subject: Delivering Effective Group Orientations: Preparation and Set-Up [print this page] Delivering Effective Group Orientations: Preparation and Set-Up
With the sheer volume of people many workforce development agencies
are seeing, group orientations are an efficient and time-saving way to
reach and serve the maximum number of customers. There will be plenty
of opportunities to provide more personal services as you get to know
your customers over time. At the onset, your primary goal is to
educate your customers on the purpose of a workforce development
agency, including what it can do for them and the process for
accessing available services.
When preparing for a group orientation, it's important to focus on
more than just the content of your presentation. Your effectiveness
in delivering your message, as well as your professionalism, starts
with paying attention to meeting logistics.
The following are four key areas to consider as you're preparing to
deliver a workforce development orientation. Our next issue will
focus on the orientation itself:
Accessibility
Accessibility goes beyond just ensuring that your building is
physically or structurally accessible. Accessibility begins from the
first point of contact your customer has with you or your program
whether that's over the phone, at the bus stop, via a marketing
brochure, or when they walk in your front door. For example, do your
marketing materials have the appropriate Equal Opportunity (EO)
tag lines? If a phone number is included in marketing materials, is a
TTY or relay number also listed? Every point needs to be considered
and addressed.
Registration
Staff should be knowledgeable and skilled in handling specific
registration concerns. For example, can each member of your agency
give clear driving instructions to your center or offer the bus route
numbers that drop off closest to your center? While this may sound
simple, in my experience, many organizations often neglect this step
mainly because everyone is assumed to know. Also, if your center is
located in an area where other languages are spoken, make sure that
bilingual staff are available to answer those calls so customers
aren't transferred to voicemail.
If phone registration and inquiries are taken, staff should also be
asking all customers if they call require additional assistance to
participate in the orientation session. Keep in mind that Reasonable
accommodation' may be too technical of a term for many people. The
best way may be to explain to customers what will take place during
the orientation and then simply asking if they need any additional
assistance to participate. All reasonable accommodation requests
should be documented, logged and kept in a locked filing cabinet. If
you haven't taken a look at your agency's reasonable accommodation
policy in a while, that should be top on your list to do.
Arrival at the Center
Once a customer arrives, special attention should be paid to the path
of travel. The path of travel will be different for each agency, but
it includes the sidewalk from the bus stop or parking lot that a
customer has to navigate to reach your front door. This may include
making sure sidewalks and curb cuts are at the correct slope, disabled
parking is available, and that the route itself is safe. All
directions should be clearly marked. If there are issues that are
outside of your control (e.g. curb cuts), be sure to contact the
appropriate city/county agencies, report the discrepancy and document,
document, document! Your job is to make a good faith effort to
correct the situation.
Once in the center, staff should know where assistive technology is
located (if it's available) and where to direct customers if it's
requested. Creating a center floor plan with locations of available
software as well as a centralized area to store other items for check
out will help with this process.
Furniture arrangement should also be accessible, allowing plenty of
maneuvering space for someone using a wheelchair. This includes a
portion of your front desk, where people sign in for orientation or
services, being at an accessible height for someone utilizing a
wheelchair. Lighting within the orientation room should also be a
consideration.
Orientation Materials
Last, when you prepare your orientation materials, accessibility
guidelines should be followed. Make certain all materials such as
forms, handouts and presentations can be easily converted into
alternate formats, such as large print. Any videos should have closed-
captioning. If there is a need for materials to be translated into
other languages, make sure that is available as well.
During orientation, all participants should be provided with a list of
available auxiliary aids and services, including written guidelines
for making a reasonable accommodation request. These items should
also be posted prominently within the center or in all places where
customers are accessing services.
With well-thought out preparation, you can immediately create an
atmosphere of trust with your customers. This will help to facilitate
any follow-up communication between you and your customer and lay the
