The Juggling Act: Leading and Managing

Managing a team of Education Support Staff while juggling your own tasks is no small feat. It requires a diverse range of skills, including time and task management. Balancing leadership and management responsibilities is essential to create a thriving customer service team. So, if you’re already making it happen, give yourself a well-deserved high five!

Avoiding Managerial Burnout

When customer service levels decline, complaints rise, and staff morale hits rock bottom, it may be tempting to add “Customer Service and Teamwork Trainer” to your ever-growing to-do list. However, this can quickly lead to burnout for both you and your team. Trying to be the trainer while managing and leading can be overwhelming. It’s time to explore other solutions that will benefit both you and your Education Support Staff.

Effective Training Solutions

1. Utilise Internal Resources

Look within your team for someone who possesses the skills, willingness, and availability to provide internal customer service training. Identifying an individual who can deliver training internally can alleviate the burden on you while empowering your team.

2. Customised Training

Avoid the one-size-fits-all approach. Seek out training providers who understand the unique needs of your staff, your school, and your customers. True customisation goes beyond adding your logo to training materials. Look for providers who can tailor the training to address specific challenges and opportunities within your school community.

3. Accredited and Non-accredited Training

Consider a combination of accredited and non-accredited training options. Accredited training programs provide recognized qualifications and can be explored through platforms like training.gov.au. Non-accredited training programs can offer valuable insights and practical skills tailored to your team’s specific needs.

Remember: Growth Through Experience

If circumstances require you to train your staff, establish achievable development goals and foster an environment that embraces learning from mistakes. Experience is a powerful teacher, and by allowing your team to learn from their experiences, you’ll nurture growth and continuous improvement.

Ready to Equip Your Education Support Staff?

Just For Schools is here to help you take your customer service team to new heights of excellence. Our customised training programs, designed specifically for the education sector, will empower your staff to provide exceptional service to teachers, parents, students, stakeholders, and the wider community. Contact us today to schedule a training session tailored to your school’s unique needs.

Together, let’s elevate customer service excellence in your school and create a lasting impact. Don’t wait – book your training session with Just For Schools now!

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The word ‘excellent’ is the problem.

Like the word delicious, excellent is open to interpretation. For every ESS who believes excellent customer service is completing requests quickly and with minimal chit-chat, there is another employee who believes that taking the time to talk with parents/guardians and the wider school community is just as important as completing the request. Neither of these perceptions is incorrect or correct because…

Deciding if customer service is excellent is not up to you or your team; it’s up to each customer.

Is providing excellent customer service to every school customer possible?

Not always. BUT, in the majority of interactions, the chance of excellent service being how the customer feels is greatly increased when staff have the right attitude, the right training and the right support.

To help motivate your team of ESS to consider the different service expectations of different customers, pose the below question before your next team meeting:

“If you were a customer of our School, what would you consider as excellent service?”

On paper or a whiteboard, write each individual response to the above question.

Words have more power when they are read as well as said. The written word allows time for reflection and makes it easy for the team to see that, like the customers of the School, they too may have different ideas of what is excellent service.

This activity is a great way to remind ESS that people who ask many questions, need you to repeat information, are abrupt and direct or want immediate responses, are not always trying to be difficult – they simply have different needs and expectations.

There will of course be a smattering of customers who want a level of service that is not possible or practical, but the good news is that most customers are open books.

Most customers will feel they have received excellent service when ESS learn how to read them. 

The book you and your team need is mine: “The A-Z of Service Excellence”.

You can download the First Chapter for FREE

By Cate Schreck

The post Why coriander is the key to excellent Education Support Staff appeared first on Just For Schools.

Upon arriving at the venue, I was greeted by…no-one. There was a sign directing me to the room and after poking my head into 2 other rooms first (I’m hopeless at following written directions) I arrived at the correct room to find it set up classroom style and not a window in sight.

The event started 15 minutes later than scheduled and the presenter launched straight into the content – no housekeeping, no introductions. 2 hours in, no one except the presenter had spoken.

2 hours of 25 attendees hearing a presenter, but not really listening.

I know this because when we did get a break, we all shared our thoughts and agreed that we were sitting in that room wondering…

• when and if we could ask a question

• how long before the presenter needed a break

• what the weather was like outside

• when is coffee time

• where are the toilets

• why can’t the presenter ‘read the room’ and adjust his style to engage his audience?

Over my career, I’ve attended too many professional development events like I just described. Events about as motivational as watching grass grow and some so over the top with “woo hoo-ing” and hard to consume information (death by PowerPoint) that I left with a headache and annoyed at the giant waste of my time – and as a business manager, a giant waste of my budget.

So if you want to avoid that kind of waste – hit print or grab a pen and take note of the 3 things below, so you can take your next event from ordinary to extraordinary.

1. Natural lighting

The benefits of natural lighting are no secret. Research has shown that a room with natural light (or even better, sitting outside) has a hugely positive effect on people. Natural light can help promote a sense of teamwork, create higher levels of motivation, and thus support a drive towards greater organisational attachment.

Little surprise then that providing a learning environment that includes natural light is recognised as beneficial for everyone – including the person up the front.

2. Cabaret style

Classroom style has you staring at the backs of heads and/or with someone staring at the back of your head.

Cabaret style has people sitting around a table or in smaller circles. It allows for attendees to sit in small groups, face each other and chat with ease. But don’t stop there though – get creative – consider bean bags or pillows or better still, let attendees sit where and how they feel comfortable.

We listen, learn and engage best when encouraged to relax physically, as this allows us to tune in mentally.

3. Questions

Unlike my recent experience, an engaging learning event is just that – it engages more than the attendee’s ears and eyes. It engages their creativity, and it should engage their vocal cords too. The quickest way to do this is for the trainer/facilitator to ask thought-provoking questions and let the attendees share their insights and ideas.

Questions fire up thinking engines and help to maintain attendee focus. Sharing involves everyone, and before you know it, you have vocal energy ‘pinging’ around the room that allows the trainer/facilitator to take a speaking break. It also allows them to listen and assess the attendees’ energy levels and understanding of the content.

I challenge you to break with tradition!

No more dark rooms.

No more rows of chairs.

No more death by PowerPoint.

No more only having the presenter talking.

Arrange a training event with pillows and bean bags, cushions and comfy chairs. If that’s not possible, at least add some natural energy; the type that comes from allowing everyone’s voice to be heard. Invite guest speakers, add some music, and make time for conversations and sharing.

Just For Schools provides facilitators and trainers who seek to adjust their delivery style to suit your goals and your attendees. We know this makes a positive difference because our customers tell us with words, hugs and high-fives.

We help Schools create teams of ESS professionals who love learning and happily attend professional development programs.

Your first step in creating a team of motivated Education Support Staff is to contact us today to see how we can help you.

By Cate Schreck – Author of The A – Z of Service Excellence

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