I am at the fun part of starting a contact center.  I've hired all the staff and we planned training.  We are in the middle of it but I wanted to share what we are doing differently than when I was in Hampton.  In Hampton, they brought in departments to speak and trained on customer service and of course, we are doing some of that too.

However, we are trying to mix up our training to include tours of the city attractions, tours of development sites, ride-a-longs with Codes Compliance and Animal Control, having staff sit with 911 to see what their job is like and just have more "hands on" experiences versus talking heads.  I don't know about you but talking heads don't always help you learn, unless that talking head can incorporate some humor and fun.

Our goal is not just that they learn how to be cordial and figure out our software system - we want our staff to be true ambassadors of the city - to be able to sing its praises, to know why that  911 operator may be having a bad day and to be able to point out violations of the city's property maintenance code when they ridearound the city.  Of course, they can't be all knowing and we don't expect that, but we want them to be well rounded and knowledgeable.  They will be the first impression for many of what the city is all about - they may in fact be the ONLY experience residents have of city government and we want those residents to feel their tax dollars were spent wisely.