Changing Gears

Strengthening Support for Vulnerable Members

Aligned with ASIC Report 806, 'Superannuation Complaints: Resolving issues for members', this 12 month training program has been designed to upskill superannuation teams to support vulnerable members - especially around communication, empathy, and fair complaint resolution. This structured, plug-and-play program addresses every soft skill gap raised in the report. 

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Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

Month 4

Month 5

Month 6

Managing Your Mindset

ASIC PAIN POINT:
 
• Dismissing queries and failing to return calls can contribute to members feeling unheard.
 
LEARNING OUTCOMES ADDRESSED:

• Helps staff reduce biases and manage frustration.
• Builds an empathetic workplace culture to improve customer interactions.
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1.  Ego, Judgement and Frustration - mindsets that get in the way 

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2.  The Cobra customer - How to deal with an angry customer

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3.   Internal Curiosity - how to sidestep your ego, judgement & frustration

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4.  Dumping your potatoes - how complaining becomes part of team culture

Active Listening & Engagement

ASIC PAIN POINT:
• Lack of human connection and poor communication skills contribute to members feeling judged and unheard.

LEARNING OUTCOMES ADDRESSED:
• Teaches trust building strategies and how to overcome unconscious biases.

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1.   Connect With Your Customer – How to build trust and likeability

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2.   Acknowledging Customer Effort – Know how to say thank you


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3.   Pre-judging the Customer – The psychology behind why we do it


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4.   Stranger Danger – Customers are ready for battle

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5.   Humanising the ID Process – How to appeal to customers

Empowering Staff Through Language

ASIC PAIN POINT:
• Rigid processes and language that distances customers from support.

LEARNING OUTCOMES ADDRESSED:
• Encourages respectful and concise communication to build trust and cooperation.
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1.  Avoiding accountability – Passively and actively

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2.  T’s and C’s – Why no-one reads them

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3.  Blaming Others – Why it is a problem

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4. Neutral Language – You, me and blame

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5.  Overtalking – Don’t steamroll your customers

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6. Chicken Salt – Season your language

Supporting Vulnerable Members 

ASIC PAIN POINT:
• Vulnerable customers often face barriers to accessing support due to poor communication and rigid processes.

LEARNING OUTCOMES ADDRESSED:
• Encourages respectful and concise communication to build trust and cooperation.
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1.   Flipping Your Lid - How to stay in control

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2.   Top Tips – When working with vulnerable customers

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3.   Vulnerability Call Breakdown – Spot the triggers

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4.   Ask Izzy - A support tool for your customers

Vulnerability Awareness

ASIC PAIN POINT:
• Customers who are financially distressed or vulnerable.

LEARNING OUTCOMES ADDRESSED:
• Teaches staff to adapt communication to meet the needs of vulnerable customers.

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1.   What is Vulnerability? – To be human is to be vulnerable

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2. The Customer’s Backpack – What can impact a conversation

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3.  Customers with Poor Mental Health – How can we adapt 

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4.   Customers with a Disability – How can we adapt?
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5.   Low Literacy in Australia – How it can impact our customer
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6.  Low Literacy Levels – How to adjust your conversation

Language Carries Energy 

ASIC PAIN POINT:

• Customers struggle with complex language and processes.

LEARNING OUTCOMES ADDRESSED:
• Promotes respectful and clear communication to reduce customer frustration.


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1.   Dirty Words – Using words customers don’t understand

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2. Impact of Dirty Words – How it can make someone feel stupid

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3.  Internal Language – How it creates a power imbalance 

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4.   Negative Language – Put it in the bin
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5.  Language Thermometer – Finding the balance with customers

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6.  Our Go-To’s – Language that gets us in trouble

Month 7

Month 8

Month 9

Month 10

Month 11

Month 12

Engaging Through Your Keyboard

ASIC PAIN POINT:
 
• Lack of compassion shown in communications with customers.
 
LEARNING OUTCOMES ADDRESSED:

• How to plan and structure an email to a customer, stakeholder and manager.
• Learn to use plain English in writing and humanise your email when respond to ‘challenging’ emails.
• Work through the top 10 clangers.
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1. Uncovering the Issue – Why framing is important

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2. Collections Conversations – The Art of questioning techniques

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3.  Negotiations – Understanding the payment hierarchy

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4. Collections Questions Menu – Choosing the questions that best fit the scenario

Complaint Handling

ASIC PAIN POINT:

• Gaps in complaint resolution, including poor communication and a lack of empathy.

