Customer Service Skills & Teachers

Hi there. In this educational post, I talk about customer service skills and teachers. Educators, teachers and tutors are all a part of the service industry and most of their duties include helping the students learn and progress to their goals.

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Topics

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• Customer Service Skills Are An Asset
• Facing Criticism
• Learning From Your Students
• Personality Does Matter

Customer Service Skills Are An Asset

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Teachers, tutors and instructors play a major part in the service industry. These educators can be found in schools, training facilities and in training departments within companies. Education involves the transfer of knowledge and skills from the teacher(s) to the students. Students benefit from this transfer as they provide more utility in the workforce (and economy) with their new knowledge and skills.

To ensure that this transfer of knowledge and skills is done efficiently, it is beneficial for educators to have good customer service type skills. These skills include communication, patience, kindness, flexibility and problem solving. Good educators ensure that students understand the information that is being presented and that they are able to use what they have learned into practice. An added bonus would be if the students had fun while learning.

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Facing Criticism

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Critique is everywhere especially from students (and their parents). Some critique is truthful, some of it is more of the complaints type, some of it is constructive and some of it is not helpful at all. Regardless of the criticism, teachers, tutors, instructors and other educators should remain calm, composed and not lash out. (This is easier said than done.) There are cases where the criticism is needed for critical self-evaluation. We may need to raise the level of customer service for the students or change the approach in dealing with students.

Those who are not able to accept criticism and learn from mistakes may find some of the students leaving or switching to a competitor (assuming money is involved). Good customer service is like a boomerang which brings the students and customers back for more.

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Learning From Your Students

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I wrote a Steemit post about a month ago about learning from your students and motivated students. This post talked about different learning styles and different personalities. As educators work with more and more students, they get introduced to different personalities, work ethics and even philosophies. Some students are more quiet than others, some have more motivation than others and some like the subject they are learning more than others.

Because each different is different, how you teach students should vary over time. There is no one size fits all when it comes to (personalized) teaching and education. If a teaching technique does not work, it does not mean that the technique is bad. It just mean that the technique may not work for that student at that time. Being flexible, adaptable and being able to think on your feet is important as you may need alternative ways of teaching.

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Personality Does Matter

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What inspired me to include this section was remembering how I heard a couple of math students complain that the professor is smart but can't teach. It is simply not enough to be smart nor know the subject matter on its own. There is a bit of art and science to teaching. Most students prefer not to have a teacher who is robotic nor want a teacher who is like a drill sargent. Each teacher has their own style of teaching along with their own personality. With this in mind, teacher personalities make certain classes feel unique and different.

An inspiring and motivating teacher can sway some students from having neutral opinions about a subject to liking/loving the subject. A bad and not so inspiring teacher can make a fun/interesting subject into something awful, boring and dull. Whether they realize it or not, the educator/teacher/instructor does have the power of influence in the education industry. The education industry's reputation is largely based on how well the teachers and educators deliver in terms of customer service.

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