The Silent Strength of HEI Front Desks

 'The moment I walk across the gate, I know the grade the college deserves': I recall a senior academic once telling me as we walked across the gate of a College. He was there for a mock NAAC visit. The same holds true for the front office of a Higher Education Institution (HEI) too.

The front office can hold a mirror to the overall quality of the institution: whether it is the physical infrastructure, academic ambience or the quality of communications which await when one walks across. The person you meet first in the front office, the first point of contact physically, is the one who can provide assurance as to what might follow, lent confidence in the programmes offered and the marketing-promises made. What the person/s at the front office communicates is as important as the matter she hands out: institutional brochures, flyers, prospectus and other literature which relate to the institution and it's courseware. The level of awareness of the front office personnel as to the programmes offered, people employed, office in operation, work procedures, administrative processes and hierarchy lends faith the person at the counter in the institution. 

What is appealing in the front office to the one who approaches it, in an HEI or anywhere else, is the approachability of the person who greets the incoming person. This is why politeness and emotional empathy matters a lot. Remember how we gravitate easily to a warm face at any counter when we seek information on anything? Well, that's what most of us look forward to in a front office: A quality which is equal parts empathy and expertise. Though communication skills is key, one with language skills minus empathy will surely be a wrong choice. Even when a person is familiar with the institutional processes, rules and hierarchy, what's is key is how these are provided to the information-seekers who could be potential students and network-extenders. 

Efficient responsiveness is a cardinal virtue for the front office person. Much depends on how she will react to the person in front who is there for information, assistance or emotional support: it can be a person who seeks information on extension of deadline for fee payment or the expected date of examinations, availability of transportation for extra sessions or expected time taken for publication of results.

The major responsibility of an HEI front office staff is to provide support to the students and the other stakeholders. The prime channel to realise this is through providing information on various matters like admissions, programmes, college procedures, hostels, scholarships, application submission processes, leave norms and the like. This is all the more important for the newly admitted students as most of them would be unaware of the way academic procedures are transacted at the institution. It is important for the front office staff to guide them through the right leads, people and offices. Often it becomes important that multilingual support for diverse stakeholders are provided. The capacity of the front office staff to redress the queries and complaints in a time-bound fashion, the ability to handle documents, is important. 

The technology skills of the front office staff is equally important as a good share of the communication is mediated that way these days. The comfort with apps and tools used by the institution, the ability to explain the digital ecosystem, the clarity with which this could be explained to parents and potential admission seekers is key. Often we come across the front office staff who are in the dark about the essentials of the digital tools in use and they are found fumbling, calling for support, at times fully owning up ignorance! 

This leaves the persons at the other end confused as to who runs the show if even the staff doesn't have answers! The institutional website is undoubtedly another space where the front office persons should be familiar with. What lies where on the institutional web must be known to her. 

An allied part is the call-taking, email-answering, message-responding skills of the front office staff. A huge share of the communication today's happens though the social media apps, mails and messages, often pushing telecalls to minimum. The etiquette related to answering calls, mails and messages is a requisite to enhance quality of the front office staff. As the first point of contact the voice and words of the front office matters a lot. A warm greeting, enthusiastic hello, courteous responses, polite closure of conversation with a promise to follow up is not that common among HEIs. This is a key area in which work needs to be scaled up. Training in call-taking and telephone skills, telephone expressions, effective texting and email etiquettes should form the minimal menu of the front office training. 

Since a lot of time will be spent by the front office on giving information to the direction-seekers, she is expected to be familiar with the geography of the campus. Who is who and where lies what is a critical knowledge with them. The lay out of the campus must be infront, with the details of contacts she can connect the visitor to, she can gather inputs from. All the buildings, offices, persons in charge, the work hours of various offices and staff, the best route to access them/these, list of eight persons to contact on various matters: the front office send the message of being on control when she has the now-how of these. 

The person who runs the front office is offset by the space she occupies. The order and cleanliness, the welcoming interiors can certainly add promise and comfort. The availability of literature about the institution must be at hands distance. 

The front office of an HEI must be in alignment with the institutional vision. As the front office acts as the ambassador of the institution's brand and ethos, it has to promote institutional culture of service, inclusivity, and excellence. As the front office is often the first point of contact for a number of services and information, the character shown by it is seen as an extension of the HEIs character too. This explains why a lot of care must be given in not just choosing a competent person to handle the sensitive role of the front office staff at an HEI, but in orienting the person to the culture and values of the institution through sustained training. 

This ensures that the front office of an HEI will partake of the quality culture of the institution and will help enhance the same too. 

Babu. P. K., Ph D. 

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