Jo van Riemsdijk and Kate Baird are delighted to bring to you our August edition of the CX Talent Ltd newsletter. We have been over the moon with how these interviews with Senior CX professionals have been received to date. In this latest edition we interview Kirsten Pattie who is the Global Head of Customer Experience and Insight at Collinson . Kirsten has had a very interesting career to date working both in-house, Consultancy and Agency. She has some fascinating insights to share, which we have no doubt you will find invaluable!
Kirsten – you are currently Global Head of Customer Experience and Insight at Collinson – please can you let us know what that entails?
I was brought into the organisation to help put people (customers, clients, partners and employees) at the heart of our product and experience design and innovation efforts. I was attracted by the dual focus on CX and Insight.
My role involves helping the organisation to build an aligning understanding of our markets, consumer, client and partner needs and innovation and opportunities through research and insight and working closely with our data capability. In my time at Collinson I have looked to put in place a more holistic approach to plan, collate, analyse and disseminate action oriented insight and then understand the impact of that action on our audiences (through a more structured Voice of the Customer and Customer listening programme)
My role also includes helping the organisation to leverage that understanding to identify our points of ‘meaningful difference’, identify what that means for our customer / portfolio and product strategy and iterate and optimise our current product and service experiences to deliver better customer and business outcomes and identify and ideate new solutions to unmet customer needs. My team includes researchers, analysts, experience strategists, and UX, service and product designers.
You’ve got an amazing work portfolio – working across a broad and different range of companies and brands, from the BBC to agencies like RAPP , Historic Royal Palaces , Consultancies like CGA Experience and now totravel! How do you feel that having such a diverse range of sector and company experience has helped you progress in CX?
I think in the world of CX and also in Product Development and Innovation it really helps to have experience across a range of industries. There are two main reasons for this.
Firstly it is important in both CX and innovation to take an outside-in approach, starting with looking to understand your customers, and the broader suite of audiences that you serve, not just as consumers of your products and services but as individuals with a diverse set of needs, motivations and beliefs. Too many organisations start from the inside out, relying on existing industry knowledge and what has happened in the past. By bringing in people from outside of the industry an organisation can gain a fresh perspective, challenge to existing ways of doing things, and potentially a broader understanding of your consumers, markets and untapped opportunity.
Secondly many organisations take a ‘me too’ approach to customer experience and product and service optimisation – copying the approaches taken by other industry players. This is a limited strategy as consumers are not judging their experience of your organisation solely against that of your direct competitors but against their experience of all the organisations that they interact. Their daily interactions with other completely unrelated organisations are continuously resetting their expectations of your organisations product and service experiences and interactions. By bringing in talent from a variety of industries (and indeed from diverse personal and professional backgrounds) you bring in new skills and experience of having addressed similar emerging customer needs and expectations, albeit in a differet industry category or context.
Of all the companies you’ve worked for, which have you most enjoyed in terms of Customer Experience?
I would have to say working for Historic Royal Palaces . The organisation had a very clear purpose – to help people engage with the stories of the royal palaces and help preserve those palaces for future generations. Employees across the organisation were aligned around this purpose and the shared desire to deliver in person and digital experiences that provided all our ecommerce customers, members, donors and visitors with a royal welcome and exceptional experience that went above and beyond. In my role, first as Head of Customer Engagement and then ultimately as Programme Director of the Customer Experience Transformation I helped the organisation to understand customer needs through the end to end experience and then work together better, in agile and collaborative ways, to deliver seamless and joined up experiences that brought smiles to all.
Can you let us know what have been your proudest moments in terms of CX initiatives to date?
Leveraging customer insight and behavioural change theory to design and deliver a CRM programme for the governments Change4life anti-obesity programme that delivered record sign up, engagement and participation and drove positive social impact.
Helping empower and mobilise local communities to support older and vulnerable audiences to make the switch to digital TV, leveraging CX techniques and approaches to identify barriers and needs and design simple and intuitive experiences.
Helping a number of organisations (both as a consultant and in house) assess their customer centric maturity and shift away from working in vertical functional siloes to working together around the delivery of insight informed seamless and joined up customer experiences that delight and deliver positive customer and business outcomes.
Designing and delivering a Voice of the customer programme for an energy client and helping drive the associated business change and engagement.
You have experience of working on CX initiatives both in Consultancy and Agency as well as in house, what would you say are the main differences? Which do you prefer and why?
I think that I have benefitted greatly from spending time in all three.
In agencies the focus is on the creative ideation and optimisation of core parts of the customer experience through both the development of customer strategy and the creative design and execution of new points of interactions and communications. As a Customer strategist in consultancy you are typically helping the organisation to drive forward bigger programmes of transformation and change; helping organisations become more customer centric and insight led and / or delivering large scale digital and customer capability transformation. This helps to set clients up for future success by introducing new ways of working, new ways of capturing and disseminating data and insight, new ways to identify and capitalise on market opportunity, or designing and delivering new digital platforms and experiences. In both consultancies and agencies one is constantly exposed to fresh and emergent thinking and colleagues with deep expertise in complimentary fields.
In client side roles I would argue that the focus of the CX leader is on helping align the organisation around a common understanding of customers and markets and mobilising, enabling and empowering colleagues across the organisation to work together to deliver more customer centric experiences.
I have enjoyed all the roles I have had in different ways. I enjoy working in house most, in particular for purpose driven organisations; building teams and capability, introducing and embedding new ways of working and operating (such as insight driven, Design thinking and agile approaches) and driving forward customer centric change, ultimately enabling and empowering colleagues to succeed.
If you could have your career all over again, are there any things you would have done differently or are there any skillsets that you feel you wish you’d honed earlier?
