In 2007 Cambridge City Council commenced a project to significantly restructure the way the organisation interacted with its customers.All responsibility for providing any element of customer service, either face to face or over the telephone was to be moved into a central Customer Service Centre.
To design a bespoke, objective and consistent development and assessment process enabling applicants to demonstrate their skills and abilities, ensuring the right people were assigned into the right roles.
After attending a briefing session about the process, individuals wishing to participate were invited to attend a development centre.These were designed to not only identify an individual’s strengths and development needs against the new role but also give them first hand experience of what the role would entail.Each individual received face to face and written feedback with agreement of which training course was most appropriate to meet their needs.
Training courses were designed to meet the key development needs identified and these included Interview Skills, Team Leadership, Coaching Skills, Dealing with Conflict, Communication and Assertiveness.
The Selection Centres were similar in design to the Development Centres but individuals were either selected out of the process at this stage or put forward for final interview.Again comprehensive feedback was given.
