Changes in Customer Behaviour
Back to Business….but is it business as usual? 

In a relatively short period of time, the pandemic turned our world upside down. 
Anxiety, stress, and fear intensified. Hostility and disruptive behaviour increased. One study, reported by Springer.com tells us customer incivility rose exponentially during Covid 19. Customer incivility refers to discourteous behaviour perpetrated by customers, such as speaking in an uncivil or abusive manner and ignoring the employees’ greetings or remarks.1  

All of the above impacted every business sector; none was harder hit than the service sector.2 Close your eyes for a minute and imagine being a retail worker or a server in a restaurant in this environment….imagine a customer coming towards you without a mask, challenging your safety protocols; imagine another customer coming towards you (with a mask) but yelling that they had to wait out in the cold for 30 minutes because you could only let 6 people in your store at a time. 

Can we expect our frontline workers to work as if nothing has changed? The answer of course is no. Even though pandemic protocols have been lifted, our frontline workers are still feeling the effects. They may have lost their jobs, lost income, and suffered or lost someone to Covid itself. How they respond to irate, demanding customers will come from their emotions and experiences too. 

How can we as leaders help? The first step is understanding. Understand that leaders are always a couple of steps ahead in the change process. Where you have moved on to getting back to business, others may not have. Be patient. Help them move forward with you. You may be familiar with the Kubler-Ross Change Curve. The adaptation depicted in the graphic above speaks to the emotional response to change.3   

Understanding and patience may not be enough. They may need coping mechanisms; new tools and strategies to strengthen their confidence and skills. They may need coaching. They may need to learn how to work in the new environment. They may need our Summer Series! See 'What's Up and Coming' for details. 

A message from
Audie McCarthy | President & CEO
1 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11628-021-00456-7
2. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11628-021-00456-7
3 https://gofarwell.com/how-leaders-can-emotionally-support-employees-during-change-use-the-change-curve-as-a-conversation-canvas/
Leadership with Results
We recently hosted the Ontario Building Officials Association's Leadership Day. See the highlights from the 20 participants that completed our evaluation:

  • 13 were 'Very Satisfied' and 7 were 'Satisfied' with the event.
  • 16 were 'Very Satisfied' and 4 were 'Satisfied' with the Keynote presentation.
  • 10 were 'Very Satisfied' and 9 were 'Satisfied' with the Networking activities.

Our Leadership Panel turned out to be a big hit:

"Exceptional leadership panel!"
"I loved the panel discussion - great guests."
"Really enjoyed the panel discussion."

OBOA VP, John Lane, even provided a few thoughts on the day with this Video. Many thanks to the OBOA for this opportunity.
What's Up and Coming
SUMMER SERIES ON OUR MIND!
Early 🐥's always get the best spots on the beach, complete with summer savings of $100 off each course! Learn virtually anywhere with us on July 12 (Early Bird June 28) for Mastering Effective Communication, followed by Creating Amazing Customer Service on August 9 (Early Bird July 26), and finish with a great sunset 🌅 as we Deal With Difficult Behaviours on September 13 (Early Bird August 30). Or, Bundle up all 3 in your favourite towel before July 12 for summer-long savings! All 3 courses complement each other much like a 🍌🍨🍨🍨.

Have a look at our brochure for the series at a glance. Share with others that could use a few new skills.

FALL 2022 IS A GREAT TIME TO ENROLL THOSE NEW TO A LEADERSHIP ROLE;
The Future Ready Leadership Essentials course is scheduled to start October 20, 2022. Great time to start identifying and promoting your leaders of tomorrow.

ALREADY IDENTIFIED EMERGING & EXISTING LEADERS? ENROLL THOSE WITH HIGH POTENTIAL IN THE NEXT FRL1;
Future Ready Leadership 1 begins on September 21, 2022

FOR EXPERIENCED LEADERS THAT HAVE HAD PRIOR LEADERSHIP TRAINING;
Future Ready Leadership 2 starts on April 21, 2022

ADVANCED LEADERS LOOKING TO ACCELERATE INTO A NEW FUTURE-READY LEADERSHIP ROLE;
The award-winning, evolving Future Ready Leadership Acceleration kicks off September 22, 2022
Ayo, Thank You
Ayomide Adewale spent some time with us as a post-grad intern in Human Resources Management with Mohawk College.

Ayo is quick to put his own thoughts on assignments, adding additional value and outlook on results. We also found out that Ayo is detailed-oriented and sound when working with data in his 7 weeks with us. Ayo has left his mark with everyone on the team.

We wish Ayo nothing but the best. Thanks Ayo!
MCE was recently featured as a Business Partner in the latest CAMA newsletter to members. Our plans are to expand our CAMA award-winning Future Ready Leadership Acceleration program to organizations across Canada. Transcript below:

"We are delighted to join CAMA as a Business Partner and welcome all opportunities to train leaders of all levels. Mohawk College Enterprise (MCE) is the corporate training subsidiary of Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario. We currently provide leadership training in Ontario with plans to expand across Canada. Our Signature Series consists of Future Ready Leadership (FRL) programs that includes 4 levels of leadership training from entry-level supervisory to senior-level training. For example, we are the leadership trainers of choice for the District of Muskoka in Ontario, who have received CAMA recognition for participating in our advanced leadership program, FRL Acceleration. For more information, please watch our overview of our Signature Series of training courses." 
FRLE is 'Aspire-ing'
'Aspire' is a customized Future Ready Leadership program developed for the County of Simcoe. As you may know, we regularly request evaluations on training content to continuously improve our Signature Series courses.

How's it going you may ask? Well, we pride ourselves on our instructional design work:

"Really like the menti polls and Zoom polls as well as resource links presented. Content flowed in a logical sense - not much "waste" in terms of the material and topics covered. In some courses unfortunately there can be a lot of "filler" which is not the case here.”

"The practical knowledge, skills, and strategies shared in this course are immediately applicable in my current work.”

“Really good engagement, outbreaks, and getting to know people in the organization you may not have known prior.”

And on our MCE facilitator, Rose Spadafora

“Rose is an excellent facilitator. Rose does a great job of delivering the material, and keeping everyone motivated, creates a safe space, and encourages everyone to share thoughts/ideas.” ~ Samantha Stewart

Have a great month of June, everyone!
For more program information or general inquiries, contact us at info@mcecor.com
Mohawk College Enterprise