Tag: employee experience

News

Tallwave Takes Texas: Meet the Dallas Team

Post author By Tallwave Team
Post date March 16, 2021
No Comments on Tallwave Takes Texas: Meet the Dallas Team

As a customer experience design company, our people are essential to creating and delivering remarkable solutions for everyone we work with.

We know that doing big things requires people who get it – people who are told they can’t change things and then go ahead and change them anyway. People who embrace a maverick attitude, who challenge convention, and think beyond the ask. These are the kinds of people that affect positive change and growth for our company and clients, and the kinds of mavericks we’re loading our new Dallas office with.

Meet the Tallwavers helping us serve the Dallas market on the ground. And if you’re in the area, schedule a virtual or socially distanced coffee with them by emailing Dallas@Tallwave.com or dropping us a note here. They’re ready to help you create unstoppable momentum and deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Learn more about our Dallas expansion here

Matthew Kiesel, Senior Consultant

A highly-motivated management consultant and client development professional, Matthew joined the Tallwave team with 14 years of experience with aviation finances, joint ventures, merger and acquisition integrations, sales and distribution, revenue management, and loyalty programs. Working previously at Sabre, a travel technology company focused on airline software and service, as well as American Airlines and United Airlines, Matthew is Tallwave’s travel expert. A Texas-native, Matthew is a Texas Christian University graduate and self-proclaimed “rowdy Horned Frog football fan.”

3 Questions with Matthew

What’s your favorite thing about Dallas? Dallas has all the benefits of a big city, but still maintains a small town feel. I love that Dallas has everything a world class city should offer: an amazing restaurant scene, sports teams, museums, and fun activities. Yet you can easily run into friends around town, and the attitude of the people mimics the charm of small town Texas.
What expertise and specialities do you bring to the Tallwave team? My background prior to Tallwave is in management consulting and corporate finance, specifically in the travel industry. Coming to Tallwave I’m hoping to share my financial acumen and experience in strategy development with our team and clients. Blending my formal consulting experience with Tallwave’s pursuit of “thoughtful rigor” and “maverick attitude” should benefit our client engagements.
What experiences of the future are you most excited about? I can’t wait back to get back to travel — both personally and professionally. Prior to the pandemic, I was traveling around the world for about 2/3 of the year for client engagements. Additionally, I love seeing and exploring new countries on my own time. As the world reopens, I am excited to get back on the road. Additionally, I’ve yet to meet any of my Tallwave clients in person. So extending my client relationships beyond Zoom is a top goal for the near future.

Check out our work: Distrupting the Status Quo With a Travel App

Dannette Urquhart, Consultant

With experience in account management, retail, and technology, Danette brings passion and a proven track record for building and retaining customer relationships that grow businesses and increase sales to the Tallwave team and Dallas market. A Dallas-native, Dannette yells her Texas pride loud and proud. An undergrad alumni of the University of North Texas, she is now pursuing her MBA at Southern Methodist University, and is a devoted Cowboys and Texas Rangers fan.

3 Questions with Dannette

What’s your favorite thing about Dallas? Dallas is home. It’s where I’m from. I particularly love the patio dining and drinking scene, the summertime poolside fun, and participating in the football at AT&T stadium or one of our many cool sports bars. Most importantly – the people are great.
Why did you become a Consultant? Because I love strategizing and creating solutions for clients by developing relationships. I get to be creative and push boundaries in a way that makes businesses better. Plus, I get bored easily, so I appreciate that every client and account is different, and brings with it it’s own unique challenges.
What’s your personal and professional life motto? KEEP GOING! There’s no such thing as failure, only learning opportunities. Those opportunities build strength and character that make you better and enable you to help others.

Brooke Weidenbaker, Senior Digital Intel Strategist

Brooke is a business and marketing professional with experience in both agency and client-side communications and analytics across multiple industries including, technology, retail, CPG, auto, financial services, education, and more. Prior to joining the Tallwave team, Brooke was the Lead Retention Operations Consultant for AT&T, and Director of Analytics for both Rockfish and Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles, Originally from Kansas, she lived in Texas for 10 years; now she splits her time with her two rescue dogs between Los Angeles and Dallas.

