NEW customer service training courses now available

One thing all business development specialists agree upon during this current economy: this is not the time to scrimp on customer service. While businesses need to focus carefully on cutting expenses where they can, for a company to survive, customer service needs to be bolstered, not cut.

With this in mind, aQuire Training Solutions’ course development team has been busy creating a series of new courses on basic – and advanced – customer service skills. These courses are designed for caregivers and other staff working in the senior care environment: home care agencies, assisted living communities, nursing facilities and more. These courses, written by the newest member of the aQuire course development team, Melissa Dylan, take a light-hearted approach to a very serious subject: making the client the absolute focus of our work, every single day. Topics covered in the series include:

Courtesy. More than just being polite or nice to people, courtesy involves a set of unwritten rules or interacting with clients and guests on the job. It is the basis for good customer service.

Being there. Being available for clients is the first step in good customer service. This means promptly answering the phone, greeting guests the moment they walk in the door and setting aside less important tasks to help people. It means remembering – always – “people come first.”

Listening. Listening sounds easy enough, but it takes special skills to learn to be an active listener: to focus on the client, avoid distractions, use appropriate body language and provide feedback so the client knows you been listening.

Being reliable. Being courteous, polite and responsive isn’t the whole task. A key to great customer service is being reliable – to do what you say you’re going to do. To give customers what they ask for the first time, without needing reminders.

Being positive. Being positive means finding reasons why things will work, instead of reasons why it won’t. It means consistently positive behavior, positive responses to client requests (even when you can’t fulfill a request personally) and going the extra step for customers.

Melissa’s approach to training includes a humorous approach, lots of stories, and frequent opportunities for individuals to test their knowledge. The online delivery used by all aQuire courses means that caregivers can learn at their own pace, and at a time and place convenient for them.

If you’d like a free sneak preview of one of these courses, click here.

Then imagine your team, fired up and energized to provide the best customer service possible. And imagine your company – enjoying top-of-the-market success!

E-learning for everyone?

I’m about to share a secret with you: my husband and I enjoy massages. We have a new membership massage center near our home, and during their grand opening my husband bought a bunch of ½ off coupons. They’ll probably work exactly as planned, as we won’t want to stop going even when we use up our discounts…

The other day, waiting for our therapists to call our names, I flipped through the magazine in the waiting room. It was clearly an industry magazine, written for professional massage therapists. One cover article caught my eye: E-learning for massage therapists.

As I scanned the article, I had to smile. The author spent the first section pointing out not only the time/place advantages of e-learning, but also the research about e-learning being a more effective way to learn and retain new information.

The author went on to discuss the argument about the challenges of teaching hands’ on skills via e-learning.

A lot like teaching caregiving over the internet, I think. Yes, there is the hands’ on component. But if you don’t have a very clear understanding of the foundational concepts, the hands’ on skills may be simply rote series of steps. If you don’t, for example, understand what happens to the person’s perceptions and awareness with memory loss or dementia, it will be hard to know how to modify the hands’ on care you provide, especially on the fly.

I actually think it’s kind of cool that this same approach to teaching is reaching out to a vast variety of professions. For my part, I’d like my massage therapist to understand muscles and joints really well. At the same time, I’d like my caregiver – or my mom’s caregiver – to have a solid foundational grasp of body mechanics and other concepts that will help her be the best caregiver possible.

If you’re on board and using e-learning for your staff training, give yourself a pat on the back. You’re using an approach to training that helps you build the best, brightest caregivers – or masseuses!

Mentoring as tool for training and retention

If you’ve been following the various findings about reducing turnover and increasing employee retention, especially within senior care, you’ve probably seen the term “mentoring.” Mentoring is one way to blend training and help it carry over into the day-to-day workplace, while supporting the personal and professional growth of the employee.

Maybe, like me, you’ve got a general idea of what mentoring is, but aren’t really clear how to implement a mentoring program in your work setting. I decided that I’d do a little research and see if I could answer this question – and, while I’m at it, share what I’ve found with you.

Webster’s defines a mentor as “a trusted counselor or guide.” Others define the term more in the sense of a coach. While many of us think fondly of a boss or supervisor that acted informally as a mentor, few have formal experience within a mentorship program.

MetroHealth, a large healthcare provider in Northeast Ohio, has a mentoring program that all resident physicians are required to participate in with an attending faculty member.

