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Challenge
An 80% employee turnover rate at [International Logistics Company] was a massive hurdle to growth. Leadership suspected the CRM’s outdated mainframe software was to blame, as younger workers were highly vocal about its difficulty. My role involved validating the issues and creating an experience strategy for system modernization.
Approach
Research
For my first weeks on the project, I received deep dives into the CRM from the technology and product teams. The CRM was not just a sales tool. It was how the brokers managed loads for all modes of transport. It was a vast application with hundreds of subprocesses and a rudimentary GUI that did not disguise its mainframe root. I could see how the brokers were having trouble interacting with it.
To better understand the problem, I conducted field studies with ten brokers as they made sales calls and managed loads. What I saw was perplexing. The brokers did not use the application as it had been shown to me by the product team. Some of their actions were counter-intuitive, and in follow-up interviews, I learned there was a more nefarious reason.
The brokers didn't use the CRM as expected.
Synthesis
I discovered that, though extreme employee dissatisfaction existed, it had little to do with the mainframe UI. Other than a few minor suggestions, the brokers were okay with it. However, they anguished over operational procedures and the company’s policies and culture.
Management placed extreme pressure on the brokers. They were given unrealistic quotas and then placed in a highly competitive environment where the only way to survive was to sabotage their colleagues and game the system. Successful brokers spent their vacations staving off coworkers from sniping customers.
The brokers were traumatically demoralized, but leadership was proud of the culture they created — many were nostalgic for their stint in the bullpen as juniors. Nevertheless, the operational mayhem affected customer satisfaction. Customers felt hounded by consecutive brokers calling multiple times a day. There was no continuity of service as brokers were unaware of the business their colleagues previously conducted. Most customers felt the company was incompetent.
Unscrupulous tactics were used as brokers fought each other for customers.
Exploration
Customer satisfaction was the leverage to bring leadership to the table. I facilitated a workshop in which I prompted a handful of senior stakeholders to consider how to level the playing field so that brokers felt their work was fair, if not safe.
We explored various concepts, including ways to prevent data falsification, automate the sales process so brokers could focus on service, and gamify to reward appropriate behavior. We also focused on the customer experience and explored call-reduction techniques and conversational AI opportunities.
Workshop participants devised concepts to improve broker culture.
Evaluation
With all the concepts coming out of the workshop, leadership divided the initiative into two phases: near-term and future. The near-term solution became the sole focus, and findings from my initial research (i.e., the minor suggestions) became the basis of prototyping. Considering my role was strictly discovery, a designer joined the team to help with the near-term CRM prototype, and I rolled off the project.
The project was split into two phases. The future state would have to wait.
Outcome
I do not know the outcome of the future work phase or if it even started. However, after the workshop, both the client’s key stakeholder and the consultancy’s engagement manager reached out, impressed by my facilitation process. Tackling innovation has long been a challenge for the company. The fact that I led such a successful session, especially remotely, left an enormous impression on leadership, doing much to bolster the relationship.
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