With the spread of online administrative services, public service reception staff often have to deal with the most difficult situations. Solid interpersonal communication skills are essential if you are to perform this essential public service role with confidence.
Reception in the public service is an act of human relations: it humanises the administration. Even more than in the private sector, it brings together people from different worlds. Above all, it is the point of entry for people who have come to request a service, assert a right or respond to a summons. It therefore requires a dynamic and benevolent attitude towards the public it welcomes. That's why public service reception staff need to acquire, develop and enhance their interpersonal communication skills. Marylène Exposito, a specialist in managerial communication, takes a closer look.
At reception: adopting good communication practices
To be effective, the first contact should focus on the person you are talking to and not on the computer screen. Good practice? Always stay connected to the other person through your eyes or voice. They act like magnets that fix the other person's attention.
"The look and the voice are two essential communication tools in hospitality.
Developing listening skills and empathy
During training courses, I help professionals to develop their physical and verbal communication skills. Communication means adopting a behavioural attitude that is open to others. We therefore practise listening and empathy exercises to better understand the underlying needs and demands.
For example, what lies behind the question "How long do I have to wait? This person may have work schedules to keep, or health problems, etc. In fact, the same request may conceal very different needs: the need to get organised, to eat, to be reassured, to be recognised, etc.
That's why it's so important for reception staff to approach others as individuals with their own specific characteristics. And not as a uniform category: tenants, benefit claimants, patients, users, insured persons, etc.
Personalising reception to prevent tension and conflict
A personal welcome prevents tension and conflict. It is also closely linked to the quality of listening.
"Being listened to means you're less frustrated and sometimes a little calmer".
From the first moment of contact, the individual must feel unique, even if the reception professional sees him or her as the umpteenth person. Imagine a doctor who would treat you less well just because you're his umpteenth patient!
When we welcome someone, the way we communicate acts like a boomerang: first it has an impact on the other person and then on ourselves.
From emotional control to the right emotional distance
"How can I control my emotions when faced with one or more people who can't control their own? How do I deal with crying, distress or despair? How do I deal with anger, criticism or insults? Or even threats of suicide? These are all questions frequently asked during training courses on reception organised for different sectors of the public service.
Generally speaking, fostering requires the ability to control reactions, fatigue, stress and emotions. To do this, professionals need to take a step back.
Developing positive emotions
In training, I help participants to develop self-control through positive emotions. This includes team support, breathing, visualisation of a positive image or pleasant memory, resource beliefs, etc.
"Just like the rider on his horse, hospitality requires you to hold the reins of your emotions, without letting yourself be carried away by the galloping emotions of the other person. Like the captain on his ship, the hospitality professional holds the helm and stays on course.
Keeping "the right distance
Public services often deal with vulnerable people. As such, reception professionals are at the crossroads of the administrative, health and social sectors. They may be confronted with situations of distress that give rise to feelings of guilt, powerlessness or "over-empathy", combined with a need to help others beyond their remit. In these situations, they are at the heart of the helping relationship, without being health professionals or professionals in the social and medico-social sector. That's why, in training, I guide them so that they learn to distance themselves emotionally and keep "the right distance". Being better able to cope with these situations enables them to provide better support to users within the limits and constraints of their public service mission.
Is reception a public service in its own right?
Reception is both the first hand outstretched and a public service in its own right. It is not simply a receptacle.
This role requires real communication skills. This know-how can be developed using a variety of techniques, such as active listening, listening comprehension and listening skills. Non-Violent Communication or transactional analysis. The aim is to acquire, over the course of two or three days of training, useful skills that can be put to use as soon as you return to the field. Then, as in sport, the training must continue in everyday professional life.
"Communication is like a living language. You have to practice!"
At a time when online administrative services are in full swing, the human dimension of reception is all the more appreciated because it is becoming increasingly rare. Physical and telephone receptionists are, and will increasingly be, dealing with the most difficult situations. That's why they will increasingly need specific communication skills.
We will no longer say, as I heard so many times in the 2000s: "You don't have any qualifications, you can go to reception". On the contrary, people will say: "You have the skills to do this job". To conclude, I'd even say: "If you like human relations, you'll thrive in this fine profession, which is complex, useful and very rewarding because of its strong human dimension and its key role in public service".
