We all know the type. We’ll call him Bob for the sake of this post (for the record, I happen to love the Bobs I work with. This is in no way a knock on the Bobs of the world).
Bob likes to do things the way they have always been done. Why? Because it’s comfortable, familiar, and doesn’t require much extra effort. Bob doesn’t really care if its not the most efficient way or what kind of experience it generates for the customer. Bob would prefer to go about his day the way he sees fit and not rock the boat. Bob also manages front-line employees. Bob’s employees are a busy bunch, reacting to customer needs all day long.
Because Bob’s team is one built on a process of reaction, there’s not much time to brainstorm and implement process improvement initiatives. Bob’s employees may be thinking, “This would really be a lot easier if we just did Y instead of X.” But they don’t have the time, knowledge of process or avenue of implementation to drive change. Instead they find an unreliable, shaky work-around that would make any senior level manager go “We really do that?! Are you kidding me?” They have to. Their environment makes them. Bob is driven by his metrics (frequent culprits: call handle time, service level, fulfillment time, etc.) which in turn drives front-line employee behavior. Ultimately, Bob’s situation is the perfect storm of change resistance: bad metrics, lack of time (or interest), and lack of access to a process that makes change easy for Bob. Side note: front-line employees are a generally a severely underutilized resource for input in strategic decision making, but more on that in another post that has yet to be written.
Based on your evaluation of the customer experience, you’ve found somethings that you want Bob and his team to do differently. But as I described above, Bob is a challenging person to work with and is skeptical of you and your CX change initiatives. Here are some things to think about when trying to get Bob on board…
Start with the positive.
Bob and his team hear from cranky customers all day long. They’re working as quickly as they can to put out fires one after another. Guess what they don’t want to hear about from you? Exactly, more things that they are doing wrong. You can dictate what they should be fixing all day long, but it’s not going to get you very far. Start with gathering some positive feedback on the team. Look at their metrics. What are they doing right? What customer experience wins have they had recently? Share them with everyone. Let people know when someone on Bob’s team went above and beyond for a customer. You need to develop a positive rapport with Bob and his team. Let them know that you’re on their side. Consistency is key here as well. The more you consistently share positive feedback, the more engaged the team will become. And the more consistent you are, the more you establish yourself as a trusted and reliable partner to this team. One way to do this, is to send out positive customer survey comments to the entire team at set intervals, especially ones that call out the efforts of an individual employee. It feels great to be recognized like that. If you don’t have a survey program implemented, try listening to customer calls and highlighting a specific positive experience. Or if you don’t have access to customer calls, seek Bob’s help in choosing a win to share with everyone on regular basis. He will probably be happy to help share the success of his team members.
Pave the way for change.
Once you’ve established a positive vibe, think about how your organization manages change and process improvement (you may need to be the one that creates a better framework, but regardless, its important that you know how you can accomplish change in your company). You may have a particular problem with this team that you are dying to fix, but try to come up with the top few problems that would make a big impact to the customer experience. Next, I recommend hosting an informal focus group, or just some individual discussions with Bob and his team members to identify the biggest problems they see with customers. Most likely, something they mention will align with something on your list from your customer feedback. Choose that thing! They will be most eager to fix something that they came up with as a top priority. Next, to really get them fully engaged and confident that they can implement this change, you should map out the process for making that happen. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but outline the steps that all involved parties will need to take to reach the goal. You’ll need to prove to Bob that things CAN be fixed and that it will make his job easier and get him and his team more of the positive feedback. The solution will become more tangible in Bob’s eyes and this map will also be your accountability guideline throughout the process.
Hold their hand.
Before you can tell them what to change and have them run with it, you’ll need to guide them through it, especially if the change process is brand new. Be Bob’s accountability buddy. Hold weekly progress meetings. Dates dates dates. Make sure there are dates assigned to each step, dates that were agreed upon by you and Bob. Be the one to proactively engage the participation of other functional areas when necessary. In my experience, being a CX manager is a lot more than reporting on customer experience metrics. You have to be a champion of change.
Measure and celebrate.
The last piece is very important for driving your customer experience program forward and keeping people engaged. This. Is. Huge. You have to have visible, positive results that can be shared and celebrated. If something is implemented and then forgotten, you aren’t building up your following. People aren’t going to drink your customer experience kool-aid if you don’t prove and celebrate success. Shout it loud and proud and let Bob and his team join in. Hopefully the success of this accomplishment will inspire the adoption of future changes and get you and Bob in the same corner.
