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  • 1.  Asking re training for college programs for college staff

    Posted 07-02-1997 11:04
    To the listserv members:

    A college where I have designed and conducted some training is getting
    interested in exploring staff development programs for their administrative
    and clerical people.

    There has been little or no training done for at least 10 years. The
    Customer Service and Communication Skills program we did last year was the
    first training in ages.

    I'm interested in learning what other institutions have done recently or are
    planning for the immediate future. The executive I have been working with is
    looking to the corporate sector for models. Although there may be something
    there that makes sense, I believe we'll discover a better comparison looking
    at the academic world.

    Of course, we're going to do our own needs assessments to determine what will
    be the most useful training that can be linked to performance deficiencies
    and to business goals.

    I think it will help my contact at the college (an H.R. person who I am
    constantly educating on the role, benefit and limitation of training) to know
    what programs have worked well. I am also interested in hearing about
    programs that were launched with good intentions but didn't succeed. If you
    have some of those, and you know the reasons they didn't succeed, please let
    me know that, too.

    I'd like to know if faculty were included in this staff training, or if there
    are separate professional development training programs made available for
    faculty.

    Thanks in advance for your input.

    Mila Begun, Principal
    WORKWISE - Development programs for organizations and individuals
    New York, NY
    (MMBegun@aol.com)


  • 2.  Asking re training for college programs for college staff

    Posted 07-03-1997 07:31

    Mila Begun wrote:

    :A college where I have designed and conducted some training is getting
    :interested in exploring staff development programs for their administrative
    :and clerical people.

    :There has been little or no training done for at least 10 years.  The
    :Customer Service and Communication Skills program we did last year was the
    :first training in ages.

    :I'm interested in learning what other institutions have done recently or are
    :planning for the immediate future.  The executive I have been working with is
    :looking to the corporate sector for models.  Although there may be something
    :there that makes sense, I believe we'll discover a better comparison looking
    :at the academic world.

    :Of course, we're going to do our own needs assessments to determine what will
    :be the most useful training that can be linked to performance deficiencies
    :and to business goals.

    :I think it will help my contact at the college (an H.R. person who I am
    :constantly educating on the role, benefit and limitation of training) to know
    :what programs have worked well.  I am also interested in hearing about
    :programs that were launched with good intentions but didn't succeed.  If you
    :have some of those, and you know the reasons they didn't succeed, please let
    :me know that, too.

    :I'd like to know if faculty were included in this staff training, or if there
    :are separate professional development training programs made available for
    :faculty.

    As both a trainer and higher education faculty member, my perspective is that one should always include faculty in training (e.g., the customer service initiative you mentioned above) unless the faculty would have no logical application for the training.

    Far too often, higher education administrators and consultants fail to realize the power and impact of an institution's faculty.  These people are the frontline in terms of contact with primary clients (students) and these interactions have tremendous influence with secondary clients/suppliers (parents, spouses, families).  Thus, to ignore the importance of training faculty is to ignore the core of the institution.
    --------------------
    Dr. Kenneth J. Henry, President               ken@trainingpros.com
    Advanced Training Professionals              http://www.trainingpros.com
    Free World-Class Online Training



  • 3.  Asking re training for college programs for college staff

    Posted 07-08-1997 16:07
    Hello, you wrote:
    >
    >I'm interested in learning what other institutions have done recently or are
    >planning for the immediate future. The executive I have been working with is
    >looking to the corporate sector for models. Although there may be something
    >there that makes sense, I believe we'll discover a better comparison looking
    >at the academic world.
    >

    At the college where I teach, the entire college staff was "subjected" to a
    customer service training program which really was tourism-based. It did
    not work well for a number of reasons:

    1. The staff (faculty, admin, support, maintenance) were not grouped into
    operational areas, therefore it was extremely hard to define "customer"
    during discussion groups

    2. Many staff had and still have a hard time (especially faculty) buying
    into "customer" service and felt that the resources spent on this training
    could have been used more effectively in other training arenas (say,
    instructional workshops)

    3. Administration, while initiating and promoting this training, did not
    follow through on this training for themselves. It was very much a "do as
    I say, not do" kind of effort.

    Well, that's my 2 cents... obviously it was not just the training that was
    the problem, but I do feel that colleges following the corporate model is
    not the way to solve public sector organizations.

    Stephanie Ibach



    Stephanie Ibach
    http://www.telusplanet.net/public/mackbach/MACKBACH.HTM
    http://www.freeyellow.com/members/sibach/index.html