Once a company determines the CX influencer strength (where the CCO will report), its time to identify what structure will work best within the organization based on commitment and resources. The structure must enable CX leadership to influence change and drive action.
There are four ways to go with organizational structure:
1. Staff leader with dedicated team
2. Line leader with dedicated team
3. Staff leader with dispersed team
4. Line leader with dispersed team
You’ll notice that two options include a dedicated team and two options a dispersed team.
Dedicated Team
You’re going to have to push to get a dedicated team and make a strong case for this level of resources. A dedicated team is what I call a hard-wired engagement.
With a dedicated team, you secure a commitment up front by having a person from each operating area become a part of the change team. They can be a direct report or a dotted-line member.
- A direct report participant suspends his or her official duties in the operating area to be a part of the customer team.
- A dotted-line participant retains what’s supposed to be a paired-down version of his or her duties with a commitment to devote half-time to the customer effort. When working on the customer effort, this participant takes marching orders from the CX leader.
Dispersed Team
The customer experience team needs practitioners who know the inner workings of the operating areas. The knowledge they offer is critical to redefining the experience. When they are part of the team, they develop the new skill sets the company needs to drive change and integrate the customer work into the operating areas.
The ideal formula for a dispersed team is a direct report from each operating area resides on the customer experience team.
Compare the Four Structures:
