Editorial
The Gist
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Clarity and process. Good intentions aren’t enough. Clear expectations and processes are necessary for employees to execute effective customer service.
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Leadership’s role. Leaders need to coach, observe and provide feedback to make sure employees meet expectations and deliver a consistent customer experience.
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Feedback and growth. Feedback should be supportive and developmental, not disciplinary. It helps employees and the customer experience grow stronger.
The other night, something happened at home that gave me one of the clearest illustrations I’ve ever experienced about customer experience. It also reminded me how good intentions, while important, don’t always lead to the right outcomes.
I have an adult son with special needs. He’s earnest and loving, and he deeply wants to contribute in meaningful ways. After dinner, he proudly announced that he had taken care of the dishes. Naturally, I was thrilled and told him how much I appreciated his help. But when I asked him what he did exactly, he cheerfully explained that he had wiped all the dishes with a paper towel and put them away.
At first, my heart sank. The dishes weren’t clean, not in a way that would make them safe to use again. But the pride in his voice and the joy he felt in doing something helpful was so pure that I knew I had to be careful in how I responded. So, I celebrated his effort, thanked him genuinely and then gently explained that while wiping the dishes was a good start, they also needed to be washed with soap and water to be clean enough for reuse. He listened, nodded and understood.
That moment struck me not only as a meaningful parenting experience but as a clear parallel to what we deal with every day in customer service and employee training. Because whether it's a dishwasher at home or a front-line employee serving customers, good intentions don’t always translate into good outcomes.
And if no one’s checking, no one learns.
Bridging the Gap in CX Execution
In the world of CX, we often talk about the importance of empathy, passion and the desire to help customers. Those things are vital. But they don’t replace clarity, process or follow-through.
Employees often want to deliver a great customer experience. They care. They’re proud to represent the company. They want to be helpful. But unless we’ve taken the time to show them exactly how to do that (what "great service" actually looks like in real, observable terms), they may fall short, even while believing they’re excelling.
Just like my son, who thought he was doing something incredibly helpful, employees may be putting in effort, thinking they are delivering great CX, when in fact, they’re missing the mark. Not because they’re lazy or inattentive, but because no one clearly defined success, or checked the result.
Related Article: What the History of CX Teaches Us About Modern Customer Experience Strategy
The Role of Managers in Shaping Customer Experiences
This is where leadership comes in. Our job isn’t to set expectations and walk away; it’s to coach, observe and give feedback in a way that uplifts, not discourages. Like I did with my son, we need to celebrate intent, reinforce effort and gently guide toward the actual standard that needs to be met.
Customer experience is about outcomes. Did the customer leave with their problem solved? Did they feel valued, understood and taken care of? Those are measurable experiences. And they rely on employees not just trying but knowing exactly what success looks like and how to deliver it consistently.
Related Article: Customer Service Training: 8 Strategies to Empower Your Team
Setting Clear Expectations for Consistent Service
One of the biggest gaps I see in customer experience execution is a lack of clarity. Leaders assume employees know what “excellent service” means, but often that concept is vague or inconsistently applied. For example, is “friendly” the same as “responsive”? Does “solving the issue” mean going above and beyond or just answering the question? When we say “own the customer’s experience,” do employees know what that actually entails?
We need to define expectations in a way that is teachable, observable and coachable. Otherwise, our people will try to deliver based on their own interpretation, which may vary wildly from what our customers need and what our brand promises.
The Risk of Not Inspecting in Customer Service
If I hadn’t checked the dishes my son had “cleaned,” we might have unknowingly used dirty ones again. That’s a health risk. In business, the equivalent might be delivering a service that appears complete but leaves the customer unsatisfied. Or worse, it creates additional problems.
It’s not enough to assume that because a process is assigned, it’s being executed well. Leaders need to inspect what they expect, not to play “gotcha,” but to coach, reinforce and guarantee quality. This is how we safeguard both the customer and the employee experience.
Creating a Culture of Constructive Feedback
The way we respond when execution misses the mark is just as important as the training itself. Correction should never feel like punishment. It should feel like support.
My son didn’t feel scolded; he felt proud and then empowered to do it better next time. That’s the kind of culture we should be creating in our organizations, one where feedback is frequent, caring and developmental, not disciplinary.
Related Article: Create a Customer-Centric Culture Through Engaged, Empowered Teams
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Transforming Good Effort into Effective Customer Experience
Great CX doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when people are given the tools, clarity and support to turn good intentions into great execution. Just like at my dinner table, we must remember that what looks like failure at first glance may actually be an opportunity to teach, uplift and grow.
And if we do that right, if we meet effort with empathy and guide it toward excellence, we build better customer experiences and stronger, more confident teams.
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