Exploding the Myth: These employee survey results can’t be right. I’ll find the so-and-so who said…
In recent months, one of my clients invited their employees to complete an online and confidential survey that captured how they think and feel about working for the company. First off, conducting such a survey is brave for any organisation. After all, they are setting themselves up to be told things they might not want to hear. It is also a very scary prospect for managers in the organisation because whatever employees say is going to reflect on them. Furthermore, it is scary for the respondents. What if it turns out that their responses are not so confidential after all? What if the boss doesn’t like what we say?
It has been my experience that the first time an organisation conducts such a survey it has been catalysed by a sense (at senior levels in the business) that the organisational climate or leadership culture is not what they want it to be. Embarking on such a survey then has the objective of setting the baseline – the starting point that will form the basis of whatever work will be done to get the climate or culture aligned with their vision for the organisation. From my perspective, this is exciting – but then I am not inside the organisation, and the survey makes no comments about my own leadership style.
For many, in fact MOST, managers in such an organisation, the delivery of the results of such a survey is very stressful and threatening – especially if the results are critical of the climate or leadership culture. It is particularly stressful and threatening if there is a strong theme of fear and blame within the organisation. Do you remember the THREAT – ANXIETY – DEFENSE response I described in a previous article? The results of the survey create a THREAT of appearing incompetent (as a leader); this provokes immense ANXIETY and the person is likely to respond DEFENSIVELY.
This DEFENSIVE behaviour could take the form of:
- Dismissing the feedback and criticising the instrument as being poorly worded or misleading;
- Dismissing the feedback and criticising the respondents or blaming the timing;
- Trying to figure out who said what and going after them.
All of these responses are going to destroy whatever fragile trust there was that made so many employees respond to the survey in the first place. Their reaction is likely to be something like: “Well you asked for the feedback. You said you really wanted it. You said it would be safe to be honest. Now look what you do. I will never fall for this again.” And they all go back beneath the parapet and seethe with resentment – the exact opposite of what the survey was intended to achieve.
I’d like to offer another perspective. What if we accept that there is nothing to be gained by debating the merits of the feedback? There is nothing to be gained by hunting down whoever said what. Whatever flaws the instrument may have, the feedback is the feedback. It is telling us how people think and feel about working here. We wanted to know, and now we know. We may not like it – but at least we know. The next questions are:
- How do we want people to think and feel about working here?
- What do we leaders need to change or do differently to make sure that happens?
- What is our action plan?
- When will we run the instrument again to see how we are doing?
Imagine how your teams would respond if they saw you responding in this way. I would anticipate the following:
- Huge relief that there is not going to be a backlash;
- Increased trust;
- Admiration and respect for the leader who is able to take it on the chin non-defensively;
- A willingness to work together to create a climate that is in alignment with our vision;
- Greater transparency and openness;
- A real improvement in organisational climate and leadership culture.