by having meetings, and we use evlauation, which provides use with useful feedback.
I think it would be beneficial to implement the "Walk a Mile" strategy. We could have a different staff member spend a day in the classroom and lab as a student, then meet afterwards to discuss how the experience affected how that staff member wil do their job, or if it will change their interections with students in any way. I am sure we could all learn, from living a day in the life, how different things students experience and face will affect their interaction with the staff/different departments, and how we can better anticipate and meet their needs on our end. We can use the expereince to more affectively serve the student based onthe wider knowledge that we now have on the student's educational experiences.
Thanks for your post Elizabeth. How has the feedback process worked for you in the past?
Ask for Feedback and Use it! I think this is the best way to get better at doing something, from other's reactions.
There are two CS strategies that appeal to me strongly:
1) Work agressively to assess, train, support and reward the people who are on the "front line" of customer service. Often these are indiviuals who have received the least formal education and training and are on the low end of the pay scale, but their impact on successful customer service is potentially great.
2) Active solicit feedback in many ways, and respond enthusiastically, especially to negative feedback. Each incident is an "opportunity" to "win over" a long term customer.
Do you currently have a survey for the pre-enrollment process? It would make sense that the FA process be included in that survey as well as the ongoing student surveys. Thank you for your post Tina.
Absolutely! Organizations take a great risk when they ask for input but don't act or respond to the information collected. The best methods for utilizing surveys include: selecting the right survey type, asking the right questions, analyzing the results, and communicating the results and subsequent action plan.
Actually following up on ways to improve rather than taking surveys and ignoring the results is a great place to start.
We use evaluations for our faculty and staff. As the Financial Aid Director, I want to add more specific questions to improve our department for all students.
This look like valuable improvements to a feedback form that may already be in place. How can you communicate the value and benefit of adding these questions to the form?
I would like to incorporate feedback forms for our Student Therapy Clinic. As it is now, clients give feedback about the student's massage session. I think it is important to get their feedback about the other aspects of the clinic, for example, the front desk staff, making appointments, the overall experience. With this information, I will be able to make improvements and increase our success as a clinic.
-Susan Coffey
I'll bet your students appreciate the personal connection. How does this help you in your role?
Jennifer,
It looks like you have a lot going on at your school and that you're trying to stay focused on working as a team during the transition. Change can be difficult for some people and when we work together to support each other during the change we can make the process flow easier. How can you personally minimize the hiccups and ensure that the impact on your students is positive?
I try to make my student interviews more personal to help buil relationship and make student feel comfortable that they will have a great experience and can come to me with any concerns...not just someobdy on the other end of a table
I think that the third one, educate everyone everywhere is one that I will be focusing on in the near future mainly because so many things are changing constantly at our school. For a while we had consistent ways that things were done so it was easy for everyone to know what to do. However, recently with curriculum changes and 10 week classes going to 5 week classes it is confusing to figure out what our roles are with it all. I am trying to be in better communication with other departments and campuses so the transistion into the new outline will flow easily. I expect a few hiccups along the way but hopefully we can all get onto the same page quickly and easily.
I believe having set performance standards would greatly help us improve our customer service. When employees and staff have clear expectations and guidelines and know how to respond to situations that may arise they will be better prepared to give great customer service.
walk a mile so staff members see how it is on a day to day basis for a students struggles they go through.
Sonya, sure. Conducting evaluations or surveys can be a great way to learn what's going on. I'm curious, what has your experience been with these assessments?
Dr. Jean Norris
Evaluation of the staff. It's very important to know what you can possible make better and/or improve.
Surveys are the best approach and give you the most accurate information. The problem is not waiting too long to get that information, so that the issues may be solved promtply.
