Council goes fish!ing to boost staff morale
LocalGov.co.uk reports on how Plymouth City Council has countered sliding morale in its customer service team by making use of a training film, FISH!, based in a Seattle fishmonger.
In common with other councils, morale in the council’s customer service team had dipped following a period of change and consolidation. It fell further when a re-zoning of the waste services in the city caused the weekly number of waste-related calls to rise from 2,000 to 16,000.
The council turned to FISH!, a worldwide best selling training film, which shows how fishmongers at Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle bring energy, commitment and fun to their work. The film has been translated into 17 languages and is an established resource for motivation, engagement, innovation and ‘culture change’ training.
As a result, the council has dramatically reduced the number of complaints from customers about how they’ve been treated.
’I’m not a trainer but FISH! comes with advice on delivering a training programme and it includes a DVD of training techniques and examples, as well as customisable PowerPoint slides and documents,’ Ian McPherson, customer service manager of the council’s contact centre, said.
'It’s very easy to follow the guidelines. Afterwards, we send a weekly email to all participants, for six weeks, to remind them of the key messages from the film. Each team votes monthly for the individual who has shown the best ‘FISH! behaviour’ and that person wins prizes – soft toy fish and certificates. The fish are extremely sought-after and people are very proud to win them.'