3 Questions with Brooke

What’s your favorite thing about Dallas? I moved to Dallas in 2011 and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Dallas has so much to offer, a booming economy, delicious food, amazing art all throughout the city, and a variety of entertainment options including sporting events! I think my favorite thing about Dallas though is the people I’ve met. Growing up in middle America people were always very friendly but in Dallas, the southern hospitality really makes newcomers feel welcome!
Why did you become a Senior Strategist? My career has taken many turns throughout the years. I started in Finance and Telecom, then shifted to Marketing after I realized I wanted a balance between numbers and people! After graduating from TCU with my MBA, I entered the agency world. I also grew up in an entrepreneurial family and have owned my own small retail business on the side for the past five years. I really enjoy working as a Strategist at Tallwave because it presents the opportunity to creatively solve business problems for a variety of clients across multiple industries. No day is ever the same!
How do you employ empathy and creativity into your job? In my mind, both are vital to success and working well as a team! So much of our work at Tallwave is collaborative, therefore, having empathy for not only our team members but also our clients is imperative. We have a great team at Tallwave, we all care about each other personally and professionally and are available to help each other out when things get overwhelming. As a Strategist, I have the opportunity to creatively shape deliverables on a daily basis. That is part of the fun of it. Charting the path forward!

Check out our work: Upleveling a product that’s all about great service

Brian Hambrick, Senior Strategist

A 6th generation Texan, Brian comes to Tallwave from Dallas where he built his career working in various Strategy and Planning roles at Advertising Agencies such as Deutsch, Tracylocke and the Integer group. Brian brings over 12 years of experience in research, strategy, and planning and has worked across a wide range of clients in the CPG, Hospitality, Food, Retail, Automotive and Telco industries. Most recently Brian worked at Cici’s Pizza as the Director of Innovation helping the brand develop new pizza flavors and transition from a traditional media approach to a digital first media approach.

Interested in joining the Dallas team? We’re hiring! Check out our open positions here.

Tags dallas, employee experience

News

Continuing Our Growth Story By Joining the Dallas Market

Post author By Tallwave Team
Post date March 16, 2021
No Comments on Continuing Our Growth Story By Joining the Dallas Market

Photo credit: iStock

Momentum is movement. Momentum is change. For our clients, we aim to create positive momentum in the form of improving their customer experience, growing their business, or disrupting their marketplace.

For Tallwavers, positive momentum can be found in the ways we push ourselves to grow – personally and professionally.

Momentum never stops. It evolves with every experience we have.

Now, we’re adding to our growth story by bringing our customer experience design services to Dallas’s robust business and tech ecosystem.

Read the official press release

Proprietary processes, tools, and tailored services enable Tallwave to deliver repeatable and actionable outcomes for clients.

What does Tallwave uniquely bring to the Dallas market?

Our empathetic and client-first attitude. We partner with stakeholders and change makers within companies to help them achieve the results and ROI they need to exceed expectations and defined KPIs.

Additionally, we bring a team of diverse designers, researchers, brand developers, marketers and strategizers who break down barriers to accelerate growth and deliver unparalleled customer experiences. By utilizing human-centric design practices, Tallwavers aim to win the hearts and minds of our clients’ customers. They lean into their own personal and professional experiences to challenge convention and offer fresh perspectives to drive fast results.

Lastly, the expansion brings “The Tallwave Way” to the Dallas market. Our proprietary processes, tools, and tailored services enable us to deliver data-backed repeatable and actionable outcomes for clients. Our guiding principles – to lead with empathy, curiosity, and humility – and heart, mind, matter ethos enable us to creatively solve for specific needs.

Also read: Tallwave Takes Texas: Meet the Dallas Team

How does Tallwave’s expansion into Dallas benefit current and future employees?

Tallwave is a fast-growing company, so we’re always looking to add great people to the team who think beyond the ask and possess a growth mindset. Although we offer remote work and flexible office hours to all employees, we believe it’s still important to provide a safe space where employees can go to focus, connect, and work together, as needed. It also presents a promise of even more room for growth as our Dallas office and other geographies grow.

View open positions

What else should business leaders in the Dallas market know?

Companies are often wrestling with one of three situations – they’re looking to grow market share, they’re looking to disrupt their market, or they’re trying to stave off disruption. We have integrated solutions specifically designed to help these situations.

Interested in seeing some of our work?

Check out the case studies below:

Are you in Dallas? We’d love to grab coffee, virtually or socially distanced. Email us at Dallas@Tallwave.com or send us a message via our contact form.

Tags business news, business strategy, dallas, employee experience

News Strategy This Week in CX

This Week in CX: Sephora Plans For a CX Makeover, General Motors Unveils Rebrand & More

Post author By Tallwave Team
Post date January 15, 2021
No Comments on This Week in CX: Sephora Plans For a CX Makeover, General Motors Unveils Rebrand & More

Photo Credit: iStock

Four words have been on repeat throughout our virtual office as of late – reband, redesign, rinse and repeat.

If you didn’t notice, Tallwave executed a total 360 rebrand in 2020 (what else was there to do when we were all hunkered down in our homes?!), so naturally, that’s been on the mind. And it appears some major legacy companies are changing their brand and visual messaging, as well.

