Today was our 3rd class serving incarcerated women housed at the Musick facility in Irvine. Our class was down to 7 participants as another woman was released late last week but once again we had nothing but enthusiasm and engagement from all who were present.
This week focused on the true curriculum provided by the National Retail Federation as we begin to prepare these women to take their certification exam upon completion of this class and release from jail.
Our Thought of the Day was:
“One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try it.” - Aristotle
This resonated with the women as they feel very defensive about the position they find themselves in currently and even after release will feel like the whole world will know they've been in jail just by looking at them. We used this view point and understanding of how hard it is when you feel like you're being negatively judged and framed it from a customer service and real world perspective.
Many in the class feel that their life experiences have better prepared them to connect with people of all backgrounds and that they would be more open to people with different personalities and needs. With this in mind we learned how to get better information out of customers by using open ended questions and using the power of observation and active listening to read cues on how a customer would like to be addressed and served and even did some fun demonstrations on what not to do - our participants always love to see the facilitators act in a ridiculous manner!
As we move into our 4th week of class, we know we will be losing two more participants as they are being released. Fortunately, one of these clients has already signed on to finish this class at our Career Center in Fountain Valley. We will be sure to keep you all posted on her progress as well as everyone else in the weeks to come!
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