Getting Other Leaders On Board with CX

Why do so many customer experience initiatives fail to gain traction? Often, the challenge isn't the strategy itself, but how we build bridges with skeptical leaders.

CX leadership requires empathy, strategy, and communication. Stepping into a CX role means asking colleagues to embrace change, which can feel like added pressure. The most successful CX leaders recognize this challenge and approach it with empathy, connecting the dots between customer satisfaction and departmental goals—whether that’s showing finance how retention boosts revenue or demonstrating to operations how journey improvements reduce costs.

Effective CX leaders also make abstract ideas tangible through tools like journey mapping, customer feedback videos, and direct quotes. These bring the customer experience to life, helping leaders understand how their decisions affect the customer. By inviting participation early, you turn resistance into collaboration.

Customer experience is a commitment, not a department. As your initiatives grow, position yourself as a bridge—helping others see how CX can align with their goals—and watch them adopt customer-focused projects on their own.

Curious about where to focus your CX leadership efforts? Visit cxicompass.com to answer 11 simple questions and receive personalized guidance on your next steps. Your journey to organizational alignment starts with understanding that change happens with people, not to them.

Resources Mentioned:
Experience Investigators Website -- https://experienceinvestigators.com
Ultimate Guide to Customer Journey Maps -- https://experienceinvestigators.com/ultimate-guide-to-customer-journey-maps/
CX Success Statement Workbook -- https://bit.ly/cx-success-workbook
Take the CXI Compass™ assessment -- http://cxicompass.com

Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)

Episode Transcript

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):
Let's talk about the wild and wonderful
world of customer experienceleadership on today's episode of
the Experience Action Podcast.

Listener Question (00:43):
Hey, Jeannie.
This is Shawn checking in fromthe mailroom of Experience
Investigators.
I saw this question come in andthought you could address it on
the podcast.
I recently stepped into a CXleadership role and, let's just
say, not everyone's on board yet.
What advice do you have forgetting other departments to
engage with CX, when they'reused to doing things their own
way?

Jeannie Walters (01:02):
Well, first of all, congratulations on your new
role and stepping into thatleadership position.
That's really exciting and itcan also be a little challenging
.
You are not alone here.
We have worked with literallyhundreds of customer experience
leaders or people who want to becustomer experience leaders,

(01:23):
and sometimes it can feel likeyou're thwarted at every turn.
You're dealing with leaders whosimply don't understand how
their role fits into thisgreater customer experience
strategy.
They don't understand why theymight have to change behavior or
look for different measurementsto understand their success.
You are fighting a little bitof an uphill battle and I want

(01:47):
you to kind of embrace that.
So for all the customerexperience leaders out there, I
want you to realize that you areleading a strategy that is
based in change and humans ingeneral we don't love change.
We would rather just kind ofhave a routine, do our own thing
day after day.
So when somebody comes to usand says I've got a really great

(02:10):
change, our brains kind ofstart pushing back and saying,
oh, I don't like the sound ofthis.
So let's walk through a fewways to start building that
trust with those leaders that weneed to have that
cross-functional support, thatleadership buy-in, which is
absolutely essential for successfor your customer experience

(02:34):
strategy.
Number one start with empathy,and what I mean by this is not
just about customers.
Here at ExperienceInvestigators, we like to say
that empathy isn't just forcustomers.
We want to have empathy forthose fellow leaders.
You know, when we approach ourleader in finance or operations
or marketing, their role hasbeen very clearly defined for a

(02:57):
long time and if we're askingthem to step into something
that's a little more unknown, alittle more nuanced, that can
feel scary, that can feelunnerving to them.
So have some empathy for thepressure they are under.
They already have keyperformance indicators to hit.
They already have metrics tomeasure their success in their

(03:19):
role.
And if we approach them and say, okay, now we want you to think
about customer experience, itcan feel like we're asking them
to do something in addition totheir job.
Now, you and I both know thatcustomer experience everybody
plays a role.
But if they don't understandthe why and we're just talking
about the what, we're missing anopportunity to build that trust

(03:42):
that builds relationships.
So the first thing is, as youbuild these bridges, as you
communicate to your fellowleaders, the first thing I want
you to do is ask them what doessuccess look like to you?
By including them in thatdefinition, by asking them to
connect and helping them connecthow customer experience and the

(04:06):
way customers are treated andfeel it comes back to their
success as well.
Finance is usually based onfinancial results.
Well, guess what?
We need customers in order toget those financial results.
When we're talking tooperations, we can talk about
efficiency and how important itis to make sure we're not

(04:28):
getting all those refundrequests, retribution for
customers, service calls, howthat all plays a role into
efficient operations.
So we need to really haveempathy for them and show up,
speaking their language and helpthem connect those dots.
This usually takes longer thanpeople give it credit for, so

(04:50):
let's make sure that we arealways looking for ways to
really build those bridges inboth small and big ways.
We're building a relationship,not a transaction.
Now, the mindset of curiosityand collaboration is so
important here, and you've heardme say this before, but we
approach customer experience asa mindset, a strategy and a

(05:12):
discipline.
So the first thing you have todo is help them get to that
right mindset.
That's where the empathy comesin.
That's where collaboration andcuriosity comes in.
Help them get there.
If you're not sure about how tobuild a great mindset, I highly
recommend go to our site,experienceinvestigatorscom and

(05:32):
do a search on mindset andmission.
Those two things are related.
Those are your tools forgetting that done.
Okay, number two make theinvisible visible.
Customer experience is oftenthrown around as a term, and
when we do that and we don'treally define it, we don't show,
we just tell.

