Case Study - Global Humanitarian Agency - US

CASE STUDY

Global Humanitarian Agency Seeks to Improve Customer Service Across their IT Function This humanitarian organization focuses on hunger and food security and serves nearly 100 million people.

The agency also offers technical assistance from building capacity for emergency preparedness and response, managing supply chains and logistics to resilience against climate change.

CLIENT CHALLENGE: The technical division of this agency has over 1,000 staff with 75% based in the field and regionally across the world. The technical division sits at the heart of the agency’s ability to deliver their humanitarian services to keep a global crisis management agency operational.

To further enhance their service, the agency wanted to embark on a transformation and behavioral change program to raise the level of customer service for their customers and business functions. They wanted staff to share in their vision and aspire to deliver customer service excellence through focusing on the customer and business problem solutions.

The desired learning outcomes were that staff could: •

Demonstrate a sound understanding of core principles of customer service.

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Gain more familiarity with customer service solutions.

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Develop and apply interpersonal skills to provide an exceptional service.

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Support clients using their products and services.

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Enhance teamwork through collaborative communication.

The agency went to competitive tender seeking: •

A blended solution of on-demand and live training that could be completed over 6 months.

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Learner support and collaboration to support the behavioral and cultural change in the organization.

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Consultant expertise and experienced and trusted provider.

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Partner approach with the program being agency branded and the on-demand hosted on their LMS.

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Project and service management support.

OUR SOLUTION: Learning Tree was selected for our reputation in delivering high quality training and ability to develop a solution that included: •

Independent Consultant Model – Active practitioners and coaches within the field of behavioral science expertise.

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Learning Innovation – Our philosophy is built on our “Ecosystem of Learning,” designed to provide support throughout the entire learner journey and leverage a range of formal and informal learning approaches and tools aligned to how learning is consumed today.

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First Class Service Delivery and Project Management – Robust infrastructure of service delivery and project management support the program through all phases and rollout.

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Implementation A pilot program was initiated and measured for a representative group of 160 staff. The project team led by a program manager in collaboration with the agency, agreed to a development plan with the key stakeholders for each lifecycle stage. The agency was time pressured to rollout a pilot and the program was designed to achieve this within 2 months.

Our approach is always consultative with the agency being central to approving progress and content keeping them informed and central to decision making.

Project Setup

Scope with Primary Stakeholders

Global Stakeholder Interviews

Live Module Development

Build Branded Program Site

Communications

Testing &

Create CIO & Facilitator Videos

On-Demand Development

Launch Pilot

Survey

First, our project team was formed, then we interviewed agency stakeholders to explore in more depth the aspirations for the program to capture their values. This was followed by a series of interviews with a range of IT staff and management at different levels to capture their challenges and current perception of their team’s performance. From this, a more detailed learning path was designed with learning outcomes identified for each phase.

An online agency branded share space was created as a central hub from the program from which each learner: •

Directly accessed each step of their learner journey, training materials and workbooks.

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Communicated with their peers and facilitator.

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Completed quizzes and surveys.

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Access to Learning Tree technical and service delivery support.

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Received program communications, Outlook calendar files and time reminders.

The Sharespace analytics provided stakeholders with progress, completion information, and insight into which participants were being active in the social channels and key word conversation threads.

LEARNING JOURNEY COMPONENTS: Agency CIO and Facilitator positioning videos Explaining the value to the organization and staff to gain “buy-in” from participants is an essential ingredient to inspiring behavioral and mindset change.

Mobile Device and SCORM compliant On-Demand Module Designed as a baseline assessment of current mindset and clarity about the need for change and the potential benefits. Our consultant, instructional designers and e-learning developers storyboarded the module roadmap, activities and messaging for agency approval prior to development.

Audio was recorded by a professional audio actor in consultation with the consultant. The module included an integrated e-workbook and activities that participants downloaded as their personal action plan through the learning path and in the workplace.

“It was interesting to analyze

concepts of speed and quality of a service. Many times, we as customer service representatives assume that providing a service is the simple act of solving a problem, but there are actually many concepts that we must analyze to provide the service in the best way.”

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Online Customer Service Star Profile Providing a personal 360 perspective of existing customer service strengths and potential opportunities for further growth. Each participant received a detailed analysis report which our facilitator analyzed and provided feedback.

89% of survey respondents found the information their personal report useful.

Live 3-hour modules – Two live online modules which addressed: • Ability to adopt the mindset, values, attitudes and actions that constitute excellent customer service and provide positive customer experiences.

• Increased visibility.

• Enhanced relationships.

• Improved perceptions of self, team and division.

Different thoughts from different participants helps to guide and correct in our practical experiences in work life.

The teamwork during the break-out sessions was excellent. The interactive nature of the course work was extemporary, with the lecture and tutorial material clear.

Surveying Program Outcomes Participants were surveyed after the pilot program to capture the impact and mindset shift.

“I chose to set aside time for this learning as I believe its capital in our day-to-day work that we have a sound and common approach. But also it gives us perspective in what we do by pausing and reflecting on the what/how and identify areas where we need to improve continuously. I strongly encourage that this training happens on a regular basis also a refresher to all of us in our journey to truly become customer excellence ambassadors.”

“The program has changed my mentality greatly about the services we render to customers; at first it was just a one-sided thinking.”

“It made me understand even more that trying to be in customer shoes will help to achieve better results.”

“This training has greatly impacted my focus towards customer service in reaching our stakeholders in all aspects of operations, and more strongly in appreciating and recognizing every effort from smallest to the biggest by being able to clearly communicate our results.”

“I learned easy ways to improve my service, improve my reputation and make my job more visible.”

VISIT: LEARNINGTREE.COM/SUCCESSSTORIES CALL: 888-843-8733