From Pressure to Performance — Where to Start as a CS Leader?
The primary focus of this podcast episode is the transition from pressure to performance for customer success leaders. As we navigate the intricate demands of our roles, it becomes paramount to establish clarity, trust, and small, impactful wins within our teams. I elucidate that many leaders succumb to the temptation of immediate reactionary measures, yet true leadership necessitates a more strategic approach. By concentrating on defining success, fostering trust through active listening, and achieving early victories, we can cultivate a sustainable environment conducive to growth. Ultimately, it is essential to lead with intention rather than mere effort, thereby setting the stage for long-term success in customer success initiatives.
Transcript
Welcome to CS Shift, the podcast that goes beyond retention with strategists for customer success leaders navigating the new era.
Speaker A:I'm your host Naldido Su, Customer success executive with over a decade of experience helping enterprise organizations scale with purpose and passionate advocate for growth that is both measurable and human.
Speaker A:My objective with this podcast is to help customer success leaders like you and me transform their organizations from adoption to growth without burning out their teams in the process.
Speaker A:On this show we cut through the noise and focus on what actually works.
Speaker A:How to lead your customer success team from adoption to expansion, how to drive net revenue retention and how to equip your people and yourself using frameworks, mindset, hard won lessons and technology to thrive through it all.
Speaker A:Because the shift is happening, will you lead it or break it?
Speaker A:Let's dive into today's episode.
Speaker A:Welcome to CS Shift.
Speaker A:I'm Nandi Desu.
Speaker A:I'm very happy to have you with me today.
Speaker A:I would like to talk about how to go from pressure to performance and more specifically, where to start as a CS leader.
Speaker A:Let's face it, as a CS leader you are under pressure from all sides.
Speaker A:The board wants graft, the CRO wants net revenue retention.
Speaker A:Your team wants clarity and support.
Speaker A:And somewhere between retention targets, cross sell pipelines and hiring plans, you are left asking where do I even start?
Speaker A:Here is the thing.
Speaker A:Most leaders try to do it all at once.
Speaker A:They jump straight into firefighting, fixing renewals, appeasing, execs, coaching every team member.
Speaker A:But that's not leadership, that's reaction.
Speaker A:And unfortunately reaction will only exhaust you and your team.
Speaker A:So how to go about this well?
Speaker A:After leading customer success teams across Europe, I've learned the first 90 days set the tone and there are three anchors every CS leader should focus on.
Speaker A:Number one is clarity.
Speaker A:You need to define what success means in your role and for your team.
Speaker A:Ask yourself what are the three most critical outcomes for my org in the next 12 months?
Speaker A:Are these metrics aligned with company priorities?
Speaker A:Does my team understand these outcomes?
Speaker A:Clarity creates confidence.
Speaker A:Without it you will default to chasing every fire.
Speaker A:2.
Speaker A:Trust.
Speaker A:As a leader, you don't need to know it all.
Speaker A:Even if you've been hired to solve specific challenges.
Speaker A:Spend time listening before acting.
Speaker A:Run listening tools with your team execs.
Speaker A:Cross functional partners and really ask what is working?
Speaker A:What is blocking growth?
Speaker A:Try to understand as much as you can because trust is not built in whole hands meetings, it's built in one on one conversations.
Speaker A:Number three is really quick.
Speaker A:Wins start small but impactful.
Speaker A:You can audit handovers from sales others.
Speaker A:Setting your team up for success.
Speaker A:You can align with products on a feedback loop for roadmap insights.
Speaker A:You can clarify ownership on expansions for instance, and eliminate gray zones.
Speaker A:These early wins build momentum and signal to the business that customer success is ready to lead.
Speaker A:You know, when I stepped into my customer success leadership role at slimpay, I felt the same pressure.
Speaker A:Revenue growth was non negotiable, team moral was low and I had no roadmap.
Speaker A:So I focused on these three anchors.
Speaker A:I created a clear customer success chatter which was tied to business outcomes.
Speaker A:I met with every team member and cross functional leader in my first 30 days and I picked one alignment win which was about fixing our sales to customer success handoff.
Speaker A:And this actually unlocked massive trust across the org.
Speaker A:The focus turned pressure into progress.
Speaker A:So what can you do this week?
Speaker A:Well, define your top three outcomes as a CS leader.
Speaker A:And you know, your outcomes might be different every semester.
Speaker A:That's fine.
Speaker A:It's great to go back and look at what are your objectives, what are you trying to achieve and define them of course.
Speaker A:Align with the business and align with your own leader.
Speaker A:Schedule listening sessions with your teams and key execs.
Speaker A:Look at what have worked, what have not yet worked and decide on a specific roadmap and pick one alignment issue to tackle now with your cross functional partners.
Speaker A:Remember, you cannot do everything at once, but you can lead with purpose from day one.
Speaker A:Well, the shift from pressure to performance is not about working harder.
Speaker A:It's about leading with intention.
Speaker A:In our next episode, I would like to explore with you how to build a high impact customer success team that does not burn out.
Speaker A:If you found this episode valuable, share it with another CS leader and don't forget to subscribe.
Speaker A:Nadi I'm Nandy Dasu and this is CS Shift.
Speaker A:Thank you for listening to this show.
Speaker A:Remember, the new mandate for customer success is driving growth.
Speaker A:And growth does not happen in isolation.
Speaker A:It's driven by strategic and operational leadership.
Speaker A:Subscribe and share this episode with another CS leader ready to shift their strategy.
Speaker A:I'm Nandi Dosu and this is CS Shift.
