3 Wins for Employee Experience

Episode Transcript
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MC (00:00):
Experience Action.
Let's stop just talking aboutcustomer experience, employee
experience and the experience ofleaders.
Let's turn ideas into action.
Your host, Jeannie Walters, isan award-winning customer
experience expert, internationalkeynote speaker and founder of
Experience Investigators, astrategic consulting firm

(00:20):
helping companies increase salesand customer retention through
elevated customer experiences.
Ready set action.

Jeannie Walters (00:31):
You know what.
You all ask some really greatquestions that make me think, so
I hope that this one makes youthink too.

Listener Question (00:42):
Hi, Jeannie, my question for you is what do
you think are the top threethings that make for a good
quality employee experience?

Jeannie Walters (00:57):
All right, here we go.
So when we talk aboutexperience, we are talking about
all of the experience.
It's not just customers, it'semployees, it's partners, it's
suppliers, it's basicallyeveryone who interacts with our
brand, and so this is such animportant and powerful question,

(01:17):
because employee experienceabsolutely drives success for
customer experience.
We cannot take those two thingsapart.
They are completely connected.
So when we talk about whatmakes a great employee
experience, part of that isreally taking that step back and

(01:38):
thinking about what is it wereally want to do here.
So I'm going to give you threeideas that make a great customer
and employee experience, butwe're focusing on the employees
today, so let's get started withwhy we're doing this.
You know, when we talk aboutemployee experience, it's really

(01:59):
important to mention that thisis not just for human resources
or learning and development.
This is about everyone in theorganization.
This is about a businessstrategy that directly impacts
the customer experience andbottom line results.
When employees feel valued andaligned and empowered, that

(02:21):
energy flows through how theytreat customers, the ideas they
have, the way they feelempowered to really look around
and make real change.
So here are the top threethings I believe help your
employees feel more empowered todeliver on that customer
experience and to have a greatexperience themselves.

(02:43):
So number one probably won'tsurprise you if you've listened
for a while.
Number one is purpose-drivenculture, which is grounded in a
clear mission.
Now employees want more thanjust to be told what to do.
We all have our to-do list, weall have our task list, but
really, if we're just goingthrough the motions, that

(03:06):
doesn't really feel good after awhile.
What we want as humans, we wantmeaning, and so having that
clearly defined customerexperience mission statement
that is socialized andcommunicated throughout your
organization, that really givesemployees something bigger than
themselves to work toward, toaspire to.
When employees understand howtheir daily work connects to the

(03:31):
why of the organization and thewhy of what you deliver for
customers, that's when you seethem more engaged and committed
and, frankly, their eyes lightup.
We talk a lot about it's notjust the products and services
that you sell, it's what yourcustomers do because of those
products and services.
Many of you are creatingincredible experiences just by

(03:57):
selling what you do.
If you are selling a widget,what does that widget do for
your customers?
It might help them achieve agoal.
It might help them feel moreempowered or more energized or
simply prouder of the work thatthey do.
If you're in B2B, you might behelping other organizations
succeed for their customers.

(04:19):
The list goes on and on, butwhen we understand the why, that
makes everything else have moremeaning.
We owe that to our employees.
That's why we always start withmindset.
When we talk about the threebig pillars of customer
experience work being mindset,strategy and discipline we
always start with mindsetbecause that's where we get that

(04:41):
alignment around the mission.
Just as customers align withbrands that align with their
values, employees do the samething.
We want to work at places thatalign with our personal values,
making sure that we can commitbecause we have a personal
connection to it, and one of thebest ways to attract those

(05:01):
people is to have a CX missionstatement that you can use in
your job postings, in yourinterviewing, in your onboarding
to make sure everybodyunderstands this is the why of
our organization on behalf ofour customers.
So make sure, if you have thatCX mission statement, that you
are socializing that throughoutyour organization, letting

(05:22):
everybody know that they play arole in delivering on that
mission.
And if you don't have a CXmission statement yet, what are
you waiting for?
We have all the resources foryou at
experienceinvestigatorscom or,of course, you can invite us in
and we'll help you.
So, number two there is clarityaround success and, specifically

(05:43):
, each employee's role in it.
I have seen so manyorganizations that spend so much
time asking their employees totrack, to report, to make sure
that we are, you know, gettingthat graph out there in the
world.
But when you ask them what doesthat do for the organization?
They can't necessarily answer.

