Too many companies are relying on Employee Engagement surveys to save the day. But just the opposite is happening. So what can we do instead?
Too many companies are relying on Employee Engagement surveys to save the day. But just the opposite is happening. So what can we do instead?
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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Hey, it’s Rachel Cooke, your Modern Mentor. I’m the founder of Lead Above Noise—a firm specializing in activating workplaces. We find your blind spots and opportunities and build you the custom blueprint to get your teams delivering their best work. Efficiently, collaboratively, with full engagement.
We can all agree that the Golden Girls was the greatest TV show of all time…right? If not, please humor me for a few. Because really everything essential I understand about the world I learned from the girls…watching them munch a late night cheesecake.
Like, there’s one where Sophia – the eldest of the bunch –starts buying all these household items in bulk. And the girls are suddenly drowning in thousands of toothbrushes and bars of soap.
Dorothy, Sophia’s daughter, tries unsuccessfully to reign her in. But not until they have their trademark heartfelt but hilarious conversation does Dorothy come to realize what’s really going on.
Little white-haired Sophia is afraid of her mortality. And on some level, her brain has convinced her a closet full of unused toothbrushes and soap will inoculate her against the inevitable.
Adorably incorrect.
Too many companies are using their employee engagement surveys in the same way. They’re letting themselves believe (in ways not at all adorable but definitely incorrect), that simply running a survey will inoculate them against the inevitable – you know, disengagement.
And yet, employee engagement is at an all-time low. While burnout and disconnect rage on.
And they let themselves believe that because they run an annual survey, they’re “doing” employee engagement well. Even while the data says otherwise.
In this way, the engagement survey is failing us all. It’s lulling us into a false sense of safety. And we need to create change.
So what can we do here?
Good news is, a lot.
1. Note the job-to-be-done of an employee engagement survey
Jobs to be done is an actual framework developed by the late Clayton Christensen, a professor at the Harvard Business School.
As I interpret this framework, it essentially says that before we use something we should focus less on what it is or does, and more on what ultimate purpose it serves.
Like, when someone goes to a hardware store and asks for a drill, they don’t actually want a drill. What they want is the hole it makes in the wall. So they can hang that family picture.
We need to understand this to ensure we’re using the right tools for the right purpose.
The job of an employee engagement survey is simply to measure. To ask – and answer – questions of what, where, and how much. As in…
· What is going well
· Where are our problem areas
· How much of a problem is each area?
· How much progress have we made (or not) since last year?
Problem is organizations are trying to use these surveys to inform their why and how questions. As in
· Why are these things a problem?
· How do we fix them?
A survey measures. That’s its job. It does not inform how to fix the cracks. And we have to begin by understanding this distinction. A survey is not a total solution.
We answer the why and how questions not through static, annual measurement, but through real, dynamic, human dialog.
2. Leaders, translate engagement to activation
So engagement is a sentiment. A measure of how we feel about our company over the long term.
But moving the needle on this sentiment requires, in my opinion and experience, activating our teams. Enabling them to deliver their best work, develop new skills, connect with each other and our customers, and to thrive – to be well, balanced, and whole.
Leaders, when you help your teams understand that your job is to help them activate, and then their job is to tell you how? We really start to create change.
Start by inviting your teams to reflect on their day-to-day experiences of work. And to identify small changes you can all make together to drive improvement.
Deliver – is all the stuff of getting their work done. Tools, resources, meetings. Processes, decision-making, clarity or priorities. Where is there room to improve?
Develop is about learning and growing. It’s coaching and feedback. Stretch opportunities and job shadows. Learning formally and informally.
Connect is about feeling a part of something. It’s the purpose of their work to the customer. It’s feeling trust and intimacy with others at work. It’s feeling safe to ask for help, to gather input and opinions.
And Thrive is all about balance and wellness. It’s about boundaries and recognition. Feeling appreciated, having time to not just execute, but to reflect. To imagine.
We create change by getting simple ideas from our teams on what and how to improve. But we have to start by giving them this sense of direction.
So help your teams recognize how activation will drive their engagement, and get their creative juices flowing.
3. Leaders, ask, listen, and learn
Leaders once you’ve offered up a North Star, bring your team together. Ideally as a group so their ideas can build upon each other’s. And start asking for their suggestions.
Assure them it’s a safe space. If something holds them back from getting great work done or learning key skills or just feeling trust with you or each other – you need to hear it.
You can’t change what you can’t see.
When the first brave soul shares an idea, be mindful of your reaction. Don’t defend or explain. Just take it in.
Like maybe someone says “well I’d be better able to deliver great work if timelines were communicated more clearly from the start of a project.”
And you might feel defensive. Because you know you were clear. But something got lost in the translation.
But don’t defend. Just ask probing questions. Like…
· What would be the best way to communicate that information so we all have it at our fingertips?
· What’s the best way to manage and document changes to our timelines?
· How might I gather your feedback on timelines so if I’m committing to something unrealistic we can talk about it early?
This is all in the spirit of curiosity. No one is pointing fingers.
And team members – this is your moment to be brave. You’re not complaining. You’re activating.
4. Everyone, collaborate to test and learn
This is fun time. When we run global employee engagement surveys it typically takes months to get all the data computed, sliced, diced, and analyzed.
By this point, the least engaged employees have left, and those who are still around have assumed their responses landed in a black hole.
But in this activation process? You can hear an idea today and test it out tomorrow. Quick, simple – designed to drive learning.
Someone want to start a lunch-and-learn series? Great. Let them choose the first topic and get it on the books.
Someone else offer a suggestion around how to get copy approved more quickly by having Marketing in the first meeting? Great, add someone to that next meeting invite.
If these things work, do them on repeat. If not? Try something else.
This is how we take an active role in shifting employee engagement meaningfully.
Join me next week for another great episode. Until then, visit my website at leadabovenoise.com if your workplace could use an activation boost – a talk, a workshop, a pulse check – you choose. You can follow Modern Mentor on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Find and follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks so much for listening and have a successful week.
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