The Hidden Side of Humanitarian Work
How to Position and Manage Support Functions

This workshop is intended for technical and professional people who work in staff functions (like information technology, accounting/auditing, human resources, quality assurance, etc.) whose purpose is to provide technical support to others in their organization. It is essentially a course in customer relations skills tailored to help these technical and professional people better manage their internal client relationships. The technical competence of these groups is typically very high. But the interpersonal skills they bring to their assignments are not always at the same standards of excellence. This course is intended to bring these two levels of skill into more of a professional balance.


What's Covered

1. An examination of the present internal client relationship environment in this NGO: What makes delivering quality service so difficult?
   
   
2. Roles and responsibilities in successful workplace client relationships: Exactly what is each party expected to bring to this encounter?
   
   
3. The five essential characteristics of stellar service in any organization
   
   
4. The eight basic activities that are required to deliver a client service, their sequence and their content
   
   
5. The initial client contact: defining the client’s problem from the client’s point of view
   
   
6. Conducting a fact-finding interview with a client that, together with appropriate listening skills, can produce a superior service solution
   
   
7. Producing and communicating a service plan to solve the client’s problem
   
   
8. Working with others in the organization who can either help or hinder one’s ability to provide first-rate client service
   
   
9. Guiding client conversations: how to conduct client communications that are targeted and clear
   
   
10. An analysis of common problems that arise in a client relationship and methods for responding to them
    
    
11. Presenting important but difficult, negative or unwelcome information to a client
    
    
12. Handling complaints, reaching for stellar service and bringing a client assignment to a successful conclusion

1. Because service providers have now had a thorough understanding of their role, most people who complete this course respond to client inquiries, phone calls or problems with much higher levels of enthusiasm and a spirit of helpfulness; it is the first thing clients comment on when the course is over
   
   
2. Service providers use the newly learnt techniques when conducting probe interviews, because they now feel self-confident about how to undertake this process
   
   
3. Service providers almost universally adopt the eight-point model taught in point #4 above, because it is an understandable model that fits the cognitive styles of people drawn to this job; it is logical and systematic, and it works
   
   
4. They are less effective at improving their written and oral communications. For the most part they are less verbal than their clients
   
   
5. They do a much better job of keeping their managers involved in the cases they are working on and giving them regular reports of progress

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