Joint Customer Journey Ownership Course for Sales, Service, Product and Operations Heads

Programme Summary

Joint customer journey ownership across sales, service, product and operations is the subject of this two-week training course for functional heads at strategic level, ending in a cross-functional collaboration plan for one customer journey. Customers meet departments one after another, yet each department often measures and rewards itself alone. The programme moves from journey mapping to diagnosis of silos, then to design of shared metrics, handoffs, decision rights and forums, and finally to change adoption and a plan a leadership group can adopt. Mars Training Centre UK delivers this programme on joint customer journey ownership to mixed-organisation cohorts.

The Business Case

Banks, telecommunications providers, retailers and public service bodies lose customers at the points where one team hands a customer to another. Each function can meet its own target while the customer repeats the story, waits or abandons the journey. Leaders who share ownership of outcomes can remove these breaks without adding headcount, but only when measures, rights and forums change together.

• Customer Effort: Falls as handoffs are designed and repeated explanations are removed.
• Recommendation Score: Rises as functions act on the same customer evidence.
• Delivery Cost: Falls as rework and duplicated contacts between teams are traced and cut.

Principles and Evidence Base

• Customer Journey Mapping: Lays out the stages a customer passes through across functions, applied in Sessions 1 and 2 to ownership and silos.
• Service Blueprint: Links what the customer sees to the team actions behind it, applied in Session 5 to handoff design.
• RACI Responsibility Matrix: Separates who decides, acts and is consulted, applied in Session 6 to decision rights.
• ADKAR Change Model: Frames awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement, applied in Session 9 to adoption.

Intended Participants

• Heads of sales who set customer promises and account plans.
• Heads of customer service who handle the consequences of those promises.
• Product leads who decide what customers receive and how they use it.
• Operations heads who run fulfilment, delivery and support processes.
• Customer experience leaders who convene functions around shared outcomes.

Typical settings include banking, telecommunications, retail, utilities and public service bodies.

Learning Outcomes

1. Participants will be able to construct a journey map with a named owner for each stage.
2. Participants will be able to diagnose silos from handoff failures and customer evidence.
3. Participants will be able to design shared metrics and incentives that align functions.
4. Participants will be able to evaluate handoffs between teams and set standards for them.
5. Participants will be able to prioritise decision rights and escalation rules for disagreements.
6. Participants will be able to justify a collaboration plan and its forums to a leadership group.

Programme Structure

Day 1: Joint Customer Journey Ownership and the Shared Customer

Who owns each stage of the journey, and who answers for the whole?

• Customer Journey Map Template
• Stage Ownership Matrix
• Function Role Inventory
• Customer Outcome Statement
• Journey Ownership Charter Outline

Day 2: Diagnosing Silos Between Functions

Where do departments work against each other, and what does the customer see?

• Silo Symptom Checklist
• Handoff Failure Log
• Function Conflict Map
• Customer Contact Replay
• Authority Gap Review

Day 3: Customer Evidence Across Functions

Which customer evidence do all functions accept and use?

• Voice of the Customer Digest
• Net Promoter Score Driver Reading
• Complaint Theme Coding
• Frontline Interview Guide
• Evidence Sharing Protocol

Day 4: Shared Metrics and Incentives

Which measures and rewards pull functions toward the same customer outcome?

• Shared Metric Tree
• Metric Definition Sheet
• Conflicting Target Review
• Incentive Alignment Table
• Joint Scorecard Layout

Day 5: Handoff Design Between Teams

How is work passed between teams without loss or delay?

• Service Blueprint for a Cross-Team Journey
• Handoff Standard Template
• Team Service Level Agreement
• Information Transfer Checklist
• Escalation Path Map

Day 6: Responsibility and Decision Rights

Who decides, who acts and who is consulted when functions disagree?

• RACI Responsibility Matrix
• Decision Rights Grid
• Disagreement Escalation Ladder
• Resource Trade-Off Rules
• Priority Setting Rule

Day 7: Governance Forums

Which forums keep shared ownership working week after week?

• Customer Experience Council Charter
• Forum Agenda Template
• Escalation Reporting Pack
• Meeting Cadence Plan
• Action Follow-Up Register

Day 8: Joint Improvement Squads

How do mixed teams find and fix a cross-functional customer problem?

• Improvement Squad Brief
• Squad Time Agreement
• Root Cause Session Guide
• Pilot Test Design Sheet
• Results Review Template

Day 9: Change Adoption Across Functions

How do leaders move people from siloed habits to shared practice?

• ADKAR Readiness Check
• Stakeholder Resistance Map
• Communication Plan Grid
• Reinforcement Routine
• Leader Behaviour Pledge Sheet

Day 10: Collaboration Plan for One Journey

Do the earlier tools combine into one plan that a leadership group can adopt?

• Applying the Session 1 Stage Ownership Matrix
• Testing the Session 4 Joint Scorecard Layout
• Checking the Session 5 Handoff Standard Template
• Rehearsing the Session 7 Customer Experience Council Charter
• Completing the Cross-Functional Collaboration Plan

Methodology

The programme uses case analysis built on prepared files for two organisations, one a retail bank and one a telecommunications provider, each with journey maps, complaint logs, team targets and handoff records. Participants work in mixed groups, role-play the functions, and defend their plan to peers acting as a leadership group.

• Suggested activity: Tracing one customer complaint through four teams and naming each missed handoff.
• Suggested activity: Rewriting conflicting targets for sales and service into one shared measure.
• Suggested activity: Drafting a council charter and testing it against a disagreement between product and operations.

Capstone Output

Each participant completes a cross-functional collaboration plan for one customer journey. It holds an owner map, a shared scorecard, handoff standards, a decision rights grid, a forum charter and an adoption routine. The plan is used at work to brief a leadership group and to agree duties with each function head.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a programme on joint customer journey ownership suitable for functional heads new to shared governance?

Yes. Joint customer journey ownership is taught through prepared files and templates. It assumes responsibility for a function that touches customers, but no earlier work on journey management.

Which models does joint customer journey ownership rest on?

Joint customer journey ownership rests on customer journey mapping, the service blueprint, the RACI responsibility matrix and the ADKAR change model, each applied to prepared cases.

How is the plan from joint customer journey ownership used at work?

You use the collaboration plan to brief your leadership group, agree duties with each function head and start the forum that keeps shared ownership running.

How does joint customer journey ownership differ from a general teamwork programme?

Joint customer journey ownership concentrates on shared customer outcomes, measures and handoffs between functions, while a general teamwork programme concentrates on relationships and communication inside one team.