Elite - Professional Training & Development

Media offices, communication departments and broadcasters deal with a daily stream of requests from the public, journalists, partners and internal clients. When there are no clear service standards, response times vary, different staff give different answers and complaints on social media escalate before anyone takes ownership. Errors are fixed quietly or not at all. Each of these moments reduces trust, and trust is slow to rebuild.

This programme treats communication as a service with measurable quality. It moves through five stages: understanding what audiences and stakeholders expect, designing service standards and the service journey, handling enquiries and difficult interactions, managing complaints, corrections and feedback, and measuring satisfaction and trust so that performance improves over time.

Built on recognised practice. The programme references ISO 10002 on complaints handling, ISO 10004 on monitoring and measuring customer satisfaction, established service quality models and the Journalism Trust Initiative standard on transparency and professional norms in media. They are used as practical guides, not as compliance checklists.

What this changes in practice. Staff respond faster and more consistently, complaints are resolved at the first point of contact more often, corrections are handled openly, and managers can see from real data where service is failing and what to fix first.

How it is delivered. Twenty hours across five sessions, built around one running case: a media or communication unit that participants assess, write a service charter for, test through role plays of difficult enquiries and complaints, and measure with a simple satisfaction survey.

In-house option. For organisations, the programme can be tailored to your own channels, service standards, complaint procedures and audience groups, and can produce a service charter and response templates ready for use.

Who Should Attend

Media and communication staff: media officers, public relations and communication team members who handle enquiries

Customer service teams: agents and coordinators in contact centres and public-facing units

Supervisors and team leaders: staff responsible for service standards and complaint handling

Social media and digital channel staff: team members who respond to the public online

Broadcast and publishing staff: employees who deal with audience feedback and requests

Objectives

Explain how service quality in media and communication affects audience trust and organisational reputation

Map the service journey for enquiries from the public, journalists and internal clients

Write clear service standards covering response times, tone, accuracy and escalation

Respond to enquiries across phone, email, social media and messaging channels in a consistent, professional way

Handle difficult and emotional interactions calmly and keep them constructive

Manage complaints using a structured process from receipt to resolution and follow-up

Handle errors and corrections openly and in a way that protects credibility

Design and run a short satisfaction survey and interpret the results

Use service data and feedback to identify priority improvements

Contribute to an audience-focused service culture within the team

Course Outline

Service Quality and Trust in Media and Communication

Why service quality matters for audience trust and reputation
Who the customers are: the public, journalists, partners and internal clients
Expectations and perceptions: understanding service gaps
Trust drivers: accuracy, transparency, consistency and respect
Lessons from service failures that became public issues
Assessing the current service level of your unit

Designing Service Standards and the Service Journey

Mapping the service journey and its critical moments
Writing a service charter and response time standards
Consistent messages: approved answers, FAQs and knowledge bases
Roles, ownership and escalation routes
Accessibility and inclusive communication in Arabic and English
Using chatbots and AI tools with human oversight

Handling Enquiries and Difficult Interactions

Active listening and questioning skills
Tone and language for phone, email, social media and messaging
Responding to journalists' requests on deadline
Managing angry, persistent and unreasonable callers
Saying no or not yet without damaging the relationship
Protecting personal wellbeing in high-pressure service roles

Complaints, Corrections and Feedback

Complaints as a source of improvement
A structured complaints process from receipt to closure
Service recovery: putting things right quickly
Handling errors and publishing corrections openly
Responding to public criticism on social media
Recording complaints and analysing root causes

Measuring Satisfaction and Building Lasting Trust

Satisfaction, loyalty and trust: what to measure and why
Designing short surveys and feedback points
Service KPIs: response time, first contact resolution and complaint trends
Turning feedback into an improvement plan
Building a service culture in the team
Action plan: improving service quality in your unit

Competencies

Audience and stakeholder service mapping

Service standard and charter design

Multichannel enquiry handling

Difficult conversation management

Structured complaints handling

Transparent error correction

Satisfaction survey design and interpretation

Service quality KPI monitoring

Audience-focused service culture

Live Online

Access Elite Academy’s complete training portfolio live online. Organizations, distributed teams and professionals can join scheduled interactive sessions or request any program to be delivered online, subject to scheduling and delivery requirements. Elite Academy’s Live Online Training provides access to our complete portfolio of professional programs without linking availability to a physical destination. Organizations, multi-location teams and individual professionals can join scheduled instructor-led sessions or request any program from the Elite Academy portfolio for live online delivery, subject to scheduling and delivery requirements. The format preserves real-time interaction, expert guidance and practical learning while removing the need to travel. Browse the current Live Online schedule below or request your preferred program and dates.

Media Communication Service Quality and Customer Trust