Public Sector Customer Service Foundations
A deeper, practice-rich public sector customer service course designed for councils, departments and government agencies that want staff to build skill, confidence and consistency.
The Foundations program expands on the Essentials course by giving staff more time to apply the model, practise conversations, receive group coaching and embed behaviours that lead to clearer, calmer and more consistent community experiences.
Delivered as 2 × 3-hour live online sessions, this course is ideal for teams who want structured techniques, real-world practice and the space to strengthen and refine their approach across phone, email and face-to-face interactions.
- 2 × 3-hour live online sessions
- Available as public or private delivery
- Based on ACXPA’s evidence-backed service model
- Strengthen and embed a clear, repeatable service framework.
- Gain more coaching, practice and feedback with real public-sector scenarios.
- Lift clarity, professionalism and confidence across all community interactions.
Why This Course Matters for Public Sector Teams
Community-facing roles in government are under constant pressure. Staff are expected to manage high volumes of enquiries, calm distressed or frustrated community members, interpret complex rules and still represent the organisation with professionalism and care on every interaction.
When each person relies on their own style, experience or “best guess”, service quickly becomes inconsistent. That can lead to avoidable complaints, repeat contact and community frustration – especially when emotions are high or the outcome isn’t what someone was hoping to hear.
The Public Sector Customer Service Foundations gives frontline staff a repeatable service framework and the time to practise it properly. Across two sessions, participants apply the model to real scenarios, receive coaching and work through how to open, manage and close conversations effectively – without forcing scripts or taking away their personality.
The result is more confident staff, calmer conversations and clearer, more consistent experiences for the community – even when the answer is “no” or the issue is complex.
Who Is This Course Suitable For?
Public Sector Customer Service Foundations is designed for frontline staff who engage with the community across multiple channels – phone, email, front desks, service counters, field roles and hybrid environments.
It’s ideal for teams who must manage enquiries professionally, calmly and consistently, often while navigating legislation, policy, eligibility rules or sensitive information that may influence emotions or expectations.
This expanded program provides staff with a repeatable service framework and the additional time needed to practise, refine and apply it to real public-sector situations. Participants build confidence, reduce errors and strengthen clarity and professionalism across all community interactions.
It is also an effective way for councils, departments and agencies to align their approach to community experience, embed consistent service behaviours and reduce variance across teams.
Typical roles that benefit from this course include:
- Customer Service Officers: handling community enquiries in person, by phone or by email.
- Contact Centre Agents: providing consistent, accurate council or departmental information.
- Front-of-House / Counter Staff: supporting community members face-to-face.
- Administration & Support Roles: responding to internal or external customer enquiries.
- Team Leaders & Coordinators: wanting a unified, framework-based approach across their team.
- New Starters: who need structure, clarity and confidence from day one.
Designed Using ACXPA’s Independent Customer Service Framework
Great customer service in the public sector can’t rely on instinct. It needs to be defined, measured and repeatable. That’s why our public sector training is built on the same quality standards used to assess real council performance across Australia.
CX Skills is aligned with the Australian Customer Experience Professionals Association (ACXPA), the independent body behind the Australian Council Call Centre Rankings.
Every month, ACXPA assesses real customer interactions using more than 80 evidence-based criteria across accessibility, call handling, communication quality, service clarity, complaint management and more.
Our training is designed from these insights. The frameworks, call flows, wording models and techniques we teach directly align with the ACXPA Customer Service Quality Standards, giving your teams a clear, consistent, high-performance approach they can use every day.
70.9% 66.1% 63.2% 51.0%Data accurate as of December 2025
Public Sector Customer Service Foundations is delivered across 2 × 3-hour live online sessions, giving staff more time to apply, practise and embed the clear, repeatable service framework introduced in the Essentials program.
The course is structured into six practical modules. Each module builds capability through real-world examples, guided practice, coaching and techniques tailored specifically for public sector work.
All participants receive a comprehensive course workbook containing the framework, techniques, examples and space for reflection and notes so the learning continues well after the course.
Session 1 – Building the Foundations (3 hours)
1. Understanding Public Sector Service & Your Role
Explores what high-quality public sector service looks like and the unique expectations placed on councils, departments and agencies. Staff examine their role in building trust and confidence in their organisation.
This module sets the foundation for the service framework and reinforces the importance of clarity, fairness, empathy and consistency in community-facing interactions.
