We look forward to helping you make your visit to SWITCH 2019 valuable and worthwhile.
In this edition of SPOTLIGHT, we look at the importance of Community Feedback and Engagement Surveys and the value of Active Listening.
The Future of Public Libraries Forum Report highlighted the importance of Community Engagement as an enabler for Libraries to better respond to emerging futures and challenges facing the sector. Recommendations for a range of Community-focused actions that Libraries could take were included. Amongst others, these were to:
- “Develop partnerships with community groups and agencies”
- “Promote digital engagement”
- “Identify community needs to inform programming”
- “Identify library space as a local / small business resource” and
- “Be purposeful in building social capital”
Great recommendations. But how do you practically engage with, and effectively promote the value and services your Library offers to your local Community?
To set the stage, we’ve shared comments clients often make at the beginning of their road with us. Feel free to click each comment to reveal our response…
Because you need to.
Consumers of your services are more aware and sophisticated than ever before.
Communities expect you to find out what they want and to provide it in a convenient and accessible manner. Their universe is no longer their local suburb, it’s the world.
Do you know that what you are doing is really working? How do you measure it? Are you just repeating the old way of “surveying” and ticking a box? Is your survey program simple and does it need minimal Customer Effort? Shouldn’t you make it easy for all of your stakeholders to have their say?
Yes, you do. You need to be actively listening to your community all the time, everywhere.
Listening is critical if you want to improve the engagement, satisfaction and experiences of the most important people in your organisation: The consumers of services who give you a reason to be at work every day and the providers of these services – your staff – who look after the needs of consumers at the front line.
These stakeholders have different experiences, perceptions and feelings about each and every visit. You need to be empowered to actively respond to the needs and wants of your internal and external communities – and you should be able to provide consistent, high quality service and experiences to everyone all the time.
It actually isn’t that hard. All it takes is a change in mindset and a realisation that Real-Time, Continuous Feedback and Engagement surveying makes sense and is the right thing to do if you really want to improve.
Because it’s the right thing to do. And with our solutions, you may be pleasantly surprised!.
Wow – Do we hear this often! Most managers (and front-line staff) throw this our way so it’s a myth we really want to dispel.
Making it easier to give feedback leads to fewer complaints.
Teams we work with are stunned when they see evidence that active listening leads to a decrease in complaints over time.
Active listening involves and engages consumers AND front-line teams and managers in the Service Improvement Journey. Showing stakeholders that you are committed to hearing what they say, are acting on their input and are responding to the issues they flag, will mean they are more likely to honestly rate their real experiences with you.
Don’t try to avoid complaints. Seek them out and respond quickly to what your Customers are telling you.
Each complaint (or suggestion) is an opportunity to improve and when you show teams (and managers) that their improvement efforts are appreciated and are recognised, positive behaviours are ingrained and become hardwired.
Being better engaged will save – and even make – you more money in the long term.
Here’s how…
Listening actively to your staff will improve:
– Staff Retention Ratios, as staff are less stressed and anxious about coming to work.
– Staff Engagement Metrics, as teams work with people they know and trust for longer and feel valued because their experiences matter too.
Listening actively to your community will improve:
– Community Engagement, as more and more of your community members feel they are, in fact, part of a community that cares about what they think.
– The quality of services being provided to the community. As each consumer is empowered to become, in effect, a Mystery Shopper, they will feel involved and tell you about events and issues they want you to hear about; toilets that are out of order; public services like PC’s that need fixing; services they could do with close to home and so on.
You can also expect to realise a host of unexpected financial benefits including improved marketing budget allocation and efficiencies, as you are now able to measure how consumers are responding to tactical activities and events in Real Time.
All of these lead to reduced costs and when “The Person Who Controls the Purse Strings” sees how little an active listening program really costs, the response is generally “When can we start!?”
The How
Hopefully we’ve gotten your interest. And hopefully we’ve explained how Active Listening is not only the right thing to do, it makes a positive impact on the way you engage and respond to the needs of your community.
Now we’d like to share a few simple ways our solutions help Councils and Libraries effectively listen to, engage with, and measure the things that are important to their stakeholders.
Experience Trackers
These wonderfully simple feedback pads that are designed to look, feel like and behave as if they are a paper-based surveying system. Trackers are perfect for “focused” measurement environments where insight is required on key indicators at one or two specific touchpoints. They are low cost to deploy, have zero theft value, generate exceptional response rates and are a self-contained, survey-in-a-box system.
Let us do your hard lifting and provide the hardware, design the surveys and report on them for you. All you need to do is action the results.
Clients use trackers at reception and enquiry counters, service desks, planning offices and at events and focus groups. Need quick, simple and lots of feedback? Experience Trackers are the right tools for the job!
Experience Trackers Plus
Our Experience Trackers Plus leverage the design simplicity of our Experience Trackers onto tablets we supply and support with some additional smarts. These include the ability to obtain Qualitative Feedback, Comments and Compliments, have respondents sign up to newsletters and event information and include an Alert System to help clients identify and respond to complaints in real time. The Plus System is also a survey solution in a box and is perfect for those areas where you want to learn more, engage further and probe a bit deeper.
Like the Trackers, the Plus System is a turnkey, fully outsourced service we offer. We provide the hardware, design the surveys and report on them for you. With us, you will learn so much more from your local community and staff.
The Plus is perfect for Community and Staff Listening Posts, can be used at Events, during renovations and facility redesigns, at Ratepayer information days and during council information and voting sessions. They are also perfect for detailed surveying in high traffic areas such as library entrances and exits, and are often used for focus groups and interview-assisted surveying.
Survey Pads
Our Survey Pads are the perfect tool when you want to cost effectively get loads of Feedback and Insight from multiple touchpoints in a single site or facility. They are fully self-contained and only need batteries to operate. Simply identify a touchpoint and start measuring!
Survey pads can be enabled with additional Point-of-Sale material such as QR codes and integrated our Tellus Web-Apps so that customers who wish to leave a comment, suggestion or complaint can do so.
Clients use Survey Pads in locations or at services where multiple touchpoints need to be measured and where having more expensive technology would make a surveying program prohibitive when compared against the value obtained. Ideal examples for Survey Pads include reception desks, information areas, at PC infrastructure and equipment and rooms / facilities available for hire or lease.
We live in a world where adapting to everchanging community needs – while supporting the staff who look after them – will directly impact your success.
We understand the challenges you face and can help.
Visit us at Stand 24 at SWITCH 2019 to learn how!
