Member Spotlight: Amanda Riches
“Pride is about being proud of who you really are; having the courage to be your authentic you, and it’s about love, being able to love the person you choose without stigma or shame.”
Celebrating Pride and championing the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion year-round, we spoke to Amanda Riches, the Head of CX and EX Consulting at Medallia, about a challenge that shaped the woman she is today, what Pride means to her, and her personal mission to rid the world of ‘energy-sapping’ experiences.
“I was 23, managing between 40–50-year-old Pub Managers in a very male-dominated environment, gay (when it wasn’t always ok to be gay), but probably worse in some of their eyes – a Graduate Trainee! Some young upstart just out of uni!”
To begin, can you tell us a little bit about what you/your company does?
Medallia is the market leader in Experience Management, providing world-class technology to capture feedback and other data from the experience itself (e.g., unable to complete a task on the website) or operational data to understand every experience along every customer or employee journey. We then leverage AI and machine learning to detect patterns and predict behaviour and identify risks and opportunities – helping to drive targeted action on the things that matter most.
However, whilst our clients embark on their technological implementation, we know that for them to be truly successful, they need to change the behaviour of their people – organisations don’t change, people do.
As such, I have a team of brilliant CX and EX experts and together we partner with our clients to advise them on how to:
Better design their programs to deliver measurable business outcomes
Turn insights into action into ROI
Engage their people, create visible executive leadership, and train and communicate to the different audiences in the right way
Ensure governance and processes are in place to drive accountability and decision-making and to purposefully design a great experience
How did you get to where you are today?
When I left university, I joined the Area Manager graduate training scheme at a pub and leisure company. It was an incredible grounding, not just for business and CX, but also in life in general and in how to survive a challenging environment (and I was lucky enough to meet my partner, Fiona, there). I was 23, managing between 40–50-year-old Pub Managers in a very male-dominated environment, gay (when it wasn’t always ok to be gay), but probably worse in some of their eyes – a Graduate Trainee! Some young upstart just out of uni!
I naturally evolved from multi-site operations into business development coaching and then customer experience roles, both in corporates like Whitbread and my own consulting company. I guess I loved understanding what customers really wanted and working out how we could do things better, how we could help the frontline to be better at serving customers, how we could improve business processes to support them, and how we could “cut the crap” of administrative tasks so that they could focus on what they do best.
Why do I continue to do what I do over 20 years on? Despite our focus on CX in recent years, there are still way too many experiences that suck the life out of people. I find it incredible that we’re still asking the same questions day in and day out…
“Why are some simple tasks so hard to do?”
“Why has that employee been left to fend for themselves with little training?”
“Why do we have to call and wait on hold when the website doesn’t do what you want it to do?”
Life is short, time is precious, and I love that at Medallia we’re helping to rid the world of energy-sapping time-wasting experiences!
“I don’t take my life for granted. Last month was 29 years since my first diagnosis. I know how fortunate I am to be here, and I owe so much to the fantastic doctors and researchers who are helping more and more of us live life with and after cancer.”
What were the main challenges you faced as a woman in CX?
When I started my own CX consultancy, there were very few CX roles or CX departments, you had to help people understand what it was you actually did and why they needed to focus on it. I’m glad to see the CX industry going from strength to strength these days. But of course, like most, we must ensure that CX is tied to real business outcomes. This enables us to demonstrate the value to engage our stakeholders and prioritise and measure customer improvement initiatives.
In addition, I come from a background of heading up large corporate programs and being a catalyst for change. Now I help clients do that and don’t get to do it myself. So sometimes it can be challenging when customers are unable to allocate the right resources or get the leadership support to drive real change.
Tell us about a moment that shaped the woman you are today.
I have had cancer 3.5 times – Hodgkin Lymphoma twice, breast cancer, and a minor skin cancer (hence the 0.5 as it was tiny in comparison to the other three!). Cancer is something I mention because it shapes my life, my thinking, and who I am.
I don’t take my life for granted. Last month was 29 years since my first diagnosis. I know how fortunate I am to be here, and I owe so much to the fantastic doctors and researchers who are helping more and more of us live life with and after cancer.
I talk about my experiences quite openly because, just maybe, it might help someone feel a little less afraid when they hear that they or someone they love has cancer. People also get worried about getting older, I look at it as an achievement. Every day you have is so worthwhile.
“I have a fantastic team of women (and men) with diverse skill sets and backgrounds and a real collaborative spirit. Despite their hectic schedules, they’re always open to helping each other, providing advice, and working together to drive solutions – we’re stronger together.”
What makes a woman courageous, collaborative, inclusive and authentic?
I love that at Medallia we embrace diversity and inclusivity, we are actively seeking to bring differences to the table, and we have an ethos of bringing your whole self to work. I have never felt that I could be more myself and openly gay in any work environment than I do now at Medallia – it enables a much truer authenticity.
We also have to be authentic with our clients and not afraid to challenge – even when they might not like what we have to say.
I have a fantastic team of women (and men) with diverse skill sets and backgrounds and a real collaborative spirit. Despite their hectic schedules, they’re always open to helping each other, providing advice, and working together to drive solutions – we’re stronger together.
In terms of courage, in CX we have to be bold, prepared to fail, and to drive change. For all of us, but particularly as women in CX, we should not be afraid to be less than perfect or indeed fail. A failure is only really a failure if we don’t learn from it.
Finally, what does Pride mean to you?
“Pride is about being proud of who you really are; having the courage to be your authentic you, and it’s about love, being able to love the person you choose without stigma or shame.”
About Amanda
A well-known CX expert, for over 20 years I’ve dedicated myself to shaping the CX industry and helping companies to deliver world-class experiences and was named the very first Top CX Professional in the UK by the CX Magazine in 2020. Previously Head of Quality & Guest Insight at Whitbread, I established the successful service formula that sits behind Premier Inn, the award-winning leading hotel chain. Mine and my team’s achievements there were recognised through winning a National Business Award for Customer Service Strategy.
Driven to help more organisations deliver excellence, I set up my own CX consultancy, Enrich, in 2008, working with companies such as Mitchells and Butlers, Unilever, Travelodge, Carlsberg, Merlin Resorts, and Shell, among others. I combined my professional passion for CX with my own personal patient encounters to also help drive better NHS experiences through running occasional patient experience workshops with senior NHS colleagues. I also guest lectured at Sheffield Hallam University to inspire future generations about the benefits of CX.
Now as Head of CX & EX Consulting at Medallia, I lead CX and EX advisory across EMEA, helping clients operationalise the voice of their customers and employees, and engaging senior and frontline teams to drive action. I continue to help firms make significant and impactful improvements, including Fidelity International, which in partnership with Medallia, took two Gold category titles at the 2019 UK Customer Experience Awards (UKCXAs).
