We talked to some of the most progressive leaders in the world of onsite food service and in the facilities management sector to get their insights into what is next as we navigate our way through the pandemic and towards the new normal. Uncertainty remains the status quo; however, these leaders and their organizations, their insights, and experience are forging ahead to address and drive the future, whatever that might look like. The global pandemic has brought to the forefront underling issues that already existed, it has accentuated them, magnified them, and in some cases accelerated them. Elsewhere, prior to the pandemic, bricks and mortar retail had long been under pressure. Restaurants with historically the highest failure rate of any industry with wafer thin margins with the slightest misfire threatening its survival. And now during a global pandemic, airlines, and hotels, both heavily reliant on the business traveler as their bread and butter are struggling. Whole regions, cities, even countries counting on tourism are missing those much-needed revenues. Like with any adversity, there are winners and losers, and some organizations have sustained and, in some cases, thrived. Apple continue to sell their devices and services. Grocery stores have replaced some of the out-of-home spend. Amazon has grown with more home deliveries than ever before. And, according to many reports, including CBS, plastic surgery has seen a boom of more than 60% during the pandemic apparently due in part to the “Zoom Effect”! There may be still many uncertainties, and never has the saying been so true as it is today: “Change is the only constant in life.” - Heraclitus Heraclitus was a Greek philosopher who lived over 500 years BC and his words resonate as much today as they have done for the past 2,500 years. It is recognizing this, embracing, and adapting to change which will characterize those who survive and thrive beyond 2021. Just like the famous Marine Corps mantra, we must adapt, improvise, and overcome. We talked to some of the most progressive, and forward-thinking leaders on what is coming around the corner in the world of on-site services across People, Place, Culture, Design, and Innovation: Notwithstanding the 100+ million Coronavirus cases, nearly 2.5 million deaths worldwide so far, the global pandemic has resulted in the disruption of the lives of billions, with furlough’s, layoffs, and unemployment for many millions. COVID-19 has had a huge impact and immeasurable hardship on many levels for people all around the world. Pritchard Industries is on the front line of not only making buildings safer and cleaner for re-occupancy, but also and critically, providing confidence for those returning to the physical space whether in schools, hospitals, public places, or back to work. Jay Leyden, Pritchard’s President and Chief Executive, shared his thoughts: “COVID-19 has hit our nation and the world in ways we never could have imagined. The pandemic has shed light on a very important shift in building cleaning - where it once was more focused on aesthetics, cleaning now means delivering safety and peace of mind for all stakeholders. All organizations need a comprehensive plan to protect building owners and all occupants." Leyden goes on to highlight the importance of focusing on 3 key areas: 1.) Delivering solutions that create peace of mind for their people 2.) Refining post-COVID processes to enhance healthy outcomes, and 3.) Innovative new solutions that drive health and safety. All good advice for those looking to the future as folks start to trickle back to the office. Hospitality, tourism, restaurants, and food service have been hit hard with many venues closed, less people travelling, dining out, or going to stadiums, schools, or to work – but beyond the human pain and suffering and economic hardship, what are organizations doing to manage the morale, health, wellness, and well-being of both existing and former employees? Rungway is an employee experience app that helps organizations to understand what their people really think. In contrast to top-down surveys, Rungway surfaces employee led thoughts and concerns. This has always been important but never more so than during these unprecedented times. With more people working from home than ever before, how do you really understand what they need and how they are feeling for you to help them address the diverse issues most important to them? Without these interventions, you risk a drop in morale, motivation, and productivity. “Companies are utilizing their Rungway data to shape their return-to-office and hybrid workplace planning. Very few organizations expect to return to their pre-pandemic ways of working and this poses some major challenges. How do you prevent cultural fraying over time? Are your benefits and policies fit for purpose anymore? How will new joiners and junior colleagues learn? How can you be sure your managers are leading inclusively in a fragmented environment at a time when DEI has heightened importance?” Paul Smith, Chief Strategy Officer at ART Health Solutions describes how their scientific approach to employee health helps organizations understand the real and tangible impact on human health, and as importantly how these insights can better inform strategy for future work experience design, “Our data clearly demonstrates how employee wellbeing and performance is effected by multiple factors, both within and outside of the workplace, that organizations must do more to positively impact on a long-term basis. Future work strategies need to consider the specific wellbeing needs of different employees’ types to develop an effective approach that allows employees to feel and perform at their best more often, no matter where they are located.” Smith goes on to point out that such a strategy must be underpinned by objective data that provides an accurate assessment of the current landscape, informs future direction & decision making and can be used to measure how effective such changes have been. An example of an organization thinking about the consumer, the employee, is LifeWorks Restaurant Group, a division of global giant Aramark. LifeWorks is focused on providing hospitality experiences in the workplace and they have come up with a unique and fun way to engage with employees no matter where they are. MunchMail is a neat solution that allows employers, managers, colleagues to send “home comforts”, delicacies, your favorite tea, coffee, snack items right to your front door – making them feel more connected and to put a smile on their faces. Another food service provider, Epicurean Group based in San Francisco and the Bay Area is busy making sense of the post COVID world. Mary Clark-Bartlett is the CEO and founder of the independent boutique food service company. “COVID has definitely changed the way we look at the future of the food experience. We transformed traditional cafes to a new and exciting service offering including online pre-order, pre-pay system that not only drives a better consumer experience but removes friction and allows our customers a heightened level of hygiene and safety, and convenience too.” Epicurean, a business founded on fresh, local, honest food and experiences two decades ago has now added their Safety Pledge on the list of their proud achievements to date and reassurances to their clients and consumers – the Safety Pledge, a commitment from all Epicurean team members and their focus to the highest possible levels of safety and service. Clark-Bartlett goes on to say, “The pandemic has changed the future of work and that work from home is here to stay in some capacity, but we also know our clients, and we think they will eventually be back in their offices and cafes. There is something special about being together and sharing delicious food and ideas. And that is something we are all currently missing from our lives. A sense of belonging, spontaneity, and ability to connect over a healthy and tasty meal while discovering new solutions and ideas.” It’s not just the delicious food and company that we’re missing right now, the current times are leading to issues such as concerns around mental health and wellbeing, corporate loneliness, isolation, and in some cases, despair is rising to the top of employers concerns and traversing high up the list of priorities. It’s not just about those employees that remain either, but what about the leaders who have had the responsibility to lay-off sometimes long-standing colleagues, associates, and friends, how do you look after them too? And what about those who are no longer with you, does your responsibility end when you cut them loose, how do colleagues support those who have lost their jobs? There has never been a better time for conscious leadership and giving back to our people and communities. There has been a great rise in community support for the restaurant business for example, where people have emotional connections and want to help and support in any way that they can. There have been several initiatives launched during these times based around supporting communities, and as once uttered from a CEO talking about a particularly large and ambitious project, “We may not be able to solve world hunger tomorrow but what we can do is give the person next door a sandwich and if we can all do that every day then it goes a long way to solving the problem.” Doing Good Team is taking that same approach and assembling a team of like-minded folks to help those impacted through job loss or economic hardship, one person at a time. That might be help with someone’s resume, clothing, or travel for an interview, leveraging connections to make introductions to opportunities, or making connections within our own organizations or outside to secure long-term employment. The idea is to grow the network so the many can help the few who need it the most. Over the past 12 months, for the most part, we have proven that the actual work itself can be done from almost anywhere. Transcending from the co-working hubs and coffee shops to the home office (if you are lucky), the kitchen table, or the spare bedroom. Although an element of fatigue has set in, there will need to be a significant lure to tempt, especially knowledge workers, back to the physical workplace post pandemic, 5 days a week. According to research by the University College London, it takes just 66 days to form new habits, we have been in this for a year already, so