Training Customers in Statistics Finland Developing Ambassadors of Stastics Jaakko Ranta, 22 August 2015, by courtesy of Petteri Baer Study visit of the State Statistical Service of Ukraine

30 years of customer training － The need for providing training services to adult external users was realized － The complexity of statistical information wasn’t taught anywhere － The gap between statistics as a science doesn’t include statistical tabulation － The era of customer training in Statistics Finland has turned out to be a success story: win-win both to trainees and trainers. 22 September 20152

Ambassador Model Many years’ experience as the manager of the customer service inspired Petteri Baer to formulate the six ”wins” of customer training of statistics: － All organizations need good publicity - Win number 1 － All decision makers need facts and evidence - Win number 2 － Direct feedback builds bridges between users and producers of statistical information – Win number 3 － The need to overcome introvert attitudes – Win number 4 － Good presentation skills is a key to success – Win number 5 － Revenues from training services cover the costs and assist funding new development – Win number 6 22 September 20153

Win 1: All organizations need good publicity － Statistical training provides a deeper insight for users of statistical information － Participants of statistical training courses usually obtain a role as information sources and, possibly, opinion leaders on statistics in their own constituencies and organizations － In order to defend and increase the amount of resources for statistical production and development of statistical services, statistical agencies need to have an increasing number of users and friends. 22 September 20154

Win 2: All decision makers need facts and evidence － Reliable and comparable statistical information has become one of the infrastructural cornerstones of any developed society. A great variety of social phenomena, environment, and well-being cannot be monitored or even discussed without access to relevant statistical data. － Trustworthy statistical information is one of the key preconditions for a well working democratic society. － Statistical training provides good tools for coping better in all sorts of decision making. 22 September 20155

Win 3: Direct feedback builds bridges between users and producers of statistical information － In a training situation, questions and answers are a normal element of the learning process. When a statistical expert provides his or her audience with background information about statistical topics, questions arise, answers provoke additional questions, the entire interactive situation generates discussions, and different viewpoints are exchanged. － Summarized feedback from questionnaires individual course participants have filled in after each training course also provide valuable first-hand information, assisting statistical agencies to develop their services. 22 September 20156

Win 4: The need to overcome introvert attitudes － Training courses for external users have in Statistics Finland shown to be a very good way to invite partly reluctant statistical experts to gain additional experience in serving as presenters in different situations － The number of good presenters has grown substantially through this kind of accumulated practical training experience. 22 September 20157

Win 5: Good presentation skills is a key to success － In a globalizing world, professional statisticians need good presentation skills more than ever － The systematic training activities for external users of statistical information serve as an internal training structure, assisting key experts and staff members of the statistical agency to improve their presentation skills. 22 September 20158

Win 6: Revenues from training services cover the costs and assist funding new development － Revenues from providing chargeable training services help to cover training costs － Revenues can support accumulating financial resources for developing new statistical services － The annual revenues derived from the chargeable training activities today sum up to EUR This amount gives us an additional financial capacity to employ full time staff members on an annual basis. 22 September 20159

Types of courses － Specific to a topic of statistics e.g. population, labour etc. － Statistical literacy － Presenting and illustrating statistical information － Tools for retreiving and processing statistical data － Statistical methods － European Statistical Training Program (ESTP) –Two or three courses annually in Finland 22 September