“Word Nerd Wednesday” is a weekly series that uses language to help us think differently and solve old problems in new ways.
We use “management” as a catch-all for customer experience work, but that lexical shortcut seems to hurt more than help. Why? It is too generic.
My top request from clients is help defining roles & responsibilities. You can’t get clear on who does what around CX unless you have a specific list of tasks – a.k.a. verbs – you can assign to individual people. (“Organizations” don’t do anything – humans do).
In my experience, verb-noun pairs, put together as questions, are the best tool for overcoming this challenge. Instead of asking who owns CX management ask…
Who will design (v) the blueprint (n) for each customer journey (n)?
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Who will approve (v) those designs (n)?
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Who will propose (v) changes (n) to journey designs?
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Who will define (v) the metrics (n) we use to monitor (v) CX quality (n)?
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Who can propose (v) changes (n) to existing CX metrics (n)?
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Who will uncover (v) customer needs (n) they never mention?
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Who needs to approve (v) a policy change (n) we think will lead to better CX?
That’s a short, incomplete list, but it illustrates the power of lexical specificity, especially if you’re stuck in a never-ending game of CX Tug-Of War or Hot Potato.
