How often do you put yourself in the shoes of your customers?

It can be so easy to fall into a complacency trap of thinking you know what people want from your business.

You may be asking them regularly for feedback. You may spend time looking at the complaints and compliments that come through. If your org is big enough you might even have people who pull together whizzy charts and reports telling you what is and what isn't working and what the business is going to do to improve.

And that is all great. It gives you a better understanding. But it doesn't mean that you really know what is going on.

To do that you need to be spending time with the people who are using your products or services. You need to follow them through their 'customer journey' and see in real time how they experience things. You need to really listen to their frustrations and feedback.

I spent a large chunk of my career working in the NHS and I thought I was pretty attuned to the patient experience. I ran regular listening events. I went 'back to the floor'. I got involved in complex complaints. I attended patient experience meetings. I could go on...

Yet it was only when I left the NHS that I suddenly saw things properly from a patient and carer point of view.

It was eye-opening, it was heartbreaking, it was embarrassing.

It caused me to reflect a lot on the things we were focussing on as senior leaders versus the stuff that we should have been tackling. When chunks of meetings were spent debating terms of reference for the meeting whilst patients and relatives would much rather their care and treatment was timely and joined up (for example).

I look back now and see so many opportunities when I could have done more to make sure the real experience wasn't being lost. To make sure the big transformative change was not at the expense of the here and now realities, when small changes could make a big difference.

So, take the time to reflect on if there is more you can be doing to improve your awareness and knowledge of what is happening for your customers when they experience your business.

Ask yourself if you are doing everything you can to be the best champion for your clients, communities and staff.

Have courage to speak out and challenge the status quo if you need to.

Don't let this be something that you regret once the time has passed.