Resound Training & Development

Leanne C and Adam - Providing Customer Service Excellence - A celebratory series for Christmas

With the bleak economic outlook and difficult trading conditions set to continue, customer service excellence is imperative for business survival. But where to find it? Everyone has countless horror stories to tell and we all love a moan about the poor service we receive but as the festive period is upon us I thought it would be an opportune time to focus on the best service that really is out there, partly because excellence deserves praise but also to see what I can learn from those providing a top notch service.

So I will be blogging about my experience of excellent customer service over the coming week on the day it happens. I don’t know any of the people I mention - I have only come across them in the course of shopping, eating out and generally trying to survive Christmas week.

It’s well known in my family that I only start Christmas shopping as we turn into the final week of preparations. So today I set off for Bluewater in Kent for a spot of shopping but also to meet up with my cousin Pauline for lunch and a catch up on family gossip. But it wasn’t long before our conversation turned to business. Pauline is someone who likes to buck a trend and her company 1 Stop Data is enjoying a period of growth and is expanding in these challenging times with a recently opened call centre in Northern Ireland. We both love spotting customer service excellence but are very hard to please!

We were lunching in Jamie’s Italian in Bluewater, a first visit for me and we were so impressed with the service we were receiving from our waitress that we asked her about the training provided by Jamie’s. She described how their training included sampling every dish on the menu, learning about how each is prepared and served. She spoke with pride about the quality of the ingredients and the care taken in producing freshly prepared food by the Chefs. Her customer service was evidently supported by product knowledge, and absolute belief in the quality of what was being put in front of us. Her confident approach touched just the right note; helpful, responsive, and informed.

After lunch I visited Waterstones the bookseller on a mission to choose books for my sister, and at her request for my nephew and niece. My sister’s somewhat vague instructions meant that I was standing at the fantasy section holding numerous Terry Pratchett novels but not knowing where to start. My confused thoughts were interrupted by the assistant who started a conversation about the books I was looking at and went on to answer numerous questions clearly demonstrating both knowledge and interest and then made recommendations to help my selection; helpful, responsive and informed.

Learning from today’s customer service excellence

What made a difference?
1. Belief in the quality of the product and service being provided
2. Significant product knowledge

Thank you to Leanne C at Jamie’s Italian and Adam at Waterstone’s for your customer service excellence today.

I hope to encounter more excellence tomorrow!

Listening needs a better press

Our media over recent days has been engulfed by the News of the World phone hacking story. 

The twists and turns of this unfolding saga has dominated headlines and taken our emotions with it.

I've been checking the story out at The Guardian, BBC, and Sky News, watching it play out with its cast of politicians, police, journalists, celebrities and ordinary people at their most vulnerable.

This story plays with our emotions; abhorrence at the thought of someone listening to and then deleting the messages left on Milly Dowler's phone. Anger that someone could listen in on the emotional outpourings of bereaved relatives of our servicemen and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are feelings of curiosity, disbelief and astonishment too.

I'm struck how listening; that most healing of our communication skills has, in this story, been used against people, creating victims, causing hurt and pain, turning a tool of compassion into a violation, an intrusion.

But listening needs a better press.  Well honed listening skills make a difference.  Most people need a good listening to, especially during periods of personal and professional change.  If you are managing a team in the NHS at the moment you will know just how important it is to listen to people as they grapple with huge and rapid change.  Skills that we expect our clinicians to have at the highest level.

And what about selling?  The best sales people do the most listening, don't they? Picking up buying clues, overcoming objections, understanding the needs of their customer.

Years ago I attended a workshop run by Patsy Rodenburg,  Director of Voice at the Guildhall of Music and Drama.  Like all great teachers, she held the audience spellbound throughout the session, and I remember how she described listening, that is listening with intention, as placing the speaker in a state of grace.

That's the sort of press listening needs. Put someone in a state of grace today!  Give them a good listening to.

 

Not The Apprentice

This blog has been written by professional actor, Lee Moone, one of the founder members of our forum theatre team who has worked with Resound for over 5 years.

