The objective of this effort was to dramatically increase the engagement and training of every employee so each one delivered a noticeable and sustainable improvement in their service to customers.

We are honoured that they chose to use the Psychology and Language of Service from the ‘Gober Method’ to give their people the tools, motivation, confidence and determination to collectively deliver an outstanding customer experience.

We have enjoyed every step of the journey with them so far.  We will continue our partnership in 2012 to help them solidify their achievements to date and build on their solid foundation, as they aim to be Best in Class in all categories measured against other top performing housing associations.

- Mary Gober

Pictured above (right to left) Steve Walker, Chief Executive - Fiona Deal, Executive Director Corporate Services – Best Companies Award Presenter.

In the Top 10!
At the Award Ceremony on 22 February 2012, AmicusHorizon ranked in the Top 10 (9th Place) against over 1000 charities, public sector, industrial and provident companies in the sector.  The news follows their recent Best Companies Three Star Accreditation – a recognition awarded to just 15 companies in the sector this year.

90% Staff Response
They received the Sunday Times Best Places to Work ranking following an employee survey in October 2011.  The survey forms part of the Best Companies accreditation process. Nearly 90 per cent of their 915 staff completed the survey –  a phenomenal staff response.

Best in Sector Award for Training & Development
AmicusHorizon was also presented with a Special Award as the Best in Sector for Training and Development. This officially confirms that the investment they’ve made in their staff is first class and has had a powerful impact in raising the excellence in their performance.  AmicusHorizon believes that by having excellent staff they are able to provide their residents with a first rate service.

This is just the beginning …
Fiona Deal, Executive Director for Corporate Services said: “Reaching a Top 10 spot is an extraordinary achievement.  Being recognised as a best company is the result of our focus on building our culture and developing our staff.  Together we’ve shown how commitment, determination, energy and fun produce brilliance.  By making work fun, we’ve built confidence.  All staff have set ‘positivity’ as their default.  I’m sure this recognition will galvanise us all to be even more ambitious for the future – this is just the beginning.”

This is the first time these awards have been presented, and the shortlisted organisations represented the Housing Sector’s brightest and best from across the country.

SYHA won the major award of the evening – the Most Innovative Housing Provider of the Year.

The award was in recognition of both the trail-blazing aspects of their services: Crucible, Options, Power Roofs, NEAT, LiveGreen and the superb quality of their front-line services.

The award was collected by non-executive Directors and residents; Brenda Gayle and Kath Chambers.

3-4 July, 2012 – The Midland Hotel, Manchester

19-20 September, 2012 – Sheraton Heathrow Hotel

Experience Mary in action presenting her unique Seminar, covering the ‘Psychology/Mind-set, Language & Actions of Service – The Gober Method’™. This is the very best way to learn the complete ‘Gober Method’ content – the optimal mindset, language and set of behaviours that give people in organisations enhanced skills to consistently deliver the customer experience they aspire to – in order to drive business results.  Please come and evaluate Mary’s content, inspirational yet very practical style of delivery.  See how it would be relevant to helping you implement your service strategy, enhance your service culture and customer relationships.

To register your place, please click here and complete the online registration form.

Complimentary Half-day Executive Briefing for Senior Managers and Directors

26 June, 2012 – Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Manchester

9 October, 2012 – Central London (venue to be confirmed)

You will gain an excellent understanding of how we help people in organisations develop the ‘optimal behaviour’ that is internationally-proven to drive better business results in five areas: financial results – customer satisfaction – employee engagement – regulatory performance – operational effectiveness.

This ‘optimal behaviour’ is derived from Mary’s work that defines and engages people in the mindset, language and behaviour which ensures they interact, participate in and build relationships with others in the most credible and confident manner.  It also creates a deeper sense of ownership and responsibility and solution-orientation for achieving goals, solving problems and handling difficult situations.

Guests at these sessions appreciate and are always amazed at the amount of content we share so they can have a comprehensive look at what we do and how we do it.  This helps them evaluate how we could work together to help them achieve their current aspirations and goals and address their specific problems.  In particular, they enjoy how we bring the content to life through demonstrations, illustrative examples and case studies.

Feedback we received from the last Executive Briefing at London Heathrow, February 2012 was universally positive. 54% found the content ‘Highly Relevant’ and 46% found it ‘Relevant’ to helping them achieve their organisation’s goals or the challenges they were facing.

Finally, you will hear how we work with leaders to increase their capability to lead, embed and sustain the behavioural change the training engenders so they can maximise and realise the long-term benefits and the continued, measurable business results that justifies the investment in time, money and energy. During the session, Executives also appreciate learning about the cost-effective and flexible ways they can bring this material to their people.  You can select the specific content you need.  It can be delivered by you via train-the-trainer or management cascade, digitally, or by Mary or her team at MGI – or combinations of the above.