it’s safe to say, for at least some, habits have changed, and in some cases, changed for good. But have they changed for the better? Some would say that is so. With self-health certification, temperature checks, even permits to enter the physical spaces of the future, whatever that might look like, the concern over safety will be an important first step to winning the confidence of the consumers of space – whether in education, in care, at leisure, or at work. The basic precautions such as mask wearing, social distancing, self-awareness of your symptoms and of others may be here to stay for some time but beyond these, how do we attract people back to the physical space? “The physical workplace of the future will need to be somewhere where people choose to be and not have to be. Real estate leaders will need to make investments in the experience from the point of leaving home, arrival, occupancy and back home again.” A hospitality mindset for the future work experience will be the one that succeeds in this regard – likely smaller footprints, higher levels of emotional connection to the company culture, a heightened level of hospitality from the commute, arrival, reception, the amenities available, food, beverage, the space, the people, the entire experience. Contemplating the return of the physical space, George Collado, Founder and CEO of MyFieldAudits, an app that brings visibility to dispersed operations shared, “A wider adoption of the Flextime concept coupled with clear communication of expectations can be a powerful incentive for employees going forward. Employers who can create a framework where productivity not hours worked is recognized and rewarded, will win. Highest productivity gets the most flexibility.” This concept, like many, certainly is nothing new, but the world has changed like never before, and the conditions are riper now to challenge the norms and resistance of the past to explore and adopt new ways of working. Collado goes on to say, “In our rush to woo employees back to the office, let’s not forget a major motivator for high performing individuals; being challenged and recognized amongst their peers! And this will be hard to duplicate for employees working from home. I believe high performers will be some of the first to return to the office.” According to some, the future of the workplace will be a higher investment per capita, to fewer occupants, but a far superior experience. 4xi likens this vision of the future to that of an executive lounge of an airport, or a lobby of a 5-star hotel, even resort management and all that comes with that end-to-end experience. Claudia Scotty Baker, Founder of global consulting firm, Envision Strategies specializing in Higher Education and Business & Industry and advising on some of the most preeminent and high-profile projects globally shared, “One thing I think will change is employee expectations for the size and spaciousness of their workspace given that social distancing is now part of the culture. I doubt too many people will be enthusiastic about returning to the “cube” model where they are crammed in like sardines. I think it’s at least possible that real estate footprints will not shrink as much as the pundits predict; instead, the same footprint may be reconfigured to provide more space per employee for a smaller population.” Scotty goes on to talk about her observations on how companies are increasingly intent on bringing their employees back to the office because they believe that in-person collaboration is critical to innovation. It will be interesting to see how companies simultaneously coax and mandate return to the workplace. It’s true that a lot of folks are predicting that many employees will work from home, period. While this will be true for some, it’s also likely that a hybrid approach will be common – an employee works from home three days per week and in the office for two. Seems like this could result in more job sharing and more hot desking, Scotty Baker observes. “With regard to corporate dining, if onsite populations become significantly smaller, those with large employee dining operations will need to find creative ways to scale them back or subsidy levels will inevitably increase.” Hospitality Consultant, Russ Benson of Day One Hospitality offered his commentary, “We WILL return to the office, albeit in somewhat fewer numbers. However, humans need each other as a means to learn and grow. We feel food will play a huge role as the “raison d’etre” to return to the workplace. We crave personal interaction and breaking bread will be significant to amplifying the workplace amenity experience”. Food has been the cornerstone of societies and community since the beginning of humankind. From the campfire to the kitchen at home, communities and families gather around food to meet, communicate, to share, discuss, to explore and too often solve big problems and challenges. It’s solutions like MunchMail and others that extends that opportunity, no matter where people may be, but how can you extend the culture beyond, and without the reliance on the physical space like before? Mark Freeman, former global head of food at Microsoft and Ford Motor Company commented, “Culture in the workplace of the future will be built on the idea that a strong percentage of employees will continue do most of their “work” at home. When they do periodically come to the workplace for mandatory meetings or all hand meetings it will be critical for leaders to reinforce company culture. This transfer of culture may happen in a few different ways based on what the culture is, but I believe food, beverage and events will play a huge part in causing those casual connections we used to have in pre-COVID times and transfer company culture organically.” Tony Johnson, Chief Customer Experience Officer at 4xi, believes that omnichannel experience and ease of use has been accelerated during the pandemic. It is not enough to win one channel, as customers expect virtual, live, and AI service to all integrate in a way that solves problems and improves access. Organizations must understand that aligning People, Place, Product, and Process will allow for seamless and loyalty-building experience models. The travel industry has become a great example of evolving in the marketplace and understanding customer needs. As the pandemic started and travel virtually ceased, airlines, hotels, cruise lines, and theme parks were forced to reimagine cancellation policies and change fees – and you can expect those polices to remain more flexible going forward. “That is the key learning from the pandemic – customers came to appreciate the personalized attention, empathy-focused hospitality, and flexible polices that were borne from the pandemic. They have become a part of our service lexicon and the expectation is that they will remain in place even after COVID-19 is more under control.” Just like the old saying, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” And as we think about the work experience of the future, it has never been truer, but the work experience of the future probably includes a great breakfast and more too! Barbara Boden, Managing Partner, and co-founder at 4xi, along with Ann McNally, 4xi Senior Consultant have been around corporate amenity and hospitality designers and executives for over three decades. Boden heading up global amenities at JP Morgan Chase & Co for over 18 years and McNally at Bristol Myers Squibb and Morgan Stanley for over a decade. They both believe in the designing the right experience from the ground up, and that literally means the space itself, the service and all the details of the operation. Boden commented, “Heads down work can be done at home or anywhere and will have a place in the future; however, true collaboration and casual collisions need to happen in the workplace. Building a culture of people first and thinking about making their lives easier and connected will result in happier, engaged employees.” Newly launched, their Amenity and Operational Design service helps bridge the gap between client owners, architects, designers, and service providers to ensure a consistent flow of strategy and translation from ideation to execution. In recent projects, McNally has steered clients through this process to effectively translate these dynamics and turn spaces into places where people want to be - a critical factor as we come out of the pandemic. “The future of hospitality in the workplace has changed, and probably forever. The behemoth “cafeterias” of the past are now replaced with more lounge like experiences – smaller, more nimble, closer to the consumers, more convenient, and with greater flexibility and choice.” Making sure the client owner understands their culture and vision for the future is key to designing the right amenity experience and space. From the moment an employee or guest enters the building until they leave at the end of the day, they touch multiple amenity places, each with an experience attached. “The forward-thinking firms are making sure every one of these touchpoints has the right experience throughout the building regardless of the size of the space.” On a recent project with a growing Life Science company, the onus was on a concierge experience where although the food was clearly an important element, it was also about the convenience with a range of concierge services that could be layered on top. This extended approach is much more about making employees lives easier, more convenient, better, less stressful and about the things they needed to do on the personal front. The result? Ultimately, more focus on work and productivity, in addition to satisfaction, engagement, and ultimately happiness, wherever those employees may be into the future. Even prior to COVID, innovation was an area in which service providers typically underperformed, often dragged forward by clients hungry for the latest and greatest ways in which to deliver the employee experience. Service providers, like many organizations are not necessarily geared up to drive innovation, to seek new ways of doing things, and for the most may be risk adverse when turning things upside down. “The problem with innovation is the risk that comes with it. Innovation and risk coexist in Silicon Valley as an example, as do sayings like “Fail Fast”, a concept totally alien to many corporations who do not reward failure in any shape.” Its during extraordinary times like these that the