2. The Public Sector Conversation Framework
Introduces the clear, repeatable framework for structuring any interaction – phone, email or face-to-face. Participants learn the core building blocks and how to apply them across routine and complex enquiries.
Staff practise opening professionally, asking effective questions, explaining requirements clearly, and closing interactions in a way that reduces repeat contact.
3. Communicating with Clarity, Confidence & Care
Focuses on using language that is professional, respectful and easy to understand – even when dealing with complex processes or policy constraints.
Staff explore plain English, tone control, expectation-setting and how to avoid unintentional frustration caused by vague or overly technical messaging.
Session 2 – Applying & Embedding the Skills (3 hours)
4. Handling Difficult, Emotional or Sensitive Situations
A deeper dive into managing high-emotion, high-stakes or complex enquiries. Staff learn practical approaches to staying calm, controlled and professional when community pressure escalates.
Includes techniques for de-escalating emotion, balancing empathy with policy, and keeping conversations on track while maintaining safety and clarity.
5. Explaining Decisions, Next Steps & Policy Clearly
Helps staff confidently explain processes, eligibility criteria, decisions and outcomes without jargon or ambiguity. This module is especially valuable in situations where the answer may be “no” or where compliance requirements must be followed.
Staff practise phrasing, presenting options, and checking understanding in a way that reduces confusion, frustration and repeat contact.
6. Putting It All Together: Guided Practice & Application
The final module consolidates the entire framework through practical scenarios, guided coaching and structured practice. Participants apply what they've learned to real public-sector situations.
Staff leave with clearer habits, stronger confidence and a more consistent approach they can use immediately in the workplace.
Compare Public Sector Customer Service Course Options
You're currently viewing the Public Sector Customer Service Foundations course — the expanded version of our Essentials program, with more time for practice, coaching and deeper skill development.
If you’re looking for a faster introduction, the Essentials course provides the core framework in a single session. If you need the most time for scenario practice, application and detailed feedback, our PRO program sits at the top of the pathway. Here’s a quick comparison to help you choose the right fit:
Not quite the right fit? We also offer specialised channel/role-specific customer service training for frontline (in-person) teams, phone-based staff, live chat, email customer service, and managing difficult customers.
🤑 Looking for a budget-friendly option?
Our self-paced online courses give public sector teams access to 300+ bite-sized soft-skills courses and structured pathways starting from around $9 per person per month.
Admins can assign courses, build role-based pathways, and track completion through simple dashboards, making it ideal for capability frameworks, compliance and performance conversations.
Start with the Online Customer Service Course pathway or learn more about our self-paced course options →
Why Government Teams Choose CX Skills for Public Sector Customer Service Training
Councils, regulators and government agencies across Australia rely on CX Skills because we specialise in practical, real-world training designed specifically for frontline public sector work. Our programs help staff lift clarity, confidence and consistency in every interaction — without turning them into robots.
- Australian-owned and independent: As a locally owned business, we offer responsive support, customised delivery and training that isn’t shaped by a corporate template. Every program is built for the realities of public sector customer experience.
- Specialists in government environments: We’ve supported councils, departments and agencies nationwide. Our trainers understand legislation, community expectations and the unique pressures staff face when dealing with sensitive or complex enquiries.
- Aligned to national quality standards: All CX Skills programs use the same evidence-backed frameworks that power the ACXPA Customer Service Quality Standards — ensuring your team builds habits that match best practice across the sector.
- Flexible delivery that fits your operational reality: Public or private sessions, live online or onsite — we work around shift patterns, rosters and service coverage requirements so training is easy to implement, not disruptive.
- Coaching-focused, interactive facilitation: Our facilitators use relatable examples, real scenarios and structured conversation models to build confidence one step at a time. Staff leave with skills they can apply immediately on the phone, counter or email.
Passion oozes and learning is fun
It was great to link all the elements of CX together. A clear path of which CX muscle to flex to deliver an outcome. Comprehensive, refreshing, engaging and great for those with years of experience or just new on the scene. You will learn something!
Engaging and structured!
Daniel has made the 4 x half days fly very quickly, even through online delivery. The course was very engaging and informative. He has made the big beast of CX management not so scary and gave practical examples of where to start. The big takeaway for me is how all the many “big” aspects tie together, and that we don’t need to know all of it to get our CX journey going. Thank you Daniel and Marcus!
