I just finished delivering an employee survey to an organization that gets it. By gets it, I mean that they understand the importance of being purposeful about strengthening culture and the hard work it takes to grow culture. When I think of the word to describe a key ingredient for doing this project successfully – courage.
Here are some key things to understand before starting this process.
101.1 REMEMBER: There are two fundamental questions you are trying to answer using an employee survey:
- How are you feeling?
- How are we doing (as leaders)?
*My partner on this project made the quote: When we do the survey we are asking your people to assign a number to what they are feeling.
101.2 The employee survey is a conversation. Remember, by definition a conversation is the information exchange of ideas by spoken words. To have a successful conversation it requires two people that are willing to speak and listen.
101.3 The key steps in an Employee Survey
- Deliver the survey (It shows you want to talk)
- Deliver the results (it shows you are willing to listen)
- Follow-up conversation (It shows you ARE listening)
- Present back progress report at 3/6 months (It shows you listened and you value their input)
Talent management is about great conversations. This can be a great conversation, but it is not an easy one.
Final thought: Taking courage AND wisdom into a challenging task is critical if you want to be successful. Please bring both to this if you decide to do it.