Room Awareness
Acknowledge and Welcome every student that comes into the space, even if just non-verbally. If unable to check in with the student within 5 minutes of entry, verbally reassure them that you’ll be with them soon.
Visually scan the space frequently to assess the crowd and needs. Look at faces for impatience or frustration.
Walk the space – Does anyone need help? Trash? Wiping down? Spills? Computer lab usage – are students utilizing the lab properly?
Time Management
Be mindful of how much time you spend with each student! You may have multiple students who need help. Get the first one started and to a point, they can work on their own and then move to the next student.
Direct students toward the correct service point for assistance.
Ask, Don’t Tell.
Assess students’ level of understanding and identify specific gaps by first asking them what they know about the subject. Don’t just jump into explanations!
When stuck, ask them to show you what their text/notes say about the topic – this ensures consistency with instruction and reinforces independence in learning.
Whenever possible, use leading questions to help students draw their own conclusions.
Who’s Doing the Thinking?
Whoever is talking most is also thinking most – make sure it’s the student. Use the “See It, Do It” model if you must explain.
Don’t interrupt to point out mistakes while a student is working – give him/her a chance to discover it him/herself.
Before confirming if something is correct, ask the student to explain what he/she did – this reinforces learning and builds confidence.
Content Knowledge
Never be afraid to say “I don’t know.” Don’t damage students’ learning by giving information you’re uncertain about.
When you encounter things you don’t know, find out. Consult your faculty liaison and/or course resources.
Always support the instructor. Don’t introduce new ways of doing things or offer opinions on the professor’s instructional choices. Introducing new processes, negativity, or judgment about students’ courses just adds to their stress load. Don’t do it.
Professional Behavior
Communicate frequently and clearly with your supervisor. If you’re frustrated or have feedback, nothing can change unless you share it with your supervisor.
Don’t know the answer – don’t guess! Look in the manual and if still unsure, ask the supervisor.
Schedules are set according to tight budgets – “extra” time worked without prior approval won’t be paid.
Ask for backup/help when needed!
Communication
Communicate when you will be leaving the Service Desk for any reason, even for a moment.
When someone steps away be sure that you are paying attention to both your service point and the one left unattended.
If helping a student extends past 5- 10 minutes, check back with the desk and let your colleagues know.
When you need to be absent, find your replacement via your colleagues. Offer to switch hours with them. Always send notification preferably via email to the Supervisor that you will be absent and that you found a replacement. If you can't find your replacement, still notify the Supervisor.
Non-Verbal Communication
Make eye contact, smile, and be mindful of your own non-verbal cues. Show students, they’re welcomed and not being judged.
Verbal Communication
Keep your speech accessible and friendly. Use terminology where you can, but make sure students understand it first.
Talk at a reasonable pace; pause frequently to check for understanding. Get comfortable with silence -- give students time to process!
Attitude and Demeanor
Show students that the Learning Commons is a warm, welcoming place.
Stay positive, even when students aren’t.
Cultivate Patience – not everyone will be an easy customer and you may have many at one time and different modes (phone, ID, check-out) Talk confidently; end your statement with a period, not as a question.
Venting (by students) about an exam or professor is normal, but keep it short-lived. Focus students on things they can control!
When answering a phone call, say:
“Lone Star College-Kingwood Learning Commons, this is _____.”
Do not answer with simply saying “hello.” You want to make sure the caller knows that they got the right number.
The tone of voice should be friendly and sound motivated to help the caller. Smiling helps influence the sound of your voice. Words and inflection are important as body-language are in face-to-face encounters.
This can be hard but listen to the whole problem (no matter how long it takes). It's important for the caller to be heard and feel like they are being taken care of.
Minutes on a phone can feel like a lifetime, especially while on hold. Communicate what you are doing so that they know that you are working to get them the answers they need. If they have been on hold for a few minutes, update the caller so that they know you haven't forgotten about them.
If you do not know the answer to the questions, direct the patron to someone who will. You can say:
"I don't know the answer to your question, but let me find out... I'm going to put you on hold while I get more information for you."
Ask the caller if there are any other questions before letting them go, be clear that you are terminating the call. Invite them to call back if they have any questions in the future.
We get calls from people in heightened emotional states. Many times they are upset and frustrated over a process or lack of answers provided elsewhere. Do not tell them to calm down. Instead, be a sympathetic listener and do what you can to help the caller get the answers they need.
Do not engage in bad behavior if the caller is abusive or rude you do not need to tolerate that behavior. Communicate to the caller that you are ending the call due to their offensive behavior and report the incident to your supervisor.
Bucki, James. "Professional Phone Etiquette: How You Greet a Customer on the Phone is Important for Business." The Balance: Small Business, 11 Feb. 2019, https://www.thebalancesmb.com/professional-business-phone-etiquette-2533549.
Rivera, Andreas. "Customer Service 101: Phone Etiquette for Small Businesses." Business News Daily , 18 July 2018, https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6444-call-center-phone-etiquette.html
People read tone into written work. It is easy to misunderstand information. Because of this, it is better to communicate aurally as much as possible.
Do not use reply all unless you have been solicited to do so. Take the time to send the message to the right people, not all the recipients. Ask yourself, do all recipients need to see your reply?
Respond to emails promptly while on duty.
We all make mistakes. But too many mistakes and regular grammatical and spelling errors can reflect poorly on you as a professional. Grammarly is a great add-on tool to assist in the proofreading process.
Make sure sent emails have a clear and concise subject heading. It helps the receiver know what to expect and makes searching for the email later easier.
Call before you bring a community member (students, faculty, or staff) to someone's office. That person may be in a meeting that should not be interrupted, away from one's desk, or in need of some downtime during their lunch break. If unavailable, provide the community member with the person's contact information.
Make sure that the space is welcoming and the best it can be for our community. To do this, we need you to regularly walk the space and keep an eye on what is going on. Here are some ideas of things that you might want to be cognizant of and may need to be addressed:
Forward all phone calls to the full-time employee's phone for the caller to leave a message on their voicemail.
Most likely a student simply misinterpreted or misunderstood the employee. However, this is a learning opportunity for the team - we can’t change students but we can change how we interact with them. Together, we can try to identify a different tactic for future interactions. In addition, it might become something that everyone on staff can benefit from.
Full-Time Team Member
Please find out who they interacted with and let the supervisor of that person know so they can dig into the disconnect.
Whether the student wants to officially complain or is just “letting someone know,” Mikha and the supervisor of the employee need to be informed in case the student complains externally or later comes in to complain again.
*note: we are not talking about difficult student interactions that happen daily in the course of enforcing the policy. We are talking about when a student approaches an employee to make a complaint about another employee.
Part-Time Team Members:
Bring in a (1) supervisor or (2) FT employee to handle the complaint. If neither is available, fill out the incident report and give it to a supervisor.
Full-Time Team Members:
Student complaints should be recorded on the student incident report. It should be sent both to Mikha and the supervisor. The employee’s name needs to be indicated.
