Let’s talk about CX – the taboos of talking about feelings over profit
It’s funny how talking about customer experience makes some businesses feel uneasy. Almost as if we’d raised a taboo subject. Understandably, some leaders might have rolled their eyes when I’ve mooted the idea of having a chat about the importance of ‘feelings’ instead of driving profitability (first). For seasoned CX people sitting in corporate CX departments where the ‘CX’ term is broadly accepted, you might be unaware that customer centricity is NOT always a top priority. However, all companies start somewhere – as SMEs – and their culture is built on the foundations of leadership-led beliefs.
When an invitation goes out to talk about the future of CX at a 2-day conference, the delegates are people who already care enough to show up and take the time to ponder the status quo (and pay to do so). But for those of you who don’t have the benefit of being part of purposeful, customer-centric enterprises who are already drinking the coolaid, I want to nod to the not-so-distant past.
What is CX anyway? And what does Future CX hold?
If you told me 15 years ago I’d get to be Chairperson for a specific CX conference facilitating CX experts to ideate about what CX (a given term in that room) might look like in the future state, I would have looked perplexed. A what? For starters, CX wasn’t a term that had been clearly defined. Most people were still searching around for an umbrella term to describe what we now call Customer Experience. To cherry-pick a few examples, back then, I was talking about CRM, UX, Customer Journey, transformation and big data. At the time, CRM was a more commonly used umbrella term. But that was confusing to my non-industry friends, who thought I was narrowly talking about tools like Salesforce. If I tried to talk more generally about Relationships, people’s minds went solely to loyalty.
At an enterprise level the objective was to simplify complex conversations about why customer data mattered. In order to steward enterprises that had long histories of focusing on Reach to create Single Customer Views, slick wrapping was needed. Data-driven programmes were not considered especially sexy. Even if the idea was to build platforms that supported organic, meaningful conversations in human ecosystems that touched brands beyond checkouts and payment gateways.
It was not uncommon to for eyes to glaze over in Boardrooms if the customer-centric story was not pitched sufficiently commercially. Not communicated like the ENFP I can’t help but be. My pitches lacked glamour. An enthusiastic data geek trying to explain ‘why building data sets around individuals might improve the relationship with brands’ in massive markets where share of wallet was still a way to win.
Innovating should feel more than a little uncomfortable
But now, data driven ideas are sufficiently du jour that enterprises scurry to build their own large language models. Moreover, jargon like design thinking or human-centred design is vernacular. As if it was always obvious. It wasn’t.
So, if we are going to talk about the future of CX, what we should be talking about will not be obvious today. In fact, if we are talking about things that don’t make us feel even a little uncomfortable, we are missing a trick. Being on the sharp edge of innovation requires contribution safety and challenger safety. It’s time to consider the blindspots of business.
So what I’m trying to focus on now is precisely identifying what ideas appear to be pushing buttons. What am I saying right now that is making people uncomfortable? Chances are, if it’s annoying, it might have some substance. (Feel free to ask me, and you can let me know if it’s hitting the spot.) After all, the magic happens outside of one’s comfort zone.
Breaking free from old models (and charting new maps)
A really big part of innovation is breaking down safe, familiar models to see if we can do it better. The trouble is we get comfortable with our frameworks and ways of working. Innovation can feel hard. And expensive. It comes with resistance. A hot topic that crops up frequently is how to innovate and build around legacy systems. “How do we navigate this?” This tech question and data mapping exercise are undoubtedly important considerations. But before you even think about navigating that, first you need a plan. And that should be condensed into a super clear brief.
And that can be used to framework a new approach to either evolve or revolutionise the existing model. When did we forget how important it is to work out what it is you are trying to build? And for who? And most importantly WHY. That’s human-centred design in action.
Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity and how to look above the changing terrain
Some reading on models I love comes from Mark Divine’s book “Staring Down the Fear Wolf”. Ex-Navy Seal, Divine, references the VUCA model of considering “Changing Terraines”. You wouldn’t go into a terrain that had changed with an old map, as Divine says, you need to download new software. He explains (in ‘The Way of the Seal’), “Rutted routines that develop from doing the same thing the same way every time—often unconsciously, or at best without deliberate decision-making—are those that stifle creativity.” As a strategist, helping businesses consider a new terrain is where I love to play. Generally, businesses only bring me in when they have a changing terrain where they already feel elements of VUCA – Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. Taking a Condor Moment (a moment of “courageous restraint” to reassess the field) to make a new strategy requires fresh insight from above the field of play.
From up above the action, we can regroup, reassess and refocus. With fast-changing technology and global events, CX’s future might look blurry right now. But what should not be blurry is our true objective: That the role of every company is to consider their organisation from the outside. Achievable only by taking a customer-first approach. Before we can answer the needs of our customers, we first need to listen to them. Understand them. Get to know them with intimacy.
Whether we are talking about Future CX for the next year or the next millennia, one thing that will not change is that Human Beings are wired for connection.
Wired for connection: To answer the needs of our customers, we first need to listen to them.
Humans are wired for connection because that is what allows us to survive. The first time you ever opened your mouth as a newborn baby, you made a sound that came out as a demand. A demand for attention. Attention that was going to allow them to get their needs served. That was going to enable them to survive. And hopefully, those needs get met because someone was listening. The funny thing is whether you’re a newborn baby or a 65-year-old trying to connect to your Internet, you need to express your unmet need to someone or a very intelligent Artificial proxy that quite simply gets it. And when your needs are met, without a lot of foot stomping or even pomp in circumstance, you can then get back on with your life and your objective of surviving.
Take a moment to get perspective on your business Blindspots
Sometimes I think we forget that in business. Especially when we sit in silos or departments within the internal structure of a business. Especially those that have conflicting or competitive KPIs. It’s really hard to get out of the matrices that are built around us and look objectively at what we’re doing. Businesses must understand that they are just a drop in the greater ocean that supports people’s everyday needs.
So it’s time to talk about CX in ways that foster the good stuff for the future. It starts with understanding the relationship between people and your business and talking about where VUCA is showing up. It’s about helping solve human problems, offering solutions to unmet needs and building trust that you will do that in a way that is dependable, relevant and timely to them.
How can you reassess your models and question the meaningful purpose and true utility of the innovations you have planned? Well, this might require you to have someone outside of your business show your team where the biases lie. For this reason, we’ve developed Innovation Labs that enable teams to step back and clarify how their terrain has changed. The VUCA model is just one discovery strategy we find useful when we are facilitating this process.
Seizing the opportunity to innovate in the face of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity
If this resonates with you, it’s likely because you recognise that your job is actually to support real people. Maybe you want to make their days better. To enable your business to move more efficiently. To shift your teams into a better frame of mind that allows them to connect more deeply and genuinely with each other but that allows them to offer something purposeful and meaningful in your customers’ else’s lives. If you’d like to know how we get the ball rolling on charting new maps, give us a call.
Join our game-changing clients who are willing to let go of their biases and grow their capability.
Ps. Here’s the 2025 update
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