Contact

Wiz Training & Development
17 Quantock Close
Great Ashby
Stevenage
Hertfordshire
SG1 6BS

Email. info@wiz-training.co.uk
Tel/Fax. 01438 352274
Mobile. 07770 593425

Testimonials

"This has been a real learning experience, I will probably take more away from this that will shape my working life and attitude to work than any other course."

"The training as already brought us together as managers and made us more of a management team."

"This has been one of the very few courses which will really benefit me both personally and within my work"

"Excellent. I thought it was going to be another boring course where you get talked at and are unable to concentrate"

Talking Point

The challenge of Customer Service Training that works

Customer service training was the first thing I ever got involved with in my L and D career. I loved it both for the challenge it gave me as a trainer but also for the significant positive impact it had on the organisation. Twenty odd years later I still feel that buzz but also carry a weighty burden of frustration about the ‘tick box’ way that it is sometimes approached. For many Local Authorities it seems to come around every few years but with the advent of Service Centres and the new role for the ‘back office’ there are a whole new set of challenges.

Some of these lessons are about the content, design and style of delivery of any training but some are about the way organisations market, manage and integrate this area of development into what they do. Its easy to find the latest approach and pay ‘top dollar’ and still be disappointed with results.

Innovation is clearly important and here at Wiz we continually seek to develop new approaches and activities. Wiz combines a knowledge of The Public Sector with experience from working with commercial organisations. We often use professional role players if we need to create something that’s as close to real as we can get. We are currently developing an approach which is less about making staff behave in certain ways and more about understanding the transactions between people and the organisation and indeed people in the organisation. This is based on the relationship between service delivery and expectation and creating parallel transactions. The model is also a powerful tool for the analysis of feedback and customer communication.

As a starting point, although its obvious be sure to start with the end in mind!
OK so I know it’s the age-old story of getting your learning objectives straight before you start but is that really happening? The danger is that organisations can get swept along on a wave of what seems to be the right thing to do at the time. Is it the trend or part of the change agenda of an incoming senior manager (sorry I if that’s a bit direct!). These things may not in themselves be bad but if the purpose isn’t clear it can lead to training that is disconnected, hard to evaluate and patronising to already hard pressed staff.

And finally is performance going to be managed. Its amazing how many workshops I have run in which I discover that many of the line managers have not even talked to their participants before the event about its purpose and the desired outcomes. Even less have made any arrangement to follow up with their staff after the event. What do you think is going to happen?

And a simple lesson, invest in recruitment. Get the right people to look after your customers in the first place!

If you would like more information then click here to request a free copy of THE GUIDE TO CUSTOMER SERVICE TRAINING IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

WIZ PLAYERS IN DRUNKEN OUTRAGE

We recently worked with long term client The University of Hertfordshire to bring alive the issue of alcohol abuse and anti social behaviour. Rather than the usual (and slightly predictable) freshers talks Wiz Players caused a stir by demonstrating what can happen when alcohol is abused. Deliberately shocking and confusing but essentially thought provoking and powerful!!

A range of situations were created to keep the dangers of alcohol at the forefront of freshers minds.