X&Y: CX & Organisational (Un)Learning

This is one of a series of articles which takes the idea of interface innovation and combines it with some theory about how organisations learn. (I've called the theme X&Y - which is also the name of an album by Coldplay - but that is just a coincidence!)

As a strategist, technologist and interface designer, I'm always interested in combining different things to see what arises. One of my favourite expressions is: "The answer lies in the space between". That's where you find the gold!

I normally start with the interface between a business and its customers. This is a proven CX goldmine and applies to any industry. Here are some examples of the business case:

• "The Global CX Survey Report", a 2022 study by #deloitte based on a survey of CX leaders found that 89% reported increased market share from their customer experience investments over the prior 2 years.
• "Capturing ROI From Mature Customer Experience Initiatives", a 2022 report from #idc analysed business impact data and estimated that companies gain, on average, $5.60 in benefits for every $1 invested in mature customer experience initiatives.
• The #Temkin Group's data from a 2021 report (ROI of Customer Experience) shows that CX leaders can realise over 3X higher 5-year compound annual growth compared to companies with poor CX.
• "The CEO moment: Capturing value from customer experience investments", a report by #mckinsey & Company in 2020 examined public companies and found those in the top quartile for customer experience had 1.6x higher average revenue growth over 3 years compared to bottom-quartile companies.
• ... the list goes on (and on), but the message is clear! Investing in CX can create significantly more ROI than other types of investment.

The next question then arises. How do you actually improve customer experience? That's normally the tricky part, with plenty of consulting companies, sales folks and software vendors queuing up to give you the answer in their own way. Probably including one or more of the words "transformational", "agile", "digital", "partnership" or "strategic" somewhere along the way!

However, in my experience, real success comes from a clear set of well-designed, internally-driven initiatives which are led top-down from the board level which nurture three levels of learning across an organisation (otherwise known as single-, double-, and triple-loop learning).

SINGLE-, DOUBLE-, AND TRIPLE-LOOP LEARNING

The three levels of organisational learning are based on the original thought leadership of Chris Argyris and Donald Sch?n and have been added to by others along the way. Below is an overview of each level, with some examples (which you can add to or debate within the comments):

SINGLE LOOP LEARNING

Single Loop Learning is about making adjustments to correct a mistake or a problem. It is focused on doing things right. Causality might be observed but is typically not addressed.

Here are some examples of single-loop learning:

• Analysing customer satisfaction surveys and complaint data to identify immediate fixes.
• Building feedback loops across customer service, product teams, and marketing to respond to immediate issues.
• Conducting regular customer review meetings to discuss insights and minor improvements to existing processes.

DOUBLE-LOOP LEARNING

Double Loop Learning is identifying and understanding causality and then taking action to fix the problem. It is about doing the right things.

Double-loop learning challenges underlying assumptions and seeks root causes to drive more fundamental innovation.

Here are some examples of double-loop learning:

• Conducting deep-dive customer research to understand the evolving needs and pain points of the customer.
• Journey mapping with cross-functional workshops to ideate solutions and pilot new concepts to make the customer journey easier for the customer to navigate.
• Partnering with customers to co-create new offerings over time. The customer is one of the greatest untapped goldmines to collect ideas for innovation and improvement.

TRIPLE-LOOP LEARNING

Triple Loop Learning goes even deeper to explore our values and the reasons why we even have our systems, processes and desired results in the first place. It is about weighing up and making the right strategic decisions. It takes the broadest view and questions core elements of strategy like market assumptions, business models, mental models and investment plans.

Triple-loop learning can enable transformational shifts such as:

• Periodic (annual or quarterly) strategy reviews to re-examine customer segments, needs, competitive landscape, and market disruptions.
• Using techniques like design thinking to reframe core customer problems (and even better, the problems faced by your customers' customers) and then reimagining solutions where your product or service is likely only a part of the overall solution.
• Cross-pollinating staff across functions to inject new perspectives and create more diverse thinking across the business.

Used together, these three levels allow companies to inject incremental improvements, innovate and change current processes and systems, and transform the customer experience to get ahead of the competition and improve revenue growth.

The three levels of continuous learning have to be embedded across the whole organisation - from front-line teams through to the senior leadership team. (The mistake I've so often seen here is that the whole idea of organisational learning is given to HR as a project, without true understanding or engagement from the leadership team or the rest of the business.)

In summary, businesses should embed single, double and triple-loop learning to maintain and grow a differentiated customer experience. This will also require a degree of unlearning. If done well, it is where pure gold can be unearthed - which is waiting there to be mined, refined and turned into profitable customers!

X&Y. CX & organisational (un)learning. Plain and simple!

I would love it if you could build on any ideas from this article, give more examples, or be downright disruptive and say why you disagree with any of it!