It has been a year filled with advancements in AI technology and a significant surge in the usage of AI in customer-facing roles. Yet, we see over and over again that for many organizations and many industries, their greatest competitive advantage is human interaction with their customers and clients. 

However, human interactions are not a competitive advantage if we as leaders get in the way. This is why employee empowerment is more crucial than ever. 

In my keynote speeches, I like to say that employee empowerment is the win-win-win of customer experience. 

Customers win because their problem is solved in real time. 

Employees win because they’re able to satisfy customers and not have to manage an upset customer whose issue remains unresolved.

The organization and leadership wins because every customer issue that is not solved immediately costs the organization both money and time..

How do we make our human experience just as frustrating as the robot experience? Say things to the customer like, “I’m not authorized to do that,” “I’ll have to check with a manager,” or “you’ll have to call the corporate office.”

If this is the experience we are giving to our customers, then what is the point of having human service? If you’re going to frustrate your customers, at least do it cheaply. 

Of course, I know that’s not your goal, so let’s talk about three ways to evaluate your experience and to determine where you need to better empower your employees to solve customer issues in real time.

Ask Your Team. No one knows better where empowerment is missing than the people who do not have it. Your team knows the situations that arise that could easily be solved if they had the power. Your team knows where they feel frustrated on a regular basis because of the invisible handcuffs they’re wearing at work. There is no source of information better than asking your team. 

Review the Data. For larger organizations particularly, your data can tell you a lot about where to begin investigating a lack of empowerment. Are there certain touch points in the experience that have significantly higher error tickets or complaints? Are cancellations being triggered at a certain point in the experience? Do certain requests trigger immediate transfers either vertically or to other departments? Your data leaves clues about where empowerment might be helpful. 

Review Verbatims at Scale. Search through your customer feedback for certain keywords. Look for the points where they are feeling frustrated repeatedly, where they complain about processes or procedures. Look for patterns that show where a touch point could be easier.

The most important aspect of empowering your team is proactively looking for areas where empowerment can be useful and improve both the employee and customer experience. Depending on the size and scale of your organization, the process can be simple or complicated. Also, if you want to learn more about employee empowerment, make sure to check out our deep resource on the site: The Ultimate Starter Guide to Employee Empowerment.