January can be an interesting time of year. At times you can feel a general malaise from trying to catch up after the holidays, or it can be busy with a flurry of new activity stemming from new initiatives that kick off with the change in the calendar. I’m a little different than most as I like to work through the holidays. I may not put up a typical ninety-hour workweek, but I find I can casually roll into my home office and get a few things done without many disruptions or distractions. I often get to work on the things that I just did not get to finish and usually the things I really enjoy working on.
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One distraction during this time of year can be the end of the football season, though in the last several years that really has not been much of a distraction for me since my favorite team has not performed well in that time. That was a little different this year as with a new rookie quarterback, my team finally made it back into the playoffs and had a winning record for the first time in eight years.
While they lost in the first round of the playoffs this past weekend, it did provide for some entertainment as they squeaked their way into the post-season tournament with a win in the final week of the season. Leading up to those final games, I am certain that the pressure on anyone would be overwhelming, especially for someone in their first year. However, there was something he stated in an interview (link) that really showed poise in the face of extreme scrutiny:
"I think this lifestyle, this situation, there are some quarterbacks who just kind of live with pressure. That’s just kind of second nature at this point. I believe pressure is a privilege, and I was taught that a long time ago. There’s no pressure without opportunity. Right now, that means we have a great opportunity to go do something special.”
Spoken before the playoff clinching win and his first post-season appearance, that stood out as an impressive philosophy that, I believe, rolls right into the idea of any business role, but certainly in Customer Experience.
If we consider someone on the frontline of customer service – the cashier, the phone agent, or a healthcare professional – or those that support them – the overnight stock person, the IT professional, or insurance compliance specialist – they are all part of the customer experience. Some have to be ready for it every minute, others need to be prepared to meet those needs of the frontline at a moment’s notice, and still others have a continuous role in serving customers that they may never meet.
I often read the anti-work subreddit on Reddit. There are some stories with which I can relate and have experienced similar things myself and others where my response may simply be “well, that is the real world”. There are a range of thoughts coming from my perspective that has been on both the frontline and support teams in both B2C and B2C.
As we enter into the new year, I would remind everyone that every interaction with a customer is an opportunity – an opportunity to improve that customer’s experience, to support the company we work for and to improve our own skillset that could be applied to work or our personal lives. We just have to keep in mind that – just like “There’s no pressure without opportunity” – there is no opportunity that does not involve some pressure. That pressure might be to simply have a smile on your face for a customer that is having a bad day or fixing an connectivity problem that is not allowing a customer to pay a bill online. The pressures are all different, which is why creating a journey map as part of a greater journey management initiative might be the starting point. Understanding the pains of the customer journey, the difficulties in the chain of external influences and the perspectives of employee enablement all in one place can help everyone reconcile what needs to be done.
Most importantly, as we enter the new year, remember that there will always be pressure in these opportunities, and that the pressure that comes in customer experience is a privilege.
