning. After he demonstratod to the learners what they had to do, they had to do it on their own. They had to follow on what fie has done and he was right there assisting them.
Another learner, Altaaf also related instances when the faciiitator coached him. He recalled:
Let's look at toelasting. We were there during tfle day wate/ling the guys when we started the e/ectives.
We should do it after work. The coach will be thero. But first we study the machine. When we did the e/ectives we did toe/asting in tfle learner guides that tells you this is a pincer and this is a wiper. Then you come to this machine and Krish will ask what you learnt about the machine. He will ask you to show him which is what. He guides you and tells you what to do.
Zama recalled how once when she was examining shoes, the facilitator explained to her what she must look at and how to do it. She further explained that during observation of practical assessments, Krish emphasized the irnpcrtance of safety and often stElted:
... you must put off the machine and you must not do this because this is what we have to do.
On the issue of the availability of coaching and mentoring, Joanna maintained that the facilitator, HR Manager and peers were always available and stated:
If sometimes you required an answer, you may have to do it during working time, but you were always given the answer to the questions and if you required a practical lesson a co-worker will be glad to assist.
Adelle and Althaaf were very appreciative of the support provided by the facilitator during the learnership programme. Adelle stated:
During the core learning Krish will ask a question and those of them that are first-time learners usually stay quite and he will always ask learners if they understand and he will check the work to see if they are right and if it is not right, he will explain to them again until tfley understand.
Althaaf maintained:
My coach was really fantastic. Whatever you want, even on the factory floor, he helped us in-depth.
He'll make sure whatever we did the one day the rest of them will understand.
Coaching during the learnership programme also took place at a lateral level, where peers and working colleagues assisted learners to improve their performance. Learners sometimes sought out a peer skilled in the task at hand and asked for their assistance.
Joanna related how her working colleagues assisted her at times. She stated:
At times, if I wanted to learn a certain operation, like shoe warming, I would ask a lot of questions to every operator on that line during my spare time, tea breaks and lunch breaks. I questioned and took down notes from different people. I managed to learn whatever operation I wanted with their permission, guidance and supervision.
Adelle recalled the time when she had to go down to the factory floor to obtain machine numbers, the type of machine it was, how it was lubricated and its settings. She indicated that she simply walked down to the people that worked in the factory and they assisted her. Adelle also recalled an incident that required the assistance from a senior colleague. She related:
When I am down and I got no work, I say Uncle Raj, show me how this is done. I want to learn. He'll say, whilst standing right in front of the machine, put your upper in properly. Move your hand and hold them by your fingers on this side, pressing your pedal once, close the pincher ...
She went on to relate an incident when she once had a problem with pre-forming the work on a machine. According to Adelle:
Uncle Raj would show it to me, he would set the pressure, set the timing, he would show me the different styles so that I would understand ... you just canY use high pressure on material because it creases the material. You have to reduce the pressure. He will show that to me.
She also mentioned that if she is doing a certain style of shoe features then she picks it up from a toelaster, who is her colleague.
Zama related an instance when a fellow colleague came to her assistance whilst performing a footwear manufacturing operation. She stated:
Like the one lady that I am working with now. She showed me how to repair the shoes. Like one day I was solutioning the sole. I tried to do it, but it wasn't right. I asked her to show me how to do it and then she held my hand with the brush and showed me everything. She showed me that you must glue like
this on the sole. You must not turn the sole like this. You must turn the sole like that. When it came to over-spraying I didn't know how to press the gun and how to turn the shoe. They showed me how to work with the spray gun because the gun was scary for me because it was the first time to hold the gun and I was scared and I didn't know what to do. They held my hand. I held the shoe and tried to spray the one half and then spray the other half.
Another instance that involved coaching by a peer was recalled by Althaaf, which required the assistance of a peer. He related:
When we go to the operators we can use the machines. / go and ask them what's the purpose of this, especially on the electives. Sometimes, I know how the machine operates but I don't know inside the machine. You ask them. They help you out. When you are doing the elective part on the machine you spend the whole day wffh the guy. When I was working with the toe/aster, I spent a day with this guy and the day before I spent with the toelaster.
The researcher observed that the facilitator and coaches used "sit-by-Nelly" techniques to demonstrate to learners how to perform certain operations such as clicking and closing.
Demonstrations were repeated until learners were able to perform the operations with precision.
The movement of coaching and mentoring up and down the organization shaped the performance of learners in a positive manner. The intervention of the facilitator and working colleagues during the performance of certain tasks and manufacturing operations was critical in improving the confidence of learners in executing such operations in the future.