You’re trying to build a successful CX team. What’s the difference between a manager and a leader?

Managers are the reliable backbone, providing clear paths and support. Leaders are the heart, inspiring us to grow and explore boldly. Both are crucial; we stick around for the connection and guidance they offer, because at the end of the day, we don't just leave jobs, we leave bosses.

A leader inspires and motivates, fostering a shared vision and empowering individuals to achieve collective goals, specially around CX, a leader proposes innovation and constantly remind us of the future vision. On the other hand, a manager organizes resources and delegates responsibilities. In essence, a manager administers, while a leader inspires.

Anyone can become a manager by getting bare minimum required trainings, leadership is something which gets build from inside and is an individual’s character. If you are a good leader, you will not need to manage stuff as the team itself will take the ownership and get it done. Every team member can be a manager for themselves if they have a good leader. Your actions and communication with the team are key levers which establishes how good a leader you are.

A leader is someone who takes his people and followers on a journey to achieve a common vision as well as push these individuals outside their comfort zone to self actualize. A manager plays more of an administrative role ensuring all targets and goals are hit inline with organizational goals and policies

In the CX arena, Managers maintain efficiency with protocols, while Leaders ignite and inspire innovation. Managers handle complaints methodically while Leaders turn them into opportunities. Managers focus on KPIs but Leaders foster team spirit. Both are vital for CX success, blending structure and vision to create memorable customer experiences

Leadership in CX involves more than just setting goals; it's about fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. By encouraging creativity and embracing experimentation, CX leaders can drive meaningful change and stay ahead of evolving customer expectations while ensuring alignment with the company’s mission and values. These leadership skills are pivotal to creating a strong CX. However, the role of a CX professional requires a blend of both the strategic vision of a CX leader and the hands-on guidance, organization, and coordination of a CX manager to truly inspire and empower their teams to consistently deliver outstanding results.

If you're trying to build a successful CX team, it's important to have both managers and leaders. Managers can help you keep your team on track and make sure that the work gets done. Leaders can help you motivate and inspire your team members to provide excellent customer service.

Um gerente foca em gerir processos, recursos e resultados, enquanto um líder inspira, motiva e orienta a equipe em dire??o a uma vis?o compartilhada. Ambos s?o essenciais para construir uma equipe de CX de sucesso. O gerente garante que as opera??es funcionem sem problemas e os objetivos sejam alcan?ados, enquanto o líder promove a cultura, desenvolve talentos e impulsiona a inova??o. Juntos, eles criam um ambiente onde a excelência em experiência do cliente pode prosperar.

It's important to recognize you need both. For the manager, have the individuals focus on overseeing day-to-day operations, ensuring tasks are completed efficiently, and managing resources effectively. Have them provide instructions, set goals, and monitor progress to achieve specific outcomes. Leaders on the other hand, must focus on inspiring and motivating their team members, fostering a shared vision, and cultivating a positive work culture, empowering, as they delegate, encourage innovation, and provide support and mentorship to help individuals reach their full potential. By recognizing and embodying both roles, you create a cohesive and high-performing team capable of delivering exceptional customer experiences.

I'm not sure why this is portrayed as being specific to CX. It isn't. A manager that is unable to trust their team and delegate will ultimately fail, in any setting. Team members need to be able to make their own mistakes and learn from them. Don't be over-controlling, but be supportive. Encourage open discussion and be prepared to learn from team members. Shutting down discussions and remaining closed to any debate or team member's ideas will stifle any creativity and remove any incentive for team members to think for themselves.

A manager puts up a ladder and makes sure the people are going up the ladder. A leader makes sure the ladder is on the right wall. A leader sets the values and the cultures and make sure the team keeps the North Star A manager makes sure things are done and efficiently done

Une lecture intéressante sur la différence leader / manager est Noise d'Olivier Sibony. Mes 4 enseignements: - un leader ne gère pas les biais cognitifs, il réduit l'incertitude - il ne crée pas du consensus, il décide - il n'a pas droit a l'erreur, il a le droit à l'échec - il ne sait pas tout, il sait écouter

Help those who work for you see the bigger picture and how their individual contributions help to work toward that goal. Your job as a leader is to remove barriers and help bring out the best in your team. This requires the ability to know when to manage, and when to back away and let people do their best work.

CRISP can be helpful when building such teams: (C) Communicate: The goal shared by leader with manager must be clear, concise and of-course a SMART one (R) Reciprocate: A manager builds smaller tactical plan for their CX team & communicates targets (I) Inquire & Assess: You don't want unexpected convergence between the actual goals and perceived targets, which in-turn can affect the SMARTness of your goal (S) Strive For Agility: Strategy, tactical plans, work approach can change due to any reasons. Be ready to provide emotional/moral support & learning platforms (P) Praise: The classical approaches may not be as beneficial as some un-conventional but impactful ones today. Draft 'exciting' & 'encouraging' plans to acknowledge performance.

Leaders play a strategic role and managers a tactical role. Leaders ensure that autonomy, empowerment, growth vision gets ingested into the team. While nanagers stay focused on operational models. It is like how to manage day to day business, monitor trends, take quick actions on problems. Manage people to contribute effectively. On a simple note, leaders are responsible for strategy, culture, vision and managers are responsible for execution of these.

In the context of customer experience (CX), the difference between a manager and a leader is especially important. CX is all about providing customers with a positive and memorable experience. This requires a team that is focused on both tasks and people. Managers need to make sure that the work gets done, but they also need to be able to motivate and inspire their team members to provide excellent customer service. Leaders need to be able to see the big picture and understand how their team's work can impact the overall customer experience.