Are you talking to me? - 52 Weeks of Team Building

This weeks team building exercise has a very special place in my heart because it helps you tie in customer service. If a business wants to be successful it needs to help their teams become successful with customers. In today's world where everyone wants it bigger, faster and better; our customers have access to a virtual 31 flavors of providing customer reviews and feedback. You cant move two clicks without seeing a customer review. Smart companies will make time to focus on how their employees are performing in customer relations and will invest in the learning and support their teams need to succeed. This weeks exercise, emphasizes the need for our teams to explain themselves when communicating with customers. Our customers need to know the how, who, what, why , when and where. We are the experts in our fields and we know why we are asking "the questions" but our customers do not. It is an easy skill to forget as we are all weighed down with more work and more deadlines, but a simple reminder of how uncomfortable a poor exchange between a company representative and a customer can be when things are not explained may be all your teams needs to jump start their engines. Please enjoy this weeks team builder!

​Are you talking to me?
Purpose: Demonstrate the importance of explaining the who, when, where, why and what of a process when working with a customer. This exercise also builds team awareness of how they can support their team in customer service interactions.
Materials:

• Paper and Pens
• Instructions Sheets
• Various items mentioned in the instruction sheets
• Small slips of paper with A, B and C written on them and a fishbowl or hat to draw the papers from

Activity:

• Using the fishbowl and slips of paper allow the team members to blindly select their roll. The fishbowl should have one slip of paper for every participant. If you have 15 participants, you will have 5 slips of paper with A, 5 slips of paper with B and 5 slips of paper with C. If you do not have an even number of participants, you may choose to reduce the groups to 2 people or assign 4 people to a couple of teams (this fourth person should be a C) .  Once all assignments are selected ask the participants to form groups with one A, one B and one C.
• Hand out a blank piece of paper and pen to all C members and Hand out one Instruction sheet to all A members.
• Explain to the group:
  • C members will observe and take notes for their group. They are not allowed to speak to or intervene in the activity.
  • B members are a “customer” in the scenario
  • A members are to follow the instructions on their papers
• Without further instruction ask A members if they are ready to begin. Once they all respond yes, begin the activity. You may pull them aside to answer any questions they have (do not let B and C members hear). You may choose to set a time limit of 5-10 minutes on the activity
• Make notes of your observations and take photos during the activity.
• At the end of the activity spend a few minutes in debrief.
  • Address each group and ask them to share their reactions to the activity
    • How did you feel during the activity?
    • Were there any points during the activity where you felt frustrated?
    • Was this a good customer service interaction? Why or Why not? What would you do differently?
    • To group C – Describe your observations, What was the most difficult part of being on the sideline? How could you have jumped in to assist?
• If desired you may repeat the activity in one of two ways
  • A – repeat the activity allowing the A members to explain their actions as they are doing them and answer questions from the B “customer” members and allow C members to jump in and assist if needed
  • B – switch the roles in the group and give B members a chance to run through the activity. This can be repeated for group C. ( I suggest switching scenarios between each round)
  • Debrief again!

 
Conclusion
The key component the participants should take away from this exercise is the importance of explaining your actions with a customer. When a customer is well informed they are more likely to respond positively because they understand the reasons for your actions or questions. It is also a great way to build trust in the customer relationship and that goes a long way when looking to strengthen the likelihood of return business.

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