Reflection: Customer Experience 2.0 Using Mind Mapping

Challenge  Technology companies who work with nonprofits have a unique opportunity to  provide elegant solutions to complex problems.  I currently serve as the Vice  President of Customer Experience for a fundraising CRM (customer relationship  management) company.  When I took on this position, the CEO asked me to  reimagine this area of our business from all facets – the team, the vision, and the  processes.      At that time, the team was operating from scarcity in all of these areas and although  we received some budget increase, we were still going to have to scale our work in a  somewhat constrained way.  We also had customers who had not been onboarded or  serviced properly and were rightly frustrated.  The challenge in one sentence?   Create a vision for the department that would serve our current challenges and scale  to support growth.    Selection  I chose the mind mapping tool to approach this project because I knew it was a  powerful way to look for patterns, insights, and creative solutions.  By visually  exploring “what is” in an organized way, the team was able to collectively find  solutions that would allow us to move forward collectively with a shared mindset.  We  were able to seamlessly create a “what if” path forward for our team and to present to  the wider company.     Application  We decided to do this work with individual question reviews (preparation) followed  by an old-fashioned marker and paper session.  We asked the following big picture  questions:

1. What is currently going well/ what do we need to keep?  2. Where are our biggest challenges?  What do we really struggle with?  3. What would make a difference to our work and our customers?

Each member of the team prepared their own answers to the questions and  categorized their responses under our team’s areas of responsibility (onboarding,  education, ongoing customer success).   We spent an afternoon together sharing  individual perspectives.  We began by collectively writing our responses to the  questions on nine large post it sheets.  (One for each area and each question).  We

reviewed the sheets and grouped similar answers into buckets such as educational  topics, technology tools, and communication.      Each member of the team was given a sheet of stickers – 3 red, 2 yellow, and 1 green  - and asked to identify their top priorities within the challenges and solutions  identified.   Once the top priorities were identified, we created owners and timelines  for the path forward with these in mind.  All items were captured for future review and  shared with the collective team as well as the broader company.    The team is reviewing progress quarterly and will tackle additional priorities once the  larger items have been addressed.     Insight  The tool was powerful because it brought out typically under heard voices and  provided a forum for all voices to be heard.  In addition, the collective buy in soothed  some of the rough edges that had been building among team members.    For me, as the leader, it provided important perspective about where people were  coming from and how critical capturing all thoughts can be to team growth.  Design  thinking is the MOST powerful way I’ve found of creating true and lasting change.  By  creating space for ALL ideas and collectively agreeing on a path forward, we are in a  much stronger place to make necessary changes.     Approach  Next time I would have more questions ahead of time and do some of the pre-writing  of the ideas myself, so no one knew who was voicing thoughts.  I still believe this was  the right tool for this group, as it achieved our objectives, but as we grow as a team  visualization would be a powerful way to dig deeper and find additional insights.


Reflection : Customer Experience 2.0 Using Mind Mapping Challenge Technology companies who work with nonprofits have a unique opportunity to provide elegant solutions to complex problems . I currently serve as the Vice President of Customer Experience for a fundraising CRM ( customer relationship management ) company . When I took on this position , the CEO asked me to reimagine this area of our business from all facets – the team , the vision , and the processes . At that time , the team was operating from scarcity in all of these areas and although we received some budget increase , we were still going to have to scale our work in a somewhat constrained way . We also had customers who had not been onboarded or serviced properly and were rightly frustrated . The challenge in one sentence ? Create a vision for the department that would serve our current challenges and scale to support growth . Selection I chose the mind mapping tool to approach this project because I knew it was a powerful way to look for patterns , insights , and creative solutions . By visually exploring “ what is ” in an organized way , the team was able to collectively find solutions that would allow us to move forward collectively with a shared mindset . We were able to seamlessly create a “ what if ” path forward for our team and to present to the wider company . Application We decided to do this work with individual question reviews ( preparation ) followed by an old - fashioned marker and paper session . We asked the following big picture questions : 1 . What is currently going well/ what do we need to keep ? 2 . Where are our biggest challenges ? What do we really struggle with ? 3 . What would make a difference to our work and our customers ? Each member of the team prepared their own answers to the questions and categorized their responses under our team ’s areas of responsibility ( onboarding , education , ongoing customer success ) . We spent an afternoon together sharing individual perspectives . We began by collectively writing our responses to the questions on nine large post it sheets . ( One for each area and each question ) . We reviewed the sheets and grouped similar answers into buckets such as educational topics , technology tools , and communication . Each member of the team was given a sheet of stickers – 3 red , 2 yellow , and 1 green - and asked to identify their top priorities within the challenges and solutions identified . Once the top priorities were identified , we created owners and timelines for the path forward with these in mind . All items were captured for future review and shared with the collective team as well as the broader company . The team is reviewing progress quarterly and will tackle additional priorities once the larger items have been addressed . Insight The tool was powerful because it brought out typically under heard voices and provided a forum for all voices to be heard . In addition , the collective buy in soothed some of the rough edges that had been building among team members . For me , as the leader , it provided important perspective about where people were coming from and how critical capturing all thoughts can be to team growth . Design thinking is the MOST powerful way I ’ve found of creating true and lasting change . By creating space for ALL ideas and collectively agreeing on a path forward , we are in a much stronger place to make necessary changes . Approach Next time I would have more questions ahead of time and do some of the pre - writing of the ideas myself , so no one knew who was voicing thoughts . I still believe this was the right tool for this group , as it achieved our objectives , but as we grow as a team visualization would be a powerful way to dig deeper and find additional insights .