Redesign is continuing to be a top priority for companies – big and small – in 2021. As the world changes and the new normal settles in, all businesses are being called to evaluate their customer journey, improve and iterate. And that’s no small feat. It takes alignment across all teams including research, design, content, development, marketing, branding and People & Culture to work towards a common goal and ultimately pull off a successful customer experience redesign. It’s a lot of work… we would know.

And lastly, rinse and repeat, or, as we often say, never set and forget. Now, these words don’t necessarily pertain to the stories we’re sharing today, but they’re crucial for any companies carrying out rebrands and redesigns to plaster on their walls. Why? Because even though both business milestones – rebrands and redesigns – require extremely heavy lifts, the job isn’t done once the final products and plans are announced and unveiled. Communities, customers, and cultural climates are changing faster than ever before, and with evolution comes new technologies, expectations and demands for businesses to do and be more.

So, cheers to the companies putting in the good work to serve their customers – employees and consumers – first. Celebrations are certainly in order. But once the dust settles, it’s time to go back to the beginning and measure, evaluate and continue to build.

With that said, here are the biggest business, tech and data developments that occurred this past week and will most certainly impact how we design and deliver the customer experiences of tomorrow.

Sephora: Your Scheduled Appointment For a Customer Experience Makeover Is Confirmed

Big kudos are in store for Sephora! On the heels of releasing “The Racial Bias in Retail Study,” the major beauty retailer announced plans to address and resolve racism, discrimination and other unfair treatment throughout their customer experience.

"Racial bias and unfair treatment exists at all phases of the shopping journey, even before a shopper walks into a store."

“It operates on multiple levels across the consumer journey,” Cassi Pittman Claytor, one of two academic partners who collaborated with Sephora to conduct the study, says in the report. “From the very start when people even think about things that they want to buy, to actually making a purchase, using a good — every step along the consumer journey, retail bias, racism is evident.”

The statistics in the report are pretty bleak, but if viewed through a different lens, they also uncover major opportunities for all retailers to make change. According to the study:

Three in five retail shoppers have experience discriminatory treatment
Two in five shoppers have personally experienced unfair treatment on the basis of their race or skin color
Three in five employees have witnessed bias at their place of work
Three in four retail shoppers feel that marketing fails to showcase a diverse range of skin tones, body types and hair textures
Four in five retail shoppers don’t believe there is a representation in brands or companies that are made by and made for people of color

To put actions behind their survey and words, Sephora revealed their D&I action plans to cultivate a sense of belonging for all consumers, regardless of race, skin color or shape, and they hope other retailers will do the same. The plans include new production guidelines designed to increase diversity in all marketing materials; improved in-store processes and mandates for greeting customers and gathering monthly D&I feedback; and more inclusive talent and employee recruiting, mentoring and training programs related to unconscious bias. Progress made across all sectors of their customer journey will be shared publicly on a bi-annual basis on a dedicated section of the company’s website.

It’s this full-picture approach that’s going to make the biggest impact.

“As companies take an introspective look at how well they’re serving the full diversity of their customer bases,” says Jessica Pumo, Tallwave’s Vice President of Marketing, “the most effective strategies for addressing racial bias will be those that consider the customer experience holistically across the entire customer journey and how well that experience meets the needs of all customer personas at every touch point.”

While strong representation in marketing, in-store staffing, and product assortment are key for creating an inclusive customer experience, Jessica says the employee experience is also paramount.

“Employees are the key drivers of customer experience. Sephora’s efforts to not just train employees on diversity, inclusion, and unconscious bias, but to create an employee experience that delivers on the emotional outcomes they want to create for their customers should help them set the stage for authentic, lasting change.”

Also read: How to Craft Employees Experiences That Improve Customer Experiences

Even the Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) Is Evaluating Their Customer Experience

Get ready to put “new vehicle registration tags” on your next grocery store list. The MVD is expanding its efforts to improve their current services because, well, frankly – and I think everyone would agree – the experience stinks.

“DMV’s have so much opportunity to improve customer experience,” says Tallwave’s Senior Digital Intel Strategist Brooke Weidenbaker. “You would be hard pressed to find someone who enjoys going to the DMV.”

Luckily, individual states are aware of their CX problem and looking for ways to improve. Just this past week, New Mexico started testing self-service vehicle registration kiosks at the popular chain grocery store Albertsons. To speed up the registration renewal process and print new tags right on the spot, shoppers can visit voice-enabled kiosks before or after picking up their weekly supply of eggs and milk.

"The kiosks will be able to collect data that otherwise might not be available at the in-person locations."

