Culture work is the customer experience (CX) competency that amplifies all the other CX competencies — from design to measurement — and I’ve just completed a thorough refresh of Forrester’s core research on culture work: a trilogy of reports that’s part of our CX transformation playbook. Over the past couple of years leading this research, I have enjoyed connecting with and interviewing culture work leaders whose efforts resulted in CX improvements as well as business improvements. My updates to the trilogy reflect these new learnings:

  • In the beginner report, “Establish Your Culture Work Practice,” I’ve refreshed the five steps (which CX leaders should follow to lay the groundwork for a more customer-obsessed culture) with many new examples, some of them also backed by more in-depth case studies.
  • In the intermediate report, “Scale Your Culture Work Practice,” I address what makes culture change so difficult: Tackling one part of the organization or one set of behaviors will not change the culture. I’ve added direction (again backed by case studies) on how to shift behaviors organizationwide through connected cultural activities rooted in your organization’s customer-centric values. And I’ve added a checklist like the one at the end of the beginner report so you can assess if you are ready to move on to advanced culture work.
  • In the advanced report, “Evolve Your Culture Work Practice,” I added new examples of CX leaders who have transformed their organizations to embrace customer centricity and adapt to changing customer needs continuously. Keep an eye out for related research on how to scale your CX organization, which I’ll be publishing later in 2021.

Do any of these themes resonate with your experiences and insights as a culture work leader? If so, I’d be grateful for your insights as an input to this ongoing research, either via email or a live conversational interview. Please reach out to me via LinkedIn to connect.