Nourishing the Flowers & the Weeds

Brian Henry – Academic Advisor Muir College UCSD

Karla Kastner – Academic Advisor Muir College UCSD

Think of a time when you experienced excellent customer service. . .what did that experience look like? How did it make you feel? Why was it special or meaningful?

Think of a time when you experienced the worst customer service. . . what did that experience look like? How did you feel afterward? What made it a negative moment?

Student expectations shaped by consumer driven society.

Entitlement when see tuition as paying for services/education.

As advisors we can employ customer service best practices to shape our interactions with our students and create more quality outcomes for both students and advisors.

Different Models

• Disney-Welcoming and Setting the Stage• Nordstrom-Personalized Service and

Innovation• Healthcare-Service Recovery and Evaluation

Implications for Advising

“We keep moving forward , opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps

leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney

Greeting & welcoming Setting the stage – cast members in a

show Take advantage of every opportunity –

magical express. “What time is the 3pm parade?”: never

make guests feel like a question is silly. We mentality: we all take responsibility It’s about the whole experience

Creating a show• Group advising series marketed specifically to incoming

freshman. Welcoming guests & answering

questions• Frustration about decentralized campus: by holding hand

a little bit and explaining why we’re referring out can feel more personal and less like being turned away.

In-between opportunities• Passive programming: use the waiting area, website,

Facebook.

“Nordstrom Rule #1: Use your good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.” – Nordstrom

Employee Handbook.

Use your good judgment Follow-through: make them come

back! Innovation Creativity Initiative Establish rapport with the customer Goal setting essential to company

culture

Initiative• Give student all information relating to a question

including what they aren’t asking.• Avoids “you never told me.”

Follow-through• Advising students on academic probation: ask them to

follow-up before week 4 & 9 deadlines. Always surprised that we want to see them more than once—translation: I care.

Creativity/Innovation• Share best practice ideas & trends with coworkers to

meet changing demands.

“The way an organization seeks complaints and service failures sends a loud message about what it truly believes

in.”

Service Recovery The Six A’s “Poka-yokes” Employee-Driven Strategies Evaluation and Systematic Change

Feedback• Create opportunities for feedback during and after

meeting with students. Take Responsibility

• Proactively “mistake-proof” your department and anticipate problems.

• Model responsibility for our students and be accountable for mistakes.

Change and Improve• Once mistakes are identified, use them an opportunity.

Work not only with your department, but the larger university as well.

Using these customer service techniques can be the antidote to the entitled student & empower the advisor.• Creating an experience leading to trust promotes student “buy

in” and allows us to advance our advising goals. Create Loyalty and Identity

• Why as a form of action Barriers: too much time/work

• We all feels pressures of stress (high volume of students/not enough resources), but in the end we are professionals who are passionate about education and maybe by working within the frame work of student expectation we can create the change we want to see.As advisors, we are the public faces of our universities and have the power to help students understand how to utilize our services & shape

expectations of what advising is.

Bell, Steven J. "Antidote for Entitled 'Customers' | Inside Higher Ed." Antidote for Entitled 'Customers' | Inside Higher Ed. 29 July 2011. Web. 31 May 2012.<http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2011/07/29/bell_essay_on

_changing_clasroom_experience_to_meet_student_demands>.

Clark, Paul Alexander, and Mary P. Malone. Making It Right:Healthcare Service Recovery Tools, Techniques, and Best Practices. Marblehead, MA: HCPro, 2005. Print.

Elizard, Brian J. "6 Things Disney Can Teach Us About Academic Advising." Elizardi Dot Com. Web. 30 May 2012. <http://elizardi.com/blog/2011/01/24/6-things-disney-can-teach-

us-about-academic-advising/>.

Fottler, Myron D., Robert C. Ford, and Cherrill P. Heaton. "Fixing Healthcare Service Failures." Achieving Service Excellence: Strategies for Healthcare. Chicago: Health Administration, 2010. Print.

Payne, Kirby J. "What Time Is the 3PM Parade? (Should Your Hotel Have a Some Mickey Mouse(r) in It?) / Kirby D. Payne, CHA." What Time Is the 3PM Parade? (Should Your Hotel Have a Some Mickey Mouse(r) in It?) / Kirby D. Payne, CHA.Web. 31 May 2012. <http://www.hotelonline.com/Trends/Payne/Articles/WhatTimeParade.html>.

Spector, Robert, and Patrick D. McCarthy. The Nordstrom Way: The inside Story of America's # 1 Customer Service Company. New York: Wiley, 1995. Print.