Knowing what you don’t know is a great starting point
>> We start out not knowing what we don’t know
>> We then get a bit better and we know what we don’t know
>> It gets better, we then know what we know
>> And ultimately, we then don’t know what we know
Think about when you were learning to drive…
As kids traveling with Mum and Dad, they drive the car and we get there (eventually)
We then get to teenage and start to drive that same car – OMG – the gas pedal, the watching, friggin hell the other road users, the SPEED, the signals!
And then we settle into it, it starts to become second nature, until
We do the Route 66 road trip, enjoy the bars, the people, however we don’t remember much but arrived safe and well because there was no blood on the hood!
So what? The CEMMethod feels the same!!
And yes it is a helluva ride, but you will get there. It’s proven.
Increasingly enterprises are understanding the need to align everything they do with delivering Successful Customer Outcomes. Disney refers to this as “True North” alignment.
As the science of delivering True North develops organizations are upskilling their leaders to mentor all employees, from the lunchroom to the boardroom.
In the vanguard of these new professionals are the trainers, coaches and mentors using proven tried and tested approaches from the world leading CX companies such as Zappos, Amazon, Emirates and Zara.
When you are tasked with delivering business change, whether that is through the Customer Experience or Process Transformation using the latest techniques (rather than outdated industrial age) will guide you to immediate success.
All BPG Coaches and mentors are qualified to implement the CEMMethod customised to the industry and challenges you face and with the objective of aligning everything to delivering Successful Customer Outcomes.
You can review some of the latest folks to become licensed to lead these CX and Process Transformations – link with them below and dig deeper.
Upcoming sessions in Johannesburg, Dubai, Washington DC, Denver, Sydney, London, Lake Como (Italy), Montreal, Brussels – see the latest dates and venues
Upcoming sessions in Johannesburg, Dubai, Washington DC, Denver, Sydney, London, Lake Como (Italy), Montreal, Brussels – see the latest dates and venues
I was deeply honoured by the PEX community at the annual conference in Florida last month and received the Global Community 2018 Award. Needless to say (but I will) this is as much down to you guys and your great transformational work, so I graciously excepted the Award on your behalf. Thank you so much :
The single biggest piece of advice I give to senior executives setting out on the Customer Experience journey is to STOP. Yes seriously, the vast majority of CX efforts are completely misaligned.
CX Efforts Misaligned
Don’t get me wrong the intentions are good. Unfortunately, it goes something like this:
Top Team are listening and decide they need to get with this customer centricity/Outside-In/working backwards thinking.
Senior Management makes noises that the customer is THE thing the business must focus on.
The Executive engage the marketing and sales guys to get with it and start pushing the message.
Functional leaders hear the noise and bluster. They start using the language, whilst thinking this is just more fluff and nonsense. They make the right noises for now but keep their heads down, because they know this will go the same way as so many other ‘strategic initiatives’.
Fundamentally functional heads carry on working with the out of date reward system that promotes sub-optimal industrial age thinking and practice.
The Executive see the usual inertia, results not coming through, apathy and indifference and decide their business isn’t really an Amazon.
Top Team then reverts to just getting better at what we are doing, then when someone in ‘our industry’ proves it we will follow.
Functional leaders breathe a sigh of relief and invest even more in industrial age systems and training. The illusion of doing something, in this case, is actually worse than doing nothing.
The businesses failure is noted by customers who move to those who do understand and deliver Customer Experience success.
The company becomes another footnote in the history books. Talked about at business schools and picked apart because of the failure to get the new Outside-In customer-centric mindset.
Making Customer Experience Successful everywhere all the time
This isn’t rocket science (unless you are NASA of course). Understanding that the structures and ways of working from the industrial age were NEVER designed to be customer-centric. They were established to make things faster by optimizing production lines.
And oh, don’t think because you are not in manufacturing you are OK. It is likely your complete ways of working will be making everything look like production management systems, with talk of leaning out, waste reduction, standardization, efficiency, productivity. Sound familiar?
Understanding this Customer Experience misalignment is fundamental.
I encourage doing three things before re-joining the CX road-march:
Understand how big the gap is between what you are doing and what Successful Customer Outcomes you need to be delivering.
Audit the current key performance indicators.
Are they mostly about outputs?
Usually, the balance will be 80% output metrics (like calls answered, Average Handle Times, Abandoned Rates, Projects completed on time to budget etc.).