“We’re excited about being able to offer a convenient way for MVD customers to take care of business with us. Whether it’s online, over the phone, in person or now through these new self-service kiosks, we are committed to finding the best ways to serve everyone,” Taxation and Revenue Secretary Stephanie Schardin Clarke said in a recent news release.

These new self-service registration kiosks New Mexico is trying out are an excellent start.

“Not only in providing consumers another option but also from a data perspective,” Brooke further explains. “The kiosks will be able to collect data that otherwise might not be available at the in-person locations. This is a great step in the right direction that will hopefully kickstart more improvements to the MVD experience across the country.”

Well, if nothing else, I know one thing: I’m buying an electric car next so at the very least, I don’t have to deal with emissions and the MVD. Which, speaking of emissions, brings us to our next story…

Also read: What Is CX & Why Does It Matter?

Kia and General Motors Unveil Rebrands For a Cleaner Future

New year, new me isn’t just for individuals – it’s for entire organizations, as well. Kia and General Motors both announced huge rebrands this past week, introducing updated visual logos and identities.

“We designed the [new] logo around two basic principles. The first is symmetry that symbolizes a sort of stability and confidence that we have towards the future,” explained Karim Habib, Head of Kia’s Global Design. “The second principle is the rising gesture that you see on the K and on the A, meant to symbolize a rise in what we want to achieve with the brand and what we provide in terms of the brand experience to our customers in the future.”

General Motors also unveiled its modern-twist on their original logo that hasn’t substantially changed since 1964 – the change is meant to visually communicate its shift towards focusing on zero-emission vehicles.

As seen in the image above, the custom-designed font is now all lowercase with the ‘M’ featuring arches that symbolize the prongs of an electric plug. The more vibrant color is meant to represent their hope for bluer, cleaner skies.

“A logo is the customer’s front door to the brand,” says our Art Director Sean Tucker. “It is usually the most visible component and it represents the brand at the highest level. A great or compelling logo can make an impactful first impression – a chance to put a stake in the ground and say ‘this is what we stand for.’”

But Kia and General Motors did more than just rebrand their visual logos. They also evolved their overall messaging.

“The new Kia is undergoing a full transformation to deliver meaningful experiences, products, technologies, and design that are all focused on you – our customers,” explained Karim Habib. “From now on, every time you encounter a new element of the Kia brand, we want you to be inspired.”

That’s quite fitting given Kia’s other major brand messaging changes, swapping the “Power to Surprise” tagline for “Movement that Inspires” and dropping “Motors” from its corporate name to reflect a future in which they offer sustainable mobility solutions for everyone around the world.

Meanwhile, General Motors is also fighting for a zero-emissions future. “There are moments in history when everything changes,” GM’s Global Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl said. “We believe such a point is upon us for the mass adoption of electric vehicles. Unlike ever before, we have the solutions, capability, technology and scale to put everyone in an EV. Our new brand identity and campaign are designed to reflect this.”

"Sure, we need to teach customers about our product and hopefully convince them to buy it, but the real magic happens when we make them feel something."

When carrying out a rebrand, companies must first start at the core – the heart – of the company and identify what they believe and value most.

“A brand is so much more than just its logo,” adds our Art Director Sean Tucker. “It is critical that the brand is built with thoughtful messaging and communications. Sure, we need to teach customers about our product and hopefully convince them to buy it, but the real magic happens when we make them feel something. The most successful brands have built lifestyles around their products that their customers truly believe in. Nike isn’t Nike because of their (kind of awkward) logo. Nike is a dedication to being faster, stronger, and better. Millions of people put a little Apple sticker on their car when they got their first iPhone, but that’s not because it’s a really great illustration of a fruit. It’s a badge of honor, it says ‘I believe in this.’”

While consumers have varying opinions on the new visual logos, most agree that Kia and GM’s commitments to creating a healthier, more sustainable world is what matters most.

Tags brand strategy, business strategy, customer experience, cx news, diversity, employee experience, General Motors, Kia, Sephora

Mindfulness

Why Tallwavers – Old & New – Say Tallwave Is a Great Place to Work

Post author By Lauren Joskowitz
Post date December 25, 2020
No Comments on Why Tallwavers – Old & New – Say Tallwave Is a Great Place to Work

The very first sentence in our brand manifesto is “Experience is everything.” It’s on the front page of our website, written on slides throughout company decks, hashtagged in every social media post and repeated again (and again) during business calls.

At Tallwave, the experiences we create and deliver aren’t just for our clients and their customers – they’re for our employees (or our first customers), as well. You see, we believe it’s all interconnected: The culture we provide for our employees directly impacts the way they do their jobs, the dedication they give to their work and the overall fulfilment they feel in their lives. No matter the project, we always approach our work through a holistic lens that puts human needs first, and business needs second.

