Jeannie Walters: 0:00

We often assume that customer experience leadership has to start in the C-suite at the very top. But it usually starts somewhere in the middle, with a CX leader just like you.

Listener Question: 0:13

Hi Jeannie. I work in customer experience, but I'm not in the C-suite. Sometimes it feels like I can see what needs to change, but I don't have the authority to make it happen. How do you lead customer experience when you're not the one at the top? I've heard you say we should lead, but I'm not sure where to start. What do you recommend?

Jeannie Walters: 0:35

How do you lead when you're not technically the leader? When you're not the one with the power over expenses, when you're not the one who is making the decisions about where to invest and what your strategy should be. I get this question a lot because, as you know, I'm passionate about customer experience being important enough to be in a place of leadership. And that means all of us who care about customer experience, we have to lead from wherever we are. So what do I actually mean by that? Here's how I like to break it down. First of all, you don't need the title to lead. And I think that's very important. Whatever your title is, you can be seen as a leader. Now, you might not be the leader on paper today, but if you're not thinking about how to lead, then you're never going to achieve that goal, if that is one of your goals, of getting that title. What we really do when we're leading is influence. We influence people's behavior, we influence the actions we take, we influence priorities, we influence where to invest, we influence where we spend. And essentially, when that relates well to people, when people feel good about how they're being influenced, that's because it's relevant to them. We are making it a win for them. And so what I see a lot in customer experience work is that people are walking around really saying that we need to improve customer experience, we need to make this better for the customers. But we do that in a way by sharing customer complaints, by sharing things like net promoter score. And it's abstract. And it doesn't actually influence the behavior we want, the actions we need to do, the outcomes that we're trying to drive, because it's too abstract for people to really understand. They don't connect the dots between what you're saying and their behavior, their actions, their role to play. So if we walk around saying we need to improve customer experience from wherever we sit in the organization, that is simply too abstract. And here's the thing about being too vague or abstract executives don't fund abstract. Organizations don't like abstract. There's too much risk with abstract. So instead of saying something like, we need to improve the onboarding process because customers are telling us it's confusing, that doesn't sound like a priority. That sounds like something that would be nice to do, but hey, they're getting through there somehow now. We may not have to fix it right away. But if you translate that into language and influence that your executives care about, that your other leaders care about, then it becomes more important to them, both personally and it becomes more relevant for their success. So saying something like call volume is way up. We know that our cost of service is going to be higher this month. Customers are going to be on hold longer this month. And that's because the onboarding process is still confusing people. We are having a record number of complaints because they don't get the process. We are risking losing customers from the very beginning who decide to take advantage of the 48-hour cancellation policy simply because onboarding is too confusing. Do you see the difference? When we talk about results and outcomes, that's leadership. So we need to tie the experience, investments, and efforts that we think are important to things like revenue, cost, risk, retention. That's essentially how we lead without that authority. And the other thing is when you are in certain positions in an organization, you can talk all day long about things like organizational transformation or operationalizing customer experience throughout the organization. And that sounds great. But if you are not in a position to really influence that, I encourage you to think a little smaller. So instead of thinking about transformation, aim for points of traction. Aim for points of micro movements that will get you the results that you want. So pick one point of friction that you know has a direct impact on your organizational outcomes. A very simple place to start is looking at conversion digitally. Can you influence a conversion point to help somebody get through the process, get to the next step of the journey, get to the place where they're actually giving you their credit card. Look for places that have real business impact that maybe are not working as well as they could that you could influence. Build your business case around that. Look for a visible win and then measure it. Make sure you know how you're measuring success, and then share it, communicate it, celebrate it, recognize it, reward the people involved. This is how you start getting momentum is with these quick wins that everybody agrees is good for the organization, not just for the CX team or for the customer, even. Now, when we are leading, we have certain challenges that we have to get around, right? So we have to lead by sometimes managing across an organization and managing up. So that means that instead of just worrying about ourselves and our team that we might be managing, we want to look across and realize who are the leaders who could help me with the influence I need to gain, with the momentum I'm trying to build. Then we want to build those relationships and make sure that they understand we can help them look like superstars and we can also help them make a strong business case and prove their value by delivering these exceptional outcomes for the organization. This is what we have to do in order to really deliver for customer experience because it is a team sport. Now, we don't just want to bring problems every time. We don't just want to talk about customer complaints. When that happens, we become the messenger of bad news. And nobody wants to hear that. So instead of taking that approach, every single thing that you want to address with your boss, with cross-functional leaders, think about what is in it for them when we fix this problem and frame it that way. Frame it around those outcomes. Now, when we talk about customer experience, it is so easy to get lost in the weeds of this is what we should be doing for customers, this is how we need to gather the feedback, here's how we need to gather insights. What I'm encouraging you to do is think about leadership differently. And I would encourage you to check out my new book, which is coming out soon, called Experience is Everything, because in that book, I really talk about the foundations of this. How do you get alignment around how you're thinking about this, how you're approaching this, and the day-to-day efforts we need to prioritize in the work that we do. So as you think about your leadership journey, I encourage you to think about what are you doing for your customers? What are you doing for your own professional development and your own career journey? And how is that delivering for your organizational goals? If you can focus on those outcomes, it will help you prioritize the right things, it will help you be seen as a leader, and it will help you have more things to celebrate and communicate and socialize about why this is so important and why it is a win-win for everybody. So I hope that helps. All of you out there are leaders. I really believe this. And so if you're listening to this right now, you are absolutely a leader because only leaders would spend their time listening to customer experience podcasts to make sure that they are staying ahead, making sure that they're tapped into the challenges and the solutions that other people have in the space, making sure that you are constantly thinking about not just what is in this for our customer, but what is this, what is in it for our organization. So I encourage you to keep thinking that way, keep learning, keep showing up, and keep communicating. And you will be recognized as the leader that I know you are. Great question. Don't forget, you can always send them in yourself. Record a question for me at askjeannie.vip. And I would love to get a rating or review from you for this podcast. I've talked to a lot of you in the last couple of weeks in person, and I hear from you in person. Oh my gosh, I listen to your podcast all the time. That's wonderful. What I would love for you to do is leave us a rating or review because that helps other people just like you find the podcast that hopefully you find valuable. If you do that, send me a little email, let me know, and I will make sure to thank you as well. Thank you so much for all that you do, and thank you for your leadership. It really, really matters. See you next time. Thanks for listening to Experience Action brought to you by Experienced Investigators. If you're ready to turn insights into action, join our CXI membership. That's our community for customer experienced investigators just like you. It's where CX leaders get the tools, support, and inspiration to move from ideas to truth in past. And don't miss my new book, Experience Is Everything: Making Every Moment Count in The Age of Customer Expectations. It's available now for pre order. Learn more and reserve your copy at experience investigators.com. Until next time, keep asking questions, keep improving, and keep leading with Experience.