Other Side of the Window: Providing Exceptional Service in Government

Produced

• 2001

Key Features

VHS or DVD video including Meeting Opener, Closer and Discussion segments, Leader's Guide, and 10 Reminder Cards

Spend the day with a hapless customer as he experiences life on the “other side of the window.” You’ll discover, as he does, that seeking help from public sector customer service representatives is often no picnic. And what makes it worse, and ultimately more poignant for him, is that he is a government worker!

Now available in VHS and DVD versions.

This important video illustrates how bureaucratic systems and procedures, however necessary to workflow, can get in the way of providing the level of service - and respect - the public requires. It’s a valuable journey into attitudes and assumptions, a realistic look at the day-to-day public sector workplace that is full of customers anxious about the help they need and well-meaning CSRs hampered by inflexible rules.

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In addition to the vignettes that take place in office settings with actual service “windows,” the scenario of our forlorn friend stuck on the side of the road with his stalled auto also demonstrates the need for good government customer service. When a Country Works truck comes along, our “customer” thinks he’s saved. But this government worker only lets our friend know he’s blocking the road and should move immediately, without offering any assistance.

It’s scenes like these that make The Other Side of the Window: Providing Exceptional Service in Government an exceptional film, one that every public sector employee must see. Viewers will learn:

• How to apply flexibility and common sense so that working “by the book” doesn’t preclude satisfying the customer.
• Behind every form and every voice on the phone is a real human with real needs and concerns. They deserve the same prompt service and attention to detail provided to customers seen in the office.
• Most people seeking help from government agencies are addressing serious, anxiety-producing issues. Empathy goes a long way.
• Every customer should be treated with the same degree of courtesy and respect, no matter what their circumstances.
• Customers have a right to expect equal levels of customer satisfaction from public - and private - sector CSRs.

There’s nothing quite so powerful as viewing circumstances from the other person’s perspective. This is the true value of The Other Side of the Window: Providing Exceptional Service in Government.

Running time: 12 minutes with a 3-minute optional discussion segment

Uses: Customer Service, Motivation, Communication

produced by CRM Learning