Pandemic Reflections - Edvaldo Rocha

Meet Eddie Rocha, Training Owner at SkipTheDishes and Instructor right here at UWinnipeg PACE. Eddie graduated from UWPACE with a Marketing Management Diploma in 2018. We asked him to reflect on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted his work-life.

"I currently run 2 "jobs" being my full time one as a Training Owner at SkiptheDishes where I am responsible for the global training for the phone/chat courier support agents. I usually train local agents in a class environment where I am used to having a good deal of support tools available and easy to use. Additionally, I am an instructor at PACE where my courses run from June to December.

My work changed substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic. First of all, at SkiptheDishes we had to work around the clock to adjust/convert our training material to make it deliverable online. Second, we had to adjust to our new online class environment.

The greatest challenge I see as a facilitator is ensuring that big groups of people are kept engaged throughout the entire training process.

I am also jumping into a teaching format at UW PACE that I had little experience with. I see this as an extraordinary opportunity to review my facilitation methods and techniques, learn new tools, and get instantly introduced to a learning environment that would, sooner or later, become prominent.

Coping with the change was a challenge initially due to the number of tasks to be executed and a low amount of time but I can now focus more on delivering the same quality of training I used to because I am more confident with the format. The good news is that I can fully develop my activities on a work-from-home basis and I also got rid of the commute times, giving me more personal time every day.

My suggestion is, try not to be in front of the screen for 8 hours a day doing your work if you are not talking to people within this time. A lockdown should not prevent us from keeping in contact with colleagues, friends and loved ones. Additionally, use the commute time that you are saving now to do one of those things you "never have time". I, for example, have already painted my kitchen cabinets and now I am working on renewing my backyard deck."