Recently, a middle-sized
company in Atlanta hired Venture Up for a corporate training program
for 125 managers seeking to foster employee engagement. The good news
is that the managers were a diverse group, knew each other well, and
got along, so the team building portion of the training was easy.
The tough part was how the
managers differed in style and approach when we discussed how to
engage the employees they lead, who were not present at the event.
Some mentioned weekly pizza parties, another suggested getting them
involved with the company’s social media, others suggested a team building event.
These are fine ideas, although
not specific. What information do they have about how their employees
think and feel? What do they really know about each individual on the
team? What are their core needs? They knew what we were getting at.
They needed to come up with a survey – the kind people are actually
willing to take.
Discussing their differences
and the pros and cons of certain approaches, the managers agreed with
a series of questions to be considered for a survey to give the
employees. It may sound obvious, but it is critically important that
managers understand that how an employee acts does not show what he
or she is feeling inside.
That is why, to this day,
Venture Up encourages the use of the old-fashioned suggestion box,
where hard copy anonymous surveys or comments about life at work can
be submitted without the fear of being tracked. While this method may
not be favored by larger techie firms who avoid pens, mid-range and
small businesses can benefit from this personalized method for
feedback.
We also prodded the managers
so they would include an area for comments. One of the main reasons
people fail to fill our surveys or do so half-heartedly is because
they feel like a number; that their opinion doesn’t matter. By
eliciting written comments management shows employees that the
individual message matters and will be taken into consideration.
The managers came up with the
following list, which may help other managers design their own
surveys to stimulate employee engagement.
- Are you enthusiastic about your job?
- Are your manager’s instructions clear?
- Is your work interesting?
- What motivates you?
- Do you feel you are productive?
- What could management do to make you work more productively?
- Are you given due credit for your work?
- Do you prefer working solo?
- Would you rather work as a team?
- Do you feel your role supports the department and the company’s mission? Please explain why or why not.
- Do you feel you are recognized and rewarded for your work?
- Do you feel you can meet your career goals with the company?
- Do you believe the company has a strong corporate culture?
- What would you do to improve the corporate culture?
- Do you believe your team needs more training?
- Would you support a mentoring program if initiated in the company?
- Would you support cross-training or job sharing?
- Would you recommend this company as a good place to work?
Comments
give the core message vs. a simple yes or no answer. That is where
the passion and emotion lie that can motivate employee engagement in
the long run.
Once the
process is complete, the team managers can design a meeting involving
all who took the survey and discuss the results. Managers must also
have an action plan, which, if successful, will foster employee
engagement.
