#114 Mastering Change by Building Stakeholder Relationships

The Delighted Customers Podcast with Mark Slatin

One of the most challenging jobs is to change a culture that achieved success with legacy thinking. It all starts with trust, especially if you are a CX leader. Stuart Gilchriest is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) who has worked in CX for 10+ years across multiple industries .

After starting his career in the hospitality industry in his native England, he transitioned into Customer Experience roles in the travel industry and became a respected voice on VOC program management, CX Strategy and Experience Design. He is most proud of helping Hertz achieve their only JD Power Customer Satisfaction wins in the past 20 years, in 2019 and 2020.

Stuart shares some practical applications in this episode including:

1. Community Support: Stuart emphasizes the importance of reaching out to communities for support when facing challenges.
2. The Forgetting Curve: Stuart discusses the "forgetting curve" by Ebbinghaus and the importance of reinforcing information through repetition. How can this concept be applied effectively within an organization to improve stakeholder engagement and information retention?
3. The Role of Repetition in CX: How do you ensure that key information and messages are consistently reinforced with your stakeholders to foster deeper relationships and ensure effective communication?
4. Change Management and ADKAR: The episode touches on change management models like ADKAR.
5. Building Trust: Stuart speaks about building and maintaining trust through practices like listening tours and the "emotional bank account" concept.
6. CX Roadmap: Stuart emphasizes the importance of a CX roadmap that addresses both short-term and long-term goals while aligning with stakeholder metrics.

This episode is packed with gems

Meet Stuart:

Stuart Gilchriest, a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) has worked in CX for 10+ years across multiple industries including hospitality, education, travel, vehicle rental (Hertz), and HR technology (UKG). He is currently Director of Sales Experience at Mercury Insurance, a mid-sized P+C insurance carrier based in Los Angeles, CA. He is passionate about the CX discipline and helping turn customer and agent insights into financial and operational success for Mercury.

After starting his career in the hospitality industry in his native England, he transitioned into Customer Experience roles in the travel industry and became a respected voice on VOC program management, CX Strategy and Experience Design. He is most proud of helping Hertz achieve their only JD Power Customer Satisfaction wins in the past 20 years, in 2019 and 2020.

Stuart holds a BA in Economics from the University of Nottingham in the UK, an MBA from Hult International Business School in Boston, MA, and a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) designation. He currently lives in Naples, FL with his wife Mayra, son Nicolas (21), daughter Mariana (5) and dog Chewy. He is a sport fanatic and has watched live sports on 5 continents (and counting), is an avid traveler (Colombia is a favorite destination), and is currently working on perfecting his homemade Indian curry recipes (the spicier the better!).