Evaluate for yourself how you could use this as a part of a comprehensive change process or a targeted implementation in one or several areas of your business to achieve what you must achieve.

National Trust

Lewisham College

Hounslow Homes

Swan Housing Group

IBA Dosimetry

Staff at Irvine Housing Association are being trained The Gober Method of Customer Service as part of their integration with Riverside.

The worldwide training method is taught as part of Riverside’s staff induction and is being rolled out to all IHA staff.

The training provides staff with the skills and strategies to build a strong service culture and achieve exceptional levels of customer satisfaction. Other housing providers using the Gober Method have reported a significant increase in customer satisfaction.

Customer Services Officer, Stephanie Morgan took part in the training which gives staff the confidence they need to make customer engagement a positive experience.

She said: “We were really motivated by the training. It’s practical, can be applied to every one of our job roles and will ensure that we exceed customer expectations at every possible opportunity.

“We are looking forward to putting what we have learned into practice.

Executive Director (Resources), Mairi Martin was keen for staff to get the training on joining Riverside: “Before joining Riverside, we looked into Mary Gober training as part of our customer services review.

“The training is being rolled out to all staff, not only customer services staff. We already have an excellent level of customer satisfaction, however we want to build on this and be the best we can.

“Our staff found the training inspirational and enjoyable and we are keen to develop on the skills they have learned and will continue to make customer service core in the work and culture of IHA.”

The judges stated that the small contact centre at AmicusHorizon was a great example of the effective force that can be realised when good processes, a highly motivated, energetic team and a sense of purpose and customer focus combine.

Press Release

Greenfields wins National Training award for Eastern Region

Essex-based Greenfields Community Housing has won a National Training award in the East of England Medium Employer Category.

Greenfields is now competing against eleven other national organisations to win the overall Winner of the Year for its category and will find out the result at the awards ceremony on 5th October at WorldSkills (the world’s largest international skills competition) at ExCeL in London.

The National Training Awards (NTAs) “recognise and celebrate Investors in People accredited organisations that have delivered outstanding organisational benefits by directly linking the training needs of their people to the business needs of their organisation.”

Julie Breed, Head of Human Resources at Greenfields, said: “We decided to apply for an award to recognise the significant culture change we achieved by using the international Mary Gober Customer Service training. As well as giving all staff two days intensive training in the customer service methodology, several staff members also become ‘coaches’ who continually reinforce the Gober principles to remind staff about aiming for excellence in Customer Service. I am very proud of everyone at Greenfields who has helped us to win this award.”

An NTA representative said: “Winning an award can directly impact on an organisation’s success. One in three have said that their organisation has become more efficient.”

Previous Eastern NTA winners include Wickes in Hemel Hempstead, Pitney Bowes in Harlow and the MOD Guard Service in Braintree.

Greenfields was accredited with Investors in People Gold earlier this year.  www.greenfieldsch.org.uk

Mary Gober International would like to congratulate SYHA in winning the prestigious ‘Regional Social Landlord of the Year’ at this year’s Housing Excellence Awards. 23 other housing associations where entered for the award.

Narendra Bajaria CBE, Chair of SYHA’s Board commented:

“Becoming the Regional Social Landlord of the Year is a great achievement for us as the award focuses on so many aspects of the work of our organisation.

The fact that we are able to show that we deliver excellence to our customers in so many different ways is truly a credit to all at SYHA.”

South Yorkshire Housing Association implemented the Gober Method training in 2009.

http://www.syha.co.uk/Latest-News/SYHA+Celebrate+Success

Customer satisfaction rose from 76% in 2004 to 88% in 2010 for overall service, the highest of any local housing provider.  Scores have also improved in Repairs with customer satisfaction rising from 70% in 2004 to 83 % in 2010.

SYHA attribute this success to their Good 2 Great initiative which they undertook with Mary Gober International in 2009.

http://www.syha.co.uk/

Bank of America have reported that following the introduction of a Live Chat service which exceeded 90% in customer satisfaction, it was evident that the role of the front line was changing. It was clear that the easier, less emotional queries and transactions were now being completed through the self service channels. This resulted in more complex and potentially emotional queries being the ones most likely to be dealt with over the phone. Agents would need to be equipped to deal with this. In addition, it was clear that there were demographic differences between the team providing the service to Bank of America customers (average age 24 years) and the customers themselves (average age 45 years).

A partnership was instigated with Mary Gober International in Q4 2009. Following several weeks of call listening and agent interviews, a new programme was designed to give the agents both the mind-set and approach to build a better rapport with customers and deal with more challenging contacts in a positive and solution-oriented manner.

Following a pilot scheme early in 2010 there were positive results:

• · The ‘Gober Method’™ saw a 50% reduction in Manager Escalations
• · And a 20% reduction in formal Customer Complaints