As a species humans hate surprises. The unknown is the central source of fear and anxiety. Where will I go to school? What will interest rates do? Will I get that job I want? When will Starbucks have Pumpkin Spice Lattes?
We much prefer certainty. With certainty comes the comfort of knowing what is going to happen next. We like that. It allows us to plan and make contingencies.
Psychological research is replete with examples of the human need for certainty at the individual level, from uncertainty-identity theory to organizational level processes such as Mintzberg’s plea to “protect the technical core”. Our entire financial system loves certainty and rewards investors for it. Scary movies are scary precisely because you are uncertain about what is going to happen next. Research in psychology has long demonstrated that uncertainty makes unpleasant situations much worse.
Your customers also crave certainty in their day-to-day experiences. When you pull up to that Starbucks drive-through you expect a certain sequence of events to happen. When they do, you are happy. When they don’t, you are not.
I have found in my research that even really bad processes that are consistently executed are better than good processes that are inconsistently executed. Consistency in customer-facing processes is one of eight core competencies we have identified our CX Transformation model that separates the great from the good and the ugly on customer experience and business outcomes. Those who consistently deliver on the promise will get rewarded by a capturing a larger share of wallet and repeat business.
So how do you get good at consistency fast? Read the full article on these five steps to get your organization on its way.