need for innovation is accelerated to address problems that may not have existed before or that have grown in their importance or urgency to be addressed. One example is the use of robotics as a way to increase efficiency, reduce risk, and in this case make for safer and healthier environments. Speaking on the headline-grabbing acceleration of cleaning robotics adoption during this time and the trends for their long-term demand, Brady Watkins, General Manager & SVP of SoftBank Robotics shared, "The pandemic has created new expectations around what it will take for us to feel comfortable entering spaces that we learned to avoid during the peak of it. Visitors want visual reassurance these spaces are thoroughly cared for and risks are mitigated. With the support of robotics and automation, hotels, offices, senior living centers, and other such spaces can showcase and even market added investments in their customer experience while still maintaining social distancing.” Nahum Goldberg, founder of restaurant and kitchen design firm NG-Associates shared with us some of his insights. “The future is clearly geared to some sort of dining experience in the workplace. Return To Office (RTO), Return to Work (RTW), Reimagine projects – call them what you will. These efforts abound as we work with global workplace clients in defining new business models, newer healthier and safer workplace dining opportunities and approaches." Goldberg goes on to explain that conversations currently with clients regularly focus on revisiting options if on-site dining. From catered-in, catered-in enhanced or varying forms of full cooking and serving. Clients are taking the time to explore the new modus operandi in an effort to revaluate and restart with an appropriate fresh approach. He states that forward thinking organizations are looking for Guest AND Operator in redesigns and upgrades. Whether by adding better equipment for sanitation, space allocation, ventilation of the workspace and other new operationally oriented tools and technologies such as touch free equipment, breath protector upgrades and ordering technology. All with a Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 (beyond COVID) flexibility in mind. It is through these lenses of People, Place, Culture, Design, and Innovation that we share with the WORKTECH Academy on how we think about how we’ll work tomorrow. It is largely thanks to these leaders and the work experience community that we can adapt, be nimble and accommodate the ever-changing world that we live and work, and to embrace our employees of the future no matter where they may be. There is certainly a lot to think about, for sure! The future has changed, and what was already in the works has been accelerated faster than probably any time in the past 50 years. Listening to industry leaders and innovators about their vision and thinking about today and for tomorrow will be key to our combined success. Change will remain a constant, and how we adapt, improvise, and overcome will be our guiding light and true north to survival and how we thrive beyond these uncertain times. Let’s stay in touch, keep sharing, helping and progressing how we’ll all work tomorrow. Inspiring the future, together. 4xi Global Workplace Consulting & Solutions provides a range of services to support Corporations, Service Providers, Innovators, and Accelerators to navigate the world of work. Inspiring the future of work, together. 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. 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During this weeks #GlobalHangout co-hosted by Transition AMP and 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions, Jackie Cupper chaired the session, moderated by Karen Turton and with this weeks guest speakers, David Murdin, and 4xi's Simon Elliot talk about the science and art of storytelling. Storytelling is as old as humankind itself from the Stone Age cave paintings depicting scenes and even our ancestors with musical instruments. To hieroglyphics, the written word, scriptures and how they were set to music as a form of block chain to protect the words and the message contained within. Nursery rhymes and lullabies are examples of these, as are National Anthems, even songs of revolt or liberation. Here’s a quick history: From 1,400 BC in Syria, in Ancient Greece, the Romans, the English and around the world, civilizations were setting their words to music and to the drum beat from within. The old Rugby songs, shanty music from the ancient mariners, the use of our bodies as instruments, our beat, our voice, whistles, and drums. 1580: Ding Dong Bell ( refers to Shakespeare’s, the Tempest) 1609: Three Blind Mice (refers to Queen Mary I, and the demise of 3 Bishops) 1611: To Market to Buy a Fat Pig 1790’s: Ring a Ring o’ Roses (referencing The Great Plague, or Black Death) In Malaysia during the Tsunami in 2004, an old nursery rhyme saved many of the locals but not the tourists, “If the ocean runs away from the shore, then you should run away from the ocean”. Since time immemorial stories have been at the core of our human experience, the tool we use to shape our identities and make sense of the world around us. When told well, stories can: INSPIRE LOYALTY SPARK EMOTION CHANGE HOW WE THINK, AND FEEL Why is this important? Because storytelling has been with us forever, and forever it remains. The combination of words, music, and pictures has been accelerated since the invent of cinema. Disney famously have a formula that even makes grown men cry watching a bionic racing snail or karaoke contest in an imaginary world full of animals of the savanna. We understand storytelling in three basic layers and when carefully orchestrated, storytelling can build a powerful and authentic connection between your brand and your consumer, no matter the medium or channel: EXPERIENCE: A lived event or moment within a larger story that can influence a story’s outcome. Experiences that connect to a story are more memorable and more emotionally powerful. STORY: A linked series of events that takes a character from one state to another. NARRATIVE: A system of stories that links values and events to establish broader cultural meaning. TIP: When thinking about your storytelling, think about the HERO, its not you, the hero is your customer or consumer. It has to be a story that they can relate to, put themselves in the story, relate to their own current state and appeal to their aspiration of future state. And don't forget - it’s also got to be both CREDIBLE and AUTHENTIC. The automotive industry has over decades developed a successful and advanced methodology and practice of connecting with their consumers, often for repeat purchases, sometime for decades, and in some cases for life. Their ability to story tell as a means of building long sustaining brands and loyalty, is no more about just the vehicle itself, but all about the emotional connection it creates with its often-loyal followers: NISSAN: Innovation that Excites CHEVROLET: Find New Roads FORD: Go Further BMW: The Ultimate Driving Machine LAND ROVER: Above and Beyond AUDI: Vorsprung Durch Technik (Progress Through Technology) MINI: It’s a Mini adventure These companies managed to capture the essence of the brand focused on the emotions they stir and the loyalty they generate. What about, “Just Do It”, Ronseal and “It does what it says on the tin”, KFC and “Finger Lickin Good”, Disney and “The Happiest Place on Earth”, or the likes of Apple who don’t even have a tag line as they believe their Apple logo is sufficient - and who is to argue with that? So, what’s that got to do with me? Simon Elliot recalls, "As a young sales guy in the UK, I first saw sales as an adversarial pursuit, “I have something to sell, you have the money, and I’m here to win.” I was barking completely up the wrong tree as my boss reminded me at the time, “Look at it as telling a story - people don’t remember all the data, the specifications, the detail, they remember what it does for them, it means to them, and the connections to the emotions it stirs.” Elliot goes on, "I remember thinking at the time how on earth I was to stir emotion? But I realized that the clue lied in “What’s in it for me?” Whether that be; being able to do their job better, recognition, promotion, making their life easier, developing their brand, or engaging folks in a higher purpose and connected with their beliefs and aspirations." Think about that when you are telling your stories, then also think about, if appropriate, the sounds and visuals you can set to your storytelling. Use pictures that stir connection, smiling faces looking at the camera. Use video to get your message over. Think about Microsoft Windows distinctive boot up sound. What about, "Nationwide is on your side", or "We are Farmers (dum, dedum, dedum, dedum, dum, dum)", the McDonalds ditty, or the memorable INTEL Inside signature intro. "If a picture paints a thousand words, a video tells a million, and with sound and music potentially creates memories and emotional connections that can last a life time." It’s a combination of all these factors that make the interactions memorable and for easier recollection of your brand, but it’s the EXPERIENCE that really gives you lasting impressions. David Murdin is a self confessed Brand Shaper, Experience Creator, and Engagement Geek. During his illustrious career he has been working with and building brands for an impressive line up including; British Airways, Sky Sports, Egg, Royal Bank of Scotland, Whitbread, Costa Coffee, Debenhams Restaurants, and even working with Manchester United's own footballing legend Eric Cantona! David tells the story about Bob Beamon and his green "Bobble Hat" and how he would use it as a marker during his practice sessions, and how unbeknown to Beamon his coach would move it, just a little further, and Bob would jump a little farther each time. It's a powerful story and one that inspired an Olympic record that still stands today. Murdin recollects when with British Airways how the brand story was one of "Quintessentially Britishness" from the values of the organization to the air crew, the pilots, the stewards and stewardesses. From their uniforms and how they wore them, to the little things that sent the brand message and created memorable moments that in turn created consumer loyalty. He talks about how the introduction of a tiered cake stand as a "prop" in the First Class cabin to serve "Very