No Journey Map?
- Apr 15
- 3 min read
Natalie K. Jackson April 10, 2026
I recently hosted a webinar “CX and EX as Growth Drivers” and asked the 80+ leaders who signed up what their biggest points of friction are. I gave them choices, but more than 46% said alignment among teams and communication (informal/formal) are their points of friction. Policies & Procedures was a close second with Technology as last. We know that these friction points go hand-in-hand but I appreciate that the leaders could so easily name that there’s a disconnect holding them back from growth. Growth through revenue, retention, and referrals.
They represented a diverse set of industries: finance, construction, nonprofits, services/consulting, etc. They ranged from coordinators to founders, with the bulk being managers and VPs. Company revenue ranged from a few hundred thousand to $20B.
No, this sample size is not mathematically significant, but to me, it was the ideal room to notice: this Listening Gap is real, and organizations are clamoring for a way to tighten things up and smooth out the experience, as a key to unlock growth.
Per LSA Global, highly aligned organizations grow revenue 58% faster and are 72% more profitable than misaligned peers. (LSA Global, analysis of 410 companies across 26 alignment variables and 15 performance outcomes). According to Gallup, teams that communicate effectively are up to 25% more productive and that productivity gain translates into higher profitability.
Those who joined the webinar already know that CX/EX is a differentiator. 63% have some CX/EX elements in place even if not fully consistent and enterprise-wide yet, so their CX/EX Maturity is either Emerging or Established (according to the Crescent Consultancy CX8 Maturity Model).
So, what do they have in place already?
29% cited having a brand promise (or a statement indicating this “contract with our customer”),
27% cited having a way to gather feedback from customers or employees, and
21% cited tracking some growth metrics like retention, referrals, and revenue.
Only 15% said they have an end-to-end journey map.
Because 90 minutes was not enough time to unpack every foundational element and best practice to smooth out alignment across an established organization, I chose to focus on three things:
Do you have a brand promise, an experiential north star, or any statement that indicates how you show up for your customers [and your employees]?
Do you have an end-to-end customer journey map? And an employee journey map?
And, once you surface friction across the journey, how do you prioritize what to fix?
Given 85% of attendees do not have a journey map, we spent quite a bit of time there, mostly defining the stages as organizations have common stages but with nuances.
For example, a leading PR firm cited that they have an “Innovation” stage in their customer journey. A regional nonprofit CEO shared they are currently focused on the employee journey, with an emphasis on hiring the right people and selecting the right volunteers.
Some say a journey map is a useless artifact and a one-and-done waste of time. I firmly disagree, from lived experience. The act of mapping the entire journey stage-by-stage will get your leaders and teams, cross-functionally, to empathize with your customers, from first awareness to referring you to others. Slowing down and taking this time together gives us a common language and gets us out of our silos.
When revisited, with updated data (yes, you should always have real data and voice of your customer as a part of the journey), it’s a powerful tool to surface where we need to focus.
Tip: Do not assign one person to go capture the journey. This must be a shared activity. Then, socialize, share insights, share what’s missing, share the action plan, and share when you will revisit it again with C-suite/Executives and teams who could not participate.
Tip: If able, hire a facilitator who is CCXP certified to guide you through with an expert, unbiased point of view.
A first step to moving towards better alignment, and better communication across your team or organization, is to define the experience, define your journey stages, and listen across each journey stage to help surface where to focus first. If you get a baseline and track how improvements perform, and track your growth metrics, you are likely to see an uptick which will fuel momentum to keep going, to keep listening.
For leaders, this isn’t about adding another initiative to an already full plate. It’s about moving towards shared clarity. A clearly defined journey, grounded in listening for patterns and signals, gives leaders a way to align decisions, investments, and priorities across teams without guessing. In environments where change is constant, that shared understanding becomes a stabilizing force and a catalyst for growth.