We CARE About Customers
Iowa DOT’s Motor Vehicle Division wins AAMVA’s Trailblazer Award for CARE training
For employees who regularly interact with the public, making customers feel valued is a top priority. A few years ago, the Iowa Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) undertook a project to upgrade its customer service model, and its successful launch is generating smiles across the state.
Angela Pinegar, director of learning and development for the Iowa MVD, developed the CARE program to enhance the customer experience. Pinegar initiated this by bringing all staff back to the fundamentals of great customer service.
“We have a five-year priority goal to improve customer service,” says Pinegar. “We are always striving to enhance the experience we offer our customers, and we are focused on changing the perception customers typically have about interacting with a public service agency.”
A THOUGHTFUL APPROACH
Early in the program planning, Pinegar says she and her team started by identifying what their customers really wanted when they interacted with the Iowa DOT. After careful analysis, Pine- gar reports, “We found prominent themes related to a need for greater efficiencies coupled with care and compassion.”
So, she created the CARE program, which embodies the core principles of Consistency, Accountability, and being Responsive and Engaging. “The acronym was a comfortable fit for what we were trying to do, and it really took off from there,” says Pinegar.
GETTING ALL STAKEHOLDERS ON BOARD
In 2022, an online training program was launched for all team members. The initiative included online foundational training, a leadership CARE package to ensure everyone was operating from the same playbook, and a CARE Workbook to support leaders in facilitating guided conversations among teams. All efforts were aimed at generating customer awareness and empowering employees to enhance the overall customer service experience.
The CARE initiative was quickly adopted by everyone at the Iowa DOT. Staff started to (and still do) apply the concepts into the work they do as a team. They feel encouraged and empowered to implement services in ways that suit the needs of customers. The new training program incorporated support for procedural changes, such as the ability for locations to revisit their office layouts and accessibility, customer communications and access to resources, and more efficient appointment scheduling processes.
AN AWARD-WINNING SUCCESS
The CARE program’s success was measured through a variety of customer feedback channels, including online customer feedback forms and social media feedback. But the sure sign of success was the program being adopted at multiple Iowa state administrative levels.
This adaptability brought the CARE training to AAMVA’s attention, and the Iowa DOT won AAVMA’s 2024 Trailblazer Award for its innovative and positive change not only in its service area, but in other state agencies as well.
“We initially rolled out the program to over 3,000 Iowa DOT employees. Then we implemented CARE for over 550 of our county treasurer partners and their staff,” says Pinegar. “We’ve incorporated CARE into our new employee and new leadership trainings, and even have it built into our existing leader skills enhancement trainings.
“We continue to find new ways to talk about CARE. Up next, CARE in Conflict—the next level of CARE,” says Pinegar. “We have been in full-on CARE mode for a while now. We’re work- ing hard to get this ingrained into our culture, and we won’t be stopping anytime soon.”
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