British" afternoon tea was a great hit and how such a small investment made such a big impact to driving memorable experiences. How a simple video created a story of discovery and a message of purpose and belonging, and created a following in not the restaurant business, but the business of creating memories. Take a look at this video, "The Dallas Discovery" - bonus points if you can spot the narrator! The video takes you on a personal journey of Paul and David and how all good stories start with a moment of inspiration, and the basis from which they created the ethos and culture of Whitbread Restaurants. So, if we've established that storytelling can be an important tool to stimulating memorable moments, emotional connections, how do some of these things make you feel? The cake-stand serving the British Airways afternoon tea? The feeling when you open an Apple device, plug it in, and it works! The smell of your new car and how that stimulates the senses? How you connect with your Mini, BMW, your Citroen 2CV, or Lamborghini or Rolls Royce, and how it portrays how you want the world to see you? Do you wear brands or not? Are they visible or not? Which ones do you identify with, what do they say, project about you? All these factors combined point to connecting brands, products, services, and experiences with how they make one feel. TIP: Whatever you want to project, have a go at writing about it in the context of a short story, one page at the most. Share it, get some feedback, distill it as far as you can as possible, and then practice telling the story - to your spouse, partner, friends, colleagues, even try it on your mates down the pub - see how it resonates but most importantly tell it naturally just like you would recall what happened 5 Christmas’s ago in the log cabin in Lake Tahoe, or the August day you got married in some magical castle somewhere, or when Manchester United won the Premier League (again!). Elliot grew his interest in storytelling through his professional life but as an extension under his pen name, Willy Mitchell, his grandfathers name, has published 5 historical fiction novels so far with a work in progress currently under way. Cold COURAGE tells the epic tale of leadership, survival, grit, and determination as it follows Sir. Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Gipsy MOTH tells the story of his Aunt Nikki, her friend Amy Johnson and the parallel of Amelia Earhart during the golden age of aviation. Both these examples hold lessons within and learnings transferable to both life and in business. Storytelling has become an important part of both Simons personal and professional life and a critical tool to tell our stories in a way that is impactful and memorable, and to build business. For David, in his new business, Reel People, is helping clients clarify their #Purpose, #Proposition and how this translates across their end to end experience through #People - like a thread from a cotton reel that weaves its way through each element – hence the name of his firm, Reel. Simon, as Managing Partner and co-founder of 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions is amongst other things including setting the tone for all things the #FutureOfWork is helping clients establish their #TRUENORTH - a process of deep self-reflection, analysis, process and science providing the roadmap to sustained growth - to retain better, and win better business. ------------ Come join us on our next #GlobalHangout on Friday 26th February featuring Tony Johnson, Customer Experience Officer at 4xi as he talks about how to make great experiences resonate right across your business. Email us at hello@4xiconsulting.com to learn more, or follow this link to join: GLOBAL HANGOUTS (Alternate Friday's: 8.00 am PST, 11.00 am EST, 4.00 pm GMT.) Inspiring the future, together. COME JOIN THE CONVERSATION! Transition AMP is a leadership and development firm based in the UK and focused on the development programs that equips the best, most entrepreneurial and ambitious unit general managers to make the challenging step to be multi-site operations managers in the company. A clear pathway from GM to Area Manager: "This is a step change, not just a curve to greater responsibility, for ambitious and skillful unit managers." The Area Manager Program (AMP provides the insight and understanding for a new multi-site leader to expand and deliver on their own retail skills, and to learn how to support their various teams in delivering commercial success. 4xi Global Workplace Consulting & Solutions provides a range of services to support Corporations, Service Providers, Innovators, and Accelerators to navigate the world of work. Inspiring the future of work, together. 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Santiago | London | Porto | Tokyo

For many organizations, even industries, the drive for sustainability has long been the elephant in the room”. It’s a big issue, wide ranging, far reaching with very high stakes. Add to that the acronyms, the vernacular, the myriad of standards and organizations, tackling sustainability can be a daunting task. 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions Managing Partner and co-founder, Simon Elliot, engaged with sustainability expert Jenna Rowe in simplifying the agenda, breaking it down into practical and actionable ways in which you can make an impact, make a difference and engage your entire team, and customers on a journey to progress. Watch their webcast HERE: "Integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts into business strategies is no longer simply a matter of reputation and trust, but of long-term competitive advantage, security and survival.” Adoption of sophisticated environmental and socially responsible practices has become an important element in stakeholder expectations. Depending upon the client’s progress in their efforts, interests range from simple energy and environmental assessments to complex emissions monitoring, market forecasting and outsourcing. Many clients face internal competition for funding and may struggle to gain approval for sustainability programs, but lack of funding does not eliminate their need to address whatever problem or opportunity they have identified. By providing sustainability solutions which can be incorporated into existing consulting processes on a client’s behalf or implemented by the client themselves, we can reduce business leakage, avoid scope creep, and increase client satisfaction and retention. The benefits to our clients are measurable and provide significant value: Sustainability issues cut across all stakeholders both internally and externally to your organization but how do you balance the needs of all whilst at the same time driving impact and making a real difference? People at all levels are vested in the future of our planet, the trick is harnessing their passion, focusing their efforts, and creating a program in bite size pieces that is easy to adopt and to embrace. “We believe that making some progress no matter how small is better than making no progress at all. The key to progress is engaging with all the stakeholders, driving a spirit and culture of effort and care, and through communication making the results of their collective efforts visible.” 4xi can help you deliver support in messaging and educational materials which can be used to communicate sustainability goals and practices to your employees and stakeholders. Some practical examples include: Behavioral Change Programs that communicate and raise the visibility and engagement such as turn off the lights, recycling, minimizing waste. Green Team Development focused on integrating sustainability across all organizational functions and driving active advocacy. Awareness including Training & Development focused on turning desire into deed. Based on the principle of some progress is better than none, we recommend that a great start for organizations to embrace sustainability, and social and economic responsibility is to adopt the United Nations Global Compact, its 10 principles, and the 17 Social Development Goals. Organizations struggle to balance financial impacts and operational needs with ESG considerations, as stakeholder expectations rise. Investors are requiring greater effort, disclosure, and transparency in how companies address environment and social issues, and their performance. Top Talent is emphasizing social and environmental responsibility when choosing a new role. Communities are linking incentives and economic development packages to corporate responsibility. Suppliers are increasingly required to demonstrate ESG performance and improve disclosure and reporting. B2B Clients & Consumers are evaluating brand and reputation as well as price for purchasing decisions. Regulatory Requirements are progressively more prescriptive and stringent, aligning with NGO’s like the United Nations Global Compact and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) Like with the elephant in the room, you can neither eat it in one sitting, its where to start without trying the impossible task of boiling the ocean in one go. Here is where 4xi might be able to help you as you consider what's possible, resource availability, and overall organizational commitment and investment. Sustainability Simplified is a methodology based on some progress is better than no progress and a steppingstone approach to a journey which embraces the power of all your stakeholders in a way that it avoids paralysis and gets you on your way to a brighter future for the planet and our generations to come. We can help you evaluate your current position and performance in the following key areas: Sustainability Simplified is our way of enabling greater collaboration with our clients and partners and aligning efforts with the Sustainable Development Goals and Business Benchmarks. As a result of this review of your current position and progress, and in the context of your organizational desires and commitment, then 4xi can help you put together your Integrated Strategy for future progress and provide measurements of success and monitoring to track your journey into the future. Doing the right thing is the right thing to do. At 4xi we believe that making some progress is better than no progress at all. Starting your journey from wherever you are today is a start. Rather than further complicating the already complex labyrinth of acronyms, myriad of standards and regulators, we believe in Sustainability Simplified. Taking the great work, you’ve already started, through adopting the UN Global standards, assessing where you are at today, your aspirations for the future, and aligning executive sponsorship and resources across your organization. Through creating visibility and stakeholder commitment, collaboration, and action. And in turn creating an organization wide culture of commitment to doing the right thing, for our planet, our people, for our children and for generations to come. It’s not just about what you can do for sustainability, its what excelling in this regard can do for your brand. ESG data helps investment firms make investment decision. The same data helps organizations leverage supply chain to reduce environmental impact. Then the companies themselves can use the data to influence their own business operations, In turn, leadership adopting an inclusive and sustainable operating model can improve performance and revenue. Your commitment to doing the right things isn’t just good for the planet and the people, its good for business too! “Making the commitment to a long-term plan and journey to sustainability isn’t just good for the planet, people, the future, its good for business too. 4xi can help you set your targets, create the journey map and help you along the way including providing measurements and data on what it really means to you and the impact and difference you and your organization are making.” Understanding the opportunity, embracing the potential and making the commitment is just the start. 