Meanwhile, the really important measures that tell you a Successful Customer Outcome is being achieved will only be a small proportion.
What you measure is what you get and no amount of Customer Experience drum banging will work unless those measures of Outcomes become the most important.
Create an awareness of what real CX success is all about.
This isn’t just the stories. It is about the actual things on the ground that need to change. The WHY and the HOW go hand in hand. Often times upskilling a group of key players at all levels to make them Ambassadors for the Customer achieves way more than massive corporate investment in branding and image.
In conclusion, Customer Experience cannot be treated just like another corporate initiative. To achieve success requires a significant shift in mindsets, and when that is achieved the realignment of the Enterprise to Outside-In can really begin.
Google tells us that Customer Experience is a significant and trending topic, the graph below ably demonstrates that point. (See google trends)
However, given all the noise what are THE most popular articles on the theme?
Here we present the seven most popular of the last 12 months.
Read and share J
7th: Putting customer experience at the heart of next-generation operating models
McKinsey
This one for March 2017 is McK’s second in the top seven this time…
“Digital is reshaping customer experience in almost every sector. Digital first attackers are entering markets with radically new offers, disrupting the ways that companies and customers interact and setting a high bar for simplicity, personalization, and interactivity.”
Teaching MBA courses in international business, global competitive strategies, international market research, and capstone courses in strategic planning and market research gives Louis the opportunity to research mega trends. Add to his portfolio writing for Forbes establishes his credentials in the space of customer transformation. In this article, he reflects on the coming ‘Internet of Things’ everywhere, and the impact on business and customers.
“87% of retailers will deploy mobile point-of-sale (MPOS) devices by 2021, enabling them to scan and accept credit or debit payments anywhere in the store…”
5th: The expanding role of design in creating an end-to-end customer experience
McKinsey
The second of McK’s into the top seven this time. Lines between products, services, and user environments are blurring. The ability to craft an integrated customer experience will open enormous opportunities to build new businesses.
“As digitization drives more and faster disruptions—and as customers increasingly desire the immediacy, personalization, and convenience of dealing with digital-marketing leaders—the business landscape is undergoing an upheaval.”
4th: The Employee Experience Is the Future Of Work
Jeanne Meister
Working at Future Workplace, (an HR Advisory and Research firm) Jeanne casts her glow over the changes to the employee role within business today. She is also the co-author of The Future Workplace Experience: 10 Rules For Mastering Disruption in Recruiting and Engaging Employees:
“Today, almost every company is undergoing a digital transformation. Cloud and mobile computing, artificial intelligence, and increasing automation have created the potential to transform nearly every aspect of a business.”
3rd: United Airlines Changes Its Policy On Displacing Customers
Richard Gonzales
Correspondent, San Francisco, National Desk NPR. With an eclectic style ranging across diverse topics such as medical marijuana, gay marriage, drive-by shootings, the U.S. Ninth Circuit, the California State Supreme Court and any other legal, political, or social development he understands CX first hand. Here we see a well-accounted discussion of, yes again, United Airline’s trials and tribulations.
“United Airlines crew members will no longer be able to bump a passenger who is already seated in one of the airline’s planes…”
2nd: How to Gamify your Customer Experience and Win…
Mike Dillard
Proudly proclaiming himself as a disrupter and innovator Mike’s perspective on Customer Experience is refreshing and unique in a world of sameness. He writes with an entertaining AND well thought out logic.
“I honestly can’t think of a more difficult industry to get into than candles. You have thousands of manufacturers who are all selling the same thing… A piece of wax with a string in the middle and the only way to differentiate yourself is by changing your label, along with the size, color, and smell of that wax.”
1st: Delivering exceptional customer experiences – an art and science
Luke Shave
Luke works on the Retail partner side of Microsoft and benefits from first-hand experience of the changes in and around Customer Experience.
“Interacting effectively with customers has traditionally been a form of art, especially in face-to-face settings. But now that customers are increasingly shopping on social media, mobile apps, and websites, a bit of science can help win their loyalty. How can retailers combine customer service expertize with advanced technology to create exceptional customer experiences?”
Describe your Target – The target is the “area” we are seeking to improve. Most often this would be thought of in terms of a “process” but there is no restriction on how we define the target areas we are working on.
Identify Break Points – For the target area, all of the Break Points that exist need to be identified. They also need to be described well enough that we (and others) can easily recognize them at any time.
