Customer service training for entities

RBC I More than 100 elected officials, department heads and employees from the towns of Meeker and Rangely, Rio Blanco County and the ERBM Recreation and Park District attended three days of customer service training courses last week, sponsored by the county and facilitated by Brian Muir of The James Madison Group from North Salt Lake City, Utah.
“Customer service is a critical component of local government and the services we provide,” said RBC administrator Kimberly Bullen. “It is important for organizations such as ours to ‘turn the mirror on ourselves’ from time to time to see how we are doing and to look for opportunities in which we can improve the service we provide to our citizens.”
Courses in “Dealing with Angry Citizens and Difficult People” and “Teaming up to Better Serve the Citizens” were covered during the training.
The first course “focused on situations when employees are faced with an upset citizen or co-worker and provided recommendations in managing these situations,” Bullen said.
The  “Teaming up to Better Serve the Citizens” course was designed to help members of different departments coordinate their efforts for better citizen service by promoting an internal climate of trust, appreciation and cohesion.
In that course, Bullen said, “one of the group assignments was to identify the values of the organization.” As a county employee, Bullen was pleased that the participants were “on target with the values our citizens expect” including accountability, knowledgeable staff and respect.
“Our goal is to build upon this training and use it as a foundation in providing the best service we can to the citizens of Rio Blanco County,” Bullen said.