Are you providing “Value for Money” for your Students?

The current squeeze on funding, the increase in competition, the greater demands for excellence from Students who now have a greater choice where to gain their education, revealing NSS league tables, the increasing fees – all demonstrate that the Further and Higher Education Sector has possibly never known such “extraordinary times” as those in which we are living today – confirmation then that “extraordinary measures” are required.

As Universities across the Country begin to focus more on commercial strategies as the competition increases it is vital that your University delivers Service Excellence and outstanding Student retention and satisfaction levels in order for their offering of further education to remain competitive and for the students to perceive that they have received good “Value for Money” in the face of Students fees increases.

In a competitive Higher Education Market, it is essential that any differentiator of courses offered or product is leveraged to its maximum in order to gain the advantage.

When services and products become similar – it is the excellence of the Service offered which plays a major deciding influence. But when the day arrives when every University offers Student excellence – it will be the Universities who can offer the “next level of service” who will sustain their success.

It is their experience which Students will remember and talk about to others.

 

This Workshop focuses on how to apply Disney’s culture of Service Excellence into our Students’ Journeys.  It covers an in-depth analysis of every “Moment of Truth” where a Student or a Potential Student can form an opinion of your College or University based on their experience and it prepares a strategic “Analyse, Fix / Improve, Measure” process of Student-Facing activities in order to ensure Student Experience Excellence. The workshop looks at WHY? Disney has won the award for Best in Class for Customer service for over 30 years. We explore the Principles of the Magic Kingdom and take in the award winning FISH! video as we focus on Student Experience Excellence. Delegates will compete a Service Improvement Plan during the workshop. Creating a Culture of Student Experience Excellence What IF ……. Disney ran your University?

Disney has won the “Best in Class” Award for their Customer Service Principles for the last consecutive 40 years

Now these principles are delivering excellence within Further and Higher Education Establishments across the UK

Measuring your Students Experience – NSS The “bar” for Student Service Excellence and Experience is getting higher each year for Universities to achieve.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England reported that: “Students are more satisfied with their experience at UK universities or colleges than at any time in the eight years of the National Student Survey (NSS), with 86 per cent saying they are satisfied overall with their course in this year’s survey.” 

This inspirational and motivational 1 day workshop will explore:

• The 10 Things that Disney would do differently if he ran your University
• The 9 Principles of Service Excellence – How does Disney “DO” Customer Service?
• The 6 Keys to the “Magic Kingdom”

The workshop will be interactive with group and experiential activities

 

 

Doing it like Disney – Universities Challenged!

Workshop Agenda

What if…we did things Differently? …and What if…Disney ran your University?!

• Who are your ‘Customers’ and the Stakeholders of your University?
• Who are your Competitors?

Experiential Activity: Paradigm Shifter – Thinking Differently about Student Service

Seeing Your University through the eyes of a Student

•   “Moments of Truth”   – Jan Carlsson SAS  – We only have ONE opportunity to make a FIRST Impression on our Students…what would their first impression be?
• Identifying our Competitors and our Clients / Partners
• How do our “Touchpoints” impact our Students’ “Moment of Truth”?
• Seeing our University through the eyes of our Students.
• Identifying areas for improvement for Student Satisfaction within our “Touchpoints”
• Is our University really offering “Value for Money” to our Students?
• Self-Audit – How does our University measure up now? – Current State
• Creating a Culture where Kai-Zen (Continuous Improvement) Thrives

Group Activity: Student Touch-Points – Mapping the Student Experience

How to Create a Culture where Innovation and Customer Service Excellence thrive and become

part of the “DNA” of your University

It’s about:

• Choosing the correct Leadership Culture across the University
• Empowering University Staff to make decisions which positively impact the Student’s Experience and Journey
• Eliminating any “Blame Culture” which may exist within the University
• Developing the Emotional Intelligence of your Student-Facing Staff – increasing, Self and Other Awareness
• Creating an environment where a passion for Student Experience Excellence Thrives
• “Visioning” what a ’10 out of 10′ Student Experience of Excellence would look like by developing a Shared Vision for Excellence

 

Sprinkling the “Magic Kingdom” Dust: Disney’s Service Principles

 

 

• The 10 Things that Disney would do differently if Disney ran your University
• Disney’s Award Winning’ Service Principles of Service Experience Excellence
• What are our Service Standards for “Student Experience Excellence?”
• How do our OWN Levels of Service Excellence Stack Up??

Group Activity: A Self Audit “Where are we Now?…on a scale of 1-10?”

