The customer experience team retains development of the skill sets to drive change. However, the team of functional experts does not report to this group.
The functional experts are earmarked for participation in the customer work by their leadership. In other words, the functional experts do it when they have time. This may be the only option for many organizations. Be aware that the Chief Customer Officer needs to compensate for the lack of direct control over the functional experts by spending more time engaging the leaders of the functional areas. If the leaders don’t completely buy in, the time they advocate having their folks spend on the customer stuff will be negligible and frequently hard won.
Pros for This Option
• Effective if dispersed team members are generally sanctioned by their leaders
• Balances the resource-pull question
Cons for This Option
• Significant amount of “plate spinning” required here to balance schedules and time commitments
• Longer timeline
