Train the Trainer Customer-Centered Service Delivery – IWDS 2025

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) is transitioning to a new case management reporting system. As a part of this transformation, we are introducing a new system designed to empower frontline staff and ensure more effective, personalized service delivery to participants. DCEO is committed to helping local workforce programs shift their services to a Customer-Centered approach.   

 This training is part of a “train-the-trainer” initiative aimed at preparing key stakeholders to support their teams and implement these strategies with confidence and consistency. 

Almost all programs talk the talk of “customer comes first,” but many struggle when it comes to walking the walk. It’s because becoming customer-centered requires changing perspectives and, often, culture.  A “customer-centered approach” prioritizes customer needs and desires at every stage of interaction and aims to create a positive customer experience by focusing on understanding their wants and pain points and providing solutions that align with their expectations, essentially putting the customer at the core of all program decisions and actions.  

While there is no clear roadmap to a successful culture change, proven approaches and strategies put the customer first. We will map the customer’s experience in the program as a guide. Creating a customer journey map is essential to building a customer-centered approach as it tracks all the services and touchpoints from the participant’s perspective.  

This training will be an in-depth, hands-on experience designed to provide you with both the theoretical knowledge and practical skills to support the roll-out of this new system. As a trainer, you’ll be expected to fully engage with the content, practice the techniques, and be ready to guide your team through this transformation. Your active participation will be key in ensuring the success of this shift to a more customer-centered workforce system.  

  1. Philosophy of Customer-Centered Approach
  2. Change: Stages of Change
  3. Techniques for motivational goal setting.
  4. Avoid Traps and Roadblocks
  5. 5 techniques to build motivation
  6. How to re-engage

Course Format: 

Beginning Session In-Person: Introduction to the Motivational Interviewing Course and Customer Journey Mapping – Normal, IL  

  • March 5, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4 PM CST. 
  • In-Person 

 Four Live Webinars: 1 PM – 2:30 PM CST. 

1. March 12, 2025 2. March 26, 2025, 3. April 9, 2025, 4. April 23, 2025. 

  • All participants will get an invitation and link to the recording. 
  • All participants will get a module for each live session, including all PowerPoints and learning activities. 
  • Homework exercises will help participants practice the skills they are learning. 

 Ending Session In-Person East Peoria, IL: 

  • May 7, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM CST. 

Presenter: Jodie Su Kelly – Employment Training Program Provider 

  • In over four decades of work in this field, Jodie Sue Kelly has won wide recognition for her innovative, practical, and entertaining workshops and webinars. As an employment and training program provider, she doubled enrollments in an award-winning program she directed for dropout youth. She co-founded Cygnet Associates in 1984 to help agencies devise more effective strategies for recruitment, placement, advertising, retention, and motivation. In 2004, she was awarded the NAWDP Professional Development Award for Advancement in the Profession. In 2013, she was recognized with the Commitment in Action Award by the Oregon Employment and Training Association. She is a frequent speaker at NAWDP, Southeast Employment Training Association, and other regional and national conferences. She has a master’s degree from George Mason University and a bachelor’s degree from California University of Pennsylvania.