Stakeholder Management for CX Leaders: Stop Playing the Ad Hoc Game.
Last week’s CX Leadership Masterminds alumni meetup left a lasting impression on me. Great conversations, concrete actions, new energy, and—to be honest—a little discomfort as well.
Irene van Hoorn shared her leadership journey at CCXP: from building the Customer Experience at Eneco to winning the International CX Award for CX Leader and Team of the Year. A story about visibility, strategic leadership, and learning how to build influence within a large organization.
But what fascinated me most was the conversation that followed.
Because one thing has become painfully clear: many CX leaders are still focused far too much on day-to-day operations. Not because they lack expertise. Not because they don’t understand customers. But because they still view Customer Experience as a tactical discipline, not a strategic leadership priority.
And that changes everything.
The elephant in the CX room
Once you move into more senior CX roles, your success no longer depends on customer insights, journey maps, or CX tools. It increasingly depends on how well you understand organizational dynamics.
Who influences decisions. Who drives momentum. Who quietly slows things down. And where political attention actually lies.
In other words: stakeholder management. The one thing nobody puts on their CX roadmap, but every strategic CX leader quietly masters.
Too many CX leaders are still part of what I call the CX Ad Hoc Crew: reacting instead of leading, jumping from one request to the next, trying to keep everyone in the loop, align with everyone, and help everyone. Meanwhile, the CX leaders who are driving real change are intentionally building a CX Strategic Alliance.
So let’s talk about how to get there.
The strategic foundation: four steps that build on one another
Strategic stakeholder management isn’t complicated, but it does require a deliberate approach. There are four steps that form the foundation.
Step 1 is stakeholder identification. This is where many CX leaders already start thinking too narrowly. You focus on the obvious players: your manager, your CX team, customer service, and marketing. But transformation rarely happens through the hierarchy alone. Sometimes the operational manager everyone trusts has more influence than a senior director. Sometimes finance determines whether your roadmap survives. Start broad. Identify all relevant stakeholders, not just the obvious ones.
Step 2 is stakeholder mapping. Not every stakeholder has the same influence, priorities, or relationship to your CX strategy. Strategic CX leaders understand these dynamics before they start rolling out initiatives. Map out the landscape first.
Step 3 is where things get truly strategic: stakeholder salience. The Salience Stakeholder Model examines three factors—power, legitimacy, and urgency—and that immediately shifts the conversation.
Power: Who can influence outcomes or make things happen?
Urgency: Whose claims require immediate attention?
Legitimacy: Whose relationship to the initiative is actually valid and relevant?
The magic lies in the overlap. Not every vocal stakeholder deserves your immediate attention. Not every urgent request should dictate your roadmap. And not every senior stakeholder automatically has the authority to influence customer decisions.
Want to work through all four steps using a practical framework? Download the free Strategic Stakeholder Management Playbook for CX Leaders —it walks you through every step, including the Salience Model and the Mendelow Matrix.
Where most CX leaders go wrong
This model forces you to think more carefully about where your political energy and strategic focus are actually directed.
Focus on key stakeholders—the people at the intersection of power, legitimacy, and urgency. These are often the stakeholders who determine whether Customer Experience becomes a strategic business priority or remains just another initiative competing for organizational resources.
But just as important are the dangerous stakeholders: people with power and a sense of urgency, but without true legitimacy within the initiative itself. These stakeholders can create enormous pressure, conflicting priorities, or political resistance when they feel excluded or threatened by change. And honestly? Most CX leaders completely underestimate their impact.
The real leadership question is: which stakeholders deserve your political energy, your strategic visibility, and your active relationship-building efforts?
From ad hoc to strategic
My biggest takeaway from the alumni meetup was this: the CX leaders making the biggest impact today are no longer just strong in CX management. They are becoming strategically visible leaders who understand how to build influence, strategic relationships, and organizational authority.
That is the shift. From CX Ad Hoc Crew to CX Strategic Alliance.
And it starts with understanding the landscape before you start pushing your agenda throughout the organization.
So when you’re completely honest with yourself, which one are you right now?
Until next time, keep spicing up your Customer Experience leadership.
*****
Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress.
She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.
Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations.
With over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the language of business. Her keynote speeches and training programs on customer experience are inspiring and practical. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA, and her mission is to make customer experience work and help you achieve business results. Subscribe to her weekly CX newsletterto stay informed.