Engaging and Fun
Simon demonstrated his vast experience with a very informative, engaging and entertaining program. Came away with immediate skills to manage consumers. I found it extremely helpful. Thank you, Simon. Hope the roast turned out ok!
So Helpful!
Simon was so knowledgeable and easy to work with. I look forward to bringing his enthusiasm and skills to the rest of my team. This course is definitely worth it!
A very thought-provoking and useful session.
Thank you to Nant for such an insightful and well-paced course. I learnt a lot about my own triggers, responses/reactions to them in both the workplace and life more broadly, and how I can best arm myself to be more resilient in the future, especially having recently come into a workplace that is entirely new to me and moved interstate.
My favourite part of our discussion was the association Nant made between action and confidence. I had never really thought about how confidence can also be something that is practical rather than emotional, and that it is up to us to continually hone this as a skill rather than an attribute that may or may not come naturally to us. Thank you. 🙂
Great introduction to Journey Mapping!
We have recently begun our Customer Experience journey and a huge part of this is understanding the Customer Journey. What a great course this was to introduce us to what it was all about.
We had the best trainers in Rod and Simon and the course was really well structured. Done over 2 sessions, it took us through the basics then gave us some time to piece together a map ourselves. It opened my eyes to things that I hadn’t considered were part of a customer journey before.
Overall, a fantastic course to begin with, well structured, very informative and well-paced with lots of time to ask questions and consider scenarios.
Knowledgeable and Engaging
I recently completed the Customer Journey Mapping course, and it was an incredibly insightful and valuable experience. The course content was well-structured and covered all the essential aspects of customer journey mapping, from understanding customer personas to creating detailed journey maps.
The instructors were knowledgeable and engaging, providing real-world examples that made the concepts easier to grasp. Overall, I highly recommend this course to anyone looking to enhance their skills in customer journey mapping.
It has equipped me with the knowledge and confidence to improve customer experiences and drive better business outcomes.
Great Course with a Great Trainer
Daniel was a terrific trainer, he was extremely engaging and encouraging to all participants. The content was great and provided myself and my colleagues a lot of clarity around how to improve our quality process. I definitely recommend this course for anyone looking to expand and/or improve their quality assurance procedures.
Positive training course
I would like to show much appreciation to Simon and Nant for their customer foundation course. Simon and Nant were engaging and personable.
The teachings were related back to our work situations which was most helpful. The health and wellbeing model was a very valuable experience – allowing for vulnerability.
I have already used some of the strategies in my personal life and will continue to put the teachings into practise within my working relationships as well as my personal relationships with family and friends.
Thank you for sharing your experiences and guidance.
Very interesting & engaging!
Daniel is a passionate and very knowledgeable CX expert who was very engaging throughout the whole course. Relevant course content and thought-provoking activities to learn through discussion. Definitely recommend this training!
Practical, efficient and relevant CX stategies
The course (over 3 days) was brilliant! Very engaging workshop. Tailored content.
Efficient and practical strategies that can be implemented immediately in my role and personal situations.
Definitely recommended.
Definitely essential!
This course provided me with both professional and personal skills. I feel more confident in how to approach difficult interactions with others. What I learnt will now be part of my daily routine. Thank you Nant!
Very Informative
Coming into this course I had no idea what factors were involved in a contact centre, as this is a new role for me and the company, but now I feel confident to take what I have learnt and build on what we need to make our contact centre a success.
Thank you to Daniel on keeping us focused and making the experience fun and very informative.
Comprehensive & Engaging!
Simon conducted an extremely comprehensive Customer Service Phone Pro Training. His knowledge was incredibly impressive and I’m very grateful to have taken away so many new skills.
Simon gave valuable advice for not only how we communicate with customers but also with family, friends and strangers. I will definitely be applying my new learning in everyday life.
What a Great Course!
So much information but all extremely valuable. Daniel and Marcus were nothing but fantastic throughout this course. Will definitely recommend to my colleagues and friends
Excellent content, Excellent delivery, Excellent Instructor
I’ve participated in several courses with CX Skills now, specifically with Daniel Ord as the instructor. Daniel has a wealth of knowledge around customer experience and his history in customer service is top notch. CX Skills has become my go to for my team’s customer service and customer experience development. Look forward to next one.
Engaging and Highly Valuable!
I have taken many learnings from this course. Daniel presented in an delightfully engaging manner and provided a wealth of knowledge and insight.
