This time we feature a nice short video from the CX Rockstar James Dodkins.
A quick google search on ‘Silo working’ reveals 37.1 Million finds and this is not a new topic. Hammer and Champy were not the first to raise the issue in 1993, but they were early advocates of sweeping away that silo thinking in ‘Reengineering the Corporation’ with their cry of ‘Don’t Automate, Obliterate!’
The Silo Mentality as defined by the Business Dictionary is a mindset present when certain departments or sectors do not wish to share information with others in the same company. This type of mentality will reduce efficiency in the overall operation, reduce morale, and may contribute to the demise of a productive company culture.
Do you want to embrace advanced Customer Centric thinking and become Outside-In?
Executives are struggling. There is a collective fear of the Kodak Moment, where previously established businesses evaporate like the morning mist. This fear is driven by the unsettling realization that the Digital Customer is literally changing everything, and if your business relies on outdated techniques and approaches (you know who you are) then you will indeed experience a rather unpleasant surprise.
Executives are searching. Then there is the good news that online conferences, seminars, and workshops are full to overflowing with questful people looking for the answer. That’s good, however, 90% of what they hear and see is simply putting ‘lipstick on a pig’. It is the same old same old adopting fancy language and claiming salvation -if you would just follow the script and suspend your fear, uncertainty and doubt.
The new Kodak Moment is when you realize that Customer Needs have shifted so significantly from your products and services that it is too late to change
Executives are frustrated. The foolhardy keep hoping that doing the same thing faster will produce a different result. Isn’t that the definition of insanity? Meanwhile inexperienced youngbloods advocate revolution and change, without fully comprehending how the future is actually, pragmatically going to work. But there might be hope for some.
Executives (increasingly) are getting it. There are some refreshing conversations driven by leaders who are guiding their people, customers and shareholders to higher ground and safety. They are building new capability and bringing a far sight vision into today’s reality.
The challenge? How do you engage with the enlightened and get with the survivors, nay the thrivers, for the next decade? Well, not surprisingly that is what many of my talks and work with global leading companies are all about. So when one of the most successful CEO’s challenged me to write something that would light the fire of those still gripped by fear I stepped up. Watch the two minute video and download the FREE book , and then join us on the journey.
Do you feel like you are being drowned by jargon? Grammarly recently researched the most popular phrases used in the work context and the list includes these gems…
Low Hanging Fruit
Leverage (do you leverage leverage?)
Open the Kimono (that is creepy, sexist and racist all at the same time!)
Giving 110% (which of course you can’t)
Learnings (what were yours last year?)
Out of Pocket (who’s pocket were you in and why?!)
Drink the Kool-Aid
Bio break (too much information)
You can review the full article and more of the same here.
Here is a great article on the same theme, published in New York’s ‘Vulture’ highlighting just one office workers experience:
Part Two. In Part One we reviewed how poor metrics drive bad behaviours. Lets dig deeper with a typical scenario…
And if you think this experience is unusual grab a coffee and google ‘poor customer experiences’.
Leadership Delusion
The leadership team can talk until they are blue in the face about customer centricity but if they insist on metrics designed for running factories everyone suffers. Here’s another typical conversation:
In all three instances the customer did not achieve a Successful Outcome. In fact there is now more effort required by the customer, and also more cost and time to be incurred for the organisation if the customer does follow through. If the customer doesn’t bother that is more potential revenue lost.
So how does this organisation look to the browsing customer? Pretty awful to say the least.
We know why this is so. Organisations like this are focused on measuring Outputs, rather than measures of Successful Customer Outcomes. If it is so obvious why is it so many persist in this Failure-Demand cycle?
Because they are measuring the wrong things. And guess what? Yes, they will have automated those measurements and put them on fancy management dashboards so everyone can feel happy. Except the customer of course. But what does that matter?
In Part Three – a big reveal. A couple of techniques that will help shape Successful Customer Outcomes brought to you from companies like Amazon, Zara, Zappos and Emirates.
Now, please remember if you pay people to do dumb stuff they will get really smart at it.
Join our upcoming Coaching and Accreditation sessions online, LIVE & Interactive
Do you want to embrace advanced Customer Centric thinking and become Outside-In?
In one minute you have the distilled strategy from the man who has created an empire with a very simple philosophy.
The Richest Guy on the Planet tells us how to do it
We live, eat and breathe this stuff. Come and learn how to do it for you and your organization. We can’t promise you will become another Jeff but you will change to healthier Obsessions!
Join our upcoming Coaching and Accreditation sessions online, LIVE & Interactive
Yesterday someone asked me why was I publishing all the FREE material?
Well, in my line of work I am so often asked ‘who is the best person to watch on youtube about y?’ and of course each of us has our go-to person or people that we always mention. Terrific speakers and storytellers alike but I wanted to go one step further and collate some favourites. But then can it just be my opinion (as good as that could be?). No.
So I have scoured the web for the organisations who take time to run Awards programs and pass on that information for broader consumption. You could of course just go on Youtube and search for hours (and days) but these Tiptop Influencer lists make short work of that.
Enjoy.
Each day this week we will feature TipTop Influencers from different walks of life and business. I would be interested in knowing what and who your favourites are!
Do you want to embrace advanced Customer Centric thinking and become Outside-In?
I’m a real sucker for great new tips, techniques, tools, shortcuts, “hacks” and other quick ways of getting better results from our processes and customer experiences.
But
the truth is that the big wins don’t come from tips or tricks.
They
come from getting the
fundamentals right. Again and again.
Fundamentals
like really understanding your customers (internal and external) so your
products and services are what they need (not just what you think they want).
Fundamentals like having understanding the successful customer outcomes before you ever meet or work with them, so your processes and experiences build credibility and trust quickly.
Fundamentals like follow-up and nurturing your relationships so they are top of the priorities when your customers need to change things.
Fundamentals like being able to “meet” face to face, on the phone, or via a webinar or web page (and by “meet”, I mean help a customer get the best from their experiences and processes, understand their problems, the potential solutions, and decide how to change things to meet ever-changing needs).
Master the fundamentals and the little tips and tricks will improve your results even further.
Get
the fundamentals wrong and all the tips, tricks or clever techniques in the
world won’t hurt.
–
Steve
PS
If you’d like to get my very best training, insights and personal support to
help you align your processes and experiences for all your customers (internal
and external), why not join me for my new ONLINE training program? Click here for more details.
Jeff Bezos encourages us to become Customer Obsessed (see video snippet) however Netflix’s journey to CX Obsession is less well known.
Here is an extract from a great article (link below):
From Gibson Biddle, former VP at Netflix and CPO at Chegg In 2005, as I joined Netflix as VP of Product, I asked Reed Hastings, the CEO, what he hoped his legacy would be. His answer: “Consumer science.” He explained, “Leaders like Steve Jobs have a sense of style and what customers seek, but I don’t. We need consumer science to get there.”
Gibson Biddle, Former VP at Netflix
Reed’s aspiration was that the Netflix team would discover what delights customers through the scientific process. Forming hypotheses through existing data, qualitative, and surveys, and then A/B testing these ideas to see what works. His vision was that product leaders at Netflix would develop remarkable consumer insight, fueled by results and learning from thousands of experiments.
During my time at Netflix, and later at my next startup, Chegg, I learned to move from customer focus to customer obsession. In doing so embraced Reed’s notion of consumer science. Here’s how I think about the transition:
The full article here is great testimony to moving away from the soft and fluffy version of Customer Experience. Let’s get more scientific about Customer Experience.
