How a Produce-Section Meltdown Revealed the Cost of Poor Customer Engagement
“Good morning,” I said to a fellow customer as I walked down through the produce section of my neighborhood grocery store.
“Not really,” she replied. “I feel like my whole world has been turned upside down.”
Holy Guacamole!, watercolor by Ian Mutton
She wasn’t wrong. Seemingly overnight, the store was completely reorganized—aisles moved, products relocated, signage missing. I’d already overheard her asking a store employee where to find something, only to be met with, “I’m not sure—I think it’s a couple aisles down now. But doesn’t everything look great?”
I guess it looked fine, but I really didn’t notice. What I noticed was that it felt disorienting. And obviously, I wasn’t the only one.
There was no warning, no heads-up, no one stationed to help us navigate the changes. Just a total reset—left for us to figure out on our own. As I wandered around trying to find the items on my list, I kept thinking: this could’ve been handled so differently.
With a little planning, store management could have used this renovation as an opportunity to engage customers—maybe even celebrate the refresh. Instead, they created confusion and frustration.
And the truth is, this happens in organizations all the time.
Leaders often roll out new processes or systems with the best of intentions. But without clearly understanding the customer experience—or communicating what’s happening and why—people feel caught off guard. Even small changes can create stress and resistance when they’re dropped without context.
Instead, when you map a process from the customer’s perspective—spotlighting key touchpoints with staff, stakeholders, and technology—you can proactively identify moments of friction, confusion, or unmet needs. This helps you develop more human-centered improvements before they roll out. From there, it’s easier to communicate the change in a way that gets people on board.
This approach can:
Build trust. Transparency calms anxiety and helps people feel included—even if all the details aren’t final yet.
Ease resistance. When people understand the purpose behind a change, they’re more open to supporting it.
Create a feedback loop. Giving folks space to share input not only makes them feel heard, it often surfaces valuable insights leadership might have missed.
Whether you're updating internal workflows or rethinking how you deliver services, putting yourself in your customers’ shoes gives you the awareness and insight to lead change with empathy—not surprise.
If you’d like to explore how this type of planning can boost your organization’s capacity and effectiveness, check out our JourneyMap workshop or contact us to schedule a chat.