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions can help you navigate your way through the labyrinth of complexity and steer you in the right direction, helping you along your way. Address the elephant in the room, take control, start your journey today and make a difference for all of our tomorrows. For your copy of Sustainability Simplified, email us today: hello@4xiconsulting.com or download your copy at www.4xiconsulting.com Inspiring the future, together. 4xi Global Workplace Consulting & Solutions provides a range of services to support Corporations, Service Providers, Innovators, and Accelerators to navigate the world of work. Inspiring the future of work, together. 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Santiago | London | Porto | Tokyo

We know that growing your business can be difficult, and especially during these extraordinary times. We know that the day to day can sometimes get in the way of growth focus. We know that "phoning a friend" is a great way to grow, but what about when there's no-one left to call? TRUE NORTH© has been created by 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions as a platform to take the guesswork out of growth - to add critical self-reflection, process, analysis, and science to your growth strategy and activities - helping you retain better, win better business and start you on your journey to strategic partnerships with your clients and prospects. Created from many years of experience, TRUE NORTH takes you through the journey of why strategic partnerships are important, to understand more about your current and future Ideal Clients, and an onward look in building a culture of strategic behaviors that is less about administrative process and more about an action orientated focused on results - sustainable and profitable growth. TRUE NORTH includes a series of practical exercises that once complete provide you with working tools that will help you and your team maintain focus on the things that matter: CHAPTER 1: addresses partnership foundations including performance vs. trust, the hierarchy of trust, how the core behaviors of listening, learning, and understanding are fundamental, the partnership lifecycle, and the journey map. CHAPTER 2: takes you through the critical process of self reflection, introducing the 5-Light Risk & Situational Assessment methodology, knowing your competition, and where you stand in the competitive landscape, and how data, information, and insights will give you a leading edge. CHAPTER 3: focuses on your existing partnerships, partnership health, the principles of portfolio management, and critically takes you through the process of Ideal Client Characterization, Ideal Client Profiling, and Ideal Client Targeting. CHAPTER 4: takes you onward through selling vs. solutions, packaging your proposition, translating your value, establishing your audience, building your pipeline, building your partnership plans, and charters, and your journey to growth. A Strategic Approach to Growth It's critically important to address the fundamentals of what you do and what is your value proposition, and why its important to your clients and prospects. Often is the case that this is lost or blurred with the passage of time, and should always be a keen focus for organizations, no matter their specialty, industry, or sector. Mapping out your Client Characteristics through the lens of the key to the future is often revealed in the past. Where do you excel today? What geographies, what sectors, what type of relationships, services, what contract terms?, and more. This exercise will not only reveal where your strengths and weaknesses are today, but where your opportunities exist for future development. Many organizations can get sucked into answering opportunities in the moment, chasing RFP's, shiny objects that may not be necessarily the best fit for your business. You make a significant investment in your growth resources - put the guardrails in place to help them retain better, win better business. Then once you have your Prime Target Clients, craft a tailor made Prime Target Strategy, and Engage in meaningful and mutually attractive and beneficial dialog in the knowledge that your insights maximize your chances of success. TRUE NORTH gives you the lasting framework to instill a culture of success, drive repeatable behaviors and actions that will in turn maximize your investment in growth, minimize wasted sales efforts, chasing rainbows, and optimize your effectiveness as a business to retain better, win better business. But what does that mean to my organization? Take a look at your existing business and growth performance and as you think about transformation to strategic growth and partnerships, as you better align and drive appreciated value to clients, then consider the following and how it would impact your business: What does each +1% retention improvement mean to your business? What does each +1% profit improvement mean? Each +10% advancement in conversion ratios? What does each wasted sales pursuit cost your business? What if you advanced your average deal size, by each +10%? What if you improved your growth performance by each +1%? If you do the math on your particular circumstances and where you are today, even at the minimum level of performance improvement, the impact is substantial. The TRUE NORTH Innovation & Growth Academy is a 3-to-6-month engagement. Think about it as engaging with a fractional Chief Growth Officer that assesses your current growth function, and through a series of steps and applying the TRUE NORTH methodology including self-reflection and analysis, installs the methodology for long term success. To learn more about TRUE NORTH and how we can help your business advance on your Journey to Strategic Partnership, check out our website www.4xiconsulting.com or email us at hello@4xiconsulting.com We look forward to working with you on your journey to the future. Inspiring the future, together. 4xi Global Workplace Consulting & Solutions provides a range of services to support Corporations, Service Providers, Innovators, and Accelerators to navigate the world of work. Inspiring the future of work, together. 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Santiago | London | Porto | Tokyo

Understanding how your people feel and what they are truly thinking, experiencing has never been more important than it is today. Julie Chakraverty, CEO at Rungway, the workplace advisory platform, and Helen Pitcher, OBE and Chairman at Advanced Boardroom Excellence discuss the issues, the challenges, the opportunities, providing insights and practical advice on how to better engage with your people and really understand how they feel. Listen to the on-demand webinar here: No Turning Back: Leading Differently in 2021 Julie and Helen discuss some of the many challenges associated with employee wellbeing and how the challenges in personal and professional lives have been so much more impacted by the global pandemic. The pressures of uncertainty for the future, job security, juggling working at home with family, relationships, even many dealing with corporate loneliness and isolation. Communication has changed and it also needs to change in its style and delivery - understanding personal context, being empathetic, more understanding, thinking differently and seeing a new aspect to your employees and colleagues - it might be the cat walking past the video camera, children interrupting meetings, dogs barking, the door bell and the ubiquitous Amazon delivery. "As leaders we need to check in, much more personal, more thoughtful, when you interrupt people, although they are working, they are still at home. And as leaders how do we check-in and make sure our people are getting the right balance." They explore how to better relate to employees, engagement, connectivity with the newly dispersed workforce. How to support not only those people who have been laid off as a result of these unprecedented times, but equally, how those who remain feel. "Engagement has to be much much deeper now, as has organizational purpose become even more important to understand not only what we are doing but why, and how people fit in during this time of accelerated change." How communication is so much more important than ever before, and not just broadcasting the message but listening to how people are doing, their challenges, how they are really feeling, and how maybe you can help. Rungway is releasing an insights report week commencing 25th January 2021, keep an eye out on social media, check out the Rungway Website for further information, or email 4xi at hello@4xiconsulting.com Rungway is a management tool to help you understand the views of your teams in real time. Why wait for the company survey? With Pulse, you can pose a question on any topic for honest, anonymous insights. Take the Pulse of the whole company or just a select audience, and compare results across teams for insights you can act on with confidence. And with the 'Tell us More' feature, you can invite colleagues to expand on their answers anonymously for an even clearer picture. "Spark honest conversations and feedback at every level of your company. Rungway helps you understand and impact your culture from the bottom up." To learn more about Rungway and how their platform can help you get better, more honest, real feedback from your employees, no matter where they are, then contact 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions at hello@4xiconsulting.com or visit our Explorers Innovation Directory. 4xi Global Workplace Consulting & Solutions provides a range of services to support Corporations, Service Providers, Innovators, and Accelerators to navigate the world of work. Inspiring the future of work, together. 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Santiago | London | Porto | Tokyo