Creating a Culture of Innovation and Service Excellence within your University

• How DO those guys do it? – Best Practice Principles of Innovation
• Apple / Nike / 3M / HP / Disney / Harvard
• Defining and applying the 3 ingredients of REAL Innovation into your University

 

Student Experience Excellence requires Functional Team Working

• The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team – Working as a Functional Team for our Students

10 Lessons of Teamwork – from The Geese – Video

• Applying Winning Behaviours and Attitudes to our Student Experience

• DeBono’s Thinking Hats – Understanding Challenging Personalities 

Experiential Activity: Levitation Challenge

Identifying and Understanding Personality Types

• The ABC of Managing difficult Student Behaviour
• Transactional Analysis, Neuro–Linguistic Programming: Professional Communication Techniques

When Academic Intelligence meets Emotional Intelligence

 

Emotional intelligence (EI) is crucial in achieving customer service excellence for several reasons:

1. Understanding and Managing Emotions: EI helps Student service representatives recognise and manage their own emotions, preventing negative feelings from affecting interactions with students. This self-awareness allows them to remain calm and composed, even in stressful situations..
2. Empathy: One of the core components of EI is empathy, which enables representatives to understand and relate to Students’ emotions. This understanding fosters a connection with students, making them feel valued and heard.
3. Effective Communication: EI enhances communication skills by promoting active listening and appropriate responses. Student-Facing Staff  with high EI can better interpret student/ customer needs and respond in a way that addresses both the emotional and practical aspects of their concerns..
4. Conflict Resolution: High EI equips representatives with the skills to de-escalate conflicts and handle difficult situations gracefully. By managing their own emotions and understanding the student/ customer’s perspective, they can find solutions that satisfy both parties.
5. Building Customer / Student Loyalty: Positive emotional interactions lead to higher student / customer satisfaction and loyalty. When students /customers feel understood and appreciated, they are more likely to return and recommend the service to others.
6. Improving Team Dynamics: EI also benefits the internal dynamics of customer service teams. Student-Facing Staff  who are emotionally intelligent can collaborate more effectively, support each other, and create a positive work environment.

Incorporating EI into student / customer service training can significantly enhance the overall student /customer experience, leading to better outcomes for both the students  and the University. By increasing the 4 Emotional Intelligent behaviours and attitudes… we build our abilities to impact our Relationship Management which is critical to developing Student Service Experience of Excellence.

 

Experiential Activity: Navigating the Impasse

Designing the ’10 out of 10′ Student Experience of Excellence at our University   

• Utilising the Appreciative Inquiry and the Disney Creative Strategy to design a Student Experience of Excellence. Delegates will map the Student Journey of the Future and will identify specific ‘Improvement Projects’ for the delegates to be involved with and to implement post-workshop.

What does Student Service Experience Excellence Look Like?

• The Disney Creative Strategy – designing the Perfect 10 Student Experience Excellence
• Dreaming the Student Service Experience of Excellence

Group Activity: The Perfect Student Experience Excellence Outcome – Future State – using Appreciative Inquiry

The 4 Principles of Achieving the Student Excellence Experience – FISH! DVD

• Choose your Attitude
• Play!
• Make their Day
• Be There for them

The FISH video / DVD has gone on to be the best selling training video/DVD of all time. Here is an extract from the Pike Place Fish web site: “For us it means going beyond just providing outstanding service to people. It means really being present with people and relating to them as human beings. We take all our attention off ourselves to be only with them…looking for ways to serve them. We’re out to discover how we can make their day. We’ve made a commitment to have our customers leave with the experience of having been served. They experience being known and appreciated whether they buy fish or not. And it’s not good enough just to want that – it takes an unrelenting commitment. We’ve made it our job to make sure that experience happens for every customer.”

These same FISH! Principles are now being applied to Universities and Colleges throughout the UK

Click Here for a Preview of this Award Winning Video – FISH!

 Workshop Outcomes – Delegates will:

• Be inspired and motivated to shift their personal paradigm for Student Experience Excellence
• Consider your University through the eyes of a Student and create an Action List of improvements
• Learn the 3 vital ingredients to create a culture of innovation within your University
• Learn the 10 things which they would do differently…if Disney ran their University
• Explore Disney’s Principles of Service Excellence and Continuous Improvement and learn how to apply them to their University
• Create the “perfect Student Experience Excellence service” utilising Appreciative Inquiry Planning tools
• Increase the “Value for Money” through Service Excellence principles
• Learn how to build and/or contribute to high performance teams within the University
• Consider the relevance of breaking down silos in order to achieve Student Experience Excellence through the efficiency of Functional Teamwork
• Complete a Self-Audit of their own perceived Service competencies
• Explore Professional Communication Tools to enhance Student Service levels
• Consider the Service Principles of FISH! – the Award Winning DVD on Service Excellence and apply them to your University
• Be awarded with a CPD Certificate in Customer / Student Experience Excellence

Click here to download an overview of this inspirational workshop: Creating Student Experience Excellence.