This one-day workshop is designed to equip IT support professionals with the interpersonal and customer service skills needed to deliver a consistently positive experience for internal colleagues. While technical expertise remains essential, the way support is communicated often shapes how it is received. This programme focuses on building emotional intelligence so that staff can better understand user needs, respond with empathy, and manage interactions in a way that builds trust and confidence—especially in moments of frustration or urgency.
Throughout the day, participants will explore practical techniques to set clear, realistic expectations around what can and cannot be delivered, including how to communicate constraints, priorities, and timescales without damaging relationships. The workshop uses real-world scenarios to help learners practise handling challenging conversations, balancing customer needs with operational realities, and maintaining professionalism under pressure. Emphasis is placed on clarity, tone, and consistency to reduce misunderstandings and improve overall satisfaction.
A key component of the programme is developing the ability to adapt communication and approach based on different behavioural traits and working styles across the organisation. Participants will learn how to recognise common patterns in how people think, communicate, and respond, and how to flex their own style accordingly. This enables IT support staff to work more effectively with a diverse range of colleagues—from highly technical teams to non-technical stakeholders—ultimately improving collaboration, efficiency, and service perception.
Our starting point with the GREAT IT Support Skills programme is the GREAT approach. It gives a structure for an emotionally connected, supportive, trust-building ‘customer’ conversation:
Greet – A warm welcome, building trust from the beginning: ‘I’m here for you’
Recognise needs – Recognising what the customer really needs: ‘I will help you.’
Empathise – Displaying genuine empathy and attuning to the customer: ‘I understand you’
Act – Acting with accountability and owning the customer’s issue: ‘This is what I’ll do…’
Thank – Thanking with sincerity and ending on a high: ‘I’m happy I could help you today’
- Warmly greet the customer/colleague – building trust from the beginning
- Recognise what they really need – through asking curious questions and really listening to understand
- Attune to the customer’s communication preference – so that they can truly empathise
- Demonstrate accountability and how they will ‘own’ the customer’s issue or question
- End every interaction on a high – with a personal and memorable goodbye
- Handle difficult conversations
- Disagree, set expectations or say ‘No’ to people whilst showing empathy and respect
Session outline
(Pre-work: complete the Personality Styles profile)
1. Welcome to GREAT customer service
- What will you learn? Session overview and introduction
- Activity: What does GREAT IT Support look like in your organisation?
- Making it easy for your customers
- What’s your experience of easy service?
2. G is for Greet
- Building an emotional connection and projecting warmth
- The formula for trust (warmth + competence = trust)
- How to inspire trust
- Validate the customer’s feelings
- ‘Smile from the inside’
- Inspire confidence
3. R is for Recognise needs
- Recognising what your customer really needs from you
- Focus on the customer, not the ‘problem’
- Asking curious questions
- TED questions (Tell-Explain-Describe) and the question funnel
- Listening to understand and empathise
- The levels of listening
4. E is for Empathise
- Seeing things through your customer’s eyes
- True empathy
- Personality styles
- Activity: attuning to your customer
5. A is for Act
- How to demonstrate competence and expertise and so inspire trust
- The ladder of accountability
- Activity: accountable language
6. T is for Thank
- Ending on a high
- Why a good experience needs to be a good memory as well
- How to end on a high
- Confirm what happens next
- Thank the customer and give a personal and memorable goodbye
7. GREAT ways of managing difficult situations
- The part played by emotion
- How to stay calm when people are upset or frustrated
- A complaint is a gift!
- Take the H.E.A.T. out of any difficult situation
- Show empathy and understand the customer’s situation
- How to answer questions you don’t have an immediate answer for
- Assertiveness in customer service
- Managing expectations
- How to disagree, set realistic expectations, or say ‘No’ with empathy and respect
- Practice
8. Action Planning & Next steps
- Prioritising which actions to take
- What specific actions will you take?
- By when?
- How will you know when you’ve been successful?