(05:53):
People might have all sorts ofassumptions about what that term
means and specifically what itmeans at our organization.
So we want to make the abstractmore concrete.
This is especially true forleaders who don't necessarily
interact with customers everyday.
So when that happens, whenwe're talking to somebody who

(06:15):
maybe has never really faced acustomer, we want to make the
customer experience a lot morerelevant to them by showing them
things like customer journeymaps, quotes from customers,
customer feedback, videos, ifyou have them, all sorts of
things that are thosestorytelling pieces that really
make the customer experiencecome alive.

(06:37):
We love journey mapping as averb, not a noun, because when
you get people together, whenyou walk through the customer
journey, that's when light bulbsstart going off.
People start really realizingwhat that journey is like.
If you want more information,we have more information for you
there too.
We even have a journey mappingstarting kit.
So check that out atexperienceinvestigatorscom.

(07:01):
And then we want to make surethat you invite, don't instruct.
When we are talking aboutcustomer experience, it's really
important that it doesn't comeacross as a compliance program.
We want people to get into thatmindset where they understand
why it's important, what successlooks like and what their role
is.
Then we want to move into thatstrategy where we are leading

(07:23):
through a strategic lens.
We are saying this is why we'reworking on this, this is what
it will do for the organization,this is what success looks like
.
And if you haven't yet definedthat, we talk a lot about a
customer experience successstatement because this is so
important.
If you just talk in theseabstract terms, it's very hard
to get that buy-in.
People don't really believe inyou.

(07:45):
If you can show them whatsuccess looks like for your
organization and the effortsthat you're putting in and how
you will be measuring thatsuccess, then they start seeing
you as that leader.
But we want to invite them intothat process.
We want to make sure that weare inviting them early so that
they feel like they're buildingthis with you, even if you're

(08:08):
stepping into an alreadyestablished program and you're
making some changes as a leader.
Invite people into that early.
Invite them for their opinions,show them those journey maps
you're working on, invite theminto those sessions.
Share recordings, quotes, thosestorytelling techniques far and
wide.
That's how you start gettingpeople to really understand that

(08:29):
they're part of this.
This isn't something that we'reputting on them.
Change happens with people, notto them.
We like to say this and thereare lots of different ways that
we want people to feel likechange is happening with them,
not to them.
So lead with that invitationand then finally think of
yourself as a bridge, not abottleneck.

(08:53):
Sometimes, when we step intothese roles, we look around and
we think, oh my gosh, we have tofix everything.
This is ridiculous.
But when we look at what'sactually happening, we realize
that there are priorities, thatwe can connect the dots and we
can really make sure that thepeople who come to us, who
actually start getting thoselight bulb moments and show up

(09:15):
and say you know what I think weshould do it can be very easy
to say no, we can't do thatright now, we don't have the
bandwidth, it's too much.
But instead of that, invitethem into the prioritization
process and say, you know what,that's a great idea.
I think that would actually fitwithin our strategic priority

(09:35):
that is focused on efficiency.
Let's talk about how we can getoperations to help us deliver
on that.
Implementation is not 100% ofyour job and it can't be.
There is too much.
So when you get those greatideas, when people start seeing
that customer experience isconnected to everything,
suddenly your role can switchand you can become that

(09:59):
bottleneck that we don't want.
So be aware of that.
As you mature, as the leadersaround you start really
embracing this idea of customerexperience as a winning strategy
, they're going to have tons ofideas.
So we have to put up guardrails.
We have to make sure that wecan't accept everything, because
we can't be responsible forthat, but we don't want to

(10:22):
discourage those ideas.
We don't want to discouragethat mindset.
So this is where having thingslike a prioritization matrix
that is based on your customerexperience success strategy,
that will really help you here,because then you can say, oh my
gosh, that's a great idea.
Unfortunately, right now, if youlook at our priorities, I'm not
sure where that would fit in.

(10:43):
Can you help me?
Sometimes they can.
Sometimes they'll say you knowwhat, instead of putting this on
you, I'm going to take this onmy roadmap.
That's when the magic happens.
That's when you know you are atruly customer-centric
organization.
So CX is not a department, it'sa commitment.
It's not a department, it's acommitment, and this takes

(11:06):
everybody.
So the fact that you are askingthis question shows me so much
of who you are as a leader.
So if you are taking this on, ifyou are becoming a change agent
, if you are stepping into thatleadership role, the first thing
I want to say iscongratulations.
The next thing I want to say iskeep going.
The going is going to get alittle tough sometimes, but I

(11:29):
know that people who care aboutcustomer experience all of you
listening and watching thispodcast right now that's because
your heart is in the rightplace.
So make sure that you back thatup with business acumen, with
strategy, with greatcommunication.
That's how you get that buy-inthat you need.
Thank you so much for beinghere.

(11:50):
And if you are looking forresources.
If you are not sure where tostart, check out cxicompasscom.
This is where you answer 11questions for us.
We give you some details onwhere to focus your efforts.
If you wanna take that one stepfurther, ask a couple people on
your team to take it, and thenwe can set up a call and go over

(12:12):
those results with you.
We believe in you, you can dothis.
And not only that, but all theleaders you work with can do
this as well.
They just might need a littleempathy, a little invitation, a
little understanding andcollaboration.
And hey, we're good at thatstuff.
Right, we're customerexperience people.
Of course we are.
Thank you so much for thisgreat question.

(12:34):
I can't wait to hear your greatquestion next.
Don't forget you can leave me avoicemail at askjeannievip and
maybe I'll answer your questionon the next Experience Action
Podcast.
Thanks everybody.
To learn more about ourstrategic approach to experience
, check out free resources atexperienceinvestigatorscom,

(12:57):
where you can sign up for ournewsletter, our Year of CX
program and more, and pleasefollow me, Jeannie Walters, on
LinkedIn.