Designing Your Culture with the Customer in Mind
Andrew Jones
Hollywood films like Horrible Bosses and the TV series The Office have captured the topic of toxic workplace culture with hilarity. We ‘get it’ because most of us have experienced a workplace culture fail, from the extreme of a boss to be feared (to the point of immobilisation) to the life-sapping office vibe (that kills any will to work) or the absence of trust while remote working (“what do you mean you went for a walk around the block?”). Unhealthy workplace microcosms are a demonstration of human nature getting out of hand, where team members lose all sense of collaborative working and a hyena mentality creeps in – self-preservation, opportunistic backstabbing, and ‘eat or be eaten’ lawlessness. Forget working to company values. When a hyena culture takes over, you’re looking at a business that’s not only undisciplined and depressing, but also one that’s ripe for disruption.
That's where a customer-centric culture, driven by a design mindset, can come to the rescue. Design Thinking is a powerful skillset, toolset, and mindset focused on understanding the unarticulated needs of people and the real problems to be solved, as well as creating a discipline for testing and a tolerance for failure. In terms of building a positive culture, it can be used to study and understand the people, problems, and needs of a business, and then to create and support a motivated, autonomous, and flexible culture that revolves around the customer.
Embedding Customer-Centricity in Culture
Not only can this approach help you create a greater culture, but it also helps you understand your customers better. By embedding a design mindset into the business, you integrate the customers' perspectives into every internal and external decision, shifting the focus from organisation-centric (where profits and bonuses are key drivers) to customer-centric (where customer experience, needs and goals are key drivers.) This alignment helps translate business objectives into customer-centric initiatives and builds a culture where every team member considers how their actions affect customers. And by the way, evidence shows that Companies putting the customer at the centre outperform industry benchmark growth by as much as two to one.
Bridging Silos and Fostering Collaboration
Embedding a design mindset that puts the customer at the centre of the business can also bridge siloed departments and teams together. Every department from finance to IT to marketing must work together to understand the customer’s journey, analyse it, and then directly understand the value they can design and deliver together. This process not only creates value for the customer but also highlights the unique value of each department, supporting a more collaborative and productive culture.
Embracing Failure as a Learning Opportunity
A design mindset also prevents the immobilisation that can result from failure. Failure is moderated through small-scale testing, so it’s not viewed as a negative but as new information. Design Thinkers have fast, resourceful, and effective methods for testing their assumptions, which reduces the risks should those assumptions be proven wrong. When a new business system or structure is introduced, it’s therefore guaranteed to have been thoroughly researched, considered, and tested, providing confidence that it will be successful.
Creating a Culture of Customer-Centricity
You may have read other blogs from Neu21 about the ethereal nature of culture—that it’s something you can’t grasp. While I agree with this sentiment, having a design mindset, skillset, and toolset that puts people and customers at the centre provides the capability, confidence, and structure to help people actively participate in, support, and improve their culture. A customer-centric culture, supported by Design Thinking, ensures that every employee is aligned with the goal of enhancing customer experiences.
A customer-centric culture is not just about external satisfaction; it transforms the internal dynamics of a company. When employees see the direct impact of their work on customer satisfaction, it boosts morale, engagement, and loyalty. This cultural shift can be the difference between your business degenerating into a Ricky Gervais-like farce or standing on the podium at the ‘Great Place to Work’ awards.
By prioritising customer-centricity, you foster a culture that is resilient, adaptive, and deeply connected to its purpose. This holistic approach ensures that your business not only survives but thrives in an ever-changing market landscape.
We’re hosting an Online Event about building a Customer-Centric culture on 4 July 2024 at 8am. Book you FREE place here: