The world of work is constantly evolving. In many companies, it is not uncommon to find that employees hold power that once belonged to employers. To this end, managers and executives must constantly focus their efforts on developing and increasing a sense of belonging, meeting their employees’ needs and stimulating employee commitment, without compromising work/life balance. A Chinese proverb tells us that “when the wind of change blows, some build walls… others build mills”. If you’re one of those people who wants to build a windmill, the most effective and efficient way forward is through an organizational survey. Conducted anonymously among your employees, it will enable you to identify the sources and reasons for your organization’s strengths and weaknesses.
In response to this need, it becomes essential for companies to understand their employees as well as they understand the needs of their customers, in order to align human resources management practices and policies. This is where organizational surveys come in. It enables managers and executives to make the shift that will develop a strong employer brand, a solid team spirit, and distinctive customer service. Faced with these new challenges, working on an organizational survey makes perfect sense. Its primary aim: to make the organization agile in its management and stand out in its market.
An organizational survey is not to be taken lightly. Make sure you don’t run into problems you hadn’t anticipated, or that didn’t exist before.
Protect your organization’s credibility
Your employees are going to be asked to give their opinion on a subject close to their hearts: their jobs! As a result, most of them will respond as best they can, and even add their own comments, bearing in mind that they will be heard. In return, they expect the organization to treat their responses seriously.
Be careful about the expectations you create
Determining measurable indicators is very important. The choice of questions given will indicate to employees the degree of seriousness as well as the aspects in which the company has an interest. If there are no questions on topics that are important to employees, the questionnaire will not be considered by them, and the answers will yield units of measurement that are difficult to quantify.
What’s more, if you’re not ready to act on all the topics mentioned in your survey, don’t create expectations, don’t open the door to recrimination, and revise your questions.
Don’t send your managers to the slaughterhouse
Some members of your team may be subject to direct attacks on their management style. Whether positive or negative, the survey should not look like a 360° evaluation.
Be intelligent in your analysis
It may seem simple and easy to analyze the results. However, this skill requires a master’s course in human resources management as well as good psychological skills.
“It’s not uncommon to have to realign our clients on data interpretation, more often than not, as they interpret the results with their personal experience or judgment. A trained outsider is much better equipped to deliver a true and fair analysis of the survey results,” says Marie-Louise Tassé, Senior Consultant at Amyot Gélinas Conseils inc.
The Organizational Survey should help you get to know your organization behind the scenes.
“Managers and executives will have everything they need to make a real diagnosis of their organization. What’s more, the organizational survey enables them to act quickly on irritants. In addition to knowing their employees’ opinions, managers can rectify the situation and ensure better direction within the company,” explains Marie-Louise Tassé.
Action plan
Once the data has been collected, it’s important to pass it on to the whole organization in the form of quantitative statistics, because your employees will want to know. Once you have this data, you’ll need to draw up an action plan and a schedule of deadlines. This will be used to remedy any problems encountered.
“One of the aims of an organizational survey is to find out what’s going wrong. It can be annual or biennial, regardless of the issues encountered. Since communication is crucial, you need to focus on concrete, rapid solutions to restore trust among your employees,” says Ms. Tassé.
The organizational survey saves you valuable time. From managing the survey to compiling the data, managers will have a clear report on their organization’s issues, and effective solutions at their fingertips. A unique opportunity to create real engagement with your employees.
To conduct an organizational survey, please contact Marie-Louise Tassé at 450 971-1550, ext. 3501 or by e-mail at mltasse@amyotgelinas.com.
