Restorative: The Fixers

Forrester's Customer Experience Pyramid

One of the best books I have read related to Customer Experience is by Harley Manning and Kerry Bodine, both with Forrester Reserach,  The book, Outside In, outlines the positive results when companies place customers at the center of their business.

They introduce a simple diagram called the Customer Experience Pyramid.  The three levels of the pyramid represent perceptions which customers have every time they interact with a product, a service, a person or an automated system.  At every level, people judge how well the interaction helped them achieve their goals, how much effort they had to invest in the interaction and how much they enjoyed the interaction.

I was so inspired with the simplicity of this diagram, I based a customer service questionnaire off of each level; "Did you get what you needed?", "Did we make it easy for you?" and "Did our team member make a positive impression on you?".  Less is more.   

Every one of the 34 StrengthsFinder Talent Themes can be applied to gain top box scores on each of these questions.  In my case, I'd lean on Strategic (my #1) to find a way to consider the best path to accomplish customer goals, Ideation (my #2) to find new ways to make things easier and Positivity (my #4) to make sure my customers leave happy.    

But what happens when something goes wrong during the customer journey?  Unfortunately, as hard as we may try, guiding people through this trifecta of expectations is not as easy as it looks - and I have the questionnaires to prove it.  

While all of the 34 StrengthsFinder Talent Themes can be applied to achieve positive results during guest interactions, they can also be leveraged when experiences go "south".  There is one Talent Theme which thrives on this "southern" side of the pyramid - the Talent Theme Restorative.

People with strong Restorative talents love to solve problems.  While some people are dismayed when they encounter a breakdown in service, those with strong Restorative talents are energized by it.  They enjoy the challenge of analyzing symptoms, identifying what is wrong, and finding a solution.

The Restorative talent drives people to take on projects or situations which others believe can't be saved.  They like bringing things back to life and bring courage and creativity to problematic situations.

So next time you are facing a problem, make it easy on yourself to accomplish your goal and be happy - find yourself someone with the Signature Talent Theme Restorative.

Need something fixed?  Here are some ways to energize someone with Restorative talents;

* People with high Restorative talents enjoy solving problems and will be happy to help when needed, especially in highly customer focused areas.  Make sure everyone on the team knows who they are and that fixing problems comes naturally to them.

* These people should seek tasks or roles which pay them to solve problems; where success depends on their ability to restore and resolve.

* Situations that others do not want to take on may be interesting and impactful to them.   Hlep them aim their talent towards turnaround situations where they can leverage their solution-oriented mindset.

Dan is currently serving 20 years to life as the Sr. Director of Destination Experiences at Universal Orlando Resort.  He prefers white-water rapids over data lakes and lists Ideation, Futuristic and Positivity amongst his signature talents.