So, you finally got your boss (and your boss’ boss) to sign off on your CX initiative. As your organization’s CX leader, you now have another challenge: Driving adoption among non-CX employees whose jobs will be impacted by your changes.
How you promote employee adoption will depend on your organizational structure and culture as well as the type and scope of changes you’re implementing. The following five tips will help you build a framework for a more successful CX adoption strategy:
Understand the obstacles. One of the very first things you need to do to promote CX is to understand what will change, who will be affected, how it will impact them, and how they will feel about it. Then you can anticipate and prepare for any challenges that might arise. It’s also important to note that some unforeseen obstacles will probably pop up. While you won’t know what they are, you can plan for the time they’ll take.
Give them reasons to believe in CX. “Because I said so” is the most frustrating phrase in the English language. If you want to get employees onboard with CX, explain why you’re making the change. Share how it will benefit the employees as well as the customers and the organization.
Lean on your CX champion. Often, there’s someone in company leadership who’s excited about CX. This person can help you build enthusiasm and momentum, and their opinion matters. Enlist their help to get employees excited about CX too.
Establish a shared CX vocabulary. It’s hard to get everyone to pull together if they can’t communicate clearly. Make this easier for teams by establishing a shared, customer-first language that they can use to talk about CX.
Listen. In the CX world, employees can also be customers. So go out and get some employee feedback on how the CX plan might work (or is working). Talk to team leaders and individual employees; bring a sense of empathy and curiosity to the conversation. You will probably find some helpful insights on what and how to improve.
Fostering enthusiasm for any change can be difficult. But when employees understand the reasons and benefits behind CX, they’ll be more likely to adopt new tools and techniques. We CX professionals can do our part by showing empathy as well as excitement about new initiatives.
Above all, we need to listen to fellow employees and treat them with respect and consideration. Remember, engaged and happy employees are the backbone of a great customer experience!
|