. . . . creating an environment that works for everyone
"If you measure it, chances are you can manage and do something about it."
-Anonymous
While I cannot identify the individual responsible for the statement mentioned above, I am almost certain the reference is primarily to those data related to business performance, such as productivity, material efficiency, quality, asset utilization, sales growth, EBITDA, profit, etc. However, as organizations pursue management approaches and concepts such as total quality, lean production and continuous process improvement, they discover, among other things, that collecting data relative to employee attitude and opinion is a critical and important measurement.
An opinion survey is one of the tools organizations can use to continually measure and monitor what employees are thinking and saying about business matters, concerns and issues. On an overall basis, opinion surveys provide insight and help to better understand the feelings and perceptions employees have relative to:
the effectiveness of management and leadership processes
how well they understand the organization and their jobs
how involved they believe they are in their work and the business
the extent to which they believe the organization is continually improving its efforts to achieve customer satisfaction and total quality
any local issues of particular interest and/or concern
The opinion survey can provide both a quantitative and qualitative assessment of these important areas. Once collected, the survey results allow an organization to determine current positioning or a baseline from which to measure progress.
Phases
The phases of the survey process generally include the following:
Development
- Design
- Printing
- Education/Orientation
Administration
- Distribution
- Data Collection
- Data Entry
Analysis
- Report Generation
- Summary/Analysis
of Written Comments
Feedback
- Review w/Leadership
- Supervisor Meetings
- Employee Teams
Feedback---Closing the Loop
In many cases, management of an organization administers an opinion survey to find out if employees like them. In my opinion, that is not the reason to survey, rather surveying should be more about determining if employees believe the organization is doing what it says it would like to do. In other words, is the organization living out the letter and intent of its mission and values.
Based on what may be revealed through the survey results, it is essential for management to let employees know their voices were heard. Providing feedback does this. The only way improvements and/or enhancements can be made in an organization is through everyone working together. Many times employees suffer from the "seen it all before" syndrome, a condition stemming from taking survey after survey, being promised that their responses will bring about improvements, but seeing nothing productive happen. Traditionally, managers try to identify the problems alone. But sometimes, it's possible they miss some of the more critical opportunities. Because this can happen, I tend to recommend organizations emphasize problem/issue identification and meaningful action through employee involvement. Managers can continue to surface what they believe are the top concerns from the survey results and openly review/discuss them with employees. Employees can then confirm, prioritize and even add to the listing, if necessary. Jointly, managers and employees can rank order the 3-4 most important issues/opportunities. Teams can be assembled to develop specific plans to address the items identified. From a consistency standpoint, the plans should include the following elements:
objectives/purpose---why this is important to the organization
implementation steps---what will be done
resources required---what is necessary to make it happen (tools, equipment, money, etc.)
responsible individuals---who will do each activity
timetable---when things will be done
measures of success---how you will know it is working
Finally, follow-up communication is critical. Often employees say they are unaware when problems and issues are corrected. Instead, they tend to believe nothing has been done. Continual and ongoing status updates help overcome this undesired condition. This comprehensive approach closes the loop on the opinion survey process.
January, 2003
NOTE: To learn more about the Opinion Survey process, contact The PARTNERSHIP
