Talking Stick - September/October 2013 - 45

within the university, and each
February we celebrate a Great Service
Week. Each office in auxiliary services
selects recipients of the Great Service
Award. Housing and residential life
staff typically have six to seven award
winners annually. These staff get to
attend a special breakfast during which
their contributions are noted. The
recipients have represented all levels
of our organization over the years. We
also have an Employee of the Month
and Team of the Quarter Awards. These
awards are not given each month or
quarter automatically but are awarded
when outstanding work has been
noted and nominated by other team
members. Our Employee Engagement
Committee helps select the recipients
of these awards when there are multiple
nominations.
I have to say that the coolest way
two of our staff have been recognized
for outstanding service has been by
people contacting the office of the
president. In the past three months, we
have had two incidents where people
have shared the great service that our
staff have provided, and then the office
of the president has reached out to
those employees to let them know.
Another way we provide great
service is during the move-in process
for first-year students. Mannix’s team
assigns each incoming student with
a specific move-in time, but many
schools do this. In addition, we
utilize the 450-plus Welcome Week
leaders to assist with the unloading
process. These are the same students
who will lead the incoming first-year
class through their Welcome Week
experience. These volunteers not
only help alleviate stress, but also can
reassure students during the movein process, which can be a period
of high anxiety for many students
and parents. Our move-in process
occurs over two 12-hour days to ease

congestion and increase individualized
attention for each student and their
family.
We also utilize managers from
our central housing office to help
coordinate elements of the move-in
process. We deem them Building
Captains because they are assigned to
each building. We didn’t want their
role to get confused with those of our
residence directors, business operations
supervisors, or facilities operations
supervisors. Calling them Building
Captains creates a role that is filled by
all levels from administrative support
staff to assistant directors. Typically,
each building/area has at least two
Building Captains. They coordinate
and monitor the work of the movein volunteers to ensure that they are
staying actively engaged in the process
and getting breaks as needed. The
Building Captains help maintain
communication between the hall staff,
the volunteers, and the police and
security personnel hired to assist with
traffic flow. This position enables our
other team members to focus on the
needs of the students. Additionally,
numerous conversations occur between
families and the Building Captains.
They help answer lots of questions!

Aaron Lucier: Susan, you make a great
point. Training is one of the keys of
customer service. It can be one of the
items that fall onto the back burner
during busy times or during a real
crunch, but that is often when the
training is most important. In many
cases we give our RAs training on
student development and in-depth
customer service, yet the students
answering the main phone line might
only have some basic training. If we
invest in this type of training, it only
pays off in the long run.

Mannix Clark: We continue to
personalize a student assignment
notification process with real-time
updates and notifications. In the
assignments area we have become
more reliant on our student staff to
assist us in answering student and
parent questions. We have found that
they can share their experiences to calm
down anxious students or parents. It
has also helped them prepare for job
interviews where they can discuss how
they deal with difficult situations and at
the same time remain calm and provide
great service.
I agree with the training aspect. On
the residential life side, we have a
much better training program for
our students, and this past summer
we started borrowing aspects of that
program to train our main housing
office students. They are often our
guest’s first interaction with our office
whether it is by phone, in person, or
online.

Javier Gutierrez: I appreciate hearing
what larger schools are doing in
terms of customer service. Being at a
smaller, private school, I feel that we
are expected to be more hands-on with
the services we provide our students.
The first aspect of our customer
service is ensuring that learning is
happening at every level in working
with our students, students’ parents,
and others who our office comes in
contact with. This is why we have
to balance treating our students as
customers and as students. The staff in
our office make every attempt to think
of the student’s needs and how our
decisions will impact their experience.
An example of this is during our room
assignment process. As many schools
experience, students are not always
happy with their housing assignment.
We take the time to explain to a student
SEPTEMBER + OCTOBER 2013

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Talking Stick - September/October 2013

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