Customer-Centric Operating Model Training Course for Senior Leaders

Programme Summary

The customer-centric operating model is the subject of this one-week training course for senior leaders at strategic level, ending in a customer accountability charter for one organisation. Many organisations state a customer promise while budgets, targets and reporting lines still follow internal functions. The programme moves from principles and diagnosis to the design of journey ownership, incentives and executive reviews, then applies them to a live case. Mars Training Centre UK delivers this programme on the customer-centric operating model to mixed-organisation cohorts.

The Business Case

A customer-centric operating model fails when nobody owns the end-to-end experience. Retail banks, utilities and hospital groups all show the same pattern: each function meets its own targets while the customer meets the gaps between them. Leaders who assign clear ownership and link it to measures make faster, better-supported decisions about service investment.

• Customer Retention: Improves as journey owners act on the points where customers leave.
• Cost to Serve: Falls as repeat contacts caused by hand-off gaps are removed at source.
• Decision Speed: Rises as executive reviews use agreed customer measures instead of competing reports.

Principles and Evidence Base

• ISO 23592:2021 Service Excellence Principles and Model: Provides the link between culture, service strategy, people and measurement, used in Sessions 1 and 2.
• Customer Journey Mapping: Traces what customers experience across channels and functions, used in Sessions 2 and 3.
• Responsibility Assignment Matrix: Separates who decides, who delivers and who is consulted for each journey, used in Sessions 3 and 4.

Intended Participants

• Executives who answer for customer outcomes across several functions.
• Customer experience leaders who need authority beyond their own team.
• Heads of function who set targets and budgets that shape what customers receive.
• Strategy and transformation leaders who redesign how the organisation is run.

Typical settings include banking, telecommunications, utilities, healthcare and public service delivery.

Learning Outcomes

1. Participants will be able to diagnose where structure, targets and habits pull the organisation away from its customers.
2. Participants will be able to construct a journey ownership map that names one accountable owner for each priority journey.
3. Participants will be able to evaluate how budgets and incentives reward or block customer-focused decisions.
4. Participants will be able to prioritise customer measures for an executive review.
5. Participants will be able to design a governance forum with decision rights and escalation routes.
6. Participants will be able to justify a customer accountability charter to a leadership team.

Programme Structure

Day 1: The Customer-Centric Operating Model and Its Principles

What separates a customer-centric operating model from a customer service function?

• Service Excellence Model Review
• Operating Model Canvas
• Customer Promise Statement
• Silo Cost Inventory
• Maturity Self-Assessment Grid

Day 2: Diagnosing Gaps Between Functions and Customers

Where do structure and targets break the customer experience?

• Cross-Functional Journey Map
• Hand-Off Gap Analysis
• Target Conflict Register
• Frontline Insight Interviews
• Root Cause Tree

Day 3: Designing Journey Ownership

Who should own each journey, and with what authority?

• Journey Selection Criteria
• Owner Role Profile
• Decision Rights Matrix
• Escalation Route Design
• Shared Budget Options

Day 4: Incentives, Measures and Executive Reviews

How do rewards and reviews keep attention on customers?

• Customer Measure Hierarchy
• Incentive Alignment Test
• Review Forum Agenda
• Dashboard Specification
• Leadership Behaviour Contract

Day 5: Customer Accountability Charter for One Organisation

Do the earlier tools form one charter that a leadership team can adopt?

• Applying the Session 2 Hand-Off Gap Analysis
• Testing the Session 3 Decision Rights Matrix
• Reviewing the Session 4 Customer Measure Hierarchy
• Sequencing the Rollout Plan
• Completing the Customer Accountability Charter

Methodology

The programme uses case analysis built on a prepared file for one retail bank and one utility, each with an organisation chart, a journey map, a target schedule and a set of customer complaints. Participants work in small groups, challenge each other's designs and revise them after peer review.

• Suggested activity: Tracing one complaint across four functions and naming the missing owner.
• Suggested activity: Rewriting a set of functional targets so that they support one journey.
• Suggested activity: Running a mock executive review with a customer measure set.

Capstone Output

Each participant completes a customer accountability charter for one organisation. It holds a journey ownership map, a decision rights matrix, a customer measure hierarchy, an incentive adjustment note and a rollout sequence. The charter is used at work to open a leadership discussion on who owns the customer and what must change first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a customer-centric operating model course suitable for leaders outside customer experience roles?

Yes. The customer-centric operating model is taught through cases and templates for any executive or head of function. It assumes management experience but no earlier work in customer experience design.

Which standard does the customer-centric operating model rest on?

The customer-centric operating model rests on ISO 23592:2021, the service excellence principles and model, together with journey mapping and responsibility assignment methods.

How is the charter from the customer-centric operating model used at work?

You use the customer accountability charter to brief your leadership team, agree journey owners and decision rights, and set the order of change.

How does a customer-centric operating model differ from a customer service skills course?

A customer-centric operating model addresses structure, ownership, incentives and governance across the organisation, while a customer service skills course concentrates on frontline conversations and handling individual customers.