We’ve all heard this saying before, but I can promise you from first-hand knowledge (a few times over), it is absolutely true. And the best part, as a Member Experience leader in any shape or form that you serve, you have an influential role to play.

For my first blog post, I wanted to start with a topic near and dear to me, which is the culture side of Member Experience, or as I like to call it, Member-Centricity. It is hard being in a role or team that is tasked to collect member feedback, report out those metrics and/or key findings, and also DO something about the member friction or areas you found for improvement. I learned early on to get other employees across the company involved at the key findings stage. It was a critical step to informally expanding my team and influence. All employees should “own” member experience data so that it is at the forefront of their decisions and actions. This makes the implementation of the company’s strategy that much more grounded in the voice of the member.

In order to do this and create a culture of Member-Centricity, it is the responsibility of the Member Experience team to share and disseminate member perception data. We must arm the workforce with an intimate understanding of the members we serve, no matter what the job position is in the company. Here are a few excerpts from my Member-Centricity Playbook to formally build a plan and structure (including metrics for success) that can work in your organization:

  • Create a Member Experience Learning Community: A group of employees from all divisions/areas who come together regularly for sharing and learning.
  • Create a Member Experience Ambassador program: Collaborate with HR for a win-win. Application-selected or nominated employees get a year of professional development (such as public speaking, presentation preparation, communication planning, etc.) and the information they learn about and share is from the Member Experience team.
  • Member-Centricity Communications Plan: Prepare a plan for all the ways to share out your member perception data and key findings. Ideas range from roadshows, articles for your company’s intranet site, ongoing meetings with key stakeholders, and more.

So why is Member-Centricity as a cultural effort important? Arming other leaders, teams, and the entire workforce with insights on your members’ feedback will influence the decisions and actions they make. It will influence processes, projects, hiring practices, annual review practices, and more. It is exciting to see great ideas spur from others as a result. This builds a shared ownership for Member Experience.

Please reach out if you want to learn more about Member-Centricity. I’d love to hear about your work and ideas too!

With gratitude,

Charlene Foley

Charlene Foley is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) and uses her knowledge and past leadership in Member Experience as the framework for sharing her ideas and best practices.