It gave me some ideas for starting a formal mentoring program in a senior care community:

1. Since mentoring is most important for new hires, set up a system that matches each new hire with one of more experienced workers in the same department or job title. Matching the new person with a mentor on the same shift would be important, too, wherever possible.
2. Introduce the new hire to the mentor, and explain to both individuals the purpose of the program (to coach the new person in the best way to do his or her job in your environment). Being clear about the goals and using simple words to explain the program are both important, especially in the early stages.
3. Ask the mentor to meet with the new hire at regular intervals. I’d suggest quite frequently initially, perhaps as often as every other week. Once the crucial 90 days has passed, the meetings could become monthly.
4. Be sure to allow time for the mentoring meeting to occur. Allow both individuals to take an extra long break or lunch hour, on the clock, for their meeting.
5. Give the mentor some structure to follow during the sessions. I’d suggest a list of questions you provide to the mentor to discuss with the new hire, questions like:
   

• What are you finding hardest about your new job?
• What are you enjoying most about your new job?
• Do you have what you need to do your job well?
• Are there any policies or procedures you don’t really understand or find confusing?

Armed with this list of questions the mentor can spend a few minutes talking about the job with the new hire, helping him/her get answers and building a stronger connection to the organization.

Do you have a mentoring program at your workplace? Have you had a mentor that really helped you out? Share your experiences; I’ll pass them on as we explore this topic further.

6 Tips for Successful Long Distance Delegation

By
Marla Rosner

Managing a far flung team is increasingly the norm these days. Though a daily affair, delegating from a distance has a unique set of pitfalls. How do you know if those to whom you’re delegating “get it” when you can’t see facial expressions across the desk? Many managers that might be more prudent in delegating to somebody in their home office will abandon protocols when the individual receiving the project is out of sight. So what are the best practices of virtual delegation and how can you avoid common pitfalls?

Best Practices:
1. Evaluate who you’re delegating to and their experience and capability with similar projects.

2. Make a conscious decision about your method of communication; a phone call is best for certain communication while email is appropriate for other messages. For example, Sonya VandeKerkhof, CEO of Conscious Budget & Debt Reduction, Inc., who delegates to personnel in Australia, wisely provides her vision and inspiration about projects in a phone call when voice tone and inflection as well as dialogue with direct reports makes a difference in their understanding and “buy in”. She also leaves more time for silence, to allow questions and comments to come to the surface.

In contrast Sonya uses email to address timelines, methods, standards and other project details enabling crisp documentation while still allowing for Q and A. She also takes advantage of Google Apps to have her far flung team collaborate on project documents and color codes projects to signal priorities. Sonya makes email efficient by titling each message: “FYI,” “Question,” or “Action Needed” enabling her distance workers to prioritize their emails.

3. Listen carefully and follow up. In the absence of non-verbal feedback, reading “between the lines” takes on more importance. For example, Robert Mann, President at Lumenis, offsets the lack of non-verbal feedback from long distance personnel by listening carefully to comments and questions in phone calls. He knows those receiving an assignment have understood it when they expand on the principles of the message, paraphrase and ask appropriate questions and delegate appropriately to their direct reports. Robert follows conversations with email or text notes adding to the primary conversation.

Don’t
1. Don’t drop a new project on someone through email and expect them to fully understand your needs and requirements.

2. Don’t assign a project without follow up appointments to check on progress and challenges.

3. Don’t take the “one size fits all” approach when it comes to delegating. Consider who you’re communicating with and determine whether more or less detail is required. Efficiency may dictate one email to all project participants but may not account for individual needs to ask questions or get more information.

In short, virtual delegation requires more forethought, clear and crisp articulation, openings for dialogue and solid follow through to ensure assignments are understood and executed properly. Good delegation at the outset of a project saves time, hassle and misunderstanding down the road. If you think you’ve missed a step however, rethink your strategy and shore up communication gaps to salvage projects that may have gotten off track.

About the Author:
Marla Rosner, principal of Marla Rosner and Associates, is a vibrant and engaging group facilitator and instructor as well as a seasoned project manager. She has excelled as a training and leadership development professional for twenty years. As a consultant and working internally, Marla has a proven track record in guiding and executing management development initiatives to produce bottom-line business results. Types of projects include team building initiatives, first-time manager training, training design and delivery, facilitation, business procedures and training documentation.
www.rosnerassociates.net
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marlarosnerassociates