Want improvement? C’mon let’s conduct an annual survey

IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

Annual employee survey is nothing more than an eye-wash that companies carry out in the name of ‘continuous improvement’

Que: My company runs an annual employee survey in the name of “continuous improvement,” but nothing ever really changes. Now, my boss has asked me to come up with a better way. Frankly, I think the whole “polling the people” thing never works. Shouldn’t we just switch to a town meeting approach? (Name Withheld, Waterloo, Iowa)

Ans: It’s so easy to hate polls, isn’t it – especially now? Everywhere you turn, you’re bombarded with dozens and scores of “expert” surveys about who’s going to win, where and by lastly how much. Then, a few hours later, the poll results change, or turn out to be totally way off, and the pundits (literally!) start hyperventilating. You are left thinking that – as you put it – the ‘whole polling the people thing’ doesn’t actually tell you much about anything. Maybe political polls have their own flaws – obviously; they are an inexact science – and sure, company-wide ‘town meetings’ do in fact tend to generate meaningful debate. But effective employee surveys are, in fact, a form of polling that really works. The key, of course, is the word effective. Unfortunately, too many employee surveys concentrate on the kind of incidentals that get a lot of nattering in the hallways but rarely matter outside company walls. Maybe that’s why nothing meaningful ever seems to change at your company after the results come in.

Effective surveys are devoid of the usual triviality about parking spaces & lunchroom. They’re usually hard-hitting and totally confidential. They focus on the issues that really matter.

And they do so by delving deep into four distinct areas. Firstly, they probe whether employees truly buy into the company’s mission and its major initiatives. Look, leaders can pontificate all day, but the future that they desire will never arrive if employees do not reaaly understand why a change in direction will advance the organisation’s competitive position and as a result their own careers.

That’s why, if you’re moving from a product-driven to a service-driven strategy, for instance, make sure your survey asks employees how much they agree with statements such as, “I clearly understand the role service plays in the success of this business,” and “I support the use of our best engineering talent to upgrade the technology of our service offerings.” Never assume buy-in. Measure it.

Second, effective surveys probe whether managers walk the talk. There’s something inimitably motivating about a manager who does what he says he will and lives the company’s values. Surveys, by dint of their confidentiality, can shine a light on this key driver of employee engagement. They can test how managers behave when it comes to fighting bureaucracy or promoting on merit. Further, they can measure whether senior management is in touch with reality by asking for each employee’s level of agreement with the statement, “What I read about this company in the newspaper & annual report is consistent with what I experience at work everyday.”

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

Read these article :-
‘This is one of Big B’s best performances’
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs