Uncle Matt visits North Carolina and Washington DC

A frenetic week saw me visit Cary in North Carolina and Arlington in Virginia.
Both beautiful places when the weather is warm. It wasn't this week. The people however where very much so :)

Following my time in Cary I then moved north to DC and spent time with a terrific bunch of guys just outside of Washington DC at The Nature Conservancy.

The leader of the team there is someone I profoundly respect and has demonstrated over the years a practical and fundamental understanding of Outside-in.

Erika Westbay is one of lifes special souls. Here is the snap we took today.

Erika is also a judge for IQPC's PEX Network and you can meet her next month in Florida at the annual get together: http://www.pexweek.com/ 

PS. Erika is the attractive one on the left. I am the cuddly one on the right.

We have got to get scientific about the customer experience.

Off with their heads! (Credit: Walt Disney Pictures)

In a recent survey of more than 2,000 Top Team respondents globally we found that more than 70% said how important effective measures of customer satisfaction were needed.

And yet more than 80% of these then used non scientific approaches to measure satisfaction eg. CSi and NPS.

Worse than that more than half then used those measures to inform strategy for the future approaches of their organizations.

Ever felt like you fell down the rabbit hole?

We have got to get scientific about the Customer Experience

Max Ehrmann, "Desiderata" > This will give you food for thought, and if it doesn't you are lost.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

10 ways to deliver customer success. Immediately.

Stop making dumb things happen faster for less money! A lot of companies pay lip service to customer-centricity, write contributors Steve Towers and James Dodkins, but not many “walk the talk”. Here are 10 differences between inside-out and outside-in companies. There is a lot of talk today, more than ever, about customer centricity, client focus, customer experience strategy and Outside-In. Many organizations have adopted aspects of these disciplines and where many have achieved monumental success others have fallen by the wayside. Why is this? The problem is perception.

Is your company just paying lip service to customers?

Review the full article over at PEX Network

The tip of the iceberg

Most process improvement techniques focus on only a small portion of the
improvement potential in every processŠ the tip of the iceberg if you will.
How big is the opportunity resting out of our sight, hidden below the
waterline of current practices?

Recent research by the BP Group suggests that 70 to 90 percent of the work
people do comes directly from process Points of Failure and Causes of Work
and this work is NOT part of the 'job' for which these people were hired!
Instead, this is non-value add work that takes away from people¹s ability to
do their job.

Does this sound familiar? Can you identify places where these Points of
Failure and Causes of Work are distracting you from what you really want to
be doing?

Are you required to fill out this form, check up on that order, or follow-up
on those activities? Do you get tasked with finding the answer, knowing the
rules, fighting that fire or explaining why you did this or that?

Fixing affects (the tip of the iceberg) only gets us so far. To create real
change in how efficiently we use our time requires us to focus on
eliminating the Causes of Work (the rest of the iceberg).

This is the first step we must take in aligning our businesses for success
in the 21st Century.
Kindest Regards

James Dodkins
Chief Customer Officer
BP Group

James Dodkins - Fixing effects is a lot like shuffling the chairs on the deck of the Titanic

Lots of work gets done and things look different but the original problem still remains.

Fixing effects increases the complexity of our work and the technology we us to support it. It’s a vicious cycle many of us are stuck in. The more we do the worse it gets. Soon analysis paralysis sets in. We’re stuck and there’s no place for us to go.

Meanwhile successful companies around the world are now eliminating causes rather than fixing effects. But how do they spot causes and eliminate them? Is a host of Master Black Belt Cause Eliminators needed to get the job done?

Of course not. Moments of Truth, Break Points and Business Rules are the causes of work. Once we start looking for them we spot them. Elimination comes from challenging what we currently do - looking for Actions that eliminate Moments of Truth, Break Points and Business Rules.

How big is the size of the prize? Efficiency and productivity gains of 30% to 60% are common. Cost reduction of services by 50% is not unusual.

Cause elimination is a seek and destroy mission. It’s the challenge to weed out the “dumb stuff” in our organizations. Are you ready to challenge your assumptions and start eliminating those causes of work?

Kindest Regards

James Dodkins
Chief Customer Officer
BP Group

Steve Towers - books

I have written eight books and contributed to many more. You can access them from these links - will be added to as publication dates are confirmed.

2014 Q3 – Customer Experience Matters. Transcending NPS.

2014 Q2– Beyond Six Sigma, the next wave

(with  Dr. Morgan Jones)

2013 – The High Performance Organization
(with Dr. Samir Asaf)

2010 – Outside In. The secret of the 21^st centuries leading companies
http://amzn.to/1eRyOfJ

Steve Towers & John Corr
(BP Group President) outside
of UK's Prime Ministers residence
(Number 10 Downing St. London)

2006 - Customer Expectation Management: Success Without Exception
http://tinyurl.com/6cdo6e

2005 - Thrive!: How to Succeed in the Age of the Customer
http://tinyurl.com/5huun2

2005 - In Search of BPM Excellence (with Peter Fingar)
http://amzn.to/19OrOt3

1993 - An Executives Guide to BPR
http://tinyurl.com/6y2t9s

Steve Towers and what's new with Process, Performance and Customer Experience

Hi Steve Towers here, founder of the BP Group with this months update on all things process, performance and customer experience.

1.    New resources:
a.    Customer Experience Mapping with ABACUS – http://www.cxrating.com/cx_mapping_abacus.html
b.    CXRating CLOSED area – Slide show featuring the science of Customer Experience – apply here – http://www.cxrating.com

2.    Discussions of note – http://www.linkedin.com/groups/BP-Group-1062077

3.    Events Upcoming (limited places with discounts)
a.    San Francisco, California - BPM Summit: http://www.bpmsummitusa.com/
b.    Orlando, Florida - Annual PEX Conference: http://www.pexweek.com/
c.    Davos, Switzerland - World Economic Forum: http://bit.ly/WorldEcoSummit/

4.    Blogs – several useful resources per week http://www.successfulcustomeroutcomes.net

5.    Blogs – http;//www.bpcommunity.blogspot.com (new videos)

6.    New classes for 2014 – released next week.. Meanwhile Final classes for 2013: http://bit.ly/BPGroupCPP

Look forward to meeting in San Francisco, Orlando or Switzerland soon ☺
All the Very Best
Steve

Please feel free to connect:www.linkedin.com/in/stevetowers/

The Certified Process Professional overview

Thinking of signing up for the next level? Review the dynamic in this 4 minute video highlight :)
Then trip on down to review a class near you soon: http://www.bpgroup.org/certification-by-city.html

BP Group certified process professional overview from Steve Towers

What is Bad Customer Service Costing?