On LinkedIn: Tallwavers reveal what they were most proud of in 2020

We always approach our work through a holistic lens that puts human needs first, and business needs second.

To ensure we’re on the right track of living up to the title of Best Place to Work, we asked our employees to share why they take pride in being a Tallwaver.

Here’s what they said:

Jimmy Walker, Sales Executive: “Tallwave is a purpose disguised as a company that’s built around intrinsic core values of integrity, belief, passion, authenticity, transparency, camaraderie, and trust… that has the most indelible group of people who always looks out for each other and share the same dedicated culture, value, ethics, mission and vision. There’s not a single element that can be matched and I’m just ecstatic to love what I do and who I’m surrounded by every single day. I’m living out my dream.”
Kristen Laird, Project Manager: “Tallwave’s culture is top-notch. Employees that work at Tallwave are not only insanely smart and talented, they’re also fun people to be around. Triple threat.”
Brendan McInerney, Former Paid Media Team Manager: “When I first came to Tallwave, I was asked how I feel about ‘change’. Being a commonly asked question, I, of course, said I was open to it. But aside from the canned response, I was actually deeply motivated by it. And it did not take me long to realize that the underlying question was really, ‘How do you feel about being a driver of change and growing the organization?’ To me, Tallwave is a place where we are all empowered to come up with a goal/idea, and relentlessly pursue it.”

"Tallwave is a place where we are all empowered to come up with a goal/idea, and relentlessly pursue it."

Hillary Low, HR Manager: “I can let my freak flag fly! I grew up with a background in (musical) theatre and in a fairly artistic family. Other companies seem to value you only as far as your work ethic, but Tallwave values the whole individual. I am free to be me and ‘me’ is appreciated.”
Martha Schulzinger, Senior Project Manager: “Tallwave embodies a growth mindset mentality. It is so awesome to work for a place where you are encouraged to try things, make mistakes, learn from them, and then share your learnings with your peers. I’m sure many of us have experienced working at organizations that claim they want employees to learn and grow, only to find out later that is not exactly true. Instead, you have to do things a certain way and it’s not made clear as to why. As a result of being a growth mindset company, I feel like I’m growing and learning leaps and bounds since I’ve started. It’s invigorating!”
Lauren Franklin, Paid Media Coordinator: “I started working at Tallwave in the middle of the pandemic. I haven’t had a chance to work with anyone in person yet, but what I love about Tallwave is how much they care about their employees. It was a weird time to start a new job, but I haven’t felt disconnected from Tallwave, at all. Instead, I feel like I have been a part of the Tallwave team for a long time.”

If employee experience is not something you’re actively monitoring, you should take steps to do it today. There’s no time to wait.

Chelsey Gloetzner, Senior Product Designer: “Tallwave is a great place to work because there is a proactive culture of respect. Across the company, teammates are equally respected, appreciated, and valued, regardless of experience, role, or responsibility.”
Jessica Hickam, Senior Content Strategist: “Everyone on the team truly cares about both the work we do and the community we have built. I am grateful every day that I get to create with this innovative, dynamic, passionate group of people.”
Alexis Reed, Project Coordinator: “I’ve only been with Tallwave for a couple of months, but it’s already been a really great place to work! Being on-boarded remotely, during a pandemic, was challenging and isolating, but the whole team at Tallwave made me feel welcome and included. I received private messages welcoming me to the company and inciting great conversations. I always feel comfortable messaging someone to ask for help, even if I’ve never spoken to them. I have particularly enjoyed participating in company ‘events’ like the virtual Thanksgiving talent show and the virtual cooking class! I really appreciate the lengths Tallwave has gone to to keep everyone connected.”

Also read: Solving For the Lack of Diversity in CX

The people who make up Tallwave are just as great – actually, greater – than the company itself. They are the ones who breathe life into our company core values:

Maverick attitude: A maverick embraces an unconventional way of thinking and takes a few calculated risks to find the best outcome for each other and our clients.
Relentless pursuit: Tallwavers never stop being curious. It’s this curiosity that leads us to learn, grow, and persevere through even the toughest challenges.
Selfless teamwork: None of us are in this race alone. We know combining our efforts leads to better work. And in the end, we celebrate the efforts and contributions made by all.
Thoughtful rigor: We solve difficult problems with thoughtfulness by examining every angle. We believe details matter and take pride in our work.

If employee experience is not something you’re actively monitoring, you should take steps to do it today. There’s no time to wait.

