Learning and improving from complaints for Local Government
Customers have increasingly high expectations of the public services they receive, with the power to express dissatisfaction in the very public forums of social media.
Local councils need to deal with customer complaints and feedback promptly and efficiently, whilst analysing the results to identify ways they can improve service delivery where customers are dissatisfied with current performance.
A positive culture, in which managers and staff welcome complaints and feedback as opportunities to learn, is a signature of high performing local government services.
Whilst Local Government Ombudsmen across Australia report 'pockets of good practice' from some councils, they also identify the need for further work to improve consistency, performance and culture in the way councils deal with complaints.
This intensive one day masterclass helps Local Government service leaders understand what's required to implement a culture of learning and improvement from complaints in their council.
We'll use Local Government case study exercises, research into complainant behaviour, interactive discussion exercises exploring your own strengths and improvement areas, and the AS/NZ 10002:2014 Standard for Complaints Management to help you develop an action plan to address your council's unique needs.
Unfortunately, New Zealand and Australian Government COVID-19 travel restrictions mean our scheduled in-person events cannot proceed.
Register for an online, self-paced masterclass, or on our waitlist for future in-person events at the registration links below.
Masterclass details
- The individual action steps you should take to improve your council's complaints culture
- Turning complaints into improvements in public service delivery
- Practical techniques that create continuous improvement projects from customer feedback
- Producing high quality complaints responses that raise customer satisfaction
- How complainant behaviour affects your people, processes and public reputation
- The roles and responsibilities for complaint management, from the CEO to front-line staff
- The 9 steps required in a best-practice complaints management process
- Deciding if you're dealing with requests for service or customer complaints
- The strategic value of complaints in providing better public services
- Using the AS/NZ 10002 Complaints Standard to benchmark better complaints performance
- Diagnosing your council's current strengths and weaknesses in complaints management
We use best practice standards, research material, presentation content and interactive group discussion and exercises to help attendees get the most from new content in a practical and engaging way.
1. The strategic value of complaints for learning and improvement
2. Complaints best practice : The AS/NZ 10002 Standard
- What the standard means for managing council complaints
- Who does what? Roles and responsibilities for complaints
- The 9 steps of a best practice complaints process
3. Human factors : Complainant behaviour
- Why complainants complain and the dissatisfied don't tell you about problems
- Dealing with persistent and difficult complainants
4. Human factors : The impact of managerial and employee behaviour
- How managers and employee attitude affects complaint performance
- Defensive organisational behaviour: what it is and why it prevents feedback and damages trust
- What managers must do to lead a positive, learning culture in complaints
5. Quality in a complaints response
- The six steps that affect response quality
- A case study practical in local council complaints quality
6. Achieving continuous improvement by learning from complaints
- Lessons in change learnt from organisations that succeed at transformation
- Best practice in continuous improvement: how to use complaints to learn and improve
- Case study practical: Root cause analysis
7. Putting improvements into practice
- What's required to transform your organisation's culture?
- Case study exercise : putting complaints improvement into practice
- Creating an action plan for improving your own organisation
- Individual masterclass workbooks to make notes in and keep after the event
- Refreshments on arrival, morning and afternoon tea and a working style lunch
- Reference copies of the AS/NZ 10002:2014 Standard are available for attendees to refer to during the event.
- Option to purchase a licensed copy of the AS/NZ 10002:2014 International Standard to keep (select this at checkout)
This masterclass will be re-started at central CBD locations across Australia and New Zealand based on demand, once Covid-19 border restrictions have been removed. Sign-up on the waitlist to help with demand planning at your location.
- Melbourne, VIC
- Sydney, NSW
- Perth, WA
- Adelaide, SA
- Brisbane, QLD
- Canberra, ACT
- Wellington
- Auckland
- Christchurch
Register on the waitlist and we'll schedule an event as soon as possible (8 attendee minimum).
- Directors, Senior Managers and Strategic Leaders in Local Government
- Customer Service Managers, Contact Centre Managers and Team Leaders handling complaints
- Business Change Managers responsible for customer-facing service improvements
- Complaints Managers and staff dealing with complaint cases
- Programme and Project Managers involved in customer service business change
- Quality Managers and Internal Auditors requiring a deeper understanding of complaints best practice
Dr. Jason Price
Jason has over 20 years experience as an operational senior manager and management consultant working with public and private sector organisations in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. He specialises in improving performance in customer service, complaints management and contact centre operations.
Jason served as Corporate Customer Relations Manager for Birmingham City Council - the UK's largest Metropolitan Local Authority. He has wider sector experience in Local and Central Government, Financial Services, Insurance and Energy and Utilities.
Jason has spoken extensively on complaints management and customer service best practice at international conferences in the UK, Asia-Pacific, Australia and New Zealand.
He holds a Ph. D in Artificial Intelligence (Genetic Algorithms) and has professional accreditations including:
- Certified Management Consultant (CMC)
- MSP Programme Management Advanced Practitioner
- PRINCE2 and APMP Practitioner
- ISO 9001 Lead Auditor
Attendee feedback
87% of previous attendees at Price Perrott events rated them as Excellent or Good.
Here's what some previous attendees at Price Perrott masterclass events have said about their experience.
