The first deadline for the Customer Service Standard is coming up rather quickly. That’s right, public sector organizations have 5 months left! Are your policies ready? Is your training plan in place? I’ve been following this act and standard for some time now and I recently came across some interesting information. In contrast to the human rights code, where you have to file a complaint before an audit takes place, the Ministry of Community and Social Services is forming and audit committee to proactively seek out any violations.

How do you feel about this approach? The government has received push back from members of the community saying it could not truly reach accessibility for all Ontarians by 2025 with the current act and accompanying standards. Is this a step towards ensuring accessibility?

It is easy to tick off a box on an employee file that says so and so completed the required compliance training to meet the requirements of the AODA Customer Service Standard. But how can organizations show a commitment to truly building an accessible Ontario by 2025? Awareness is the first piece of the training puzzle. Supplying more information than stipulated within the standard is another piece. We have explored the different training methods being used right now to meet compliance requirements, but what can be done to exceed them? An informed workforce is a strong workforce.

What are your accessibility training plans for the future?

Note: this post originally appeared on the site of our sister company B Wyze.

There seems to be a trend of late in the learning and training community towards trying to say less but make it more impactful to the learner.  The use of Learning Nuggets is not overly new, but I have yet to see a really effective implementation that is sustainable and meaningful.  How can we create a culture of learning that doesn’t require huge investments in time and effort?  Learning Nuggets, if done well, can achieve this goal.

I’ve been in the corporate learning industries for more than 20 years. Never have I seen a more opportune time to use technology and innovation drive learning that generates immediate R.O.I.

It’s not difficult. Identify the what knowledge or skills are missing in your client base that drive the bulk of your pain  by answering this question: If our clients only knew xxx our we could do yyy.

Focus on keeping the learning short and direct to the point.

1.       Take advantage of rapid development tools to create the learning in a format acceptable to your organization.

For example, in every meeting I’ve been to recently our clients end up asking for a demonstration of our SHIFT learning development tool. It creates eLearning quickly and affordably that can be maintained and updated as needed. The outputs can be simple stand alone HTML courses or full SCORM compliant courses compatible with a corporate Learning Management System.

2.       Launch the learning and get your internal network to drive people to it.

4.       Modify the training as needed.

Last, publish the results, it never hurts to toot your own horn and you deserve it!

One public sector I’ve spent a lot of time speaking with is municipalities. A trend I have noticed is that often, regions will pool their resources together to collectively train (using the same training resource) or create new policies, practices, and procedures in coordination with one another. This is a good use of collaboration, but keep in mind all accessibility reports must be filed separately. This means that often a dedicated resource is still required, or someone is hired to ensure compliance with the customer service standard and legislation.

What trends have you been noticing?

We at Mindmuze share the worldwide concern over the appearance of the H1N1 Virus (Swine Flu), and we have decided to take action by making use of our highly successful eLearning methods to spread awareness of this very serious issue.

This eLearning module is intended for individuals, government institutions, schools, hospitals, associations and companies worldwide who want to learn more about what’s happening and what they can do about it. Because this is so important,  we are offering this eClass at no charge whatsoever. We feel this is the best way we can help ensure this virus does not spread further within our global community. The module explains what the virus is, lists typical symptoms and more.

How to Access:

For those who want to play the module from our site, the link is:
http://www.mindmuze.com/MindMuze_H1N1_Awareness/plainlaunch.htm

For those interested in downloading the content to play locally, or on their Learning Management System, the link is:

http://www.mindmuze.com/MindMuze_H1N1_Awareness/MindMuze_H1N1_Awareness.zip

The course is SCORM compatible, and the .zip file includes the necessary imsmanifest file.  Simply download, extract, and upload to a Learning Management System.

If users want to run the course on their hard drive, download the .zip file, extract, then run coursenavigator.exe.

We hope that this course helps you and your organization, and we ask that if possible, you forward it to other organizations. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Mandana Rafat at mandana.rafat@mindmuze.com.

We now have 8 months before the AODA Customer Service Standard compliance deadline. Have you counted your employees? If not I recommend you start here. 8 months may seem like a lot of time but you may be cutting it close.

A recent trend I have noticed is the three tier training method.  This includes face to face instructor led training, online courses, and print material such as brochures. Depending on the amount of customer interaction within the organization, you are placed into a staff group and trained accordingly. Senior management tends to receive the face to face training and the print material is being presented to front line staff in some cases. I am wondering whether this is the most effective means of training, especially for those employees who interact with customers on a daily basis. Also, how much customization is taking place? Those deciding on the policies and standards should probably be exposed to different content. Is this happening? And lastly, are the right people in your organization involved with the implementation of this program?

It’s no surprise to anyone that in these economic times gaining that leading edge, if you will is essential for businesses to survive.  Does an accessibility plan provide this value add? Quite simply, no it doesn’t. The AODA requires all businesses to comply with the new standard. This equates to new policies, training and operational changes. If everyone is doing it then it doesn’t set you apart.

Accessibility is indeed a topic that must be addressed in Ontario (and the whole country for that matter) given the recent and upcoming demographic changes. But how do you stand out from the rest of the pack? It’s important to take these requirements a step further than bare minimum. As well, how much your company actually believes in these changes and is transparent is the absolute key to successful implementation.

What other benefits do you see in accessibility training for businesses?

One of the Customer Service Standard requirements is to establish a feedback process on the provision of goods and services. This sounds like a well intentioned requirement but how the feedback is addressed is left open for interpretation. If the feedback is not properly addressed then this can be cause for concern.  What is your organization doing in regards to this requirement? Is there a policy in place to handle the feedback received? I am curious to know how this will play out.

As we all know feedback is an important part of implementation and an essential part of learning. How else can you decipher whether the learning objectives were transferred. Which begs the question how will you know the training was properly received?

Believe it or not, 9 months remain before all public sector organizations must be in compliance with the AODA Customer Service Standard. Believe it or not there are some companies that have yet to begin addressing the standard. Let’s discuss the first requirement shall we?

You must establish policies, practices and procedures on providing goods/services to persons with disabilities. How is your company meeting this requirement? Most importantly who is responsible for writing the policies, practices and procedures? Have you created a committee that is representative of all the important functions?

In my opinion, it is crucial that front line employees who interact with the public be involved in this process.  A logical way to go about this is to make this requirement the responsibility of the current policy makers. But a fresh new way to look at things may help us identify and eliminate some of the barriers we face in our society.

What are your thoughts?

Yes we’re back to this again. Will we have an accessible Ontario by 2025? That is a question that is up for debate so let’s have at it!  The answer is we don’t know yet. We do know that since the AODA became the law nearly four years ago only one of the five standards has been released.

I have been talking to many organizations that have to comply by the end of this year and the consensus is that the requirements are somewhat vague. The Guide to Accessibility Standards for Customer Service provided by the Ontario Government states that “the standard does not specify what reasonable efforts are because they may be different in each situation”. This lack of clarity is challenging and the fact that “barriers” are not defined also adds that “huh?” element. Clearly everything isn’t black and white but it seems the legislation leaves a lot up to the service provider. For instance the new feedback process is a huge step towards accessibility but the standard doesn’t outline who receives it and what should be done with it. Is anyone else getting the same impression?

We have a little over fifteen years and four more standards to plow through so it is hard to say if we will in fact reach our goal. Seems like plenty of time, but how many times have you said to yourself “time flies”?  Hopefully the next standards will roll out sooner than the Customer Service Standard.