Describe your Actions – Describing your actions is the way you clearly identify the steps you could take to eliminate causes of work. By identifying Actions and the number of Break Points each Action will eliminate, the benefit from each Action becomes clear.
Do the Cost and Benefit Assessment – The Cost and Benefit assessment adds several items that are important in helping us build our Cost Reduction Plan. What we need to know is: How Much? How Long? How Beneficial?
Build your Cost Reduction Plan – Using the Cost and Benefit assessment we can now build our Cost Reduction Plan. We do this by choosing which Actions are to be taken, and the order they are taken in.
Let’s explore these Steps in more detail:
Step 1 – Describe your Target Area,
ideally in terms that are understandable to others in your organization. Your Target Area will often be a “process,” as this is one of the most common terms used in describing the work people do.
Step 2 – Identify Break Points.
For the target area, identify each of the Break Points that exist within it, then record them in a descriptive enough way that others (and you if you come back later) will immediately know what you mean.
Note – This may initially present a challenge as it is not something we commonly have done in the past. Persevere and do your best to identify the Break Points in your target area and enough information will be available for you to build your cost reduction plan.
The BP Group compiles a bi monthly update of all things process which gets listed on the blog and syndicated all over. The latest can be Process Performance Update. However one of my close colleagues suggested I should produce the update as a travelog, where ever I am, whatever I am doing – just say it! – so here it is. Depending on your point of view it is either an informative light hearted look at process, or eight minutes of relevant pertinent stuff for business professionals. You choose 😉
In the Process/Performance basket this time we have Videos/new BPM apps/presentation downloads/conference updates
Greetings from Mumbai My travels this last few weeks have included USA, UK, UAE and now India. The team are also hot footing around South Africa, Australia, Kuala Lumpur, Europe and the US through this month.
Not only has it been the significant contrast in weather (snow/cold > sunny/hot) it is the somewhat different approaches being adopted towards Outside In. This week sees me at the India Leadership event hosted by NASSCOM. I will be meeting with the press and continuing to learn about what is making India so successful. My talk will be accessible later, if you want a copy let me know, http://bit.ly/IndiaLeadershipForum
On the subject of talks and videos have you reviewed the latest videos of the key tools and techniques? Here they are (and they are available to download and distribute!)
And now drum roll > have you downloaded the BPM Certifcation app (IOS and Android)?
There are links to resources, videos. events, reviews and much more. It is only version 1 so let us know your thoughts and how we can make it better for the community.
Reint Jan Holterman – 5 steps on the Path to Success with BPM http://lnkd.in/pp4ZWV * And lastly for now have you reviewed the all new classes? new case studies and coaching from been there and done it experienced mentors*.
Review the coaches and their in depth practical hands on wisdom.
Considering training in Enterprise BPM/Outside In?If someone in your organization is considering certification do ask these questions of anyone offering the training:
1. Where have you done this?
2. What credentials can you claim in the community?
3. Who trained you originally in Outside In?
4. When did you start and who have you helped?
5. What references can you provide, at a CEO level for the successes you have achieved?
6. Are any of your people published, and if so what and when?
7. What is the size of your network?
8. Are your trainings and courses accredited, and if so by whom?
9. Are you helping to develop the community? If so how?
PS. Tell your colleagues they owe themselves the best to go with the most experienced, up to date, pragmatic, relevant and immediate training from the BP Group http://www.bpgroup.org
New sessions for wannabe Advanced Masters and Champions
You can now pre register interest for upcoming classes. If you are already a Certified Process Professional review the upcoming Advanced/Champion sessions in New Zealand, UK, USA, South Africa and UAE: http://www.bpgroup.org/cpp-mastersreg-championsreg.html
Register for a class before year end and enter the draw for an iPad3 – one per class!!
** Winners in the iPad3 ** draws from August and September were drawn in London on October 1st. Congratulations to the 11 winners – (listed in the closed area)
** Interesting Resources **
Successful Customer Outcomes Six Sigma on Steroids (keynote presentation)
As the science of delivering 
I was deeply honoured by the PEX community at the annual conference in Florida last month and received the Global Community 2018 Award. Needless to say (but I will) this is as much down to you guys and your great transformational work, so I graciously excepted the Award on your behalf. Thank you so much :
This isn’t rocket science (unless you are NASA of course). Understanding that the structures and ways of working from the industrial age were NEVER designed to be customer-centric. They were established to make things faster by optimizing production lines.