But like anything else pertaining to personal or professional development, you can’t set and forget the employee experience (EX). What do our Leadership and People & Culture teams do to ensure we continually evolve? They send out anonymous surveys to create a space for real and honest feedback; invest time and money into offering self- and professional-development opportunities; emphasize the importance of exercising vulnerability and empathy in everything we do; regularly check in with employees directly to gauge first-hand just how happy and healthy they are; and encourage giving credit whenever credit is due (our #tallwaveSWAGGER basecamp channel is always full of shout outs). We love our team and what we’re continuing to build. Think you’d be a great fit?

Learn more about our culture and open positions here.

Tags employee experience

Strategy

Solving for the Lack of Diversity in CX

Post author By Tallwave Team
Post date December 16, 2020
No Comments on Solving for the Lack of Diversity in CX

Diversity and inclusivity – or lack thereof – in customer experiences impact all internal and external stakeholders touched by a brand. First, employees and second, consumers.

Throughout 2020, many companies – including our own – vowed to increase education, advocacy, and efforts towards diversifying talent and improving inclusivity in brand messaging. They set their sights on reaching new audiences and, in doing so, growing their core customers to include minority groups. But, as we’ve learned first-hand while working with Dr. Daryl Jones – a leadership development, organizational transformation & DEI consultant – that’s easier said than done. Creating diverse CX isn’t just a strategy to connect with external customers, it starts within a company’s walls where the true drivers of your experiences live and play.

In this Q&A, we talk to Dr. Daryl Jones about what it really takes to solve for the lack of diversity in CX and how this work contributes to the trust, confidence, and safety customers feel throughout their individual journeys with companies.

Also read: What is CX & Why Does it Matter?

Q&A with Dr. Daryl Jones

Tallwave: Thank you so much for speaking with us today! To kick this off, tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.

Dr. Daryl Jones: Sure, I grew up in the Midwest… completed my undergrad at Michigan State with a marketing degree. I went to graduate school in Chicago at DePaul and then went on to get my doctorate at Case Western in Cleveland. From a career perspective, I started off in the automotive industry and ultimately ended up in the sports industry with Nike. I spent about 19 ½ years there in a number of different roles, primarily in revenue generation, but I also did a really formative stint in diversity and inclusion. I was really focused on transforming the internal culture and how we made decisions around diverse communities. I taught college for a couple years and now I have my own consulting practice focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.

TW: So, as you mentioned, you guide and consult organizations through diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) work. What are some high level trends you’re seeing in your work right now?

DJ: I’m seeing a lot of energy around racial diversity. I’m seeing a lot of learning around racial diversity. I’m seeing a lot of sensitivity in bias awareness. Where the fork in the road tends to appear is that separation between using this work as a branding opportunity versus an opportunity to transform and evolve the existing business model. That becomes a personal decision based on leadership. I am also seeing some really tough decisions having to be made, especially depending on the industry, about what a company’s vision is and how they foresee the nature of their workforce – demographics, psychographics, etc. Changes are having to be made if they plan to evolve…. But I’ve also seen companies use this [COVID] as a real opportunity to transform. While the chips are down for other companies, a lot of them have taken a leadership position in this zone and it has paid off.

TW: Why does work around improving diversity in CX have to start from within? A lot of companies want to craft diverse experiences for external customers but they can’t do that without first making internal choices and change. Why is that?

DJ: I think it’s very difficult. You may have a few [external CX] wins just by being innovative but eventually you’ll screw up, and when that time comes, the price can be heavy. We see it all of the time. It’s the minute you try to do too much and you convince yourself that you’re an expert in something you actually know very little about – which oftentimes is culture – or you appropriate a culture, that’s when the light shines on you. So, I think before innovative companies can stake a claim in this space, they need to check themselves on how diverse they are and to what extent they embrace diversity across seven clear principles [voice, values, opportunity, respect, transparency, authenticity, and culture]. Not just the way we think or the experiences our employees have, but do you embrace this whole concept and the entire journey of every single employee that you have psychographically and demographically? And is their experience allowing them to add value to the organization like anyone else? Just having the numbers usually isn’t enough… Before you try to be an example or guide someone or a customer, you have a lot of work to do internally, whoever you are.

"Before innovative companies can stake a claim in this space, they need to check themselves on how diverse they are."

TW: Many companies want to attract more diverse clients. How have you seen DEI changes within the company impact external success?

