Balancing internal employee experience and external customer experience

[jolle]

Hey, all! I'm gearing up for the RevOps Bootcamp next week and have been thinking through the balance between keeping customers delighted and employees happy, especially for companies that are changing their processes.

Sometimes, I think that clunky processes for customers can actually be easier for employees (less work on their end), and easy processes for customers can demand more effort from employees. Changing processes that are clunky for the customers and employees seem like a win-win, but I've encountered and will always anticipate pushback from employees when their responsibilities increase.

On the one hand, I can see all new decisions being strictly enforced since they exist to better the customer experience. On the other hand, I can see how employees would push back if they're tasked with more responsibilities or accountability. 

Do you feel like there's a defineable point when the internal team will suffer as a result of customer experience improvements or other RevOps initiatives? Or maybe pushback on increased accountability is a red flag for the quality of the employee?

Hopefully this makes sense! Just looking for anyone's thoughts on a holistic approach here, user adoption, or anything else that comes to mind 🙂

[MariSuper · Accepted solution]

Thank you for tagging me.  This is what I am typically brought into companies to do.  I found it isn't a "more work" issue as much as it's a change management and not involving the team in to brainstorm / create.  Most people in these roles don't understand how creating these processes can help them in the long run.  So, I involve onboarding and support teams in the design process. I explain that easy onboarding with clunky Customer Experience = lots of support tickets (so lots of work in another department of the company).  It's not about 1 department having it easy and putting the load onto support to deal with - someone still gets the burden.  Plus, helping design this together are great ways to get noticed by ELT (executive leadership team) and improve their skillsets.  

So I gather everyone together to brainstorm, giving everyone a voice and the ability team up on this project. 

Look at:

1.  CURRENT PROCESS:
• Define the current process
• Define the current issues (internal roadblocks, number of support tickets, etc)
• Ask the team how they would feel if they were the customer - how they envision a better solution. 
2. IDEAL IMPROVEMENTS
• What is the ideal External CX?
• What onboarding processes can tighten up? 
• Who is interested in designing a recommendation (empower the employees)
• How will this improve support? 
• Is there too much workload on one or two individuals? How can we balance this out? (empower someone else to help design)
3. NEXT STEPS
• Take what others have created to help design the new process
• Design a checklist or training guide
• Crosstrain people to help with large onboarding
4. REWARD
• Ensure you shout out to team players who helped design the process, potentially you can help move some people up into other roles. 

All in all, I help the teams understand better processes isn't about putting more workload on them. But it's about improving CX to help improve referrals to the company to increase revenue - which might stimulate company growth - which could equal room to grow within a company.  These skills will help them have stronger resumes, get better jobs, etc.  It's about empowering and understanding why this will actually help them in the long run.  

I hope this helps. cheers! Mari

[MarcosBarcelos · Accepted solution]

@jolle I think this is an insight that occurs often.

"Do you feel like there's a definable point when the internal team will suffer as a result of customer experience improvements or other RevOps initiatives?"

Actually, we can automatize processes. So I think we can turn easier for the internal team too. I don´t think there's a definable point. In most of the changes, the team will suffer with more processes, but it's important to explain the cause of that.

"Or maybe pushback on increased accountability is a red flag for the quality of the employee?"

Yes, I think it's a red flag, it's important to set that:" The process will change. So we need someone that is open to changes."

What do you think, @jolle?

[jolle]

Hey @MarcosBarcelos, thanks for your reply, and sorry for the delayed response!

I agree — I think that the positioning of the process changes and new requirements is really important to align the team. While we may be creating more manual work or adding steps to a process that are easier for the reps to skip, they need to understand the company-wide (and customer-specific) impacts these changes have. And RevOps leaders should also be listening to the end-users to ensure that life is being made easier for the team overall.

Thanks for your thoughts on the red flag as well here! I'm definitely not saying that anyone who even slightly resists change is a bad employee with something to hide, but I think that if the changes are conveyed to them in a way that allows them to see the rewards of the new system, they'll be more willing to change.

Thanks again for your thoughts!!

[kvonloesecke]

Hi @jolle,

These are great questions! 😊

I would like to invite our community members from the RevOps space to see if they have advice.

Hi @MRizzo4, @ClaraDelabrosse, @MarcosBarcelos, @franksteiner79, @MariSuper - Do you have any thoughts for @jolle?

Thank you! 

Best,

Kristen

[MariSuper · Accepted solution]

Thank you for tagging me.  This is what I am typically brought into companies to do.  I found it isn't a "more work" issue as much as it's a change management and not involving the team in to brainstorm / create.  Most people in these roles don't understand how creating these processes can help them in the long run.  So, I involve onboarding and support teams in the design process. I explain that easy onboarding with clunky Customer Experience = lots of support tickets (so lots of work in another department of the company).  It's not about 1 department having it easy and putting the load onto support to deal with - someone still gets the burden.  Plus, helping design this together are great ways to get noticed by ELT (executive leadership team) and improve their skillsets.  

So I gather everyone together to brainstorm, giving everyone a voice and the ability team up on this project. 

Look at:

1.  CURRENT PROCESS:
• Define the current process
• Define the current issues (internal roadblocks, number of support tickets, etc)
• Ask the team how they would feel if they were the customer - how they envision a better solution. 
2. IDEAL IMPROVEMENTS
• What is the ideal External CX?
• What onboarding processes can tighten up? 
• Who is interested in designing a recommendation (empower the employees)
• How will this improve support? 
• Is there too much workload on one or two individuals? How can we balance this out? (empower someone else to help design)
3. NEXT STEPS
• Take what others have created to help design the new process
• Design a checklist or training guide
• Crosstrain people to help with large onboarding
4. REWARD
• Ensure you shout out to team players who helped design the process, potentially you can help move some people up into other roles. 

All in all, I help the teams understand better processes isn't about putting more workload on them. But it's about improving CX to help improve referrals to the company to increase revenue - which might stimulate company growth - which could equal room to grow within a company.  These skills will help them have stronger resumes, get better jobs, etc.  It's about empowering and understanding why this will actually help them in the long run.  

I hope this helps. cheers! Mari

[jolle]

@MariSuper, this is incredible! Thank you so much for taking the time to respond (and apologies for the delated response!).

I really appreciate your perspective here and agree that it's essential to include the day-to-day users in the planning and feedback loop here. 

Positioning process changes as opportunities for team members to continue growing within the company and helping to define its direction is awesome. I know that you'll never be able to please everyone, but your approach seems to be about as close as you can get!

Thank you again for the expert insights 🙂