Operational Friction Is a Culture Problem

We don’t always connect process pain with cultural risk.

But we should.

Most companies separate the operational side of the house from customer and employee experience work. Process issues get escalated quietly or not at all. The focus stays on metrics like CSAT or retention, while the root cause of dissatisfaction goes unaddressed.

When a process fails, it creates inefficiency and sends a signal.

If customers have to repeat themselves three times because internal systems don’t connect, it wastes their time and shapes their perception. The same goes for employees. When they rely on workarounds to get basic tasks done, it’s a point of frustration, and it sends a message that leadership sees the problem and chooses not to act.

And culture starts to erode.

Where Friction Lives

It’s easy to think of “culture” as the sum of values, tone, and engagement efforts. However, culture also lives in the daily experience of getting things done.

• Broken handoffs between departments? That’s culture.

• Systems that don’t talk to each other? That’s culture.

• Constant rework because no one owns the full process? Also culture.

We don’t always recognize it that way. Instead, we normalize friction. We get used to things not working well. Teams build patches and shadow systems. Slowly, people stop raising issues because they stop believing anything will change.

That’s the real cost.
Slower workflows, increased customer effort, and disengagement that runs quiet and deep.

A Story I’ve Seen Too Often

In one org I worked with, frontline employees had to explain confusing bills to customers. The billing system was outdated and hard to navigate. Instead of fixing it, teams built spreadsheets and cheat sheets to manage the basics.

Leadership praised their creativity. However, over time, those same employees stopped offering suggestions. They assumed leadership wasn’t interested in solving core problems, only in applauding their ability to survive them.

They weren’t wrong.

What Experience Leaders Can Do

If you own CX or EX, you don’t need to control every operational detail. But you do need to pay attention to how operational friction shapes experience and morale.

Here’s a starting point:

• Look for repeat workarounds. They’re your biggest red flag.

• Ask employees what “takes more energy than it should.”

• Include internal friction as part of your experience metrics.

• Escalate and resolve even the low-visibility stuff.

It’s not glamorous work. It’s meaningful work. Nothing says “we care” louder than fixing something that made the work harder and nobody else noticed. Or worse, others noticed and did not act.

Final Thought

Customer and employee experience don’t sit on top of operations. They’re built inside them.

If we want trust, loyalty, and pride, we must earn them in the process design, not just the PowerPoint deck. This starts by seeing friction as an inefficiency and a cultural liability. And then doing something about it.

Want to go deeper?
If operational friction is dragging down your customer or employee experience, let's talk. I work with teams to identify the real blockers and build practical, people-centered solutions.
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