3. Customer Experience:<\/strong>\u00a0Customer experience is the result of a customer\u2019s interactions with a company. Customers attach meanings to these experiences, forming opinions or beliefs of what the company stands for based on their perceptions of how the company treats them, the degree to which it meets their expectations, and how well it does or doesn\u2019t deliver on its promises.<\/p>\n Looking across the above, there are three major \u201cgap areas.\u201d No one is more common than another. Depending on the company, one or all may be at issue. For some companies, no gaps exist at all. Each is important. Unless all are in alignment, significant issues can occur, and value is destroyed. These gap areas include:<\/p>\n 1. The Vision\/Culture Gap:<\/strong>\u00a0This occurs when executives and management talk about the company one way, but the experience of being an employee is somehow fundamentally different. For example, a company might say that integrity and respect are core values, but it treats employees poorly and leverages legal loopholes to get ahead.<\/p>\n 2. The Vision\/Experience Gap:<\/strong>\u00a0This is similar to the Vision\/Culture gap, where the vision translates to a brand promise that creates customer expectations of a certain experience. If integrity is part of the brand, and the \u201clegal loopholes\u201d (like hiding gotchas in the fine print) negatively impact customers, expectations aren\u2019t met, and gaps exist.<\/p>\n 3. The Experience\/Culture Gap:<\/strong>\u00a0When the vision or brand create customer expectations of a certain experience and these expectations are not met, then experience is negative and a performance gap is created.<\/p>\n While closing the Experience\/Culture gap is at the core of most customer experience efforts, the identification of any gaps is important. While not simple, the process is relatively straightforward. Check out\u00a0Six Steps To Customer Experience Improvement<\/a>, my two-part article from 2012, for a quick primer.<\/p>\n If you do find multiple gaps, the place I suggest you start is with any Vision\/Culture gaps. Without alignment of vision and culture, even the most articulate business and customer experience strategies won\u2019t help a company succeed. After all, \u201cculture eats strategy for breakfast\u201d\u2013a remark as funny as it is true, attributed to Peter Drucker and popularized in 2006 by Mark Fields, president of Ford Motor Company. In fact, rumor has it that the phrase continues to hang in the company\u2019s War Room today.<\/p>\n The truth is, many organizations miss out on obvious opportunities to improve culture and customer experience when they don\u2019t start by aligning their vision.<\/p>\n Those companies that succeed most wildly\u2013those in the top quartile for employee engagement that have the most loyal customers and employees and drive outsized business value as a result\u2013are those that understand the importance of alignment across these three areas.<\/p>\n They clearly articulate their vision and bring it life for their people and their customers in brands that promise relevant experiences that set them apart from their competition. Then they back it up\u2013by delivering on these promises to employees, customers and shareholders alike.<\/p>\n After all, even the best-articulated strategies cannot be effective if employees don\u2019t understand or believe in them or aren\u2019t motivated to deliver on them to your customers. While not simple, the fact is any company can get there\u2013because this is what the promise of alignment can deliver.<\/p>\n![\"CX-Stool\"](\"http:\/\/mcorpconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/CX-Stool.png\")
<\/strong>2. Culture:<\/strong>\u00a0Usually culture is an unstated series of beliefs that govern the meanings people attach to their experiences of being an employee. It\u2019s what employees believe the organization stands for\u2013its values, systems, and habits, among other things. How are they treated by others? How are they, themselves, expected to behave? Put another way, employee experience equals culture.<\/p>\nThree Common Gaps<\/h3>\n
Identifying And Closing Gaps<\/h3>\n
The Benefits Of Aligning Vision, Culture, And Experience<\/h3>\n