(06:03):
And this is why it's not onlyimportant to have that mindset
and clarify that with a mission,but we want to have a strategy,
we want to have a realdefinition of success that will
help us actually prioritize theright efforts, the right
movements, the right people tomake sure we can deliver on that
.
It's a lot easier to prioritizewhen you know where you're

(06:25):
going.
So employees thrive when theyknow what success looks like,
not just for the customer or theemployee, but for the team, for
the company, for the entireorganization.
And we wanna make sure that weare not delivering inconsistent
customer experiences because wehave inconsistent or unclear

(06:46):
internal expectations for ouremployees.
Employees need to know what itmeans to deliver a great
experience.
They need to know what are theyheld accountable for and there
needs to be a universallyunderstood alignment around the
definition of success.
We do that with a CX successstatement or a more robust CX

(07:08):
success blueprint, and reallythat's about defining where are
we trying to go, how are wegoing to get there and what are
the most important steps.
That way people can see howthey fit into that bigger
picture.
And then we also, of course,for the third piece.
Here we need empowerment.
Empowerment through support,tools, trust.

(07:29):
We have to make sure that ouremployees know that we trust
them to make the right decisionbecause we know they have the
tools to do that.
If we don't have a CX missionstatement, if we don't have a
strategy, then we're askingevery single employee to
basically make a judgment call,and then they could get in
trouble if they make the wrongjudgment call.

(07:50):
What does that mean?
It means we have to have auniversal way of looking at the
world, and so that's why we cansay this is our North Star.
Use the CX mission statement tomake decisions, to feel
empowered.
Sometimes you have to decidehow can we deliver for the
customer in a way that lives upto our mission.

(08:10):
Sometimes you have to also maketrade-offs in your strategy.
We can't always innovate allthe time if we have customers
who are unhappy with what we'reoffering today.
We have to prioritize based onwhere we wanna go and what
success looks like.
So if we give them the tools,if we give them the training and

(08:32):
support and coaching that theyneed in order to deliver, that
they will feel more and moreempowered.
And they will not only feelempowered to serve the customer
in the right way and to serveinternal customers the right way
, because that has an impact onthe customer experience, but
also to see when things maybearen't working the way they
should and make suggestions andfix things that are broken and

(08:56):
pick up that piece of trash inthe parking lot because they
know that does not align withwho they want to be.
This is where we get into thediscipline of the day-to-day
work.
If we can provide the righttools, the right training, the
right support, the rightcoaching, then we can move into
a world where we are truly acustomer-centric organization.

(09:20):
We are thinking about thecustomer and the employee at
every step of the journey.
If we can have that alignmentaround the mindset, strategy and
discipline, if we can rewardpeople for doing the right thing
, if we can help them to findsuccess, that's what really
creates a great employeeexperience.

(09:41):
Now, yes, the perks, thebenefits, the pay all of that
has to do with the employeeexperience, and I don't want to
act like it doesn't.
What I'm saying is those aretable stakes, but what we want
to do is elevate.
We want to elevate the employeeexperience.
We want every single employeeto understand that customer
experience is everyone'sbusiness, no matter their title

(10:04):
or their role, and when theydeliver on behalf of that
customer experience, amazingthings happen.
The meaning is connected and Idon't think there's anything
humans want more than that.
So, if you are curious, how arewe doing here?
I would encourage you, thinkabout a cultural audit.

(10:26):
Look around, ask yourselves ifI asked a few people what is our
customer experience mission,would they all say the same
thing.
If you don't have a definedstrategy and goals, where are
you going?
And if you have not empoweredother employees with the right
tools, the right training, allof that, then it might be time

(10:48):
to revisit.
What are we saying is importanthere?
Because it's not about tasks,it's about accomplishments, it's
about results.
So I encourage you to thinkabout is our employee experience
living up to the same mission,the same ideals, the same values
that we want for our customerexperience?
And if there's misalignmentthere, you have some work to do.

(11:11):
We have a course all about acustomer experience culture.
You can visit that on your ownor you can join our membership
to have access to on-demandcourses, just like that.
I would encourage you to lookat cximembershipcom to see if
that could help you build anincredible employee experience

(11:33):
and the resulting great customerexperience as well.
A thriving employee experiencedoesn't happen by accident, just
like we talk about.
We need to be proactive andintentional, we have to design,
we have to make sure we'relistening to our employees.
All the best practices aroundcustomer experience we can apply
to employee experience.
So if you're not sure where tostart, another idea, check out

(11:57):
an employee journey map.
You can actually map what isthe experience like and find
those places to look where youcan improve.
This is such a great question.
We have resources for you atexperienceinvestigatorscom and,
of course, I want your follow-upquestions.
What did this lead you to thinkabout?
Ask me at askjeannievip andmaybe your question will be on

(12:22):
the Experience Action Podcast.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
I can't wait to talk to youagain soon.
To learn more about ourstrategic approach to
experience, check out freeresources at
experienceinvestigatorscom whereyou can sign up for our
newsletter, our Year of CXprogram and more, and please

(12:44):
follow me, Jeannie Walters, onLinkedIn.

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