How have the communication and social efforts impacted the team overall? Have others had an improved experience like this that they would like to share?
I think our campus has been doing a much better job of serving our internal customers. We have been doing so by committing to our scheduled weekly staff meetings, communicate better throughout the different departments, and have fun social gatherings during and outside of school.
These are great practices! Thank you for sharing so others can benefit from your experiences.
Tell us more about the bridges you would like to see. What can you do to lay the foundation for the building of the bridges?
I think we do a pretty good job at my school in serving our "internal customers†We have a quick meeting every morning to discuss what we have planned to do every day. This meeting allows all of the departments to discuss what they are doing for the day. It's great because I might say that I'm going to be meeting with John Doe at 2pm and someone from another department might want to meet with John Doe as well so when I see John Doe I can make sure to mention that so and so needs to see him as well. On top of that these meetings are a way to share with other departments what issues we may be having and how other departments might be able to help us fix our issues and vice-versa.
Also I treat everyone in the building the exact way that I want to be treated. If other departments are depending on me specifically for information I always am sure to get the information to them as quickly as possible.
We have a small institution and have weekly meetings to make sure we are maintaining the goals we set in place. I would like to see more "bridges" built so that we all have a better understanding of what each department does and the role we all have in meeting those goals.
Carol,
That's a great way to increase your credibility and continue to build the relationship with your student. I'm also thinking this can help to bridge the relationship to the other department as well. Thanks for your post.
Dr. Jean Norris
I can only speak for my department. I make sure if a student asks for something I make sure I follow through on getting an answer or a response from another department.
That's a good observation. Sometimes a formal meeting is necessary when multiple departments need to work together. How can you initiate the process of these meetings?
Our campus is small enough that we do not have issues hindering relationships between departments. Though the communication between departments has been great, I do believe that we need to start implementing formal meetings w/ all departments. Sometimes when an issue between two departments arise, only the two departments immediately affected by the issue discusses solution(s) to the problem, only to realize later on that other departments should have been involved.
I always thought that fellow workers regardless of position should have an opportunity to sit in various classes to observe teaching styles and comment on their perspective
ps: I thought Quest 2 in Section 3- the answer is condratictory to the explanation
We are a small technical college, but growing. We have quarterly meetings with alot of interaction among the different departments. We always have an group interaction activity in which we sit with other co-workers we have not previously interacted with.
This quarter we broke into smaller groups to patch a "life raft" because on the bottom of the raft there was a hole. The one rule was that we could not step off the raft to fix it. It was fun and we learned a valuable lesson on teamwork!
Kathryn, that's a great way to document those types of experiences. I am sure that the person also feels valued when they are called out for doing those great things. Nice work.
Dr. Jean Norris
Whenever someone goes "above and beyond" for me, I type a formal email to them and their immediate supervisor, giving a compliment to the person, and being specific about what they did. They now have a record of this for their yearly evaluation, which certainly helps with documentation,and timeliness of feedback!
I would love to spend a day with one of my internal customers to see wha they do so I can better understand why there are some of the outcomes that I see.
Great point Candis. It looks like you are keeping the goal of reaching your external customers in mind when working with your internal customers. I wonder, what specifically do you do in order to maintain a good relationship with those internally?
Dr. Jean Norris
It is important to have a good relationship with your internal customers, you are both there to help the student or your external customers and are working towards a common goal
Pamela, what a great idea! By doing this you are promoting customer service from the inside of the organization and that will expand and ultimately flow to your external customers as well. Great job.
Dr. Jean Norris
We are encouraged every day to speak to at least 5 'internal customers' whether they be students or co-workers. Just a smile or a sincere compliment or asking if they are ok goes a long way in establishing exceptional service to all internal customers.
Excellent approach, Janeane. This is a great way to provide exceptional customer service to your colleagues. How do you find your colleagues respond to your internal customer service?
Shannon Gormley
