‘Our people are our everything’, said Delta’s CEO at Qualtrics X4
Here’s how to drive top notch employee experiences, and therefore, business outcomes, according to business leaders and sporting icons at Qualtrics’ 2024 X4 summit.
Conference Insights
UNLEASH was at Qualtrics' X4 summit in Salt Lake City last week.
AI, trust and the link between employee and customer experience were the main topics.
Here are our main takeaways from the event, featuring insights from the CEOs of Delta, American Express and Hilton, as well as Qualtrics' chief workplace psychologist and sporting icons Lindsey Vonn and Dwyane Wade.
AI took center stage at Qualtrics’ X4: The Experience Management Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah, May 1-2 2024.
Yes, AI has a huge potential to change the world of work for the better – it can drive real productivity, and close some skills gaps for example.
However, it is not a silver bullet – it is also causing a lot of concerns for employees.
A 2023 Qualtrics survey found that only four in ten employees were excited about the potential of AI – with 46% saying it was scary and 68% thinking that some jobs are at risk from AI.
Ben Granger, Chief Workplace Psychologist at Qualtrics, told UNLEASH in an exclusive interview at X4, that he expects “gradual increases in comfort with the use of AI” at work, especially as employees realize that AI is less likely to take away their job, and more likely to help them do their jobs better.
According to Granger, the key to changing the narrative around AI to being more positive is for leaders to really communicate not just how AI is going to help the company, but also the benefit for employees.
“HR and people teams play an incredibly important role to make sure we get this right”, shared Cecelia Herbert, Principal Behavioral Scientist at Qualtrics, during an X4 breakout session.
However, Granger warns it is essential that leaders don’t overhype it – if they can strike the right balance, then that can help build trust around AI.
Plus, this will help fix the declining levels of trust employees have towards senior leadership and organizations more widely.
Great employee experiences are good for business
Of course, being a great leader is much easier said than done.
This is especially true, according to Qualtrics’ Granger, as often people are pushed into leadership roles simply because they are great individual contributors – but they aren’t given the right tools or skills to be a top-notch manager and leader.
Getting leadership right is a key component to driving up employee experiences, and, as a result, customer experience and business bottom lines.
During a customer media panel, Dr Sebastian Projahn, Senior Director of People Insights at Adidas, shared that a Qualtrics pilot in 450 stores found that 30% of customer satisfaction was based on employee experience for the sportwear giant.
He argued that employers need to stop only focusing on employee experience in response to a problem – but instead be more proactive in always driving up better, and more human experiences for employees powered by trust.
The CEOs of Delta, American Express, and Hilton echoed the link between customer and employee experience during their keynote sessions.
“Today our world is all about where you’re going, what you’re doing, what can you experience”, shared Ed Bastian, the CEO of Delta, during a keynote panel. For Bastian, there’s a lot of value to come from experiences.
American Express CEO Steve Squeri added in the same panel: “The most important asset in our companies are our colleagues, our employees.”
By having the right company culture, and treating employees in right way, then they provide those great experiences to customers, which leads to financial success.
Bastian agreed – “our people are our everything” – the only way that Delta can provide those great experiences to its customers is through its people.
It “sounds simple”, but Bastian is clear that this not something that you can do as a one-off, it is something that leaders need to embody every day.
They need to share the success with their people – Delta does this through profit sharing plans; for instance, on Valentines day this year, the airline gave out $1.4 billion (or 10% of their earnings) to its people, bringing the total paid out since the plan was introduced in 2007 to $11 billion.
Hilton’s CEO Chris Nassetta echoed this statements from Squeri and Bastian.
He shared: “Culture is something that we care a heck of a lot about”, and that Hilton’s core business is “people serving people”.
Nassetta sees his job as CEO as working for employees – they are the magic – and providing them with the right tools and technology to do their jobs even better.
As a leader, if you live in an ivory tower, “you’re not going to know what’s going on” on the ground, and you’re not going to make the best decisions.
The real innovation in companies must be bottom-up, the people in the hotels and resorts know what needs to change to improve the customer experience.
Nassetta concluded his main stage fireside chat by saying always “listen before you act” – so often, people think they don’t know the answers, but you never know what ideas you’ll overlook that way.
This is reminiscent of something that UKG’s chief belonging officer told UNLEASH at a recent event in London – Brian Reeves note that the key difference between hearing an listening is that “listening requires you suspend the belief you already know the answer”.
Sports icons share secrets to success
Qualtrics’ X4 2024 did more than just share the views of business leaders – it also welcomed sporting legends to the main stage to share their advice on leadership and success.
On day 1, Lindsey Vonn, American Olympic gold medal winning skier, noted that “nothing good in life comes easily”.
She calls on everyone to stop living in fear – “fear inhibits us from making decisions”, and sometimes you just “have to take that leap”; “you have to be fearless, you have to live in the moment”.
Of course, you won’t always get it right, but you will only truly fail if you don’t learn from the experience.
Linking the conversation back to AI and data, Vonn is clear that while data is useful – it is information – “you still have to trust your instincts” – don’t take the human out of the loop, and trust yourself to make the judgmental call.
On day two of X4, NBA Hall of Fame legend Dwyane Wade took to the main stage. He also stated the importance of hard work and commitment to excellence both on and off the basketball court.
He argued that everyone is a leader – it isn’t just the person who shouts the loudest.
The best leaders are those who lead with compassion, integrity and empathy – every time they make a decision, they try to do the most empowering thing possible.
HR, are you ready to the best leaders you can be?
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Chief Reporter
Allie is an award-winning business journalist and can be reached at alexandra@unleash.ai.
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