“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” —Zig Ziglar
As another year winds down to a close, and we head into another holiday season, those of us in the U.S. are preparing to gather together for annual Thanksgiving celebrations. In other parts of the world, this time of year is standard for reflection, celebration, and gratitude. As it turns out, there are a host of health benefits associated with pausing to give thanks. Earlier this week, community member Sheri Kendall shared this fantastic article with me. Spoiler alert: expressing gratitude can lower stress, reduce impatience, and boost brain function.
In keeping with the spirit of the season (and because science proves it’s healthy!), we wanted to pause and give thanks for you--the CX Accelerator community--and celebrate a few of the many exciting things we’ve achieved together this year.
What a year 2019 has been, for the customer experience profession in general, and this community of professionals. Several weeks ago, we posted a question in the General channel on Slack, and we asked you to share some of your team’s most significant achievements from the last several months. Some of the answers were so inspiring!
Ryan Freeland, a Design Strategist at MHI, shared that his team produced a mini-conference to teach their partners design thinking and work together to find solutions to the biggest challenges their organization faces.
Al Hopper, Customer Experience Manager for Black Rifle Coffee Company, shared that his team deployed a new chat platform that has reduced the need for live agents by 86%.
Community member and facilitator Jeremy Watkin shared how his new role at 8x8 is going, and had this to say: “I’ve been in the “what the heck is product marketing?” world for the past few months as I transition out of the contact center into a new role. I’m just super excited to have joined a great team that isn’t solely about selling a contact center product but also cares about the contact center and customer experience.”
And Stacy Justino, Director of Customer Happiness at Wistia, was elated to report that in August, her team had their best month in two years, with record first reply times and overall Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
Let’s face it; CX work is challenging. It’s often lonely and frustrating. But as we read through these accomplishments, one thing is clear. 2019 was productive, exciting, and filled with incredible change. So, we encourage you to pause, celebrate, and give thanks for everything you’ve accomplished this year!
Aside from team milestones, many members of this community made career moves this year. To name a few, Jeremy Hyde stepped into a new role leading customer experience for Sun Country Airlines. Erica Mancuso started a new job with nThrive, now working remotely for the first time. Lauren Volpe took the helm as CXO at QuadPay, and Brittany Naylor joined Evernote as Manager of Customer Support. And this is just naming a few! (Side note: if you started a new job this year, drop us a comment and tell us how it’s going)
From a community standpoint, we have a lot to celebrate, too. This month, we were thrilled to welcome Amigos Do CX to our Slack community. We look forward to broadening our footprint globally in 2020, learning from their unique perspectives, and strengthening the ways we all collaborate to empower better customer experiences. In general, our Slack community has grown to more than 1,000 members strong, with hundreds of active members each week. You’ve participated in roundtable dialogs, responded to CX challenges of the week, and helped each other through the day-to-day struggles and joys of life in the world of customer experience. Together, we’ve all helped to empower one another with the support, encouragement, and education needed to serve customers better. And we couldn’t be prouder or more grateful for all the ways every single member of this community has contributed to that mission.
So, we pause to say thank you. We couldn’t do this without you all. And we truly and sincerely appreciate you all.
For those of you in the U.S., we hope you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving, and take some time to pause and reflect on everything you’re thankful for. For our friends elsewhere around the world, we hope the holiday season ahead brings rest, prosperity, and productive reflection.
We’re so excited to see what 2020 holds! We have big things planned, so stay tuned.
A passionate connector of people, Erica Marois is a customer and employee experience enthusiast who loves helping others find unique solutions to their biggest challenges. She has 12+ years of experience in content creation and community building and volunteers as a facilitator for CX Accelerator. Erica works from home in Richmond, VA, where she lives with her husband and their lab-mix, Quinn. Outside of work, she loves cooking, traveling, and reading. Find her on LinkedIn and Twitter!