LEARNING OUTCOMES ADDRESSED:
• Equips staff with tools to manage complaints and de-escalate emotional situations.


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1.  7 Spices of Complaint Handling – Steps to handle customer complaints

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2.  Handling the Emotional Customer – Which spices are best to use?


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3.  Handling the Customer Who Blames – Which spices are best to use?


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4. If You Continue the Language - There are better strategies than terminating the call

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5.  The Reset Technique – Managing the conversation that escalates

Empathy & Emotional Cues

ASIC PAIN POINT:
• Missed opportunities in managing emotionally distressed customers.

LEARNING OUTCOMES ADDRESSED:
• Builds empathy and trust to handle emotional conversations effectively.
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1. Strategic Empathy – The centrepiece for managing conflict and emotion

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2.  Sympathy Rabbit Hole – Why you’re drowning in customer problems

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3.  Intent Statements – Why they build trust

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4.   Building an Empathy Statement – The formula to acknowledging customer emotion

Workplace Wellbeing

PAIN POINT:
• Poor handling of claims is linked to systemic issues like staff burnout, which affects their ability to assist vulnerable members effectively.

LEARNING OUTCOMES ADDRESSED:

• Provides stress-management tools to enhance resilience and improve interactions.
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1.  Workplace Wellbeing – Influences and impacts

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2. Circle of Control – Where to focus your energy

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3. Flipping Your Lid – How to stay in control

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4. The Stress Bucket – How to stop it from overflowing

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5. Creating Good Habits – Support worklife balance and wellbeing

Indigenous Cultural Awareness for Frontline Staff 

ASIC PAIN POINT:

• Lack of cultural awareness in supporting First Nations customers.

LEARNING OUTCOMES ADDRESSED:
• Encourages respectful communications when having conversations with indigenous customers.


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1.Respectful Interactions

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2. Sharing and Humbugging

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3.  Flora and Fauna

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4. Experience with Money
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5. The Yarning Circle

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6. Mother-In-Law Rule

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7. Top Tips for Frontline Staff
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8. Cultural Roles Family & Domestic Violence

Solutions & Consequences

ASIC PAIN POINT:

• Members often feel overwhelmed by the complexity of solutions presented, leading to resistance or confusion.

LEARNING OUTCOMES ADDRESSED:
• Teaches strategies for presenting solutions clearly and truthfully, reducing resistance and building trust.

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1. Social Norms - How to normalise things for a customer

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2. The Solution - Why to slow play it

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3. Options - Give the customer a sense of choice

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4. The Decoy Effect - How to influence customer decisions
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5. Explaining Consequences - Why using truthful language is the best strategy

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6. Benefits vs Consequences - Balancing them out

Created By

Jodie Bedoya

Director
Jodie Bedoya is the Founder and director of the Melbourne based training company, eMatrix, which she began after identifying a gap in practical training and guidance for frontline staff, team leaders and managers in the art of communication.

Jodie is one of Australia's leading collections, vulnerability and customer engagement specialists, who has trained best practice in the energy sector and held key executive, operational and training management roles, including as CEO of one of Australia's largest collection agencies.

Alex Daniel

Operations Manager
Alex's expertise within dispute resolution, call quality, hardship and process improvement has enabled him to find a unique balance in facilitation customer engagement, eliminating conflict and debt collection.

Alex has a background leading Complaints and Ombudsman teams for the energy sector, specialising in managing complex cases and assisting customers experiencing financial hardship. Alex's specialty is the art of communication, in particular understanding and applying strategic empathy, coaching programs for leaders, call calibration and business writing for the digital world we live in.

Kaelia Cockington

Training Consultant
With a background in psychology, developmental trauma and homelessness, Kaelia brings awareness to organisations about vulnerability and how best to navigate conversations for people with complexity.

Having managed teams in South Australian Housing responsible for managing both risk and vulnerability, including debt collection, Kaelia helps staff by creating context and understanding about what is happening for a customer, whilst teaching staff how to manage their own headspace and wellbeing.

Dr Paul Harrison

Consultant
Dr Paul Harrison is a Senior Lecturer and the Unit Chair of Consumer Behaviour in the Department of Marketing in Deakin Business School. Paul's research is focused on emotional and rational behaviour, and how our biology and the environment interact to influence the way we make decisions. His work has been published in a wide range of international journals and conference proceedings and has informed policy and business practice in Australia and internationally.