DJ: There’s a lot of two-way learning that takes place at that executive level [during the DEI work]… From an optics perspective, it’s important that the organization sees what the executive team says it values actually play out. [When that happens], the optics change. “Wow, okay, I see that person in the seat. I see that person making a decision. I see that person adding value at a high level, it’s not just talk anymore.” That’s empowering for an organization. From a business perspective, we talk a lot about how it adds to innovation and it does. But beyond innovation, when I talk about diversity, I assume talent. I’m not talking about making any concession to bring diversity on. I assume a high level of talent just as I do with someone who’s “non-diverse.” So, you’re adding talent to the organization – folks that have a professional journey that no one else has. That adds value to the organization…. That cascade [effect] has many aspects to it. The tough part is when organizations have operated so long without it and deem themselves successful. It can be tough to get around that corner because you’ve never experienced it. You are 70% of the time hitting your profit margin goals; your profit logic seems to work for you. Leaders sometimes question why they really need to make this change any higher than the baseline folks in the organization.

TW: It comes down to what you deem success as. Hitting quotas and making money is one type of success, but if you’re in the business of serving your community – even if you’re achieving your goals and the board is happy – you’re not really succeeding in the community.

DJ: The community aspect is really important. I’ll even stop short of that and say how successful do you want to be and have you been limiting your vision of success because you haven’t experienced diversity? There are markets you haven’t even pursued. So you’re making tough decisions now but it’s going to [end up benefiting] everything… If you’re serious about maximizing opportunity, I think not pursuing high level diversity is a big mistake.

TW: Let’s rewind and start at the beginning. How does your DEI work with a company typically begin?

DJ: I start with a conversation with the highest level executive team. I like to understand what their sense of the organization is right now. What’s prompting them to do this work? Are they willing to make really tough decisions down the road and maybe have some discomfort? Then I shift into a conversation with that second level of the organization and understand what’s the history been around diversity? What are the statistics telling us? What are the demographics of the organization? Then I like to hear from the organization and that’s where cultural assessments come in. It’s very difficult to do this work if you jump into training and development, but you haven’t accessed the organization across critical principles – that’s the next step. That’s the beginning of the work for me. It’s oftentimes the toughest part, especially when the data is staring you right in the face and the organization has been clear because everything we do is anonymous. So those are the first steps – to hear from everyone in the organization and not assume anything.

"How successful do you want to be and have you been limiting your vision of success because you haven’t experienced diversity?"

TW: How do you guide people through the realization and acceptance of the statistics that they did not intend to be racially unequal or biased in the company?

DJ: Fortunately, I have a pretty long history with a company who has had its peaks and valleys as it relates to racial diversity, and gender diversity quite honestly. So, part of what I can do is speak to experience and how – if a decision is made and embraced – how successful you can be… On the other hand, there are certain organizations that I wouldn’t try to convince a racially diverse employee base to work with because the culture is wrong for them. So, what I try to do is convince a leader that this journey they’re about to embark on must be personal and professional, but it must be personal first. If you’re disconnected outside of work, you’re going to have a much tougher time making critical decisions about DEI at work. Don’t think you can step in and step out – the Clark Kent Superman scenario – you can’t do that. This becomes a life journey and the two entities [personal & professional life] are connected. And if you don’t see it, employees see it. There’s a transparency piece to this that extends beyond working in the office. What does your life at home look like? And that’s the part that is often tough – you have to bring that personal shift into the office, you can’t put it on once you get to the office.

TW: What are some things people need to evaluate about their life at home? How does that impact their diversity efforts in the workplace?

DJ: Well, there’s a couple things. How willfully ignorant are you? Do you allow yourself to stand on the periphery of racism? Or are you active and addressing it? How complicit are you? Do you allow conversations to be had that are unacceptable in your presence? Are you dismissive? And I think another one that people really tend to overlook is how conflicted you can become when these other three things happen. Are you saying one thing at home and in your social circles and trying to say something different at work? I think that’s more important.

" If you're disconnected outside of work, you're going to have a much tougher time making critical decisions about DEI at work."

TW: How does social media play into this? How powerful is social media as an activist?

DJ: Well, I think social media can be powerful, but I think there are a number of people who use it as a crutch. There are some people who don’t post anything at all who are doing more work than any of us. Social media can tell us a lot, but I don’t rely on it for my answers. I have a process that I use to separate the branding aspect of this from the business model aspect… Social media plays a role, as it does in so many different sectors of life, but I personally don’t rely on that to make any determination on where a person is in this journey. It’s too easy to post or not post, or be so innovative in other aspects of your life, but when it comes to [DEI work] you become a re-poster, for example. So, it doesn’t mean a whole lot to me.

Also read: Social Media Mission Statements: What Are They & How Do They Help Your Strategy?

TW: Many companies shared sentiments of support for #BlackLivesMatter on social media but were then challenged to share what their plans for learning, listening and improving really were. If a company said the right words but didn’t know what actions to take, where can they start?

