”I don’t really think that it’s possible to deliver an excellent customer experience without having well-integrated teams across functions and having great internal alignment. We’re all so dependent upon one another.”

— Stanton Brooks, Global Head of UX, CDX Global

In today’s hyper-competitive business landscape, a company’s internal alignment often determines how well it performs externally. Put it another way: to thrive externally, you must first succeed internally.

Customer Experience (CX) is uniquely dynamic in its function. It brings together people with a wide array of talents, such as strategy, data, design, and communication, to create an experience that can evolve with customer needs. Within CX teams, where roles overlap and collaboration is constant, alignment isn’t just helpful, it’s foundational.

Stanton Brooks, an industry veteran with leadership experience at Equifax, Mastercard, Monsanto, Magellan Health, and now CDK Global, recently joined Becky Park, Shufti’s VP of Product Marketing, to share his playbook for strengthening internal CX operations. His guidance centers on three key strategies:

1- Working with clear and explainable rationale 
2- Learning to communicate with a variety of business dialects
3- Hiring for critical thinking


Here’s a closer look at these strategies:

Leading with Rationale: Every Decision Needs a Clear “Why”

One of Stanton’s core principles is that successful CX teams consistently share the reasoning behind their decisions. In a space where so many different perspectives intersect, transparency and clarity keep everyone on the same page.

“It shouldn’t be controversial to share the rationale for why you’re making a decision…it should be as simple as saying, ‘I switched lanes because it’s safer,” he explains.

Understanding the “why” behind a choice not only fosters alignment in the moment, it also allows teams to reflect and improve over time. By connecting rationale to results, teams gain insights into customer behavior and continuously refine their approach.

Speaking Their Language: Tailor Your Message Across Departments

CX teams often collaborate across departments, and success depends on the ability to effectively communicate in ways that resonate with each audience.

“You have to know your audience and be communicating at the right level of altitude,” Stanton advises.

Whether you’re speaking with a data scientist, a designer, or a C-suite executive, the message must be framed right. For analysts, lead with metrics. For designers, talk interface and usability. For executives, highlight outcomes, key insights, and strategic impact. As Stanton puts it, leaders want to understand “the outcomes… and then the what and why behind those outcomes.”

This adaptive communication approach builds trust, sharpens collaboration, and ensures that insights are heard and acted upon.

Hiring for Impact: Choose Thinkers Over Technicians

While technical skills are incredibly important, on CX teams, they aren’t enough. According to Stanton, critical thinking and communication are what separate the great hires from the just-pretty-good ones.

“Between two designers, one with better art, one with better critical thinking and communication, I’ll choose the thinker every single time,” he says.

Critical thinkers naturally provide rationale and adjust how they communicate depending on the audience. They break down communication barriers, bridge the gap between departments, and push initiatives forward. Without these skills, even the most talented team member can become isolated and ineffective.

From Alignment to Action: Empower Teams to Push Forward

Strong internal alignment enables CX teams to better adapt to evolving customer needs. When teams make decisions rooted in clear rationale, communicate across functions effectively, and prioritize hiring critical thinkers, collaboration and customer experiences improve.

People are at the center of alignment. By hiring strong critical thinkers who communicate effectively, companies can ensure that great ideas are understood and executed properly. As Stanton Brooks aptly notes:

“I see everything that is challenging for a customer or user as an opportunity for us to be that much better.”

With this mindset and the right internal foundation, CX teams don’t just support the business, they lead it forward.

Empowering CX Teams to Deliver Trust at Every Touchpoint

At Shufti, we understand that great customer experiences are built from the inside out. When CX teams are aligned across functions, from product and design to compliance and operations, they’re better equipped to deliver fast, secure, and frictionless interactions. Our identity verification solutions empower CX teams to work more efficiently across stakeholders by automating risk management, reducing friction, and ensuring compliance across jurisdictions.

Whether it’s onboarding, account access, or ongoing verification, Shufti empowers CX teams to deliver trusted, seamless experiences that keep customers engaged, freeing internal teams to focus on what truly matters: building customer relationships that are secure, consistent, and memorable.

With this mindset and the right internal foundation, CX teams don’t just support the business, they lead it forward.

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Read additional powerful insights as part of this series:

The mesh of human behavior and technology: CX expert, Saroni Kundu on building customer-centric businesses

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