COMANCHE COUNTY, Okla. – Anyone who has ever had a problem getting child support can get help from the Comanche Nation Child Support Program (CNCSP) and you do not have to be a member of the Comanche Nation to get it.  

The program is open to everyone. It is such a new program, many tribal and non-tribal members do not know about it.  Wednesday, the tribe is having a meeting to answer people’s questions.

CNCSP has only been open for a year and a half, but caseworkers already are busy helping people such as Jerome Howlingwater.  After trying to get child support that was due him for years, he finally turned to the tribe.  Howlingwater has battled getting court-ordered child support from his ex-wife for more than seven years.

“You know it was hard to actually collect while she didn’t live here in Oklahoma,” said Howlingwater.

MORE INFORMATION>>>http://www.kswo.com/Global/story.asp?S=12304971

Pauls Valley — A bunch in Garvin County is bringing in the bacon, literally, for more kids in this county when it comes establishing more child support cases.

Doing it for the kids takes on whole new meaning for a group in the county’s child support office in Pauls Valley that recently got a sign their work is making a difference.

Working through the district attorney’s office here, the group received a couple of big honors when it comes to making child support payments happen.

One was a top honor in the entire state during the recently passed three-month period ending in March, according to Garvin County Assistant District Attorney George Burnett.

“This office had the greatest increase in paternity establishment in the state,” Burnett said.

“We’re number one for this last quarter.”

The honor is related to the kind of cases investigated by the five full-time and one part-time workers in the office that result in getting support payments going from a child’s father.

A second honor came in the overall area of child support payments.

“It was also one of the top three counties in the state in the collection of current support payments,” Burnett said.

Put simply — it registered one of the three largest increases in the payment of child support.

More information>> http://paulsvalleydailydemocrat.com/local/x563629520/Bringing-in-the-bacon-for-kids

Oklahoma DHS employees learn of plan to reduce pay – NewsOK.com – He also noted that child support services employees might opt for a different 36-hour workweek schedule to accommodate court appearances and the nature of … – - and more » – -

AM UPDATE: Workshop for employers to learn about child support issues – Muskogee Daily Phoenix – These half-day workshops are being hosted by Oklahoma Child Support Services and The Oklahoma Employer Services Center to help employers with child support …

Tips for Dealing With an Upset Customer

From time to time, you will have to deal with a customer or client who is very upset. No matter who is to blame, it is always important to keep a few principles in mind to improve rather than deteriorate the situation with the customer. Here are some tips for dealing with an upset customer:

1. Stay calm. Try to remain diplomatic and polite. Getting angry will only make the customer angrier.
2. Try to see things from the customer’s point of view. Perhaps you would also feel upset if you were in the same situation.
3. Thank the person for raising the concern and do it sincerely. Emphasize the importance of satisfied customers to you and your organization.
4. Listen for understanding. Sometimes the irate caller just wants someone to listen to their story, even if you are unable to help them.
5. Ask questions to get their facts and feelings. Listen to learn rather than to prepare your response. Don’t respond too quickly.
6. Find points of agreement with their concerns. Establish common ground to show the person you are listening.
7. Always show a willingness to resolve the problem or conflict. Make the resolution seem as easy as possible.
8. Be genuine and show your personality. Respond as an understanding friend rather than by citing policies.
9. Be firm but understanding with your answers.
10. As a last resort, offer to have your supervisor talk to the caller. Your supervisor may say the same things, but sometimes hearing it from someone else has a positive effect on the customer.

From the Knowledge Center  http://www.dalecarnegie.com

Some online meetings seem to drag on forever. You can’t even start edging for the door to get the point across to a particularly long-winded speaker, since he’s not going to be able see that subtle gesture. What can you do to keep a meeting moving along when you may not even be in the same country as everyone you’re talking to?

1. Choose a meeting space with a timer. One of the problems with many online meeting tools is that there isn’t a built-in clock. A few, however, do display the time that a meeting has been going. Just having that ticking timer can help keep people on the agenda, especially if your agenda offers attendees a set number of minutes to talk; one such app is MeetingMix.
2. Don’t wait for late or missing attendees. If your meeting is set to start at noon, it starts. As long as you either assign a notetaker to keep in-depth notes or use a tool to keep track of notes, people who miss the meeting can catch up.
3. Tell the other attendees that you have to log off at a certain time. While there are some meetings that you can’t just leave any time you want — when the boss is attending comes to mind — setting a firm end time that can’t be moved can help keep the other attendees moving along.
4. Make an agenda and enforce it. Having a clear agenda for a meeting can help a lot, but many meetings have trouble actually sticking to that agenda. People want to bring up issues that have occurred since the agenda was set or even just socialize. It can be tough to be the bad guy, but telling your group that new issues need to go onto the next meeting’s agenda and that socializing can happen after the meeting can cut out a lot of wasted time.
5. Chop the guest list. For many meetings, our first inclination is to invite everyone along who has a stake in the proceedings — after all, the meeting’s online and it’s easy to get everyone in place. That approach only adds more people who can slow down the meeting. Limit the guest list to people who actually make decisions about the matters on the agenda. Anyone else can listen in if they want to (as long as they don’t try to add to the meeting), but it’s best if you can just pass along notes if someone’s really interested.

There are other issues that can make a meeting seem to last forever, of course.  But by keeping the meeting on track, you can help get it finished so you can get back to work (or go to bed!).

How do you keep online meetings on track?

Photo by Flickr user Jessica Mullen, licensed under CC BY 2.0.

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