Service Focus and Innovation

Who is this course for?

This course is for all staff who wish to improve their critical thinking and logical reasoning for better analysis, evaluation and communication in workplace situations. The programme develops the critical and analytical thinking skills needed to correctly decipher information to influence and activate competent thinking into practical application.

By the end of this course, learners will:

• Understand critical thinking, its purpose and presentation
• Be very clear on the difference between good logic and bad reasoning
• Avoid derailment in meetings and discussions 
• Use Socratic questioning to understand the core and scope of any situation 
• Understand bias and heuristic thinking and how they affect all aspects of implementing thinking in communication, problem solving and decision making

How long is this course?

This course is 3 hours in duration.

What topics will be covered?

• Using Clear Reasoning: Making sense of goals 
• Use the ‘Tree Diagram’ technique to produce clear, structured arguments
• Learn different styles and structure of argument to produce powerful rational persuasion 
• Overcoming False Reasoning: Using cool logic in hot situations Learning to deal with false reasoning in meetings and discussions. Understanding ten tricks of manipulation that derail clear communication 
• Introduction to Biases
• Heuristics: shortcut thinking 
• Introduction to Socratic Questioning

Do I need to prepare anything before or after the session?

No pre-course work is required. Following the session participants are directed to further reading and research on the practice of Critical Thinking in the workplace.

Booking: 
For details of upcoming events or to book your place on available courses, please visit the (opens in a new window)HR - Professional Development booking centre  If your chosen course is fully booked or no longer available, you can access the UCD LinkedIn learning portal via your UCD Connect login where you will find a range of eLearning courses. 

If you have any further queries on this programme, please contact (opens in a new window)peopledevelopment@ucd.ie or call ext 4919.

Who is this course for?

This training course is for all staff who wish to equip themselves with the skills to communicate professionally with all customers (internal and external). 

On successful completion of the course, learners will be able to: 

• Be motivated to make the most of each interaction with each customer
• Identify the features of excellent customer service
• Have a better understanding of why excellent service is critical
• Understand what customers expect and what they can deliver on
• Identify their own communication style and areas for improvement
• Have a step-by-step approach to handling difficult customers

How long is this course?

The course duration is 3.5 hours.

What topics will be covered?

• What are the features of excellent customer service?
• Defining your responsibilities to internal and external customers
• How to present a professional image - our appearance, attitude and behaviour
• Self-assessment of your existing customer service skills - the associated strengths and weaknesses 
• Professional communication skills 
• Handling difficult customers with confidence
• Measuring client satisfaction 

This course is highly practical and interactive and includes discussions and activities based on real world scenarios. Our trainers will also encourage learners to bring in their own experience and discuss practical, local examples where relevant. 

Do I need to prepare anything before or after the session? 

To gain the maximum benefit from the course each learner will be asked to complete a Customer Service Quiz to assess how good their current customer service skills are. This will help learners to set the context for the course and allow them to focus on areas they need to improve on.

Before the course begins each learner will also receive a 3-2-1 Personal Action Plan template. 

Post-training, participants will be led through a short reflective activity which will allow each learner to use this template to record: 

• Three things they learned/were reminded about during training 
• Two things they want to action based on the session 
• One thing they are going to action this week.

 Booking:

For details of upcoming events or to book your place on available courses, please visit the (opens in a new window)HR - Professional Development booking centre  If your chosen course is fully booked or no longer available, you can access the UCD LinkedIn learning portal via your UCD Connect login where you will find a range of eLearning courses. 

In the meantime you may wish to access the UCD LinkedIn learning portal via your UCD Connect login where you will find a range of eLearning courses. 

If you have any further queries on this programme, please contact (opens in a new window)peopledevelopment@ucd.ie or call ext 4919.

Learning Paths: (opens in a new window)Developing Resilience, (opens in a new window)Developing Skills for High Performance

Collection: (opens in a new window)Taking Initiative and Creative Thinking

Click here for more information on LinkedIn Learning.