Getting employee feedback
I was very excited when the opportunity came along to spearhead an employee feedback campaign. While some may view this additional responsibility as an unneeded burden, I view it as a true value-add. Too often, I see companies moving forward with little insight into their employee’s thoughts on the state of the company. To have a chance to gain meaningful feedback from our employees is a true gift.
There are several things I want to make sure we gain from this feedback. First, I really want to make sure that the questions we ask of employees are focused enough to target specific areas of improvement. However, I also want to make sure that our employees have the freedom to report what they truly feel needs to be changed or adjusted within the company. These may seem like opposing guidelines, but I think asking direct, yet open-ended questions will get us there.
Beyond that, I also feel there needs to be some sort of measuring process to the survey. It is important that once we know how our company should improve, we have a process to understand whether initiatives are improving or not. Although this may also contradict the direct questioning, I think we can combine a rating system with those questions to get a broad understanding and the direct reasoning behind that response.
With both directives, I feel it will also be absolutely imperative that employees feel that they can openly share information and communicate. To do this, I want the survey to be anonymous, however, this presents a problem. The easiest way for us to communicate with all employees is through email and it would be difficult to have employees email back an anonymous response. A physical survey or one online would be the next best option but there is no way to track whether all employees provided their feedback. There doesn’t seem to be a perfect solution, but I’ll find a way to navigate the best one available.
The final step in my plan is really the most important. Once I have the information, what will I do with it? How will I ensure that the responses lead to actual change? This requires buy-in from senior leadership, but it also requires that there be criteria for what will be worked on and what won’t be. Once we identify what needs to be worked on, we will have to set-up timelines and start moving forward with what the employees want to see happen at the company.
I truly believe that by opening up this sort of communication we will become a much stronger company. Has your company used this sort of feedback system? What has worked best for you on the giving or receiving end? What has worked best to implement actual change within the company? I would love to get your feedback and as always, please feel free to send me a private response at: cihde@ewaldauto.com