Client-oriented working

Interactive practical training for front office staff

Cheerful, emotional, angry, tedious, impatient, unwitting; clients (students, parents, suppliers, or colleagues) come in all shapes and sizes. And you bring your own self to work every day as well. Smooth and effective communication is therefore not always easy. Communicating with clients in a goal-focused manner is partly about operating in a goal-focused, client-oriented way and also partly about indicating the desired communication norms and boundaries of your client orientation in a goal-focused way. By gaining an insight into your own behaviour and that of others, you can learn to ‘read’ the client better, as a result of which you will be able to handle both aspects outlined above with greater ease and effectiveness.

The training course Lees je klant en collega (‘Reading your clients and colleagues’) is a focused and interactive course intended for experienced staff members working in education, primarily higher education, institutions who regularly come into contact with clients by phone or at a support desk. The training course is practical, confrontational, educational, and active. No long lectures, no abstract theories, but practical tools and plenty of action!

Objective

On the one hand, we will pay plenty of attention to deploying communication skills in a focused manner to be able to serve the client as optimally as possible. On the other hand, we will also pay express attention to clients who cross the boundaries of our organization. The training approach is personal and focuses on practice. It is also inspiring, through which you will gain new insights and, above all, get down to work yourself. You will gain insights into your own behaviour and the influence of this on others. You will learn how to ‘read’ clients better, which will set you up to estimate situations well and to vary your approach. As a result, you will be able to direct discussions with clients in a fluent, client-oriented, and effective manner. You will get to work on your own learning outcomes. Before the course starts, the trainer will visit a number of participants to gain insight into their practical situations; in doing so, the training course can be aligned to personal client contact in practice.

Results

You will have better insight into your own behaviour and the influence of this on other people.
You will be able to ‘read’ client behaviour better and align your approach to it.
You will gain new insights into client communication and client behaviour, which will help you in daily practice.
You will have practised dealing with difficult situations that you have faced, and will have received feedback on this.
You will have received practical tips, which you can then apply to daily practice.

Programme

A. Boundary-crossing behaviour
creating an inventory of experiences with difficult boundary-crossing behaviour
explaining UG policy and the obligation to report unacceptable conduct (reporting form)
aligning your response to the severity of the boundary-crossing behaviour
conflict management: what your work demands of you regarding dealing with conflict
cultural differences as a source of misunderstanding, conflict, and misunderstood behaviour
care and support within one’s team
various video excerpts as examples and instruction
exercises

B. Students and staff members as clients
creating an inventory of the types of support desk visitors
explaining client orientation
practising finding a balance between client orientation and processing clients’ questions quickly
explaining differences in effective communication in person, by phone, or by email and exchanging experiences
various video excerpts as examples and instruction
exercises

More information

Dates	This training has yet to be scheduled. If you are interested in this training, you can send an e-mail to hr-experts rug.nl in which you express your interest. You will then receive an e-mail when the date for this training is known.
Location	MeetLAB Boterdiep 111 9712LM Groningen
Intended for	Staff members who have regular contact with clients by phone or at a support desk in their daily work
Group size	Maximum of 10 participants
Language of instruction	Dutch
Costs	€350
Trainer	Riks Ytsma training en advies plus a training actor
More information	Ruth van der Walle

Note that there is no English-taught training scheduled at this time. You can only register for the Dutch training.

Last modified:

15 March 2024 2.10 p.m.

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