With a growing need to demonstrate the value of CX, the adoption of a growth mindset and skills development for existing CX staff and champions should be a priority for every CX leader.
Why CX leaders need a growth mindset
A growth mindset is characterized by a desire for continuous learning, embracing challenges, and resilience to change. The mindset is rooted in the belief that your skills and abilities can continuously be developed. Companies and leaders that foster a growth mindset are able to tackle complications, overcome obstacles, and work smarter to find success — even with limited resources.
CX leaders face the challenge of driving change across every function in their organization — from the frontline to backroom functions. As integrators, CX leaders and teams must be knowledgeable about consumer behavior and what is happening in the marketplace in order to translate experience management into all functional areas and communicate the value of CX. CX leaders who adopt a growth mindset and lead their teams by example will foster a culture of continuous learning, inherently maximizing investments in skills development.
How to foster a culture of continuous learning
Learning cultures, defined by The Corporate Executive Board (CEB) as “a culture that supports an open mindset, an independent quest for knowledge, and shared learning directed toward the organization’s mission and goals,” are challenging to obtain but not impossible. To foster a learning culture, CX leaders should actively encourage learning with a growth mindset and model the behavior they want to see in their team members.
Below are a few ways CX leaders can encourage continuous learning and growth:
- Set clear goals and expectations: Establish SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based) for yourself and your team to keep everyone on track in their learning journey. Incorporate learning objectives in performance reviews and use meaningful feedback that triggers curiosity instead of a negative highlight on a knowledge gap.
- Empower and reward your team: Encourage your team to seek and engage in internal and external opportunities, such as conferences and webinars, that further their knowledge of CX, experience management, and functions within the business. Establish a formal reward system to entice them and provide the necessary time and space to learn.
- Look to others’ successes as inspiration: Leverage lessons from organizations that have persevered through challenges on their CX transformation journey to achieve their goals as inspiration. Invite successful leaders within the CX community or other areas who embody a growth mindset to share how they’ve overcome obstacles in their careers.
Where CX leaders should invest in education
Forrester’s CX Planning Guide 2023 report noted investments in skills training — such as data literacy, storytelling, business case/ROI modeling, journey orchestration, and survey design — as an area most likely to be approved for increases in spending. As CX intersects with all functions of an organization, the ability to translate experience management and communicate the value of CX across stakeholder groups is critically important.
One possible approach CX leaders can invest in is peer coaching. In this model, cohorts and managers take time to educate their colleagues. Typically, meetings are scheduled monthly or quarterly when peers present lessons on an assigned topic, share insights from work in progress or completed, and praise one another. This type of training is rarely formalized as it can be challenging to secure a commitment from participants.
Another time-efficient approach is learning done in small increments and led by external subject matter experts. In this training approach, CX leaders should seek self-directed education programs based on learnings from successful CX transformations taught by seasoned professionals in the field. The learning materials must be user-friendly, and a lesson must be accessible when needed with a click or two.
In Summary
When CX leaders prioritize learning, their teams work harder and have a stronger sense of accountability. A growth mindset and continuous learning culture also drive innovation. Explore ways to empower your team to own and control the learning process. In doing so, your organization will continually increase its knowledge, become more competent, innovate regularly, and develop future leaders.
ImprintCX understands the keys to successful CX programs and can support you along the way. Let’s get started.