And here he is with Resound actor Robyn Lewis enacting a scene at the National Optometric Conference (Thanks to Optometry Today for the pic)

 

'I think The Apprentice shows what can happen if you DON'T use professional actors for role-play. And whilst we can all have a bit of laugh whilst watching the antics of the apprentice particpants, we take the quality of our client role-play work seriously.

What most people don't get to see is the amount of 'behind-the-scenes' work done on each piece of commissioned work before delivery.  For each project we have a detailed brief that has been researched by Gill with the client, so we know exactly the information and background that's needed for each role we are asked to play.  This is important, as when we are hot-seated as a character, we are not working from a script but improvising our answers to the questions put to us by the audience. 

And this approach is used for all our role-play scenes whether it's a NHS Consultant Psychiatrist I am portraying (Dr Cowen, North East London Advocacy project for Mental Health Week), or a service user with a learning disability (Michael,London Borough of Enfield, South Anglia Housing) or a manager conducting an appraisal (John, Bird Luckin Accountants) or even a member of the public with challenging behaviour (Ron Williams, London Borough of Havering, Estuary Housing, South Anglia Housing).

Very often delegates attending our training programmes will tell me that my character is exactly like someone they have worked with, a measure of our success in building believable characters, capturing the organisational culture and fulfilling our brief. It is important to remember that whilst the character may have been seen by the audience for a very short time there are hours of preparation required to bring this character to life.

Using actors in role-plays can be a very effective training and learning tool but to get the best outcomes from role-play you need the best people to do it.  Professional actors not amateurs.'   

So what's your experience of using role-play?  Do let us know we would love to hear from you.

 

 

 

Did you watch The Apprentice on BBC?

Did you watch The Apprentice last night?

Did you see the cringe making role-play pitch to biscuit buyers at Sainsbury's, ASDA etc?

Let me reassure you.  Role-play can be used very effectively in training programmes, development and assessment centres, pitches and at conferences BUT only when using first-rate actors and scripts.

Our corporate actors are all experts in improvisation techniques and audience participation.  Our thorough research process ensures our scripts hit the mark every time, and why is this important?  Because this is the way to ensure your programme gets the results you want.  Every piece of work we deliver is designed to achieve the learning outcomes that will make a difference.

We welcome the opportunity to set the record straight about role-play so whilst you are having that cup of tea and a biscuit today why not contact us to see how our role-players can bring life and excitment to your training programme?

Here is what our clients say about us:

"....500 people attended and it was so highly rated that we commissioned Resound again" London Borough of Havering

"Many participants said it was the best training they had ever undertaken" London Borough of Enfield

"our staff will retain what they learned.... it was very good value Bird Luckin Accountants

 

"What an Experience!" Our forum theatre session at Optrafair

"You want us to have our eyes tested?" asked Rachel, somewhat incredulously.

I'm sitting in a rehearsal room with my team of actors talking about the forum theatre session we will be delivering at Optrafair, as part of the OT Live Lunch & Learn education slots.

"Yes", I reply, "because the only way we can create  a piece of drama about the patient/customer experience in opticians, is to experience it ourselves."  Everyone nodded, then after a short pause Rachel said, "actually I had a card through from my opticians, I'm due for a test but haven't done anything about it."

"Me too" said Lee.  "And me" piped up Robyn.

(On dear how many of us get reminder cards about sight tests and do nothing about it? Well, that's a research question for another day, and probably needs a public health campaign to get us all along to our local optician, after all, our sight is just too important to take for granted isn't it?)

So with 3 of our actors booked in for sight tests, another 4 members of the team embark on a mystery shopper exercise to see what the customer experience is like, both in the multiples and independent practices.  And you can see the results - just download the report by clicking on the OT Live logo on the right of this page and entering your email address.

This type of research is a crucial part of our work in developing pieces of drama that the audience can relate to, and importantly, redirect the action to solve the problem we present.  So over the past few years I have spent numerous hours observing customer and staff behaviour in advice centres, sat alongside staff in call centres, visited libraries and talked to street cleaners and groundsmen in addition to working with patient groups to use our actors to tell their stories and by doing so improve patient care.

