“Human-centred.” “Customer-centred.” “Community-centred.” “Client-centred.”
These words sound good, they feel good, and most of the time, the intent is genuine, however, too often, the reality doesn’t live up to the language.
Too often, “customer-first” is a slogan, not a strategy. I once worked with a company that proudly called themselves customer-first. They had the glossy branding, a slick customer experience team, and mountains of feedback data. However, behind the scenes, their KPIs were laser-focused on cost-cutting and efficiency. The result? Customers became an afterthought, and it showed in declining retention and engagement..
Being truly people-centred; whether that’s customers, employees, clients, or communities, isn’t about what we say. It’s about how we design, deliver, and communicate everything we do with a view to creating meaningful impact. .
So how do you actually make it real?
Here are a few places to start.
1. Shift your language
Marketing often starts with “We believe…” “We deliver…” “We want…” It’s subtle, but it centres on the organisation, not the person receiving the message.
Take this advert I saw recently:
“We truly want what’s best for you. At X, we believe everyone deserves support that reflects who they are and where they want to go. That’s why our NDIS services are completely person-centred…”
This might seem customer-centric on first look, but notice how quickly it shifts back to what ‘we’ believe and ‘we’ do.
Here’s how it could sound if the client was truly the focus:
“Your NDIS plan should feel like it fits you - your strengths, your goals, your lifestyle. Maybe you’re just getting started and need guidance. Maybe you’ve had a plan for a while but want to get more out of it. Either way, the right support can make the difference between feeling stuck and feeling confident, independent, and connected…”
The difference is subtle, but powerful.
2. Make people the hero of the story
Case studies are another classic trap. On the surface, they showcase customers, but look closely and they often sound more like: *Look what we did. Look at the impact we had.* The organisation is the star of the show, while the customer is reduced to a backdrop.
Contrast that with a truly human-centred organisation like Ritz-Carlton. They don’t need case studies. Their guests tell the stories for them. A child gets a surprise birthday cake. A lost toy is reunited with its family after staff personally courier it across states. A traveller walks into their room to find their favourite tea waiting.
Ritz-Carlton staff are empowered to create these moments through an individual discretionary budget - not as marketing stunts, but because that’s the culture. The result? Guests naturally share their experiences. The organisation fades into the background, and the human story shines.
3. Start with lived experience, not compliance
When it comes to P&C initiatives, employee experiences often start with the organisation’s needs: policies to follow, risks to cover, boxes to tick. Then they get dressed up with graphics and branded as “employee-centric.”
I remember starting a job where my boss told me she wanted me to feel like I had a say, that I could be myself, that I could feel relaxed. Then she handed me the handbook. It was filled with rules about arrival times, how many morning tea breaks I could take, how long lunch should be. It didn’t feel empowering - it felt like I was already being managed by mistrust.
When I raised the gap between what she said and what the handbook signalled, she admitted she’d been burned before by an employee who had taken liberty after liberty, with performance that didn’t match. I got it, but I also explained that what *I* needed was trust and freedom to perform.
Together, we re-designed the handbook so it wasn’t about control, but about autonomy and performance. It became something that actually encouraged people to do their best, rather than fear stepping out of line. In a culture like that, hard conversations are easier to have, yet rarely need to happen.
That’s what it means to be genuinely employee-centred: start with lived experience, not just organisational risk.
4. Design for connection, not control
Think about parking in our cities. Councils often say they want to be “community-centred.” But the lived experience? You meet a friend for coffee, chat longer than expected, order cake, and return to a fine. The message: Your presence and investment here is less valuable than our revenue raising objectives.
What would genuine community-centred design look like? A system built to encourage connection and community investment, not punish it. Maybe parking is free if you’ve spent locally. Maybe there’s flexibility around health services or community spaces. It starts by asking: What truly builds community life?
5. Ask better questions
Feedback surveys and innovation programs often fall into the same trap: they’re designed to validate what leaders already want to hear or to merely pretend to pay an interest in the problems of the customer. It’s innovation theatre, not customer-centricity.
Instead of: Did this work? (about what we did) try: What mattered most to you? ( about what they experienced)
Instead of: What ideas can you give us? (about our needs) try: What challenges are you facing that we should solve? (about their needs.)
That shift changes the focus from transactional tick the box type engagements, to a meaningful dialogue.
6. Measure success by impact on people
Businesses often optimise for efficiency, not for customer needs, however, being truly people-centred asks a different set of questions:
Did our customer feel supported?
Did our employee feel heard?
Did our client feel understood?
Did our community feel stronger because of this?
That’s the real measure of success.
Too often, organisations lean on things like NPS scores (Net Promoter Score) as their main barometer. While NPS can give a snapshot, it usually boils down to one question: Would you recommend us?
Useful, but limited. It’s not the same as asking: How did we make you feel? What difference did this make in your life? What mattered most to you in this experience?
NPS alone risks reducing people’s lived experiences to a number on a spreadsheet. To be genuinely people-centred, measurement needs to capture stories, emotions, and outcomes - not just referrals.
If you have your hands in your head right now, thinking “How did I get this so wrong”, it’s important to remember that organisational-centricity guised as customer-centricity rarely comes from bad intent. Most of the time, it comes from habit - from the way organisations are taught to think about and talk about themselves first.
If you want to be genuinely human-, customer-, client-, or community-centred, the test is simple:
Instead of asking What do we want to say about us ask What will this person feel, gain, or experience?
People-centred isn’t about spotlighting ourselves. It’s about making space for someone else’s story.
Need support shifting your approach? We can help. Contact us HERE