Delivering the EX is about deepening our relationships with human beings, making each connection more valuable, and every iteration more impactful. This process never stops. If it does, businesses fail. It is in our interest to appreciate this. There is always something that needs to improve. There is always some part of the HEX that requires attention and considered development. This is the refreshing part about EX. It is continual and represents how we experience work and life. The responsibility for employers and organizations is to put
in place a compelling and connected HEX that helps people deliver what they are capable of delivering, within their jobs, but also within their life generally. The illusion that work and life is separate is just that – an illusion. Everything is connected and a part of who we are.
Everything is becoming integrated and the EX we create, and evolve, needs to mirror that understanding. If employees are not at their best in life, that will affect their work. If they are not at their best in work, that will affect their life. This relationship is proven every day throughout the human experience.
As we have discussed in this chapter, this notion of change is changing. The importance of life and work transitions are coming to the fore as parts of the journey that matter most to people. It could be a new job, new baby, new team, new house or even a new dog – whatever it may be – the EX will need to be shaped and delivered in a way that leaves no room for uncertainty about a company’s com- mitment to its people, in the good times and the not-so-good times.
‘People are our greatest asset’ is not an expression associated with EX. People are not assets nor are they resources; they are living, breathing human beings with incredible potential. Our EX delivery work is there to help them realize that potential.
In delivering our EX approach, we begin to appreciate how strong the truth is within a business. Where does this company stand when you are at your best? Where does the company stand when you are at your worst? It is these moments that define the future relationship with an employer. They are moments that need to be protected throughout the employee journey. This manifests across the HEX.
Leaders that demonstrate care and commitment, a comfortable and vibrant workplace surrounded by a genuine community of support- ive colleagues, human-centred HR policies, an aligned structure that helps create positive relationships between functions, a community- minded company that puts people and purpose before profit, a place where human and tech are balanced rather than clumsily thrown together, or an organization that creates the conditions for you to explore, play, create and have fun, but most importantly, be you. The advance of EX is clearly fantastic for people, but we can see from some of the examples of EX in practice that it is a serious business methodology that delivers on the most important business objectives and creates the conditions for high performance to occur.
Indeed, if you want to find any proof that an EX is being delivered effectively, just look at the return on experience (RoE), which are all the indicators of impact that you have selected, based on your context, to inform and chart collective progress and business success. They are the shapers of your organizational narrative and the story of impact.
Not all of them will be relevant. The ones that really matter are the ones that have the greatest meaning with your business, people and context. That becomes your unique RoE and provides a range of refer- ence points that inform communication, reports and brand progress.
If they are lighting up favourably then we are talking about high-im- pact EX work. If they are not, then we need to keep going, keep mov- ing and keep challenging to deliver the impact we set out to. The RoE is always in the foreground informing our work and progress.
EX is not about deploying one programme or initiative. It is a stra- tegic, organization-wide mindset and approach to doing business in a human way. The examples I have highlighted demonstrate how EX is applied in different ways, but the holistic nature of EX and its un- derpinning principles remain true in whatever scenario or business we work in. It is for companies to deliver their own version of the truth and fuse that into what will become a highly immersive and valuable experience for employees. The experience is always evolv- ing. This work is never done, but the impact will always be felt.
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● Deliver the EX through deploying and deepening the approach across the business. Find new areas to explore, new policies to humanize and new ways of working to create a vibrant, sustainable and positive EX.
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● Human-centred, community-first. Make sure employees remain a firm part of the evolving work on EX at all stages.
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● Find ways to maximize the workplace and its design to connect people more closely to the truth of the business.
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● In deploying EX, ensure the structure is working for employees.
Roles and responsibilities matter, but EX should be on the minds of all leaders and functions across the business.
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● Shift the mindset. HR and all other support functions now operate in service to employees. They are in place to support and help people deliver their best work.
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● Use communication, networks and technology intelligently to increase the impact and effectiveness of the EX.
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● The truth will set employees free. Focus on installing the truth within the EX, and progress human-centric practices within and beyond HR policy and practice.
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● Advance big and small actions to improve the EX. Through major themes of work and subtle, indirect nudges, we can impact people holistically and increase our momentum.
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● Keep people together. Employees, leaders, and EX professionals will need to be aligned and the leadership approach should evolve in tandem with the EX. Employee-centricity needs to flow throughout the business.
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● Launch and evolve the EX; don’t wait for the perfect conditions to launch a new EX product or service. As employees are part of the journey, they can help co-create and co-produce as you go, through feedback and high involvement.
References
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Huddleston, T (2018) How one man went from welding in a tractor factory to building a multi-billion dollar Chinese hotpot business, CNBC, 9 October, https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/09/how-zhang-yong- went-from-welding-in-a-tractor-factory-to-building-a-multi-billion- dollar-chinese-hotpot-business.html (archived at https://perma.cc/9AF4- GPEX)
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