13 Sep Case Study: Realizing a Global Healthcare Leader’s CX Vision
How might we align our Customer Experience team around a common vision and the mindsets and operating model to activate it across the organization?
At A Glance:
CLIENT:
A Fortune 50 healthcare company
TIMELINE:
6 months
PROJECT TYPE:
Strategy + Culture Change
DECISION MAKER:
VP, Customer Experience
The outcomes we created will help us spend less time thinking about how to do things and just do them!”
Customer Experience Operations Director
The Challenge:
A global leader in the healthcare space, our client had made impressive strides in advocating for Customer Experience (CX) across the organization. However, they still had a ways to go to achieve their desired level of impact. So, they saw this as an opportunity to reset. With the goal of becoming more proactive and strategic influencers in the business, they engaged The Design Gym to help them align around their vision for Customer Experience, bring it to life in tangible ways, and adapt their operating model to better support it.
The Solution:
Phase 1: Aligning on a Common CX Vision
Discovery + Design
We began our work by collaborating with the CX Leadership Team to co-create a team charter. This formative document outlined the team’s mission, their unique value propositions, and a set of aspirational mindsets with associated behaviors that inform how they operate. To develop the charter, we engaged each leader one-on-one to get their input. The, we brought them together as a group to debate and align on a collective vision for the CX team. Following several rounds of iteration, we arrived at the final version and coached the VP to develop a strong narrative to present it to the team, as well as up to the Global Head of Digital.
Delivery
Presenting the team charter was only the start, however. To truly bring the new mindsets to life, we facilitated Activation Workshops with each functional team. These virtual sessions started with the functional leader setting expectations with their team. Then, we asked each participant, including the leaders, to identify concrete ways they could experiment with bringing the mindsets and behaviors to life in their daily work. Participants shared their ideas and got feedback from each other in small groups before committing to their experiments.
Once individuals across the team had started experimenting with their mindsets, we kept the momentum going through a series of weekly inspiration sessions. We intentionally designed and facilitated these short, team-wide workshops to promote further understanding and adoption of the mindsets. Each one started by showcasing a story of a team member’s experiment, and the learning and impact that emerged from it. Then, we engaged the team in learning a new tool or skill related to that mindset, such as collective genius sessions, status quo busters, and iconic actions. Finally, participants collaborated with small peer groups to practice the tool or skill. Through all of these opportunities, the charter evolved from words on a slide to informing how the team worked.
Phase 2: Building the Operating Model
Discovery
To help the team redesign their delivery model in support of their new vision, we conducted a series of rapid process sprints. Rooted in the fast-paced and focused structure of a design sprint, process sprints dissect a specific workflow or operating model. They are collaborative by nature, inviting stakeholders to co-create and make the process more effective, efficient, and/or enjoyable.
Each of our sprints started by aligning with the Operations Team on a process brief that defined where in the end-to-end process we would focus. Then we onboarded into the current state. Rather than just talk to stakeholders, however, we asked them to help us visualize their current process, identifying opportunities to amplify what was working and address what wasn’t.
Design
With these opportunities in mind, we tapped a slightly larger group of collaborators to help us iterate and improve upon the process. During co-creation sessions, we built out the flow of activities and decisions, including identifying owners and contributors for each. To increase the likelihood of the process’ adoption, we also defined new rituals, complete with sample agendas and templates for the ritual owners to leverage.
Delivery
Finally, we shared draft prototypes of the processes with broader stakeholders for their input. Bringing in different vantage points allowed us to identify gaps as well as opportunities to streamline or clarify activities. Based on their feedback, we made final iterations to the process and documented it in living formats that continue to be updated as the processes are tested and implemented across teams.
The Results:
- 1 common goal for the team to align around
- 3 mindsets that create a shared understanding of how we work
- 100+ low-barrier experiments identified for activating the mindsets
- 1 co-created end-to-end process, providing greater consistency and efficiency across CX projects and teams
- 30+ defined CX rituals with clear goals, roles, timelines, formats, and supporting templates
- Increased cross-functional awareness, collaboration, and engagement
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