Julie Gerbsch

Julie Gerbsch is a lead instructor with Rapid Change and finds herself using the principles of Rapid Change at home and at work. She lives in Savannah, GA, with her husband and three children.  Prior to her work with Rapid Change, Julie’s career had focused on executive leadership of nonprofits including Director of the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon of Greater St. Louis and Ronald McDonald Children Charities of St. Louis. 

In 2006, she was elected to the Savannah-Chatham Board of Education and faced the challenge of customer service with parents of 34,000 students in the public school system.  By the time constituents contact her, it’s usually the “last stop” through the bureaucracy and the highly emotional (anger and fear) Reptilian brain has taken over.
 
Since most of her communication is by telephone (lacking the 55% nonverbal cues of face-to-face communication) Julie wanted to find a way to make conversations respectful and productive.  She applied the principles of the brain taught in the “Fundamentals of Rapid Change” and developed a three-step approach to every call: listening, repeating back, and taking action/documenting action.

First, she listens and responds with short audible sounds to let them know she’s hearing them. 

Second, she lets them know their concerns are important to her and that she hears and understands what they say.  Julie asks them, “Can I repeat back to be sure I understand what you saying?”  She repeats the exact emotional words they use so they feel heard.

Third, Julie asks for their email address and explains exactly what she will do to deal with the problem  She writes up their concerns, sending it to the superintendent’s office and copying the constituent so they know the action has been completed.  

She finds that when people are so emotional, they don’t remember what she says, so the email is good reinforcement that they have been heard and there is follow-up action.