suitecx©2015,  suitecx Inc. December  20,  2015

Customer  Journey  Mapping:Three  Ways  Journey  Mapping  Can  Drive  Employee  EngagementJourney  Mapping,  especially  around  the  customer  experience,   is  becoming  an  ever  more  familiar  discipline.    One  of  the  most  compelling  reasons  to  conduct  a  journey  mapping  exercise  is  to  get  various  employee  representatives  around  the  room,  engaging  with  one  another  and  finding  ways  to  make  positive  organizational  change.

Often,  however,  once  the  map  is  completed  and  hanging  on  the  wall,  most  organizations  simply  go  back  to  their  day-­‐to-­‐day,  and  much  of  the  powerful  insight  and  energy  dissipates.    Participants  value  the  exercise,  but  they  don’t  know  how  to  apply  it  in  a  practical,  ongoing  manner.

It’s  tough  to  keep  employees  engaged.    Temkin Group  cites  the  lack  of  an  employee  engagement  strategy  as  the  biggest  challenge  among  the  companies  it  surveys  annually.    According  to  Temkin’s report,  “We  compared  companies  with  above  average  employee  engagement  maturity  with  those  with  lower  maturity  and  found  that  the  leaders  deliver  better  customer  experience  and  also  have  better  financial  results  than  their  counterparts.”

Thought  Leadership

“Leaders  with  above  average  employee  engagement  maturity…deliver  better  customer  experience  and  also  have  better  financial  results  than  their  counterparts.”

TemkinGroup  Research  Report

How  can  an  organization  reach  the  desired  level  of  maturity  that  results  in  enhanced  revenue  and  happy  employees?    We  can  point  to  three  key  ways  journey  mapping  can  achieve  this  goal.  

Consider  the  Employee  JourneyA  GlassDoor study  conducted  in  2015  revealed  that  in  the  US  “average  hiring  times  grew  from  12.6  days  to  22.9  days  between  2010  and  2014,”  and  that  “high-­‐skilled  jobs  that  require  judgment,  creativity  and  technical  skills  generally  require  longer,  more  intense  job  screening  processes.”

Once  finally  on  board,  employees  arrive  with  high  expectations  for  training,  guidance  and  job  impact.    Companies  that  have  a  strong  understanding  of  their  current  state  customer  experience,  especially  those  who  have  undertaken  a  journey  mapping  program,  will  be  able  to  place  new  employees  directly  into  areas  that  have  been  earmarked  for  improvement.    Engaging  around  the  customer  experience   allows  new  employees  to  jump  right   in  and  see  meaningful  impact  from  their  efforts.

Build  the  customer  and  employee  journeys  into  onboarding  and  ongoing  trainingA  study  conducted  in  late  2015  revealed  that  turnover  is  highest  among  highly  service-­‐oriented  industries:  Banking  &  Finance  (17.4%),  Healthcare  (17.5%),  Hospitality  (27.6%)  and  Insurance  (11.7).  Companies  can  no  longer  expect  employees  to,  within  a  week  or  two,  understand  the  corporate  vision,  

suitecx©2015,  suitecx Inc. December  20,  2015

About  SuiteCX®Backed   by  over  120  years   of  combined   experience   in  customer  experience   consulting,  SuiteCX is  a  set   of  software   tools  that  allow   users  to  make  fact-­‐based   decisions   and  process   improvements   that  are  grounded  in   the  customer  experience.   Customer-­‐centric   diagnostics,   touch  inventories,   journey  maps,  customer  storytelling   and  precision  marketing   are   all   components  of  this  groundbreaking   software.

Thought  Leadership

buy  into  it  and  apply  it  in  their  daily  behavior.   Onboarding  and  training  need  to  be  focused  on  the  customer’s  goals,  pain  points  and  moments  of  truth  from  the  outset.

Introducing  new  employees  to  the  customer  journey,  as  well  as  having  them  participate  in  their  own  journey  mapping  exercise,   is  an  excellent  way  to  ground  them  in  the  company’s  CX  vision.    In  addition,  new  employees  mean  fresh  ways  of  thinking  and  the  ability  to  bring  new  solutions  to  the  organization.  Innovation  can  begin  from  day  one  if  the  customer-­‐employee  nexus  is  the  focus  of  onboarding  and  training  and  part  of  the  company  culture.  

Return  again  and  again  to  the  processImproving  the  customer  experience  is  never  a  one-­‐and-­‐done  effort.    Therefore,  neither  should  journey  mapping  be  a  solitary  exercise.    Just  as  everything  is  in  flux  in  the  customer’s  world,  employees  can  also  get  overwhelmed  by  changes  and  lose  sight  of  the  ultimate  goal:  an  exceptional  customer  experience.

A  journey  map,  especially  if  it   is  regularly  updated  and  maintained  in  a  collaborative  fashion,  serves  as  a  powerful  focal  point  to  which  leadership  can  point  again  and  again  to  reinforce  their  commitment  to  stay  the  course.

ConclusionAnother  recent  survey  around  customer  engagement  shows  that  belief  in  senior   leadership  is  the  strongest  engagement   driver,  while  growth  &  development  is  the  second.    If  your  company’s  senior  leadership  is  truly  committed  to  excellence  in  customer  experience  as  an  ongoing  vision,  then  employees  will  be  more  likely  to  not  only  stay,  but  show  themselves  that  commitment  in  their  every  day  activities.

Sources:http://www.temkingroup.com/research-­‐reports/employee-­‐engagement-­‐competency-­‐maturity-­‐2015/https://research-­‐content.glassdoor.com/app/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/GD_Report_3.pdfhttp://www.compensationforce.com/2015/03/2014-­‐turnover-­‐rates-­‐by-­‐industry.htmlhttp://www.modernsurvey.com/fall2014

Customer  Journey  Mapping:Three  Ways  Journey  Mapping  Can  Drive  Employee  Engagement