Professional Development Interview Thursday, February 22, 2007 8:30 – 9:30 am Interview with Cathy Swindell ey to successful learning leaders: Instill in employees that the student is the customer.   Training should focus on strong customer service and how the problem looks from the customer’s perspective. Suggests a training series that might include: 1.    telephone skills 2.    dealing with emotional behavior in students 3.    managing time effectively 4.    managing stress effectively 5.    handling the personal needs of the students while moving to remedy the practical issues 6.    resolving conflict 7.    presentation of self (appropriate for audience) Training should include faculty, staff and administrators.  Tutors and Board members should also participate. Would avoid online delivery of training; F2F teamwork and interaction is most effective. Most topics in the series could be taught in 2 hr blocks with a total of 4 hours per topic.  A schedule might look like:   September 1st week – Interpersonal Skills, Part 1 2nd week – Stress Management, Part 1 3rd week – Interpersonal Skills, Part 2 4th week – Stress Management, Part 2 October 1st week – Time Management, Part 1 2nd week – Phone Etiquette, Part 1 3rd week – Time Management, Part 2 4th week – Phone Etiquette, Part 2   Suggested number of participants per session: 30 Would intermix departments and avoid having “departmental” sessions Would be sensitive to who attends from the upper leadership – would want everyone to speak freely To encourage people to participate: 1.    Generate a list of topics with titles that stimulate interest 2.    Tie the training to the 10- and 30-hour requirements 3.    Obtain presidential (upper leadership) support 4.    Tie training to organizational goals Connect customer service training to QEP by emphasizing the importance of possessing the skills we expect students to have/acquire:  “Lead by example” A kick off for the training is essential.  The training must be seen as different from the usual development opportunities. Two options for training content: 1.    Develop the materials in-house 2.    Use something that is already developed For example, DDI includes many of the QEP life skills.  Cost would include: Training trainers on all 3 campuses (Cathy certifies trainers) – DDI materials per person are $400, with a total cost of $1200.  Workbooks for participants are $22 and $36 (leadership level) depending on the topic Characteristics of strong trainers 1.    Energetic 2.    Good presentation skills, good presentation of themselves 3.    Desire to be a trainer 4.    Love of transferring knowledge 5.    Genuine concern that participants understand information 6.    Organized, conscientious, timely, etc. (“lead by example”) 7.    Enough experience with community colleges to understand the basics Coordination and management will take up more time as the project continues.  Will need to coordinate training on all campuses For idea exchange, would suggest a focus each month (3rd Monday for example) that connects to the training topic(s).