In academia, we called it “publish or perish.” In marketing, we called it #StayRelevant. And in business, it’s the “burning platform.” It’s the idea that people’s behavior is changing and competitors are taking the leap while you stay “safe” on a crumbling cliff. Sounds dire, but that’s the picture you need to paint as a CX leader if you want to catalyze a transformation. Forrester offers 10 steps to find and leverage your org’s burning-platform story:

  1. Watch for signs that incremental changes aren’t enough.
  2. Use a crisis as an opportunity to pivot to better practices.
  3. Dig into what the market is signaling.
  4. Calibrate the right level of urgency for the message.
  5. Align the key speaking points to the audience.
  6. Rally troops around a purpose.
  7. Emphasize that the next opportunity is “now or never.”
  8. Repeat the message . . . over and over again.
  9. Put the burning platform front and center of your strategy document.
  10. Capitalize on every opportunity to listen to employees and convey the message.

Course correction on a big ship is no easy task, but changing winds make a strong case for it. For fewer metaphors, more elaboration on the steps above, and examples of organizations that used a burning platform as fodder (whoops!) for a CX transformation, see our report, “Find Your Burning Platform To Catalyze Customer Experience Transformation.”