Anyway, I digress, back to the opticians.  We experienced some really excellent service, from staff who appeared genuinely interested, keen to help and very knowledgeable.  But not surprisingly it wasn't all like that.  I say unsurprisingly because providing high quality customer service all day every day is hard work and when we recruit and train staff we often overlook the "emotional labour" that is part of a frontline role. 

High levels of emotional awareness make a difference, along with managers who role model the organisational values and know the importance of praise and thoughtful and timely feedback.

And Optrafair?  Well a highly interactive audience who really got stuck into the issues we portrayed about patient confidentiality and customer service.

Have a great weekend - and book that sight test!

"Nothing to Tell" - creating a drama about Domestic Abuse - part 1

When I first set out to create a dramatic Resound Forum Theatre scenario focused on domestic violence I had a very generalised knowledge of the subject.

It is difficult to see the through the damaging smokescreen of myths which hide the fact that two women a week are killed by a current or former male partner. And, according to Home Office statistics published early in 2010, more than 1 million female victims of domestic abuse in England and Wales.  

The Forum Theatre project was commissioned by Estuary Housing Association for their staff conference. Identifying and supporting women under the threat of domestic violence is one the more challenging aspects of the housing support services which Estuary provides for the residents living in the 3,400 properties it manages.

The original storyline was devised in collaboration with Estuary and expert insights into the subject came from invaluable input from their Housing and Community Development teams.

The main character was a single mother living on a council estate who becomes involved with a construction site worker she met in a bar.

There was gratifying high praise for everyone involved from Linda Hollingworth, Director of Human Resources: “The work undertaken by Resound for its Forum Theatre sessions focused on our Equality and Diversity agenda and the staff conference was hugely popular. It has been very effective in putting across the message on both Equality and Diversity and the work of the Housing Officers related to the issue of domestic violence. Working together with Resound we have provided some very effective development for our staff.” 

The domestic violence scenario was an accurate – but far from comprehensive – picture of the way it permeates all layers of society. Refuge the organisation which runs a network of safe houses providing emergency accommodation for women and children, points out; “You only have to think of the celebrities we hear about in the papers to realise that money cannot protect you from domestic violence. Men who abuse women are as likely to be lawyers, accountants and judges as they are milkmen, cleaners or unemployed.”

So, when West Essex Community Health Services asked for a Forum Theatre production for a conference specifically on domestic abuse, it gave me the chance to portray the problem from a contrasting perspective. This time the client wanted the focus on middle class characters living in an affluent setting.

The new storyline reveals the abuse going on in the partnership of a couple living in a large house in an expensive area – a combination of a well educated stay-at-home wife and her husband, an established City Banker.

It was a challenge to sympathetically show why an educated woman would remain in an abusive relationship but at the end of the scene there was stunned silence from the audience. It didn’t last long as people enthusiastically discussed the implications of what they had just seen and the feedback demonstrated how successful the approach had been in raising awareness and empathy.

How I avoided making a crisis out of this drama - my RADA training experience - part 3

Now, a director's course at the prestigious RADA entails a lot of work........however, with 2 Australians, a New Zealander, a Canadian and numerous Brits in the group...we er...obviously thought it wise to network and socialise.

And a core group of 7 of us enjoyed animated drama discussions helped along by red wine at the Spaghetti House.

We reviewed productions we had seen, including Clybourne Park at The Royal Court (loved by our group) and a must see when it opens in the West End, and Danton's Death at the National Theatre which provoked intense debate about sets, lighting and characterisation.

 

yep it was a tough couple of weeks......!

How I avoided making a crisis out of this drama - my RADA training experience - part 2

There were times during the first week when I wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew during my short sabbatical from my business to attend a theatre directing course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

I was expected by the end of just 11 days to demonstrate my improved skills by directing final-year RADA acting students to stage a dramatic piece I devised with them.

