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CX Governance "consists partially of the roles, responsibilities, and processes that oversee and support your company's CX activities."

Sponsorship is "an act of leadership." 

These definitions are extracted from the CXPA's book "Establishing Effective Governance and Sponsorship: A Guide to Strengthening CX Together." This book highlights concepts that are key to success in the transformation of the DNA of an organization to become one that is truly customer-centric.

This book will help CX professionals to better collaborate with corporate and functional leaders to ensure smooth execution and support of CX activities. The effective participation of all key stakeholders is critical to success, and to master the art of bettering governance and sponsorship across your organization, there are 4 key questions to which you'll find answers in this CXPA publication.

What is your sponsorship stereotype?

As a CX professional, you must search for CX advocates inside your organization. Based on the stakeholder's behavior and the degree to which they demonstrate an engagement in supporting your CX initiatives, you can identify the stereotype to which they belong. This will help you measure the level of personal investment you'll need to build relationships across the organization. This book will also help functional leaders to evaluate their ability to engage with CX operations and initiatives. Are they the "Optimist" sponsor, or the "Critical Friend?" Are they a great CX sponsor or a poor one?

What are the Governance and sponsorship roles in delivering CX?

As a leading member of an organization, how do you reinforce your authority for decision-making about CX activities? How do you allocate and manage necessary resources? How do you achieve the overall steering of a CX program? Knowing how to apply these key roles to drive success in a CX transformation initiative is necessary to improve governance. Knowing how functional specialists can support and provide input for the success of CX activities is an advantage, too.

How can the CX team support governance?

 Just as the leadership team should govern and sponsor CX activities, CX professionals have to contribute in various aspects like, “open and honest communication,” “adherence to governance and sponsorship protocols,” and “being a critical friend.” What does this mean and how does the CX team put all of this in place? The publication wonderfully answers these questions.

What are some practices for better CX governance?

From setting direction, to team building, to forming a rapid response team, best governance and sponsorship practices are highly distinctive between successful and failed CX initiatives.

According to proverb, “When there is no vision, the people are abandoned.” Setting the direction and demonstrating leadership to drive people to the right destination is a hallmark of great leadership and a marker of effective governance and sponsorship.

So if you want to know more about establishing effective Governance & Sponsorship for CX in your organization, get a copy of this book and enjoy reading and applying the lessons learned in your daily work.

Georges Essama is the Head of Customer Relations at CAMTEL in Cameroon and a winner of CXPA's 2022 Emerging Leader Awards. The book "Establishing Effective Governance and Sponsorship: A Guide to Strengthening CX Together," is available for free online reading to CXPA members at www.cxbookstore.com. Not a member? Learn more and join today.