DJ: Honestly, maybe I’ve been around too long, but long enough to be skeptical. I don’t buy into the narrative of confusion and not knowing what to do. I buy into the narrative of it not being important enough. There are so many aspects of business where leaders have become experts because it was important to them and it was an undertaking that was a requisite. This isn’t treated as a requisite. I don’t know how you could be so confused about this, but so enlightened in other areas of the business. So, when I hear the words, “This can be confusing!”, I’m skeptical of that. I think you haven’t decided how important it is to you, yet. Or you have and you’re not talking about it. You’ve made a decision – it’s not important to you. I’ve been around too many business leaders who are great at some wonderful things. Being confused about this is confusing to me.

TW: That makes so much sense. You’re really fond of golf, and you want to be an expert in golf, so you go out and do it.

DJ: First thing you do, you hire a pro. Second thing you do, you buy clubs and you start practicing. It’s very simple if you want to be great at it. DEI is no different. What hasn’t been decided with a lot of leaders is “I want to be good at this and I want to make change.” Because there comes a point when the data is there and the numbers are staring at you, and it’s not about what I tell you anymore, it’s about what you want to do. And I love it when we get to that point because it’s not in my hands, anymore. The charter is there. The people who have stepped up and exercised their voices have done so with passion. What are you going to do?

Also read: Why Customer Experience Can’t Be All Data Driven

"I’ve been around too many business leaders who are great at some wonderful things. Being confused about this is confusing to me."

TW: You’ve mentioned the need to make tough decisions a couple times. What are some of those tough decisions that companies often have to make?

DJ: If your executive team is all white and you claim you want to build a diverse organization, you have a tough decision to make. If you want to stay like that and still claim you’re going to be diverse, I think you have some really tough decisions to make. It’s not easy to change the composition of a team, initially… Oftentimes, I find that the work that they do remains lower down in the company. There’s no intention of shifting that homogenous group at the top. But to think you can remain static [within your leadership team] and bring [other] diverse employees in who think, “I’m not even going to get [advancement] in my head because there’s no one there that even looks like me, understands me, wants to connect with me.” I don’t see how that’s a viable journey for business leaders. If you say this is your vision, then you have to rethink everything. So, one of the toughest things for me is when we get to this charter phase – developing a charter for diversity – these decisions start to fall on the organizations. I can provide skeletal models and [outlines of] things you need to think about, but then decisions need to be made at the executive level. It needs to be authentic to them.

TW: So what kind of data or KPIs do you usually suggest for measuring how efforts are playing into overall business?

DJ: It’s critically important to understand the seven aspects that are critical to DEI – voice, values, opportunity, respect, transparency, authenticity, and culture. I measure employee sentiment on each one of those using a SWOT analysis. Do the responses represent a strength, weakness, opportunity, or threat for your organization based on your employee feedback? Same with all seven. That tells us a number of different things: A) How employees feel because the SWOT analysis is anonymous, and B) what to measure our progress against. It provides a baseline for future work to see how valuable the change implemented is when we do additional assessments in 6-12 months. So, as opposed to simply relying on narratives, we use hard numbers. That tends to provoke folks to act. Along with that, we do supplement with narratives. Say more about the company’s voice and ask employees for feedback on that. It’s pretty much consistent though with the scores that we get. What’s interesting is we can get scores that range from a nine, which means this is a strength for the organization, or one, which highlights a threat. Leaders have to own all of the responses that they receive. For example, if you have an organization of 75 employees and 10% of your organization say opportunity is a threat, but your score ended up at an average 9.2, are you going to own that 10% or does that not matter? That threat is living and breathing in the organization. If it’s anonymous, what does that 10% look like? It’s the 10% who doesn’t feel relevant to the culture. So, we’re very diligent about that step in the process and were very diligent about leadership taking accountability.

"Decisions need to be made at the executive level. It needs to be authentic to them."

TW: Any last comments you’d like to share?

DJ: I believe in people and I believe in talent. I know how I grew up, and I don’t think hard work is enough. I think we have to acknowledge certain things that are systemic and certain things that we may not want to buy into. I like to get leaders out of embarrassment mode as soon as I can because a lot of embarrassment comes with this. You’re typically not producing when you’re in embarrassment mode. It’s okay to be embarrassed for a night when these numbers come through and you don’t like them. Turn around, get back to work, get out of the embarrassment mode, focus on what we’re going to do. Because often, this was never a focus. How could you have great assessment numbers?… [Leaders] can relearn and we can create new habits and beliefs, [they] just have to put in the work.

Learn more about Dr. Daryl Jones by checking out his podcast The Conscious Vibe and following him on LinkedIn, and read more about Tallwave’s culture on our website here.

Tags customer experience, diversity, employee experience, inclusion