But before that I had to get to grips with units and actions. On day 2, Sue Dunderdale, our course leader, worked with Kevin Bennett, one of the 11 aspiring directors on the course, to demonstrate the method she uses to enable actors to find and feel the truth of a line or phrase.  I say aspiring, in fact I think all of us had some directing experience, but were there to learn more and improve our skills.  Kevin, a young actor/director who had flown in from Vancouver to attend the course was already signed up to direct Hamlet back home (see a review), took Sue's direction and found a physicality to the famous To be or not to be speech that I had not seen before.

Kevin has clearly been putting his RADA learning to good use, as he said to me in a recent email:

Hamlet has been going extremely well. We've gotten a lot of great press from our major newspapers here and there is a great buzz in the theatre community. I am proud to say I also utilized a LOT of uniting/actioning work in my own sort of way for the whole play and it was extremely useful. Really helped us get specific and not get trapped in playing general stereotypes of the characters.

At Resound we use Forum Theatre, a drama-led learning method, as a way to help identify solutions to problems in clients’ organisations, either as part of a training programme or as part of a conference. For my RADA test it was inevitable that I would focus on a subject related to the human condition. I chose to highlight the hidden horror of domestic violence – under the title of Nothing to Tell.  But first I had to absorb and use the experience I was gaining at breakneck speed.

Observing Sue's work was both inspiring and daunting.  This was a completely different approach to the one I normally use.  Could I get to grips with it and could I really get my actors to do it?!

 

 

How I avoided making a crisis out of this drama - my RADA training experience - part 1

Ignoring tempting images of a fortnight in the Bahamas or cloudless skies in the Seychelles as an escape from England’s uncertain summer weather, 

 

I opted for a busman’s holiday:

 . 

Instead, at the end of August I set off on a daily commute to spend 12-hour days at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) to subject myself to a course in theatre directing, led by Sue Dunderdale. On the first day I encountered the pitfalls of taking a training course when I’ve been operating my Resound Training business for the past 11 years.

Initially I could not stop myself from assessing the tutors’ educational styles. But that was probably my defence mechanism against the discomfort of being a pupil again rather than in my usual training role.

I employ drama in my company’s Forum Theatre programme, creating real life scenarios to bring swift and effective communication methods for organisations going through change.

My RADA objective was to upgrade my knowledge of directing actors to enhance the way they help our audiences in sectors such as NHS, Local Government, professional services, finance and social housing find solutions to their problems.

By Day 2, I had left behind my work persona, recognising that, as I was paying for the expertise of the UK’s top drama school, I should accept they knew more than I did.

Although I am used to working with a tried and tested group of actors to perform regularly in front of corporate audiences, it was daunting to be faced with directing RADA students picked for their potential to be the best in the world.

I knew in advance I would be required to direct either an existing piece of theatrical text or a piece of my own writing. Never one to take the easy route when a more challenging one is available, I opted to devise an original 15-minute piece forming the middle of three acts.

Would I be able to manage it with just 11 days to produce the finished work, with 3 actors I had never worked with before in front of an audience of some of the best practitioners in the business?

Ever increasing circles

For eight intrepid souls it is countdown time to the launch of the programme which will help them develop their potential and turn their bright ideas into reality. They have nothing in common except each has a creative project that they want to bring to a successful conclusion. Their collective inspirations will come together on October 2nd at Day 1 of the Creative Circles programme – which uses tried and tested action learning processes to help people reach their goals.

 The concept is attributed to Reg Revans.

Reg always remembered Albert Einstein saying "If you think you understand a problem, make sure you are not deceiving yourself."

It is a principle which is the perfect supportive environment for nurturing the sensitive and criciticsm-averse creative psyche. No two members of the Creative Circles group will have the same creative talents – there will be only one would-be author, one designer, one accountant who wants to set up an online financial advice centre or an educator who wants to turns dreams of being a sculptor to final fruition.

Members of the Creative Circle do not give each other advice. Instead they ask the kind of probing and challenging questions that make people find their own answers to the creative problems they are facing.

The results come from the participants knowing that they will be meeting regularly to report on their progress to the other group members.

I am always astounded by the achievements that come out of previous action learning groups I have facilitated. This time I will be supported by Bianca Tait whose natural talent for unleashing people’s creative expression lends itself perfectly to a Creative Circle.