Making CX real at EY Wavespace

EY Wavespace isn't your typical consulting environment. As the firm's global network of innovation centers, Wavespace is where EY's brightest minds collaborate with clients to crack impossible challenges and prototype breakthrough solutions.

These spaces are designed to spark bold thinking - but even the most forward-looking environments need sharp human skills to match the ambition.

That's where we came in.

The Ask

Design and deliver a program to elevate the human side of CX across their global teams - blending mindset shifts, practical tools, and creative experimentation. Because in a world where everyone talks about "client-centricity," the real differentiator is teams who can actually do it under pressure.

From "Nice to Have" → "Essential Skillset"

We partnered with Wavespace to move their people from "CX is someone else's job" to "CX is the secret sauce of everything I do."

Here's what shifted:

• Reading the room became second nature - not just nice-to-have emotional intelligence
• Building trust with diverse stakeholders went from awkward to automatic
• Designing full-spectrum CX: immersive when it counts, subtle when it doesn't, strategic always
• Storytelling that actually lands - because great ideas die in bad presentations

Each session in our four-module program was 75%+ hands-on. No death by PowerPoint. Just scenarios, drills, and real work that participants could use the next day.

The Design Process (Or: How We Avoid Cookie-Cutter Training)

Rather than plug in an off-the-shelf course and call it custom, we built the experience using our SDS (Scenario–Drill–Skill) framework - a modular structure that anchors each session in:

• Real-world Scenarios that make you sweat a little (in a good way)
• Targeted Drills to sharpen specific abilities like judgment calls, stakeholder navigation, or experience sequencing
• Transferable Skills that work whether you're in a boardroom or a coffee shop

We ran a multi-week design sprint with Wavespace leaders, excavating the real needs behind the official needs. What emerged: skill gaps that couldn't be solved with more frameworks, linking creative work to business needs more closely, and zoning in on pain points that required practice, not theory.

From there, we outlined, foraged, shaped, playtested, reshaped, and playtested some more - developing a four-module program packed with stories, resources and space for practice.

The result? A global-ready program built with precision, flexibility, and room to evolve - because the best learning experiences get better, not stale.

What Happened (The Good, The Surprising, The "Aha" Moments)

Impact showed up faster than expected:

Cohort 1 - from across the US and EMEA - leaned in hard. Despite skill levels that ranged from "CX novice" to "I literally wrote the playbook," engagement stayed high and reflection got surprisingly honest.

Frameworks like Eventness and the 6 Phases of Experience landed especially well. Activities around high-stakes communication surfaced some resistance - giving us gold-standard input for iteration.

After a 3-week iteration sprint, Cohort 2 - with participants based everywhere from Denver to Hong Kong - got the refined version:

• Scenarios became more strategic and we amped up key game elements
• New drills like "Dial It to 11" (yup, a Spinal Tap reference) pushed participants to design for genuine impact
• More co-creation and reflection between participants - because peer learning hits different
• Real client work threaded throughout, not saved for "later"

Beyond the Program (What's Next)

As of mid-2025, we're exploring:

• New cohorts targeting APAC and EMEA teams
• CX Salons for program alumni - because the best conversations happen after the official session ends
• Spin-off tools for teams outside Wavespace who want the good stuff

Why It Worked

This wasn't training by numbers. It was a studio-style experience designed to stretch minds, build muscle memory, and fundamentally change how EY teams show up - with clients, with each other, and with themselves.

The secret? We treated CX as what it really is: a human craft that's part psychology, part strategy, part performance art. And we built a learning experience that honored all three.

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