Experience not things. How compassion, inspiration and alignment are at the heart of our experiences.

We are in the middle of a booming experience economy. Otherwise known as people getting wise to the overwhelming materialism of the past few decades.

There is a huge shift in where people place value and it's moving from their cash to their time. In this article I'd like to explore what some of the key elements of experience are and how we can tap into that as leaders of business and brands.

I'm fortunate enough to work in the leisure sector, where most activity is based around the concept of 'experience-led'. In fact at a conference last week (Blooloop Live) all the speakers were preaching the same message - people want experience over things. Mark Fisher of Merlin Entertainments talked extensively about immersion, personalisation and experience-led attractions, Eddie Kemsley of Kidzania and Nicole Srock.Stanley of dan pearlman group, showed how worldwide, retailers are turning to experiential leisure activities to boost their reach and engagement.

So that's the concept but how is it effecting real humans?

I see three ways to capture hearts & minds through experience, experience for staff, experience for customers and last but definitely not least, experience for ourselves.

Experience for staff - compassion

Oceans of content has been written around staff engagement and I'm not the expert. But I am staff. Most of us are. I think the topic can be distilled down to one thing, compassion. I don't want to get too zen here but compassion really does drive the very best staff experience on the planet.

We spend a whole heap of time at work, and remember we are valuing our time more than our cash these days! Whilst we aren't going to all be best buddies, compassion affords us two incredible insights; seeing something from someone else's point of view; and doing something about it.

A compassionate staff experience is one where we ensure that our team get a personal and meaningful experience from our businesses on a day to day basis. This could be big things like flexible working, or the small stuff like having the brand of tea they like.

In fact, without this compassion framework, with all the basics in place, you can't layer on the sparkly stuff. A big Christmas party scheduled at the same time as the school nativity will just cause stress, a huge bonus scheme that has your team working so hard they get every cough and cold going will just breed un-wellness. If that's not a word it should be.

Compassion is human-led. It's how we are biologically programmed. Compassion, joy, and kindness all breed the same behaviors. Before you know it you have a spiral of positivity in the workplace.

Experience for customers - inspiration

Inspiration is a key that unlocks excitement, joy, wonder, awe, escapism, connection and oodles of other amazing feelings.

Whatever the experience you are offering, from a call-centre to a chocolate bar, from a theme park to social care, inspiring your customers, in a way that creates meaningful connection to your brand is the way to go.

You can inspire love, commitment, sharing and plenty more. Inspiration should lead to doing, and a strong call to action is what every brand is after. Getting this right is about knowing your customer and being able to inspire them in ways that have real value to them. So start off by listening. Today's world is full of amazing content and inspirational experiences - if you don't engage with your customers in this way someone else will.

It's also about putting the customer in control. When you inspire you don't tell or instruct, you hold something open for your customer to take and explore. Just think of Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society and you will get the idea...

Experience for ourselves - alignment

I'm guessing this bit might feel uncomfortable to a lot of us. We don't always like to put ourselves on the agenda do we? Well I believe we should. When we have a great experience we add to that joyous spiral I mentioned earlier. We spread the vibes that create brilliant experience for others when we feel good. Whether you call it Managing by Walking About, Heart-based Leadership or any other of the hundreds of names out there, it has to start with us.

Making sure you have a great experience with your time at work is really down to you. You need to be responsible for yourself. You need to know what you want, you need to know how to ask for that in a positive way from those around you, and you need to create an environment where you will thrive.

This might mean communicating more or in a different way, it might mean finding a company with a better cultural fit, or helping change the culture where you work now. Whatever it is, it is yours to discover and change, Let's not sit back and leave it to The Board, The Team, HR or whoever else to make those changes.

Align yourself to what you need, once you know what it is. Keep an eye on it, make time to reassess it. Alignment needs readjusting over time. And once you have this alignment, what then? Then you have to allow yourself to enjoy it! Wow, now there's a concept ;)

Kelly is Strategy & Development Director at Katapult - A Creative England Top 50 company, that create physical and digital guest experiences that amaze and engage your visitors.

www.katapult.co.uk