I probably would of chosen to work in consultancy at an earlier stage in my career as it provides such a brilliant opportunity for on the job training from brilliant people who are experts in their field and early exposure to senior decision makers. It also enables you to try on different industries, areas of focus and challenges for size to see what fits.
I do think that it is beneficial to go in house to build the stakeholder management skills that are critical to driving and embedding customer centric change both within teams and at an enterprise level. I benefitted from early exposure to this in my career, when I worked at the BBC and then for the Digital UK – the organisation responsible for driving the switch to digital TV. We were managing a complex network of both internal and external stakeholders and driving forward a nationwide programme of change.
I have really enjoyed projects where my work is having a positive social impact on the communities and audiences that we serve and would probably dial up that if I had my time again.
Ultimately though, there is not much that I would change about my somewhat ‘wiggly’ career as it has given me a broad perspective, fed my curious nature, enabled me to be creative, learn from great people, and build a wide network and connected skill set that enables me to be a better CX leader.
How do you think AI is going to impact CX as a discipline?
I think that AI will be a huge enabler to CX as a discipline. It will enable organisations to curate a better understanding of customers current and future needs, proactively identify issues and deliver more personalised and tailored responses in real time. It will empower and enable employees. I am really excited by the opportunity it brings. However, I am also mindful of the need to respect the privacy of audiences and to be responsible in the application of AI.
What aspect of CX do you most enjoy? Strategy? Insight? End to end implementation?
I like aligning colleagues around a common (data and research driven) understanding of audiences and market opportunity. To identify and put in place the customer centric capability that better enables and empowers those colleagues to work together to design and deliver optimised experiences that delight and drive positive outcomes for both customers, wider society and the business.
I also like helping organisations to connect the dots between identifying the organisations point of meaningful difference in the markets and communities it serves. How that translates into brand, customer, portfolio product and experience design strategy, so that everyone can understand the critical role they play.
What skillsets and attributes would you say that candidates wanting to further develop their careers in CX need?
I would say that curiosity, creativity, empathy, tenacity, and an open minded and collaborative style are the personal attributes that will put CX candiates in good stead to succeed.
From a skillset perspective, I think it is critical to build and understanding of the tools and approaches that enable you and your colleagues to better understand the audiences you serve, your business, market, opportunity and challenges. In my experience the best insight comes when you bring together the right mix of data, research and existing knowledge to better understand a problem. You don’t have to be an insight professional but knowing what data, research and stakeholder engagement approaches to apply to any given challenge is a real attribute. It will drive fresh insight and provide a better jumping off point for CX innovation and iteration. In addition, CX professionals need to be adept at bringing together diverse teams and perspectives to enable and empower colleagues to work better together, to deliver seamless experiences and navigate entrenched organisational siloes. Stakeholder engagement and good communication skills are important, as are an understanding of design thinking and agile approaches.
Finally, it is absolutely critical for CX professionals to really understand the businesses that they work with or for. To understand the commercial models that underpin them, how the organisation makes money, where there is challenge and opportunity and be mindful of both the commercial and customer impact and outcomes that the organisation needs to deliver and how to monitor and measure this impact.
You have got the CCXP accreditation, do you think that this is a worthwhile qualification for candidates to work towards and why?
I think that the CCXP accreditation is a good way to certify that you have a solid understanding and experience of the cross spectrum of skills that are required of a CX leader. The accreditation is more widely recognised in the US than the UK but I am really glad that I took the time to gain mine.
What career advice do you wish you had been given in the early stages of your career that you’d like to share?
‘Don’t turn down that marketing executive role for Ebay with share options’ (this was in 2003)!
In all seriousness I have been so lucky to have had some amazing mentors and bosses through my career who have given me great advice.
I think the one piece of advice I wish I had been given earlier in my career is – Driving customer centric transformation and change (or indeed change in general) takes time. Especially in organisations made up of entrenched functional siloes rather than those organised around delivery of the customer experience.
Be prepared to meet colleagues where they are, listen and Empathise, and take them on a journey with you. Communicate in their language and often.
Identify Exec sponsors to sponsor the change and champions across teams to drive it forwards at grass roots level.
Think big but start small and promote small successes building a slow ground swell of support.
On a personal level I wish someone had told me to be eternally curious, keep learning, stay playful and most importantly take time out to do the things that bring you joy (for me this is art and walking in nature) as this in turn will enable you to be more creative and productive in the day job.
Oh and the final thing – take time every now and again to stop and look back at what you and your teams have achieved and celebrate your shared successes, experiences and learning opportunities.
If you could describe the ideal CX role – what would it look like?
For me it would be working for a purpose driven organisation that wants to put customers and the broader audiences and communities that it serves at the heart of everything that it does to deliver a positive impact both for the business, customers and wider society.
There would be an aligned executive leadership team that are unanimously supportive of the imperative to start from the outside in, leveraging insight to align and mobilise colleagues around a common view of the market, customer and opportunity and strategy.
The role itself would be focused on enabling, empowering and inspiring colleagues across the organisation to be more customer centric and insight driven and work together to deliver innovative product and service experiences and interactions that exceed customer expectation and needs. The Role holder (or their team) would also be responsible for leading and embedding customer centric culture change, engaging and communicating with stakeholders across the organisation, be a continuous champion of the customer, and responsible for monitoring and communicating the holistic impact of this collective effort on both the customer and the business.
Finally I would be surrounded by great people who inspire me, teach me, open my eyes to new perspectives and make me laugh in equal measure.
Jo van Riemsdijk and Kate Baird hope that you’ve enjoyed this latest edition of the newsletter. Kirsten Pattie has given us a lot of food for thought, great insights into her career and some fantastic tips and advice for those looking to continue to develop their careers in this wonderful world! Huge thanks to Kirsten Pattie for her time and professional insights.
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