Mark Levy, author of The Psychology of CX 101 and publisher of the Decoding Customer Experience newsletter, recently led a brainstorm session for Frost & Sullivan’s Customer Engagement Leadership Council and Growth Innovation Leadership Council. Mark shared valuable insights and ideas as well as practical solutions to common challenges CX leaders face when advocating for initiatives and striving to drive change within their organizations.
Mark guided participants through exercises and real-time discussions as he explored three key areas:
- Building credibility as a trusted leader.
- Navigating organizational dynamics to position ideas for success.
- Expanding your network of allies to amplify your influence.
After brief introductions from a diverse group of customer contact executives, call center directors and innovation and strategy leaders, Mark Levy shared a bit about his background as an author and customer contact executive. He noted that although the assembled members were from different industries, all shared a common need to influence others, navigate organizational dynamics and advocate for their ideas. Perfecting – or at least improving – these skills can sometimes spell the difference between success and failure, no matter the extent of professional expertise.
For the first group activity, Mark asked members to add words they associated with “influence” to a word cloud on menti.com. Members added words such as inspire, respect, collaboration, energy, storytelling, open-mindedness, leadership and power.
The Credibility Equation
Next, Mark discussed a concept called “The Credibility Equation,” which encompasses:
- Competence – being good at what you do
- Character – who you are and how you show up
- Caring – empathy and caring, especially in the contact center space – genuine concern goes far if people trust your intentions
As the discussion progressed, members were asked to share a little about their strengths as well as areas where they might need to grow as leaders and influencers. Strengths shared included character, “walking the talk,” building trust and being competent overall. As a member observed, credibility is a combination of all of these things and includes consistent actions (big and small) repeated over time that help build trust with colleagues and teams.
Navigating Organizational Dynamics
It’s important to understand your organization’s dynamics and greater ecosystem. This includes thinking about:
- Power structures – who actually makes the decisions; it’s not always the fancy title
- Culture – the values that drive corporate behavior, i.e., customer first, a bias towards quick action, adaptability, etc.
- Communication channels – where and how do decisions happen? Can you have side conversations or do you always need to schedule a formal meeting?
- Stakeholder interests – What are their interests needs, priorities?
The group discussed some of the challenges they faced navigating organizational dynamics – including power structures and stakeholder interests – and how they overcame them. Remedies included getting C-Level buy-in, knowing the key players and socializing key ideas before making proposals. One member shared that they made it a point to have regular one-to-one discussions with influencers to help build rapport and trust. Another endorsed being proactive and bringing all stakeholders to the table before moving forward with new initiatives, as this was how their organization worked. As noted, this helped prevent resistance later.
Other challenges related to managing contact center teams. Some of the call center leaders noted difficulties balancing basic employee responsibilities such as phone duties with off-call work and meeting productivity goals. Another member was grappling with funding, resource issues and the management structure.
As Mark stated, “you can’t do this alone.” It’s necessary to network, find allies and build relationships to be truly effective and execute big initiatives. Mostly, people can sense when you are being genuine, or not. As recommended, focus on giving before asking…every exchange doesn’t need to be “this for that.” Think about how you can offer help or share expertise and consider connecting colleagues to others who can help them. Finally, working in fully remote environments means you’ll need to work even harder to accomplish this. And finding time to build important connections can also be challenging for busy, overtaxed executives.
Collaboration is key
Partnering with allies in other departments can help you create a more powerful, collective voice. To this end, Mark asked members to share who in their respective organizations they would like to collaborate with, or more fully connect with. Responses included the product development team, the AI department, marketing and, of course, the C-Suite. Whether they were looking for critical data to be shared more efficiently, sought better collaboration with the IT department, or had new ideas to pitch, members were advised to consider mapping out who might help them achieve their goals. The end game: use your influence to build coalitions and bring value to the business.
Mark Levy is an executive, coach, author, and publisher. The Psychology of CX 101 is his latest book. He is the author of The Accountability Team Handbook and 365 Days of Accountability. He publishes two newsletters—Decoding Customer Experience and DCX AI Today—read by CX leaders worldwide.
To learn more about how Mark Levy can help you navigate challenges, drive change, or build a more customer-centric organization, look for him on LinkedIn.
