Fearless manager - Game of Phones

Michelline Nawatises

Leandro van Wyk, call centre manager at MultiChoice Namibia, started his career in the banking industry in 2001 as a back-office ledgers clerk, after which he was promoted to a teller.

According to Van Wyk, in those days a teller position was still considered as important. In 2004, he braved the big bad world and embarked on a working holiday to the UK.

“Upon my return, I was the assistant manager of my brother’s restaurant and in 2008, I started working at MTC as a call centre advisor. Later, I was promoted to a call centre supervisor,” he says.

In 2018, Van Wyk started working at MultiChoice Namibia as a call centre supervisor and was promoted to his current role as call centre manager. He is currently studying towards a bachelor’s degree in business management and majoring in project management.

His job consists of managing the call centre through consistent execution of the quality framework developed for MultiChoice Africa.

“This includes maintaining and improving call-centre operations by monitoring system performance, identifying and resolving problems, preparing and completing action plans, and analysing quality assurance to improve the customer service experience,” Van Wyk explains.

He also reports on call-centre performance and initiatives and manages team members to ensure effective delivery of business unit objectives while developing a high-performing team by embedding formal performance development and informal coaching.

When asked by Careers what his challenges have been during his career, he mentioned that one of the biggest in the corporate environment is building a rapport with the people you work and interact with.

“Building long-lasting and mutually beneficial relationships and maintaining one’s integrity at the same time is what I consider key to my success,” he says.

His day at office consists of supervising call-centre resources to deliver what is called a “first-call resolution” as well as collecting and analysing call-centre statistics.

“I analyse and implement relevant interventions pertaining to workloads, trends, patterns and peaks; determine and analyse development needs for the team while ensuring that identified training requirements are executed,” he says.

He is also responsible for scheduling regular meetings with the team to stimulate teamwork, identifying and addressing gaps and generally empowering the team.

“I also encourage frequent knowledge sharing between team members, and motivate team members to ensure that their efforts are recognised,” he adds.

One of his passions in life is self-development and progress in all aspects and encouraging this in others to achieve a well-balanced and fruitful life.

The advice he would give to aspiring young people out there is to develop a culture of constant development and self-appreciation.

“Set goals to develop a new skill every day to remain relevant in a constant evolving future,” he advises.

His future plans are to continue with his self-development by completing his studies and taking on more leadership roles in the corporate world, which he hopes would contribute to community development.