After a long protracted customer service call with his mobile phone provider, one in which the offending issue was not at all resolved, a friend received a text message asking for his feedback. His response came from a place of genuine frustration, and their response – clearly automated – only served to exacerbate the situation.
My friend turned immediately to social media where he railed against the company, and shared this screen shot, extending the negative reputational impact of this one instance of poor customer service to thousands of his followers (note: a musician’s sphere of social media influence is not to be ignored). The company’s intent was good (ask customer for feedback) but how it was executed doomed it to failure.
I was reminded of this moment last week as I spoke with a friend who is planning the first-ever employee opinion survey for her company. The company has been through significant change in recent years. This survey – and more importantly the process preceding and following the survey event itself – will provide a great platform for employee engagement, culture shaping and leadership development … if it is managed thoughtfully and responsibly.
There five things leaders can do to set up their employee opinion survey to create positive change … and conversely, if not done, can doom it to failure.
Know Your Purpose. Understanding why you are administering the survey is the foundational step. If you are checking it off a list of “HR things” that you read in Harvard Business Review are good to do, you will likely fail. You must understand the real outcome you are hoping to create, and how these outcomes link to the larger purpose of your business and what you are trying to achieve. Be Prepared to Act. If you are not willing to make changes or honestly address the results of each question, then you shouldn’t ask. For example: you ask your employees if they have good work/life balance but know in advance that your leadership team will be unwilling to consider alternatives to your current policies. Not good. Be open and willing to change – and communicate this genuinely – to set the survey process up for success. Communicate Your Purpose + Plan. Before you ask employees to invest their time and share their feedback, tell them why you are asking, when they’ll hear from you and what you’ll do with what you learn. Be clear and ensure all leaders are consistent with their messages, including the most important: what kind of privacy employees can expect. Is it completely confidential? To avoid losing trust, be clear and stick to it. Share the results. As soon as possible after the event (and within the timeframe you previously committed to) share the results of the survey and how you plan to address them. Four weeks ago I took a survey from a service provider and provided some very tough feedback. I have yet to hear back, or hear how or if they will take my complaints seriously. They may be working diligently in the background to address my concerns, but as a result of their silence, my willingness to share honest feedback, and my belief in their desire to hear it, are significantly diminished. Commit to Action. As soon as possible, coincident with the sharing the results if possible, commit publically to actions you’ll take a result of what you’ve learned. This may seem daunting for an inaugural survey, but is critical to ensuring that credibility, trust and optimism are engendered as part of the process. Some actions will be easy: in one company I worked with the call center operators complained in their survey of severely uncomfortable chairs, and a relatively small investment in new ergonomic chairs both improved working conditions and significantly increasing engagement. Some solutions may not be as clearly defined, even when the problems are … in these cases, leaders should commit to investigate further, outline how that investigation will occur (by focus group, employee committee, etc.) and commit to a timeframe for reporting and action.
Throughout the survey process remember (and remind your employees) that the survey is one event in a larger and longer process of seeking feedback and improving as a result. Be grateful for the feedback you receive, and thank your employees for their candor and participation. In the end, what will make a successful second survey will be how you manage and act on the commitments coming from your first.
