I can't help but notice that the worst of our organisations is just a lot of functional / profession -based org units battling it out to "win". They all say the same things:
- We can't success without the support of the CEO
- We need a xxxx culture where xxxx is all about putting their profession at the centre of everything
- xxxx is everybody's responsibility
- etc
It always looks like this:
Trying to Implement the Functional Organisation
Examples of functions fighting for the top
It's time for CMOs to rally a cross-functional approach to customer experience
Contains such gems as:
- "It’s time for CMOs to rally a cross-functional approach to customer experience" - tick
- “Marketing is far too important to be left only to the marketing department.” - this is the classic "xxx is everybody's responsibility" trope
- "... developing a more outward-looking, customer-centric culture will be a top priority in managing customers in the future..." - tick, customers are important - yep
- "... quite an advancement from the days when marketing was understood to be just a business function rather than a business philosophy..." - tick, the culture (now philosophy) trope
- "...But for customer-centered strategic planning to really work, top executives from all functions need to participate..." - there it is! executive support!
- "... Even seeming back-office departments — such as procurement, HR, finance, and legal — influence customers’ experiences. And because focusing on customers is the essence of marketing, chief marketing officers (CMOs) are in an excellent position to lead this cross-functional strategic planning process with their C-suite colleagues..." - this is the my-function-must-lead-all-functions trope
- "What caused the shift to a customer-first vision?" - customer-first, digital-first, data-first, culture-first, etc
- "... **Why involving the entire C-suite is imperative...**Though CMOs are uniquely positioned to lead in this space, there are several reasons why they should include a variety of executive voices in the conversation about how to put customers first." - so all the executives must be involved in what I'm responsible for