Explaining the overall task

The Electoral Manager usually has a group of "key staff" - these are the people at the core of the process whose skills and commitment will largely determine whether the process runs smoothly or not. In any large process a lot of people will be involved - even so getting the key people together to run through the overall task and explain where the pressure points are, where the main problems may occur and how resources will be deployed is part of the overall training process. If the key staff jointly have ownership and commitment to the overall process they are more likely to work as a team and support one another during difficult times. Getting in an outside facilitator to assist in this process may help. The programme at see "emx_o007" is for an "Overall Task Briefing" for a United Kingdom (GB) Parliamentary Election - many new staff were involved as a result of internal re-organisation so the opportunity was taken to get the core staff together (about 25 people) and run through the whole process. Some of these would only be involved in particular areas but knowing what the overall process would be gave everyone present a better appreciation of the workload and pressures which would occur. Using computer presentation techniques and video extracts from the previous parliamentary election made the presentation interesting and enjoyable - creating strong teams is easier in this atmosphere.

Cascade Training

This involves the training programme being delivered to senior staff first and then the first staff training the next level and so on - the training cascades down through the various electoral staff. This relies on quality at each stage of the process so that little is lost on each occasion that the knowledge is "passed on". In the Republic of South Africa Elections of 1994 the Presiding Officer at each polling site was responsible for running workshops to train the voting officers working at the polling site. There is a section - Number 12 - in the Handbook see poll workers handbook - south africa setting out guidelines for undertaking this training. These set out clearly the way in which cascade training should work - The same principles can be applied to staff working on voter registration or other repetitive activities.

Briefings and reviews

Regular briefings for key staff throughout the electoral process can also be used as training opportunities particularly if these are carried out on a low key and informal basis. Staff can outline where they are on their particular task or activity and this will often highlight problems which can be overcome by additional training.

Instruction sheets

Much electoral work is routine and fairly simple handouts can be prepared and staff can become effective with very little training. Breaking work down into smaller components makes training more simple and cost effective - it also allows a high volume of routine activities to be dealt with by staff who are trained to a basic level leaving more experienced staff to deal with queries and problems. In the United Kingdom (GB) dealing with absentee voting enquires is a major activity at Parliamentary Elections - the Standard Enquiry Answer Sheet attached - see absentee voting process sheet - united kingdom enables staff to deal with telephone, personal and postal applications - simple to explain and use and cost effective.

One on One Training

A simple way of training staff which applies to any process not just electoral ones - one person with knowledge of the process or topic trains another. In the electoral context the training can be carried out in advance of the electoral event so that when the time comes the new member of staff knows what to do. This can also be used to involve a new employee in several processes for evaluation purposes and then decide which of these best matches the employees skills.

Simulations and Test Processes.

Most elections rely to a greater or lesser degree on automation and the period between elections can be quite lengthy - sometimes 5 years or more for particular types of elections. If there have been significant changes in staff running a simulated or test election (on a reduced scale compared to the overall process) is both a useful training exercise and also a way of identifying any faults or shortcoming in systems or process. Where permanent staff are organising elections every few months this may not be necessary - where a combination of new staff and considerable time between elections occurs a test process will save a great deal of time and worry when the main event comes round.

Videos and Graphics and Manuals.

Briefings for poll workers or count staff will be considerably livened up if some video and graphic material is used. Good quality manuals and illustrations are essential to any training process. There are a variety of sample manuals - see election officials manual - ghana precinct officers manual - usa extract from election judges manual - usa and election commission training workbook - new zealand There can be a tendency to overcomplicate manuals and this both makes training more difficult and may deter people from coming forward to act as poll workers.

On the job training

New recruits whether in permanent or temporary posts may often need no more than on the job training and where this works well they can rapidly progress through the team to a more senior position.

Basic information can be input to an automated voter registration system with very little training if under constant supervision - familiarity with this task will then enable the person concerned to take on more complex work and so on. Where on a polling site there are a large number of poll workers one of these workers can be new to the process providing the experienced staff are aware of this and take the time and trouble to explain clearly to the new poll worker what is involved and closely supervise that poll worker and allocate to him or her the simpler tasks in the first instance. This needs careful planning. Putting a group of new staff together on a polling site is likely to end up in problems.

Basic Customer Care

This applies to electoral processes as to any service industry. Some principles are

• be interested in the customers needs and problems, be polite, be attentive
• train employees in good practice for dealing with telephone enquiries
• process complaints promptly - if the customer feels strongly enough to complain it warrants a polite response
• if the complaint is unfounded explain clearly why and if its is well founded explain what action will be taken to resolve the problem
• do not be afraid to apologise - if a mistake has been made the sooner it is acknowledged the better