I see a lot of long term benefit from this course. It has sparked new ideas, and has shifted my mindset in several ways.
Daniel provided many practical tools to utilise, and presented some fantastic ideas and valuable feedback.
Highly Recommended!
I just completed the contact centre management fundamentals 4 x 4-hour workshop and it was fantastic! The facilitator (Daniel Ord) was really engaging and explained everything from WFM to forecasting in an easy to understand manner. Highly recommend to anyone working in a contact centre environment!
Putting the CXy in Customer Experience!
I’m new to the world of CX and now have a house for me to keep my acquired learnings! I felt like I had some basic Ikea furniture in my house before, but the course has given me the appetite and courage to go for more artisan pieces.
Who knows? Maybe Wedgewood is in the horizon! Both Daniel and Marcus are such engaging presenters and so knowledgeable. Highly recommended!
Thoroughly enjoyed this course!
This course was very true to its name and provides a comprehensive overview and understanding of the competencies of successful CX Management. Daniel was extremely engaging, exceptionally well versed in the theory and allowed for some very rich contributions and shared learnings from across the group.
Highly recommend for anyone looking to expand their knowledge in this space and those looking to pursue their CCXP accreditation.
Trusted by Government Organisations Across Australia
From councils and regulatory bodies to federal agencies and community services, here are just some of the public sector organisations that have had employees complete CX Skills training. View all customers →
Public Sector Customer Service Foundations Course Pricing
The Public Sector Customer Service Foundations course is delivered live online for $448 per person (ex GST). Across two structured 3-hour sessions, staff receive extended practice time, coaching and deeper application of the ACXPA-aligned service framework.
It’s ideal for teams wanting more than an introduction — perfect for building confidence, strengthening consistency and embedding public sector service behaviours through guided scenarios and role plays.
There’s no minimum booking requirement for public sessions, and individuals or whole teams can join easily.
Choose your preferred session dates below and complete your booking in minutes.
💳 Pay securely by credit card or request an invoice.
Give your frontline staff the time, structure and coaching they need to deliver clear, consistent service — even under pressure. 🎯
Book a Public Sector Customer Service Foundations Course
Upcoming dates for the Public Sector Customer Service Foundations course are listed below. Select the session that best suits your schedule and complete your booking quickly and easily.
Need help before booking or want to discuss a private course?
Call us on +61 3 9008 7287 (Mon–Fri, 8:30am–5:30pm Melbourne, Australia) or send us a message.
May 2026 Public Sector Foundations
Online via Zoom Price: $448.00 AUD ex GSTThe May 2026 Public Sector Customer Service Foundations course improves phone, email and in-person skills via 2 x 3-hour live online sessions.
Public Sector Customer Service Foundations — Quick FAQs
Both. Foundations is offered in two formats:
- Publicly — scheduled dates listed on this page, open to all organisations.
- Privately — for councils, departments or agencies wanting a closed session for their team.
For private delivery, contact us and we’ll confirm dates, availability and pricing.
Public courses: there’s no minimum — you can book one staff member or several.
Private courses: minimum of five participants. If you have a smaller group, a public session is usually the most cost-effective option.
All three programs use the same ACXPA-aligned public sector service framework. The main difference is the time available for practice, application and coaching — which is why many teams choose Foundations when they want more than a fast introduction.
- Essentials: 1 × 3-hour session — the core framework delivered quickly, ideal for onboarding or refresher training.
- Foundations (this course): 2 × 3-hour sessions — extra time to practise the framework, apply it to real scenarios, and build confidence with coaching and feedback.
- PRO: 3 × 3-hour sessions — the most time for guided practice across a wider variety of public-facing situations and enquiry types.
You can select the payment method that suits your procurement process:
- Credit card — available for all public course bookings.
- Invoice — available for both public and private sessions (commonly used across government).
Private courses include a formal quote and purchase-order details if required.
A lot of longer public-sector customer service courses include extra modules on wellbeing, mindset or personal development. Those topics can absolutely be helpful, but they extend the training time — which naturally increases the cost.
Foundations keeps the focus on the structured service model that drives the biggest improvements: clear call flow, effective questioning, purposeful wording and consistent behaviours across all channels.
By dedicating the time to practical skill-building rather than broad add-on topics, the program remains efficient, hands-on and excellent value for public sector teams wanting capability uplift without unnecessary hours.