The Crunch Culture: Why So Many Organizations Bite Before They Understand
- edd220
- Aug 15
- 3 min read
The Starting Line
You might remember the old Tootsie Pop commercial https://youtu.be/O6rHeD5x2tI?si=Ugr9U47UjuYe_YN1). A curious kid asks a big question:
“How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?”
He asks Mr. Cow, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Turtle. Each one admits they have never figured it out because they always end up biting. Funny in a commercial. Familiar in real life.
When organizations ask the right question but do not stick with the process, the result is often the same. A quick crunch followed by frustration when things do not work.
Course Map
This article explores why teams sometimes default to shortcuts and what gets lost when we skip discovery. Using the Tootsie Pop characters as metaphors, we look at how habits can override intention and how bringing customers, employees, and partners into the process changes everything.
The Ride
Each character in the commercial represents a voice we have probably heard in our own organizations:
Mr. Cow: “That is how we have always done it.”
Mr. Fox: “Let us do something clever and quick.”
Mr. Turtle: “Nothing ever really changes.”
These voices are not wrong. They are worn in. They reflect experience, pressure, and sometimes fatigue. But they often center only on internal momentum and not on real value.
In CX, they show up when we:
Launch solutions without checking whether they solve real problems.
Reuse processes that no longer reflect how people actually work.
Prioritize speed over relevance.
A more human-centered lens asks different questions:
“Why do we do it this way?”
“Would customers say it is valuable?”
“Is this helping employees deliver better outcomes?”
“Do our partners see this as progress or as noise?”
When we crunch too soon, we trade insight for activity. We miss the deeper context, and we stay stuck solving the same surface-level problems again and again.
Discovery is not about slowing things down. It is about making sure we are building something that matters.
The Riders
This challenge shows up at every level:
Executives trying to meet business goals and timelines.
CX and operations leaders trying to align across departments.
Employees and partners trying to make it all work in the real world.
And then there is the customer who experiences the result of every shortcut whether they asked for it or not.
The crunch feels efficient. But when people feel left out or left behind, it costs more than time. It costs trust.
Terrain
You will often see this pattern emerge when:
A new system is launched without frontline input
Teams are carrying the weight of past change fatigue
Metrics are optimized for volume instead of value
Assumptions are made without asking those who are impacted
When empathy is missing, effort gets wasted even if the intentions were good.
Shift Gears
To lead past the crunch:
Pause with purpose. Make space to understand before you act.
Turn default phrases into prompts. “We have always done it this way” becomes “Is it still working for everyone involved?”
Bring people in early. Ask customers, employees, and partners what they would value.
Make patience part of progress. Quick does not always mean better.
Reality Check
What is something you have built or changed that worked internally but missed the mark for others?
Who gets asked what is working and who just gets told?
If you asked your customers or teams whether a change made their experience better, what would they say?
Finish Line
In the commercial, nobody makes it to the center. They start curious but give up early. That is fine for candy but not for transformation.
Real change happens when we stay with the question just long enough to find what truly matters to the people it is meant to serve.
Because the most valuable answers rarely show up in the first few licks.
Join the Breakaway
If your team keeps crunching too soon or launching changes that do not stick, it may be time to slow down just enough to go faster. I help CX leaders build maturity, align strategy, and guide their teams through the kind of discovery that creates lasting value.
Ready to go deeper? Visit www.podiumcx.com to connect.
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