For CX, Where is not as important as What and Why
Where a CX function is located within a company is a frequent discussion topic among CXers. I’ve been thinking about this recently and, while obviously each company is unique and every situation different, it occurs to me that where a CX function resides isn’t nearly as important as is what it’s chartered to do.
But if I could get all Simon Sinek-y here, naturally the greater question still, is the Why. Let’s look at the charter of what your CX organization should be in the first place, then we can start to look at what difference it may make as to where it’s located. The why should drive the what, and therefore, the where will really just be a slight tweaking and refinement of range of influence. […]
Quantitative versus Qualitative
I just got off the phone with a colleague and we were having a conversation about data. He brought up some good questions and points and so I figured I’d jot a few of them down here before they went right out of my head again.
The gist of the discussion was the difference between quantitative and qualitative data. He was having some trouble explaining the difference to his boss. One line of questioning I asked right off the top was, “Why is this a controversy? Why the heck does this even matter? How did this become a topic of conversation?” It’s always useful to get to the bottom of why someone is asking a question so as to better address it in the first place. Plus, this seems more like an academic inquiry rather than something that’ll actually make a huge difference in what they’re doing.
It is, however, pertinent in a discussion like this, because I’ve used the mechanism that quantitative data can tell us where to look, while qualitative data can tell us what to do once we get there. More on that in a moment. […]
It’s the little things
I’ve noticed that, when I write about CX or speak with other CX professionals, I often tend to append my anecdotes about my own experiences with something like, “Well, now, this wasn’t a huge deal, but…” or, “Of course, it’s not the end of the world, but…” I see many other CX leaders do the same thing. I’ve written before about how CXers can be the best and the worst Customers because, while we’re sympathetic to those with whom we interact, being in the business we’re also pretty demanding from those who should know better; we recognize and call missteps out when we see them. […]
Half-measures and full-measures
I used to work out at a gym that had a bothersome, but almost comedic tendency: Whenever a piece of equipment broke down, someone would diligently and swiftly mark it with an “Out of Order” sign. The particular machine would usually sit like that (broken, that is) for weeks on end. Now, part of this is the result of compartmentalized work: The person whose job it was to properly label broken machinery literally is done with his job once that sign is in place…it’s someone else whose responsibility it is to fix it. But you almost got the sense through the entire club that that’s all that was necessary when something went wrong: label it as broken, and move on. […]
