D-Day and Customer Experience Management Transformation

Today marks the 78th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, known as Operation Overlord. Launching your CX transformation is like having a D-Day for your organization. Let me explain.

Incredible sacrifices were made by tens of thousands of soldiers and sailors from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, and of course, Germany. D-Day is, without question, a much more severe and profoundly impactful historical event than any customer experience management (CXM) program could ever be.

However, there are some parallels between one of the most complex military operations ever conducted in the history of the world and one’s launch of a comprehensive CXM transformation.

Here are some of what they share in common;

A Mission.?

The clarity of the mission for D-Day was its strategic objective of ending the war and its eventual changes to the political alignment and social structure of the globe. These are enormous aims with profound geopolitical consequences, it is an incredible understatement to call these goals ambitious.?

Your CX transformation needs a similar clarity of purpose and ambition with its objectives communicated clearly and continuously. It will generate a great deal of change in the organization requiring the support of many people who have to fully understand their part in the mission and how it ties into the bigger picture the organization is working towards. Your CXM transformation may be your organization’s most complex effort ever conducted in its history.

Cross-Functional Planning.?

As Supreme Allied Commander General Eisenhower said, “In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” Planning for Operation Overlord was comprehensive, detailed, and agile. But when all of that planning was confronted by variables that included the weather, technology and equipment issues, communication breakdowns, and the enemy's reaction to the attack, those plans were nearly meaningless. However, the fabric of comprehensive planning across all military and civilian services and governments provided much-needed confidence that the operation could be accomplished.?

Every CXM transformation requires top-down and bottom-up planning that must also include your customers. Plan across all business dimensions, including strategy, people, process, and technology, including your operating model, distribution and supply chain, partners. You are planning for what should be done and what can be done to improve the organization’s fortunes and future.

The Creativity and Initiative of your People.?

The airborne component of Operation Overlord was vital to inserting paratroopers behind enemy lines to attack and control key locations that would enable the movement of forces off of the beaches and fight at strategic points further inland. Unfortunately, many of these paratroopers were dropped miles away from their intended drop zones for various reasons, including the weather, faulty navigation technology, and anti-aircraft fires. As a result, whole regiments were scattered across the French countryside. And yet, it was the initiative of individual soldiers and junior officers that collected other soldiers along their way to achieving their objectives and mission.?

Your CXM transformation requires the same of your employees at all levels. Although your plans will have kinks and circumstances will throw them off-kilter, it will be up to your employees to see these issues, own them, and address them to keep the program moving towards its objectives. Your people will see the details overlooked at higher planning echelons and have to do the work to overcome shortcomings, let them, and trust them.

Commitment.?

The Allies had the English Channel at their back and Fortress Europa in front of them, and to be stuck on the beaches meant nearly certain extinction. So they attacked with a total commitment to achieving their objectives.

A widely quoted statistic has become its own de facto rule-of-thumb, that executives believe they are delivering an outstanding customer experience, contrasted by most customers' feeling their experience has fallen far short of the mark. C-suite leaders need to define their notions of customer experience management and decide how important a CX program will be to the business, and then devote themselves to their decisions and see them through. You cannot try to win; you have to devote your whole organization to the enterprise of CXM transformation.

Leadership.?

This is a fundamental principle for envisioning, planning, coordinating, and executing every major initiative. Competent, confident, and committed leadership will inspire people to follow, even when the risks are high and the rewards may not be. But it is leadership at every level that carries the day.?

Privates, call center agents, Captains, middle managers, Colonels, and vice presidents, and of course, Generals and executives all need to be leaders. Leadership is a verb, not the rank, title, or position one holds, but the doing that earns inspiration, followership, and sacrifice.

Launching your CX transformation is like having your D-Day for your organization, not only for its complexity but also for its strategic importance in changing your organization's fortunes. All businesses are challenged by the rapid changes in operating models, customer preferences, and expectations and need a customer experience management function to keep pace. But just keeping up is not enough; organizations need to get ahead with innovation, agility, and connection to their customers.?

Many organizations make the ambitious claim of wanting to change the world with profound consequences for customers. Prepare for your CXM transformation by clarifying your mission, empowering the creativity and initiative of your employees, commitment to making success, and leadership competency up and down the organization.