Pitching experience to the C-suite: the CXO's guide

US healthcare provider CareMax offers health and wellness services to senior and minority populations across 10 US states. It has grown rapidly in recent years, from 13 to more than 60 facilities following its June 2021 listing on the Nasdaq exchange.

Joining the same month the company went public, chief experience officer (CXO) Nicole Cable was tasked with managing the experiences of patients, team leaders, providers and members. CareMax already boasted a “family culture”, but the recent expansion in locations, personnel and patients required careful management.

Cable had a wealth of experience to draw from, including a Masters of Science in healthcare sciences and certification as a patient experience (PX) professional. In a previous role she had used this knowledge to conceptualize and craft an office of human experience (OHX) and she saw a similar approach was required at CareMax.

She explains: “When I started out in PX, so few people understood the role and how PX works with human resources. Now I use Maslow's hierarchy of needs to demonstrate it: HR is the base and experience is the top. HR handles the physiological needs and safety and we address the top of the pyramid, demonstrating how their purpose impacts the human experience of our patients. We cross streams and work together on many projects.”

She adds: “OHX provides the training on the skills for delivering a better customer experience, service recovery, de-escalation tactics and our service values.”

Within two months of joining, Cable met with members of the CareMax C-suite to outline her strategy for a new department that could meet the organization’s complex experience and engagement needs at a time of rapid growth.

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Creating the Office of Human Experience

The work was extensive and saw Cable supported by 11 employees who worked directly under her leadership to take the project across the entire CareMax network.

Cable says: “Collaboration is key in this work. I worked closely with marketing, operations, clinical and HR, as well as sales. Build those connections and position yourself as a resource to help them.”

Taking a three-tier approach, the first step was to assess, listen and learn. Cable and her team conducted interviews and organized focus groups to determine the best metrics to measure the quality and success of the program.

The next step was to align the organizational goals and identify a strategy. The team created reports on various functions and organized discussions and workshops, which resulted in the OHX task force.

The final step before implementation saw the team craft the wider roadmap as well as an initial and ongoing communications plan for leaders across the organization to cascade to their teams and patients.

Dedicated employee initiatives were launched to provide guidelines for employees to follow and put mechanisms in place to measure success – the correlation between employee experience (EX) and PX soon became clear.

As a result of this work, patient churn decreased from 3.4 percent to 1.9 percent, NPS reached 96.7 and CareMax maintained its five-star provider status across the network. In recognition of her role leading the OHX project, Cable featured as one of CX Network’s 20 CX Leaders to Watch in 2022.

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How to pitch to executives

For experience practitioners, the ability to successfully pitch ideas and secure buy-in is paramount to both their immediate role and the wider culture of customer-centricity within an organization.

While some may have to make several attempts to pitch a new resource or project, Cable’s experience of pitching and delivering a whole new department provides lessons for others to draw on.

She advises: “Make a strategy and run it past people. Create a tribe, from your colleagues, from professional networks like CX Network then read about what people are doing, listen to what they are saying and reach out to them on LinkedIn to ask questions. They will respond to you in a heartbeat, then modify your approach and go.”

She adds: “But do not be discouraged. Maybe start small and turn it into something bigger.”

She explains: “If I want to do surveys, but there is no million-dollar budget to conduct them, what other tools can I use to substantiate what my hypothesis is? Do I need to conduct a small pilot or get leaders from the CFO office on board?”

Credibility is also key. Cable says it is crucial to “get your facts together and look at what you want to accomplish”.

And keep it short. Not elevator-pitch short, but Cable advises 15 to 30 minutes at most.
“Define what you want to accomplish and demonstrate why you need more budget or dedicated people,” she says.

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Why patient experience is important

Much like CX, PX can easily be overlooked in a race to meet harder targets around care and service delivery. To tackle this challenge Cable directly addresses the importance of PX and the role of the CXO when she presents. She also explains how wider recognition of experience management can improve all business outcomes.

“You must create credibility and feel confident in what you are stating. Discover small wins and report them out. Manage up your team members and colleagues – share in the success,” she says.

“In our field of work some don’t understand our roles as CX leaders. Some think its fluff, but it is far from that. When I present to organizations or even leaders within our organization who may not know me, I work to established credibility. I developed a one pager that highlights who I am and my experience, I share the industries I worked in, the companies I have worked for and the years of service. I cover my responsibilities for achieving an improved human experience at CareMax and at the end I explain what the CXO’s role includes. I now add that slide every time I address a room and I am often asked for a copy” she continues.

Many experience practitioners are currently pitching new projects and initiatives and Cable's advice on how to craft the perfect pitch is relevant to multiple industries.

Do you have a story to share with CX Network? You can get in touch via melanie.mingas@iqpc.com

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