Developing Customer Experience capability through a training program

Cases

Developing Customer Experience capability through a training program

Start / Cases / Developing Customer Experience capability through a training program

Summary

We supported a global transportation company to address the need for a customer-centric approach amid shifting industry trends. Together, we developed a Customer Experience (CX) Training program, engaging hundreds of employees through immersive, interactive sessions that emphasized mindset, method, tools, and direction. The training combined theory and practice, empowering participants to apply CX principles in their daily roles. A Playbook was also created to guide the organization with common language, practices, and case studies. With a dedicated team of trainers, a strong, playful culture was fostered, leading to the program’s high demand and success. Leadership-specific training was later introduced to further embed the transformation. The initiative has significantly improved the CX knowledge and behavior across the company, with trained employees being ambassadors for making customer needs central to the organization’s evolution.

Faced with rapid digital disruption and rising competition, a global transportation company knew it had to evolve — or risk falling behind. To ignite a cultural transformation, a Customer Experience (CX) Training program was launched, empowering employees to think and act from the customer's perspective. The result? An organizational shift that put customer needs at the very core.

Background

A global transportation company was facing a changing competitive landscape. With digitalization, automation and electrification the company could foresee changes in customers’ expectations and new emerging competitors. To stay relevant and competitive, the company identified a deep understanding for customer needs and the ability to drive change from an outside-in perspective as key factors. Consequently, developing customer experience (CX) capability was made a strategic priority. Find out more about the benefits of customer centricity here.

Investments in CX initiatives had already been started. Through extensive research projects, key assets for customer understanding were mapped, including customer journeys, insights, pain points and areas of opportunities. These assets served as a foundation in the continued CX transformation.

The company was now facing a new challenge – how to spread the newly developed understanding of our customers out in the organization and encourage a shift in behavior among employees, making customer needs central. The goal was to foster a culture where change is driven from the outside in, and employees feel empowered to question whether we are solving problems based on our beliefs or on real customer needs. This led to the idea of a CX training program.

What we did

Together with the client, we developed a CX training program that has, to date, guided hundreds of employees through interactive and inspiring sessions. Here’s how we transformed a blank piece of paper into a comprehensive training program to foster a bottom-up demand for CX capability.

The customer experience training program

Together with the client, we developed a training program from scratch. The training content was built on four components: Mindset, Method, Tools and Direction – focusing both on the what and the how.

The outcome was a series of interactive sessions that allowed participants to fully immerse themselves in different topics each time. The sessions were a mix of theory and practice, providing practical experiences to apply in their own everyday context. Between sessions, homework assignments served as deep dives into the topics through group exercises and further readings.

The training program was piloted, refined, and run again until a solid concept was established. The training went on with multiple groups and quickly became a success, receiving great feedback from participants and generating a waiting list for future sessions.

The Playbook

Parallel with the development of the training program, a Playbook was created. The Playbook was aligned with the training sessions and served as a comprehensive guide for how we work with CX, the company’s history, and inspirational cases and examples. The Playbook helped shape a common belief and a shared language for CX.

The team of trainers

A group of experienced and engaged trainers guided the participants through presentations and facilitated workshop-based exercises in smaller groups. The training team soon developed a strong team spirit and a playful culture, which spread to the participants during the sessions. This culture has been a key component of the program’s success. New trainers were continuously trained, and as the team expanded, different participant groups could run simultaneously.

The training program for leaders

Once the CX training had been established, an emerging need for a leader specific training became apparent. This need arose both from a strategic perspective and from increasing demand within the organization. To accelerate the CX transformation, leaders are needed in paving the way and supporting employees who have participated in the training to do undergo a behavior shift.

Results

The training program generated significant interest and increased knowledge for CX within the organization. Participants developed a shared language and a common understanding of customer-centric practices, which has elevated the status of working with customer experience.

The program has, to date, successfully trained hundreds of employees, and the training sessions continue to be in high demand, with new groups starting regularly. The interactive and engaging nature of the training, combined with the strong team spirit and playful culture of the trainers, has contributed to its success. The Playbook, developed alongside the training program, has also played a crucial role in shaping a common belief and a shared language for CX.

All participants from the training received badges to recognize their ambassadorship in CX. These ambassadors have been key in spreading the newly developed understanding throughout the organization and encouraging a shift in behavior among employees, making customer needs central.

The training has been a crucial part of driving the CX transformation. Building capability and achieving behavioral changes across a large organization takes time, but the important part is to start. It requires patience and commitment.