Tony Johnson, Customer Experience Strategist interviews Explorer in Residence at 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions, and CEO of SheVentures, Georgina Miranda on thoughtfulness, conscious leadership, and transformation. In this episode, Georgina and Tony talk about how great organizations make the world a better place through service. How people love doing business with companies that make them feel good, and how behavioral and mindset changes are a core fundamental of creating a desirable workplace culture. How businesses and leaders can do things differently, lead differently, do business differently into the future on a journey to heightened and sustainable success. "Change starts from within, before you even tackle the external changes around you. How do you change the things you have direct control over the things that you do not? Real and sustainable change starts with you." Listen to the full Podcast HERE How are you planning to navigate the changes ahead of you in this time of unprecedented transformation? Georgina Miranda is Explorer in Residence at 4xi. She is dedicated to the transformation of people, companies, and societies for their highest and best good. Georgina brings almost two decades of experience as a social entrepreneur, adventure athlete, international speaker, writer, transformation coach, consultant, mindfulness and energy practitioner, and founder and CEO of She Ventures- a social enterprise focused on the global advancement and well being of womankind. To learn more about how Georgina and 4xi can help you in your journey of transformation contact Georgina at: GeorginaMiranda@4xiConsulting.com Keynotes | Consulting | Transformation | Conscious Leadership | Mindfulness | Executive Coaching 4xi Global Workplace Consulting & Solutions provides a range of services to support Corporations, Service Providers, Innovators, and Accelerators to navigate the world of work. Inspiring the future of work, together. 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Santiago | London | Porto | Tokyo

Diversity is about having a seat at the table, inclusion is having a voice. This strategic imperative has become a huge priority and undertaking within many organizations, and quite rightly so. The initiative to create a more diverse work setting has created positions for diversity and inclusion, diverse work groups, and changes in hiring procedures and work environments. Over the last few years there has been growth in diversity within many organizations. Woman hold slightly more positions in leadership, there has been an uptick of hiring of minorities, especially African American women, and most major organizations show their support of the LGBTQ community yearly by changing their logos during PRIDE month and committing to a culture that exudes diversity and represents all. This is only half the battle. “Having a seat at the table is good start but having your voice heard is even better. When diversity and inclusion are married it creates a sense of place, purpose, value, and a sense of belonging.” It's easy to measure the diversity of an organization by headcount, but how do you measure inclusion? Many organizations believe that if they hire X number of minorities then they have filled their quota which qualifies them as a diverse entity, and even those numbers can be skewed if minorities are not represented in upper management. But how does the organization measure the inclusion of the diverse workforce? “As a minority woman in leadership there have often been times when I was either the only woman and/or the only person of color in the room. How many non-ethnic people can relate to this?” Often, I wondered to myself how uncomfortable, or comfortable others around me were. I’ve questioned how authentic I could be, monitored my words, and held back on my opinions as to not ripple the waters. I simply did not totally feel included at times. I was however successful, people liked me, but I did not feel fully represented. This was diversity without inclusion. I was not afforded the opportunity to speak from a place of my economic, geographic, or ethnic background to bring forth a voice to the team, and the company. My experiences were not parallel of that to my peers, we did not attend the same schools, go to the same churches, and outside of work we would probably never cross paths. All my experiences, good and bad, was the woman that stood before them, the person that truly represented me, but instead I brought my personal representation to work daily - a mere portion of who I really was. This happens daily in diverse atmospheres that lack the ability to be inclusive. Where there is no self-check of inclusion and no outside system put into place to monitor the bias of the organization from within. “Just as auditing diversity hires and practices within and organization is important, auditing inclusion is most important to maintain the integrity and consistency of an organization and its true commitment to inclusion.” As a diversity and inclusion consultant with 4xi Global Consulting, we provide an unbiased look at the both the measures of diversity as well as the practices of inclusion. Our approach begins with honest conversations about diversity and inclusion, following through on those conversations to facilitate cultural change that aligns with the growth of the organization, tolerant cultures, and inclusive environments. We provide a total assessment of the organization with comprehensive feedback and we work with leadership to map out a consistent measure of both diversity and inclusion to ensure that the growth is consistent, and the change is meaningful. Not just checking the boxes but a real roadmap to change. Being diverse is the beginning of the journey and creating an environment where all feel included is passing the baton to win the race. "There is higher retention, more tolerance, and collective buy-in when everyone feels included. When you have both a diverse and inclusive organization, you invest not only in your company but most importantly in the people who run it." Think of diversity and inclusion as the physical health of your organization. In order to maintain your physical health, you must maintain good exercise practices, you must commit to annual check-ups and if medication is needed you must take it at the recommendation of your physician. Every organization needs to have a third party unbiased opinion of their overall diversity and inclusion health. Each organization is different and therefore the diagnoses as well as the prescribed programming will vary. 4xi Consulting has a diverse consulting team that can give any organization a great diversity and inclusion check-up, as well as work with leadership to prescribe a tailormade curriculum conducive to the growth of the organization. With a variety of expertise under our umbrella, training and/or coaching does not have to be ritualistic and mundane, but can be innovative and creative giving all parties a safe and comfortable place to express their views and ideas. "The overall growth of any organization depends on the vitality and engagement of those who lead the way and most importantly those who have boots on the ground. Just as you require a check-up so does the diversity and inclusion of your organization." Article thanks to Latoya Golliday. Let 4xi help you discover the unknown and explore new horizons. “4xi Global Consulting through its strength and power of collective experience can help you navigate the unknown and explore new horizons.” To learn more about how we can help you, visit our website at www.4xiconsulting.com, email us at Hello@4xiconsulting.com ------------ 4xi Global Workplace Consulting & Solutions provides a range of services to support Corporations, Service Providers, Innovators, and Accelerators to navigate the world of work. Inspiring the future of work, together. 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Santiago | London | Porto | Tokyo

