No matter if your School is in Melbourne, Mildura, Horsham or Healsville, there are many things you can do, you can say and you can give ESS that would fall under the banner of support but jumping straight to action could be a mistake!

We have put together the 3 questions you should ask ESS before you start oferring support. 3 questions that once answered will save you time because you won’t have to guess what will work, you will know what support to provide and you will provide it at the right time.

Before I share the 3 questions, keep in mind that each question will require ‘massaging’ so that your ESS understand them and feel ready to answer them honestly.

That’s right, I’m going to give you permission to massage your ESS – not physically massage – mental massage.

Mental massage is similar to physical massage but you use your words instead of your hands to find out the pain points (areas they need help with) and create a treatment plan (professional development) to ease that pain and help the team member become more confident and able to provide their own treatment (self-care) going forward.

Just like a physical massage, mental massage is about understanding the pain with the aim to create a ‘treatment plan’ and it all starts with 3 questions ie:

1. Ask staff what they think is causing the pain – let them talk (even if you know the answer). Responses may be; difficult customer interactions, hard to implement processes, out of date procedures, conflict with co-workers, stress outside of work, lacking in tech skills etc.

2. Ask what it would be like if the pain was gone – to motivate change through self identified positive outcomes.

3. Ask what they think would alleviate the pain – let them share their ideas before you jump in. This allows you to gain powerful insights into their existing skills, thoughts and behaviours and it confirms you respect their ideas about what they need.

Create a ‘treatment plan’ together – professional development that matches ESS goals for now and their future. These 3 questions are great to us when it’s time to create PDP’s.

If the pain requires more than a ‘mental massage’, refer accordingly. Business Managers are often great all-rounders but may not be specialists – so reach out for help instead of making yourself the only help available. This is limiting for you and your team.

Mental massage – good for you and great for your ESS. Just remember, pain responds well to both gentle and firm pressure – but never harmful.

If you want more ways to help your team to vent and become ESS service professionals who have what they need to succeed, explore our onsite training and how we can help.

By Cate Schreck – Director of Just For Schools.

The post Why you need to massage your Education Support Staff appeared first on Just For Schools.

Slightly longer lunch breaks, less tidy work areas, gossip between co-workers about other co-workers, customers rolling their eyes, increased complaints, and employees sighing when asked to do things. You’re sure that each bad habit is only minor, and you can fix them all with a little pep talk.

At the next meeting, you give a little “speech” about the value of teamwork and a focus on providing excellent customer service. You feel hopeful that bad habits will be gone and you will see a return to the service and teamwork focused ESS they once were. But it doesn’t work.

You are left chewing the end of your pen wondering what happened to your once excellent ESS. How did this happen under your watch?

Providing exceptional customer service is often considered as…well…common sense. Be polite, be friendly and seek to work in harmony with your team – common sense right? Wrong.

Customer service excellence is NOT common sense. In fact, it is very rare and harder to create and maintain in a team; a team of humans, who each have their own idea of what excellent customer service is AND who need different things to maintain a daily focus on service excellence and teamwork.

Asking, telling, suggesting or begging your staff to provide excellent customer service is what happens when you have a goal of a fabulous ESS without a plan to make it happen. A goal without a plan is a dream – a wonderful dream, but for it to come true, your staff and your customers need you to wake up.

The #1 skillset ESS needs are called Soft Skills (people skills) and without consistent focus and support, they are the most difficult skill set for employees to master and maintain. Soft skills are what every ESS team in every school need help with – especially if their Manager (you) want to stop chewing pens. (Seriously, it’s unhealthy, so best stop it.)

How long does it take and how much does it cost?

This depends on the teamwork and customer service goals of the school and the existing level of soft skill knowledge and ability of staff. Not everyone will require deep level soft skill training, but all ESS teams need consistent soft skill brush up and support.

To find out exactly what your team needs, how long it will take, and how much it will cost, your first step is to discuss with us which option for professional development is best suited to your team. 

You already wear 2 big hats as manager and leader of your team. Trying to wear a 3rd hat of Soft Skills Trainer without having the skills or the time to do it correctly, will make your head heavy and no one likes a manager with a heavy head – least of all the manager.

By Cate Schreck – Author of ‘The A-Z of Service Excellence’

The post The #1 Thing That Makes School Business Managers Hang Their Head appeared first on Just For Schools.