Public Service Center facilitates Customer Service Training for frontline Civil Servants

On Friday, December 14, 2018, the Public Service Center Department (PSC) hosted a Certificate ceremony for frontline Civil Servants who successfully completed a customer service training. PSC together with Consulting firm “Experientia” executed the customer service-training program under the theme FACE with Integrity.

Training and development of personnel are key to the development of any business or organization. For government this is no different. The vision of the Government of Sint Maarten is to focus on enhancing and improving our frontline services to our customers. As such, a training program for all front-line staff came into realization, when the first session was officially opened on October 11, 2018. Civil Servants representing Public Service Center, Facilities Services, and Civil Registry and Economic Licenses participated in the customer service training.

This first training was followed by interval training sessions over the last couple of weeks affording participants to view their role in the customer service industry from various perspectives. The training as I understood was tailor-made, whereby participants were taught through firsthand experience (experiential learning), self-reflection, and the colleague-buddy system on how to deal with the dynamics that presents itself in the field of customer service.

Present a the Certificate ceremony was Prime Minister Leona Romeo Marlin who had these words to share, “I would like to remind you that you are the face of Government and one bad experience stigmatizes the entire organization. “FACE with Integrity” as the name of this training was an excellent choice and I fully endorse this approach. I will not get into to the full details but I must take some time to breakdown the acronym FACE.

F for First impression – Smile as people see you first then they listen. A for Attitude – Attitude is the outcome of what you think. Believe in yourself and be positive. C for Courtesy – Say please, thank you, you are welcome / Use sir or Madam if you do not know the name. E for Emotional Bonding – Identify the person’s needs and help to come to a solution together.
Finally, when we think of Integrity – we must up hold integrity by doing what is right, because it is the right thing to do – whether others are watching or not.”

“In conclusion, judging from the reports it seems as if the training was well received and you the participants enjoyed the entire experience. On behalf of the Government of Sint Maarten I would like to thank the trainers, management of the Public Service Center and the participants who were successful at this Customer Service Training course. I look forward to experiencing your great service in the near future and I encourage you to go the extra mile for the client,” said Prime Minister Romeo-Marlin.