Actor-led training helps Origin Housing increase customer satisfaction

Nov. 23, 2012 - PRLog -- Louise Shepherd Management Consultancy and Training Services was appointed by Origin Housing to roll out training to help improve its service to tenants. Louise then called on West End theatre producer Jon Harris to bring her courses to life.

In stark contrast to traditional training, housing association staff interact with trained actors who act out lively, real-life situations before asking employees what they would do next. A typical scenario involves actors performing as housing officers handling a difficult situation.

Louise’s refreshing style of training is helping to improve customer satisfaction scores as a recent STAR (Survey of Tenants and Residents) for Origin Housing shows:

·          Satisfaction of general needs residents has increased by 12%*

·          82.3% of general needs tenants are satisfied that Origin Housing has friendly and approachable staff

·          74.6% of general needs tenants are satisfied with the helpfulness of staff.

David Dent, head of business improvement at Origin Housing who has been on the course himself, believes the training is a contributing factor to the rise in satisfaction levels: “I thought the course was great – a really refreshing approach which challenges staff in a way that theory doesn’t. Attendees don’t get much time to think about the situation which is exactly like real life!

“We have worked hard to improve our customer satisfaction levels and Origin Housing has introduced a number of initiatives to achieve this, including providing this new style of training.”

Louise Shepherd adds; “customer service training can be difficult as you’re dealing with real people and lots of different expectations and emotions. When you have performers acting out real life scenarios of a tenant complaining, it really gets people’s attention.

“I have received such a good response from this course, with staff telling me it’s the best one they’ve been on as they feel really engaged.”

Origin Housing is now aiming towards an Investors in People accreditation in November after investing in customer focused staff and staff development.

ENDS

Notes to editors

*compared to 2008 (when the last STAR survey was carried out)

About Origin Housing
Origin Housing provides essential affordable housing, and care and support services to 5,500 homes in north London and Hertfordshire, with the aim of improving communities and the lives of customers. We’re committed to developing sustainable communities in challenging, high density areas.

Origin is a skilled provider of mixed tenure and mixed-use development with a strong reputation for housing support and community development.

www.originhousing.org.uk

About Louise Shepherd

Louise’s career has spanned more than 20 years, including working in local government and at Circle 33 as assistant director of corporate services. Her housing association expertise includes delivering training for Circle Anglia, Family Housing Group, Broomleigh Housing Association, B3Living, Network Housing Group and Phoenix Community Housing.

Her unique blend of combing theory with practical, lively sessions brings training sessions to life.

www.louiseshepherd.co.uk

About The Jon Harris Partnership
Jon has produced theatre shows in the West End and on tour all over the world. An expert in business training using actors for role-play, forum theatre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_theatre) and playback theatre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playback_theatre), he teaches the UK's only specialised professional course for actors training in these areas.

www.tjhp.co.uk