This month’s Harvard Business Review has a really interesting article about using customers to motivate your workforce. If you are a regular of my blogs here, you will know I am a big fan of HBR and the latest edition, focused on innovation, is brilliant! In the article entitled ‘How customers can rally your troops’ by Andrew Grant, it suggests that by actually getting end users to talk to your employees will improve productivity. It does sound a bit too good to be true, but there is supporting evidence. For example, university fundraisers who met a student who had received a scholarship as a result of their efforts increased their productivity by 400% after the meeting! There are many other examples, one included how Facebook sets up meetings where engineers can meet site users who have reconnected with old friends and lost family members.The premise behind using end users is that when leaders are the only source of inspiring stories employees often question the genuineness of the message, whereas when they can physically see or interact with an end user the story becomes real. There is a huge amount of evidence to suggest that people don’t want to just be paid to do a job, but they want to be engaged, they want to do meaningful work. According to Grant, in surveys conducted in America over the last 30 years, the majority of respondents stated meaningful work as the key factor they looked for in a job. So, if we really want employees to go that extra mile, to pull out all of the stops, we need to show them what they are working for – the end user. Show them the stories that are out there, that what they do makes a difference. This could really impact motivation levels in an organisation and help to galvanise the workforce to work harder and better, all for the customers that they serve.Reference:Grant, A. How customers can rally your troops. Harvard Business Review, June 2011 pp.96-103

We are often asked by clients how to encourage people to respond to surveys. It is a logical question and we often respond by providing suggestions which centre on incentivising the process i.e. donations to charity for each completion or a prize draw for those who complete. However, whilst it is worthwhile encouraging responses and ensuring that there is adequate time and/or facilities to complete the survey for those who want to, the fact that in some organisations employees choose not to complete the survey is important feedback information in its own right. We often find in organisations where there has historically been a lack of commitment to feedback, poor communications and a lack of resulting action that survey completion rates are the lowest. In these circumstances, it is important to ask yourself what can be learnt from the poor response rate and what needs to change as a result to prevent repetition in the future. In this situation actions probably speak louder than words - the more action results from the surveys the more employees will see the value and the more completions you will see year on year if your commitment to the process is consistent. However, there are some organisations where communication is good and resulting action is promising plus response rates are generally high but there is still a significant level of non-completions – can anything be done to help with this? Well one possible solution may be to help reduce the resistance change. When surveys are rolled out some employees may dread what happens as a result – sceptical about what it will mean for them and change to their job role or working environment. How can you help those resistant to change get on board and relish the opportunity to get involved and have their say? According to an article in the Harvard Business Review (Ford & Ford, 2009), the first two things you can do when dealing with resistance to change are: boost awareness - when you are about to set a survey to go live you have probably spent ample time planning and processing it, for those not in the loop publicising the go live date way before may help them to adjust to and accept the process; return to purpose -  ensure that you communicate why you are doing this in addition to the what, when and how you are doing it  - state what you hope the outcome will mean and what commitment you are making, if possible provide a timeline so that individuals have something to anchor themselves to. By ensuring that employees who may be resistant to change are prepared for what to expect, when to expect it and what the potential outcomes may be, you may be able to help to engage some further employees into the process and improve response rates. A combination of incentives which help to motivate employees to complete surveys along with adherence to a systematic communication process before, during and after a survey may help to galvanise the workforce even further to provide a more united voice on which subsequent action can be based.   Reference: Ford, J. Ford, L. (2009). Decoding resistance to change, strong leaders can hear and learn from their critics. Harvard Business Review, April pp.99-103

A manufacturing company supplying large multi-nationals recently commissioned Employee Feedback to run a customer satisfaction survey. The survey was launched this week and is being conducted in 6 languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Russian.  The company recognised the importance of communication for the success of the survey. It has carried out a carefully planned communication campaign which involved communicating the benefits of the survey for both company and customer and describing the steps involved in detail. The findings will play a major role in the company's key account management strategy.  

During 2009 an international manufacturing business asked us to carry out a worldwide survey of employee engagement. The findings of the survey showed remarkable improvement in the degree of employee engagement with the business in the four years since the previous set of measures were taken. This progress was testament to the huge investment of time and effort on the part of the management team in creating a more committed culture across their business. It also showed the benefit of constantly listening and responding to vital stakeholders.  Yet another example of how employee engagement surveys have a direct and substantial effect on business performance. These results have now led the CEO and his senior colleagues to extend the survey feedback process to another aspect of business strategy.  Employee Feedback has been invited to set up an ongoing on-line survey of customers across the globe. It will report on customers' satisfaction with product and service quality on a regular basis - varying between quarterly and half yearly. The survey process will make it possible to monitor client satisfaction anywhere in the world at a given time. The data on customer satisfaction will be compared with the employee engagement measures and the relationships between the two will be assessed. High levels of employee engagement are - unsurprisingly - correlated with good customer satisfaction. Conversely, if there are signs that employee engagement is declining in a particular location or country, it's quite possible that customers will be unhappy too. So it's possible to take action to anticipate and so avoid problems. In addition, the fact that customers are being asked about how they feel about the products and service they're receiving will have added benefits in itself. It's a sign that the business is really 'walking the talk' and making sure it's actually delivering what it sets out to provide. Customers like being made to feel important and valued - just as employees who are treated as valuable respond and become more committed. Everyone wins. Employee Feedback's approach to monitoring engagement - of customers as well as employees - really pays off.