Tony Johnson Customer Experience Officer (CXO) 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions Anyone else feel like 2020 was the equivalent of a safe falling out of a building and hitting you Looney Tunes style? - Time to dust off and move forward. "2021 will bring new challenges and opportunities to customer and employee experience that organizations must harness if they are to succeed in the evolving economy." There is a sense of collective optimism - a combination of the calendar turning to 2021 and the roll out of the coronavirus vaccine. That is not to say that the world will immediately snap back to center, but there is an opportunity to double down on experience in new and innovative ways. "The best part is that everything from patients to consumers to the guest experience will benefit from examining these core fundamentals of CX." Many places around the US and across the world have never fully reopened from the initial coronavirus lockdowns, and while still potentially months away, businesses must understand what that looks like and how to build loyalty through execution. REMEMBER: Your competition may be different prior to the pandemic as economies improve following a downturn, new businesses tend to flood the marketplace with innovative models that could overshadow your previous success. As I work with organizations to re-engage their teams and customers in the new year, this is where we will start: Double Down on Your Team Experience This is particularly true if you are bringing your team back from remote work or determining what your workplace of the future looks like. They will need to feel comfortable with the work environment and that you have their safety well in hand. Team members will also continue to look for flexibility as they now have proof that they can work from home effectively. Conversely there are still many executives that are locked into the previous model of work and are struggling to lead a workforce they cannot see each day. Recently Simon Elliot, Managing Partner of 4xi, discussed the future of the workplace on my podcast Customer Service Academy. Check out our conversation HERE. "You have one club in your bag that you may not have actively engaged – your engagement survey data. Likely you conducted an employee survey some time in the last 4-6 months and now is the time to put it to work. Find the top 2-3 items your team voiced issues about and take action to improve them early in the new year." SPOILER ALERT: You are likely going to see safety, communication, recognition, training, and time sucking meetings in your top 5. Look to People, Place, and Process When you think about experience – either team or customer – you have to look at the journey from their point of view. People are the resource with the greatest ability to impact your hospitality model. You have to look at the team who serves your customers and the internal team that serves your employees to be sure they are enabled and empowered to deliver on their commitments, your commitments, your brand promise. PLACE is wherever you do business and meet your customers – your offices, call centers, physical locations, or online. Does your conference center or sports arena deliver on safety? Is your restaurant clean and orderly? Does your website deliver maximum assistance with minimal work? PROCESS is how things get done. They are your policies, training, rules, and procedures. These are often unseen aspects of your business but can be what drive your customers and employees most crazy. Training Will Fuel Your Future Training has been become deprioritized as many organizations downsized their development organizations or simply found themselves fighting to remain open. Efforts around training were limited to safety (and rightfully so), but there will be a need for more than that this year. Training is one of those tasks that can live happily on the backburner – until it can’t. There is a grace period for training when muscle memory fuels performance and you can eek by on that for a time. But over time behaviors shift back to the path of least resistance and new team members start work without a proper grounding in yours or your customers expectations. "I was a successful collegiate bowler, and I remember how I could sometimes go without practice for a while and still perform when the tournaments rolled around – but if I neglected my daily practices for more than a few weeks I found my fundamentals began to erode." The same thing can happen to your organization if you do not make training a priority. Cut Through the Experience Noise There was much for customers to digest in 2020 when it came to brand performance. Early in the pandemic, many organizations floundered as they moved their call centers to virtual and solutions like telehealth came online. These were not always successful off the starting blocks, as callers experienced massive wait times and online healthcare had to work through connectivity and technology issues. Restaurants found they had to trim their menus as supply chains struggled to keep up with demand and the reality of worker availability. Many quick service menus are still at 60% of their pre-covid-19 offerings. Call centers are still experiencing increased wait times and clunky transfers as they remain virtual. We all see the signs as we pull into our favorite restaurants about what they are not offering, and we hear the recording when you dial your bank that warns of longer than expected wait times. This is “experience noise” and while at one time it was a courtesy to let customers know of an impending inconvenience, the time has come to solve them and move on. Your customers aren’t listening to these warnings – and if they are they don’t care. Going forward they will expect you take action to correct these issues, not accept them as a part of doing business. "This is an exciting time as the optimism in the marketplace is palpable and customer experience will be even more of a differentiator into the future. It has always been important, but now there is an opportunity for businesses who truly want to grow to invest and prioritize CX in order to not only survive but to thrive in 2021 and beyond." Contact 4xi Today to learn more about how we can help you establish and train your customer experience strategy for 2021 and beyond. Tony Johnson, Founder of Ignite Your Service Training and 4xi Customer Experience Consultant and strategist, lives in Central Florida, the hospitality capital of North America. He can help your organization create customer experience strategies and training with a future looking mindset. Tony has extensive experience in higher education, healthcare, business and industry, restaurants, sports and entertainment, and leisure, helping organizations: Map their customer journey and identify improvements Create, implement, and sustain their customer experience strategies and programs Create leadership development and workplace culture initiatives Implement Voice of the Customer (VOC) programs Create front line employee and leadership training programs Connect their brand vision into operational behaviors and tactics Come join the conversation! Investing in Your Customers for Your Future Success. Tony Johnson has a background in hospitality and retail management – leading large and diverse teams to grow sales and delight customers over 2 decades. He served as Customer Experience Officer for 4 years with Aramark Corporation, leading their global CX strategy and deployment for their food and facilities businesses. Tony is now the owner of Ignite Your Service Training and Strategy, where he is proud to partner with 4xi Global Consulting as CXO and CX strategist. The power of the 4xi collective allows Tony’s customer centric approach to seamlessly integrate and complement the host of other experts available to help your business thrive and inspire the future of work, together. To learn more about how Tony and 4xi can help you build your Customer Experience Journey for the future, contact Tony at TonyJohnson@4xiConsulting.com 4xi Global Workplace Consulting & Solutions provides a range of services to support Corporations, Service Providers, Innovators, and Accelerators to navigate the world of work. Inspiring the future of work, together. 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Santiago | London | Porto | Tokyo

How workplace experiences focused on people inspire culture, hospitality, and employee retention. In this episode, Simon Elliot from 4xi Global Workplace Consulting & Solutions joins Tony Johnson, Ignite Your Service and talks about: Consistency and quality are key CX drivers. The workplace of the future will be far more dispersed than ever before. Workplaces transform from a place people have to go to a place people want to be. The focus will move from real estate to people and building relationships. Check out the Podcast HERE. Thanks to Tony Johnson at Ignite Your Service and Chief Experience Officer at 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions. Inspiring the future of work, together. 4xi Global Workplace Consulting & Solutions provides a range of services to support Corporations, Service Providers, Innovators, and Accelerators to navigate the world of work. Inspiring the future of work, together. 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Santiago | London | Porto | Tokyo

As we come up to the holiday season, wrapping our gifts, preparing our family meals, listening to our favorite music of the season, the perennial movies, maybe even a glass of bubbly (or two), we think about all the loved ones that we cannot be with this year - our family, our friends, and our colleagues, and networks around the world. On behalf of the entire team at 4xi, we would like to send you our seasons greetings wherever you may be and thank you all for your support over the past few months. Thank you to our amazing team, the encouragement from our friends around the world, and of course to all our partners and our clients that have shown faith in us to help them inspire the future, together. 2020 has been a very difficult year for everyone around the world, and we pray for those who have lost loved ones, for those who have been sick and ill, for those who have found themselves out of work, for those struggling how to cope. We pray for our front line responders, the nurses, the doctors, the medical staff fighting to keep us safe and well. We pray for those soldiers on duty around the world putting their lives at risk, for us. We pray for the homeless, the refugees, those suffering from the impact of catastrophe, poverty, starvation, or war. But it is with hope in our hearts that we wish the best for humanity during this time, we wish for peace and harmony in the world. We reject division and embrace inclusion for all people around the world regardless of their color, their creed, religion, or beliefs. "Just like for 4xi, we believe that for the world, our strength is in the power of our collective, and together we can all make a difference to the benefit of all." We pray for love, peace, and happiness and hope for a better world for everyone. Peace on Earth and Goodwill to All Humankind. 4xi Global Workplace Consulting & Solutions provides a range of services to support Corporations, Service Providers, Innovators, and Accelerators to navigate the world of work. Inspiring the future of work, together. 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Santiago | London | Porto | Tokyo

