Operations
GETTING—AND USING— EMPLOYEE FEEDBACK By Sue Masaracchia-Roberts
E
very business faces internal issues at one time or another— poor morale, drops in production/sales, structural or business changes like benefits, leadership, reorganization or excessive staff/customer turnover. Although querying staff can help solve these issues, one must know what, how and whom to ask.
If employees feel that employers sincerely care about their thoughts, they are more likely to respond honestly and openly. Also, studies show a direct correlation between trust and performance. Solomon said that “establishing a feeling of mutual trustworthy dialog and connection is not just a vision statement. People don’t leave their jobs,” she said. “They leave their managers.” During one-on-one interviews, Solomon advises managers to use a warm tone of voice. “Remove physical barriers and smile. We want want leaders to be likeable, personable and regular, while we hold a high standard for the customer and for ourselves. Human connection allows people to contribute and have ownership so their performance levels go up. In framing questions, focus on ‘we’ and ‘us’ language rather than ‘you’ and ‘I need’ language.”
Surveys
What do you want to learn about your company? Are you trying to assess the health of the organization, how to improve customer satisfaction—or how to become more efficient in a specific arena? A variety of techniques—such as surveys—can be used to capture feedback, depending on desired information. “Your employees know more than you think,” said Brian Koma, vice president of Verint. “They know where your processes work and where they are broken and are probably one of the best sources you have. People on the front line are a very rich source of information and complaints.” While you want and need to find out what’s really going on inside your company, taking a page from television’s Undercover Boss and having management go undercover could encourage internal mistrust. A better way to obtain feedback is to set objectives and expectations before asking any questions, and proactively decide what you will do with the information you get. “If someone tells you there is a problem and you don’t have the ability to actually fix it,” Koma said, “let people know or give insight on what you are doing. Asking questions sets an expectation that you will take action.” Also, “understand that what you ask a senior manager may be different from what you ask an individual contributor.”
Face-time
“A human connection is critical if you want to get feedback and trust from employees,” said Lou Solomon, CEO of Interact Authentic Communication. “Employees need to feel safe to speak to you. If they don’t they will sugarcoat, tattletale, and posture and position. Leaders must already have established a dialog.” She added, “Benchmark research shows that 93 percent of communication, in terms of sincerity, has nothing to do with the words, but is all nonverbal.” 52
JUNE | 2014
“If you ask for feedback, be prepared to take action on that feedback or let people know why you cannot. You must loop back,” said Deborrah Himsel, CEO of Himsel and Associates, and adjunct faculty member at Thunderbird School of Global. “At least share the [general] results of the survey. Let your staff know you heard them. They don’t need specifics, but they do need a general sense of information gathered from their comments and assessments.” “The questions must be clear,” said Koma, and “first tested on a subset of employees.” He also suggests creating a balanced rating scale. Other questions should include those like “Is there anything else important to you that we didn’t ask here?” Joseph S. Adler, president of Angell Research Group, Inc., advises that “questionnaires should be driven by the objectives, then participants should be defined and questions determined.” This research company tends to sequence questions starting with openended ones, then multiple choice or “rated” questions. “If you start with open-ended questions,” said Adler, “you don’t lead the respondent, giving clues as to what you are after. For example, ask, ‘what do you like best about X?’ followed by ‘what do you like least?’ Then follow up with ‘I’d like you to rate a series of attributes such as . . .’ The minute you begin with specific attributes [about] processes or services, you plant leading ideas in respondents’ minds.” Including attributes too soon will taint the survey. Keep in mind that the goal is to serve the customer, meet employee needs, and help the bottom line. The goal of written surveys is to get a statistically valid sample.
www.retailerNOWmag.com