The Mindset Behind the Customer Experience

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

Brian Wallace, CEO/consultant with HR Strategies Now in Houston, Texas, shares a couple of thoughts on the importance of understanding the connection between customer experience and the employees’ mindset.

“Customer experience drives more business and revenue, but that's only part of it,” he says. “It's really all about helping leaders understand how to position their employees to deliver a great customer experience. It's more than connecting with the customer and delivering that experience; it's about making sure that your employees are properly geared to do that. That's an important issue.”

Wallace says there are several key elements at play to achieve this. “First, have solid hiring practices so you hire employees with a mindset to be well positioned to engage with customers. Second, create a safe and innovative work environment where employees can come to you with ideas or challenges they're experiencing with their customers. This will help them figure out a way to exceed customer expectations. Last, make sure that your leadership team continues to promote that mindset and helps manage that customer experience.”

A pivotal point in determining whether businesses succeed or fail rests in the quality of their middle management, in particular—those people who translate strategy into operational activity and interact with employees. It’s a very dynamic and powerful thing to have leaders who understand the connection between customer experience and their employees’ mindset. If employees are not working under good leadership, they'll find something else. Today, they have the agency to go look for a good culture.