Tips on Making Employee Survey Initiatives Successful (Part 4 of 5)
Posted by Ron Gross on Fri, Dec 04, 2009
Feedback-Action Planning Meetings
Earlier in this series of posts we described the feedback-action planning model as "valid data collected on employee perceptions being fed back to leaders in the business, and used to improve organizational effectiveness and morale/commitment." That's actually not the best description of the model when it's implemented in an optimal manner. Ideally, it's not just the "leaders" who receive and then act on the employee survey results, it's the whole team, with the leaders facilitating the process. This is an important distinction, and it represents another key tip on making employee survey initiatives successful: use the employee survey process itself, particularly feedback and action planning, as a way to get the employees engaged in improving things.
The most effective process works like this: (1) managers receive their reports, (2) they study the employee survey reports and identify key issues to share with the employees and get more detailed input, (3) they conduct feedback-action planning meetings with their employees, and (4) they involve the employees in making change happen in the unit. This approach is very powerful because it helps open communication channels and gets the whole work force involved in making the company better in terms of organizational effectiveness and quality of work life for employees.
In order for this approach to work well, however, the managers must have the skills necessary to perform the role described. The requisite skills development can be accomplished in several different ways, and it's not that difficult. Furthermore, the investment the company makes in training their managers to conduct constructive meetings, and to plan improvement actions based on quantitative employee survey data, will have significant payoffs as the managers apply these same skills in doing their "regular jobs."
In the final post in this series (next week), I'll offer up a few final suggestions that I believe will improve your next employee survey significantly - stay tuned!