Government Employees Learn Self Awareness Promotes Better Customer Service

“Your success is based on knowing who you are,” said Dr. Sean Joyce to the men and women gathered in the Cabinet Hall of Government House on St. Croix, as he started a series of workshops on customer service.  Dr. Joyce,  a psychologist and internationally recognized consultant and author, led the workshops that are designed to improve the government’s customer service product.  Joyce combines a broad business background with expertise in team development and personality identification to help organizations fully utilize their human resources capital.

Delbert Hewitt, Chief of Operations, welcomed employees of the Office of the Lt. Governor to one of the training sessions.  He spoke of the need for the training, and acknowledged that the office did not always live up to its own ideal for customer service.  Customer service is a priority of Lt. Governor Gregory R. Francis, who committed to improving the customer service product of the Virgin Islands government when he took office.

According to Joyce, good customer service  is affected by how employees relate to each other in the office.  “The people that work with us are also our customers, not just the people outside,” Joyce stated.   During the two hour long sessions, he led participants through various exercises to increase awareness of their personality types and the ways that personality characteristics affect perception and interaction.

Joyce told his attentive audience that good customer service is rooted in how people handle communications, problem solving and decision making.  He said that customers do not only want a winning attitude, but they want to be treated with dignity and respect.

The workshops, titled “Remind Me Why I Took This Job”, were offered on both St. Croix and Thomas.  A number of agencies participated including, the Office of the Governor and the Departments of Education, Labor and Licensing and Consumer Affairs.  Approximately 400 government employees are expected to participate.  The sessions were done in cooperation with the Division of Personnel, who coordinated registration.