I ran across a neat blog by Karl Fisch about customer service. He had a video from David Pogue’s blog. Now, I usually don’t watch too many videos for a variety of reasons but I did this one.
Now, Karl goes on to talk about customer service in his school:
I’m still the first line of defense - and the only person on-site tasked with this. My high school has about 2,150 students and 150+ staff members, so about 2,300 end users - with about 570 of them new each year. We have just over 750 computers, 50 or so printers, 75 or so LCD Projectors, and a variety of other peripherals such as scanners, digital cameras, camcorders, etc. We have the usual assortment of software, ranging from Microsoft Office to Geometer’s Sketchpad to Audacity, and I also help support our student information system (Infinite Campus). If you’re a regular reader of this blog you know that I also do a little bit of staff development as well.
I’ve been reading Karl’s posts and his videos are great. So why to I bring this up with a ridiculous title?
As an administrator in a small school of 208 students in a community of 1200 people in rural Saskatchewan, I don’t come across nearly as many people or the problems that Karl will have. Yet, I know that I need to serve each of my “customers” with great care and pay special attention to their needs. In fact, with fewer people, the errors can become even more apparent because so many people notice them. Now, I do some of the technical assistance in the school and I tend to be the “go to” person when it comes to use of software and such. I know that the best way to help a person with a computer related problem is to work through it with them so they might fix it themselves the next time. However, like Karl,
Too often I find myself just trying to solve the problem quickly myself, instead of helping the student or staff member learn how to solve the problem themselves. And as more and more tech “stuff” has come into the building, I’ve done a worse and worse job of serving my “customers” - I’ve given them a fish (Fisch?) instead of teaching them how to fish. This is particularly ironic considering my constructivist leanings.
Like Karl, I too have very constructivist beliefs about education yet, in the business of the day, it is sometimes easier to fix things oneself. That is where the pitfall is - easy.
Learning, as I have come to see it, isn’t about being easy - it is about expanding ideas and understandings and then using them in unique ways. Up until recently, I was on the “easy” path with technology, fixing and not showing, using and not sharing. This left my “showing” side with points (30) while the “teaching/assisting/helping” side wasn’t doing very well (0). How did I change this? Serve(d)
Now, I’ve found that by taking the time to work with whomever is having trouble or needing assistance and showing/assisting/teaching, I am developing staff who are willing to take risks, use technology and seek out new opportunities. By helping students and teaches to see applications and places for the use of these tools, I am encouraging a shift. Where before, I would get frustrated with having to do something “again”, now I ask what they have done to help themselves - for them to show me.
Unlike Karl, I have the luxury of smaller numbers which has allowed me to shift how I work. This type of thinking has moved into many of the areas of my administration. I know that if I empower people and help them to with understanding and let them create, things will develop and grow. The hard part? It takes time. And time! This is where our schools may need to be counter cultural and in doing so, be more willing to embrace and use the technologies that are available. It takes more time to show/ assist / teach. Could it be that what we were doing in school before wasn’t completely teaching? Or not the teaching that sticks? As we look at what schools need to be doing, we need to also look at what it means to teach and adjust accordingly. It is possible depending on how you serve.
I’ve been tagged by Lynn over at Learning. Goals - what do I have? Actually, I had to go Donald Taylor’s blog to see what he did. This led me to Ev Nucci’s blog where I found a series of very well explained goals. For those of you new into blogging, this is how you find new ideas and things to read. See, on Ev’s blog was the blog link to the person who started the meme plus the link to the person who tagged her. So, from this meme, I now have 3 new people to check out and see what they are doing. From them, who knows how many other blogs I’ll come across to which I will subscribe.
So, here is what I found to be the “official” rules for this meme:
I’m calling this one “Gotta’ Get Goals” to stay with our theme, and here are the official rules:
1) In a new blog post, list and write about the top 5 to 10 goals that you gotta’ get so that you can truly say you have achieved your wildest dreams in life. These have to be your best, most exclusive, and over-the-top goals that you can pick off your goals list. (I know I’ve previously said Do Not Share Your Goals, but we’re making an exception!)
2) In the introduction of your post, explain what you’re doing with the Gotta’ Get Goals project and “put a link and/or a trackback to this post”, for the purpose of giving them the full rules and for me to compile the master list of all participants that I’ll link to in a future post.
3) As with Simply Success Secrets, don’t forget to put a link or trackback to the blogger who tagged you for Gotta’ Get Goals in order to let your readers follow the conversation around.
4) Sharing your Gotta’ Get Goals with your own audience, will also share them with the blogger who tagged you and the bloggers you tagged, as well as their whole audience!
5) There is no limit to how many bloggers you are allowed to “tag”, so go crazy. It will help their exposure as well as your own when they tag back to your Gotta Get Goals post. That’s how meme’s work.
6) Sit back and enjoy the show. As Aaron would say, “watch the [gotta get goals] and the crossover audiences start rolling in!
Now, there are 10 goals that are listed plus a bunch of blogs that I will be visiting in the near future. That’s the great thing about memes!
So, my Gotta Get Goals! listed in no particular order.
1. Laugh - at myself, with friends, with my children, with students, with whomever I can. In the work that I do, it is important to have a sense of humour and not to take oneself too seriously. In fact, messing up and then laughing at it can be a great way to demonstrate your humanness.
2. Pray - daily. With my children and on my own. Make this a priority in my life.
3. Fitness - staying “in shape” so that I can participate with my children in all sorts of activities and be able to enjoy an active lifestyle later in life.
4. Continue Learning - each day be open to learning something new. Seek out new ideas and ways of doing things. Be actively involved in my own learning, not waiting passively waiting for someone to “do it to me!”
5. Enjoy each day - take time to look at the apple blossoms. Life speeds by and unless one makes a commitment to appreciating what is around, it is gone all too soon.
6. Spend time with my children - enjoy them, whatever stage of life they are at. Be with them not worrying about something that is grown-up. See the world from their perspective or at least try.
7. Listen - to people. Develop a sensitivity to hear what is not being said as well as what is being said. Hear past the words and practice letting my feelings go so they don’t overwhelm what is being said.
8. Career - Superintendent. This wasn’t one of my goals when I started. I really wasn’t sure what my goals were then. Now, I see that change in some areas needs to be supported from central office positions. The change doesn’t have to be initiated from top down but needs support in these key areas. Nothing against current people in these positions but it is time to look beyond what we are doing.
9. Travel - learn by doing and seeing. I’ve just begun to travel internationally in the last few years. I spent 19 days in England 3 years ago and it was fabulous especially since I spent it with my wife with no children! I look forward to traveling to different places. I realize that these destinations don’t have to be exotic or far away but can be close to home. The whole idea is to go, see and participate.
10. Eat/drink healthy - what can I say. This is something that just makes like that much better. I don’t want to become a slave to my diet but I do realize that there are things that I need to do to help myself.
There they are in black and white. I have specifically tried to look at things wholistically. We sometimes just focus on goals for work, which are fine but they shouldn’t dominate our lives.