Tony Johnson Customer Experience Officer (CXO) 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions We are in the middle of a New Normal. These are Unprecedented Times. The only constant is change. Which one of these are you most tired of hearing as a part of our new business vernacular? I say we vote them all off the island and move on. The fact is that business and customers have always been a moving target, but we have accelerated the momentum of certain strategies to be sure. The good news is that Customer Experience (CX) remains the fastest path to sales growth and that isn’t going to change anytime soon. "Now is the time to double down on the fundamentals that drive experience – and ensure that you have taken the time to understand how they translate into the current marketplace. These fundamental elements remain relevant, but not fixed. They rhyme more than they repeat." That is what brought me to the 4xi team – there is so much opportunity out there as boundless change impacts businesses, employees, and customers. As I founded my company Ignite Your Service, I also wanted to ensure that I was able to help unite collaboration and complementary services to benefit organizations in powerful ways. That is why joining 4xi as a consulting customer experience strategist and CXO seemed like a logical extension of my purpose. These fundamentals have fueled my CX strategy creation and deployment for many years – and they have been proven to bring results. Journey is the Key Customer journey is the linchpin of delivering value for customers. When you take the time to understand your customers’ needs and create solutions, you are positioned well for long term partnership. This requires that you listen, observe, and collaborate from the point of view of your clients, customers, and consumers to plot their journey in real time. From there moving to eliminate hassles, snags, and obstacles will make it easy to do business with you, building trust and loyalty. Empathy is the Catalyst Empathy has always been important to great customer experiences, but Covid-19 has made it imperative. Customers, guests, clients, and consumers have come to need understanding and patience more than ever before. Empathy is about understanding the point of view of the person across from you. However, it does not mean that you have to agree with it. The understanding that comes from empathy will help you drive anticipatory service and the occasional pieces of surprise and delight. Organizations can exemplify this most readily when serving customers. That said, you can deliver organizational empathy by looking at the marketplace and business model of a company or client and then delivering the solutions they need to be successful. This will mean a hiring and selection strategy that prioritizes skills such as listening, emotional intelligence, and positivity. Leadership is the Fuel Operationalizing customer experience is often where businesses find themselves flat-footed. There is no lack of leaders who can create strategies and vision statements that embody the perceived values of an organization. But without training, leadership, and follow up, these will remain laminated pages on a breakroom wall with little relation to the true company culture. What has become clear during the Coronavirus pandemic is that training has not been a priority. Often the training budget is slashed early on when the balance sheet is off kilter, and this has been the reality of our current economic downturn. Friction is the Obstacle The natural output of a journey mapping strategy is the identification of friction points in the customer experience. Often these take the form of ridiculous fees, silly policies, and rules that simplify life for the company at the expense of the customer. In today’s climate, customers have become more accustomed to individualized attention fueled by personalization and flexibility. These are not new customer demands, but much like remote work and video conferencing, the expectations have been accelerated by the pandemic. Just watch the hotel and airline industries for examples here – they have all but done away with cancellation penalties and change fees. This trend will continue, and this is a chance for all of us to evaluate our policies for reasonability. Growth is the Output Now the natural question from all of this is “so what?” Customer experience is a business strategy that unites safety, quality, hospitality, and simplicity in ways that drive trust and loyalty with a business or brand. The output of quality customer experience is ultimately business growth and market share. According to American Express - "90% of Americans use customer service as a factor in deciding whether or not to do business with a company." That is a staggering, but not surprising number when you think about the value add that customer experience brings to the lives of customers. The simple truth is that many organizations have been cutting their way to profitability and stock price during this economic downturn. The tradeoff in this mindset is value versus commodity. Businesses that do not bring more than just a product or service will be 100% dependent on price to build their customer base. This is less sustainable in the long term than bringing experience and value, as this lowers price sensitivity and also creates relationships that are more durable over time and likely to survive the occasional hiccup in service. "There has never been a more important time to invest in your Customer Experience. Now, more than ever, customers and consumers have the ability to make alternative choices and to find those products and services that not only meet their needs of today but more importantly satisfy their needs for tomorrow." Tony Johnson, Founder of Ignite Your Service Training and 4xi Customer Experience Consultant and strategist, lives in Central Florida, the hospitality capital of North America. He can help your organization create customer experience strategies and training with a future looking mindset. Tony has extensive experience in higher education, healthcare, business and industry, restaurants, sports and entertainment, and leisure, helping organizations: Map their customer journey and identify improvements Create, implement, and sustain their customer experience strategies and programs Create leadership development and workplace culture initiatives Implement Voice of the Customer (VOC) programs Create front line employee and leadership training programs Connect their brand vision into operational behaviors and tactics Come join the conversation! Investing in Your Customers for Your Future Success. Tony Johnson has a background in hospitality and retail management – leading large and diverse teams to grow sales and delight customers over 2 decades. He served as Customer Experience Officer for 4 years with Aramark Corporation, leading their global CX strategy and deployment for their food and facilities businesses. Tony is now the owner of Ignite Your Service Training and Strategy, where he is proud to partner with 4xi Global Consulting as CXO and CX strategist. The power of the 4xi collective allows Tony’s customer centric approach to seamlessly integrate and complement the host of other experts available to help your business thrive and inspire the future of work, together. To learn more about how Tony and 4xi can help you build your Customer Experience Journey for the future, contact Tony at TonyJohnson@4xiConsulting.com 4xi Global Workplace Consulting & Solutions provides a range of services to support Corporations, Service Providers, Innovators, and Accelerators to navigate the world of work. Inspiring the future of work, together. 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Santiago | London | Porto | Tokyo

Working from home - what's really going on? Is the ubiquitous question on most business leaders minds - productivity, engagement, well being? Is this the new chapter of work? Is it sustainable? To what extent do we still need our real estate? Thanks to a recent work from home report by ART Health Solutions, now you can know the answers to employee performance working from home. The working environment has been hugely impacted by the worldwide pandemic. Many employees have been forced to change their working practices and operate out of a home office. This report provides an in-depth look into how home working may have impacted performance, wellbeing and employee experience, helping organization's make better informed decisions relating to their future workplace strategy. From the Office to Home Working was a six month evaluation utilizing data collection technology to gather information - 12 different organizations, 9 different sectors, measuring over 10,000 days of physical activity, 13,000 survey data points, and over 4,000 cognitive performance tasks, taking the guess work out of the question and replacing it with scientific measurements and data sets. What did they measure? Using the same techniques and technology they utilize in the office, ART Health use devices like Fitbits, their own smartphone App, and a series of pulse surveys, the report gathered data to measure key indicators to understand the effect of people working from home. Employee Wellbeing Employee Performance Employee Experience "For the most critical business decisions we rely on empirical data and qualified insights, however, when dealing with workplace decisions, we tend to rely more upon intuition. ART Health has changed that - providing data from which to make probably the most important decisions about probably the most important resource we have - our people." said Jackie Cupper, former head of Global IFM at GSK. What did they find? With structured exercise and sleep, overall there was no change, however the report did find that cognitive performance was up and the stand out was Memory (+7%), Happiness (+9%), Stress (-8%) even Resting Heart Rates on average were lower (-2 bpm). That said, Daily Steps were down (-1,678), sedentary time up an average of 47 minutes more a day, and 28 minutes less daily activity. No surprise, the #1 Benefit was the removal of the daily commute, yet the #1 Challenge a growing feeling of isolation. As we have commented on before, existing issues just accentuated and accelerated by COVID-19. Watch the video from ART Solutions HERE: ART Health Solutions will be taking part in a panel discussion with Rungway led by Jackie Cupper of 4xi Global Consulting during the WORKTECH20 Global Virtual Conference on 2/3 December. Come join the conversation! How we'll work tomorrow. Download the full Working From Home report HERE 4xi Global Workplace Consulting & Solutions provides a range of services to support Corporations, Service Providers, Innovators, and Accelerators to navigate the world of work. Inspiring the future of work, together. 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Los Angeles | North Carolina | Santiago | London | Porto | Tokyo