Toxic Workplaces…Transformed! Part IV

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Part IV – Harnessing Feedback for a Healthy Culture

By Blake DuBose and Mike DuBose

In our first three articles about creating positive, productive workplaces, we defined culture, listed symptoms of toxic environments, and outlined ways to conduct autopsies of organizational cultures.

For the last several years, one of our goals has been to create a great family of companies where everyone looks forward to coming to work each day. We are happy to report that 100% of employee respondents to a June 2011 confidential online survey said our companies were good places to work! (You can find the survey questions, as well as the first three parts of this series, at www.duboseweb.com under the Articles tab.) This is a far cry from our 2007 companywide survey, where 75% of staff said they would not be with our companies in 2012. To achieve such a turnaround in just four years, we had to make radical changes in the way we relate to our employees, and the 2007 survey was a valuable resource in charting this new direction. Now, out of everyone employed across our four companies, only one person does not foresee working with us in five years!

If you followed the suggestions in the first three parts of this series, you have already stepped back and conducted a thorough, nonbiased assessment of where your company, staff, and culture stand at this moment. To do this, we recommend a combination of staff surveys, one-on-one interviews, and focus groups. (We have learned that you can capture a clearer picture by combining these methods.) If you perform these correctly, you will have detailed, accurate insight on how your business and staff truly function.

How do you use this information to move forward? To borrow from the famous idiom, great cultures, like Rome, aren’t built in a day. Like a garden needs fertilizer and attention, it takes a lot of the “right stuff” to make a workplace culture grow and flourish.

Once you receive the results from your assessments, we recommend that you take the following steps:

Practice a receptive attitude: As a human, it is natural to be initially offended or taken aback by some comments or ratings. Your first inclination may be to think, “I cannot believe you are saying that! You are lucky to have a job!” or “You don’t have all the facts.” However, you should appreciate even negative feedback for the new opportunities it represents.

Remember: you asked for honesty, and your respondents were good enough to tell you like it is. The most effective leaders are open to hearing criticism, comments that contradict their thoughts and perceptions, and even offensive remarks. Constructive feedback can help guide you in pinpointing problems, allowing you to improve conditions for you, your staff, and your customers. You do not necessarily have to implement every suggestion you receive, but you should consider them all gifts of knowledge.

Look for patterns: If person after person repeats the same comment or concern, there is likely a problem, issue, or need that should be addressed. However, do not try to force patterns to appear if there are none. Even remarks that surface infrequently can spark new ideas and discussions. For example, one respondent to our survey (for whom the issue may have arisen due to recent events in his or her life) said that we should revisit our bereavement policy. Although this was not a common complaint, we plan to ask staff to help refine the policy.

Prioritize action items: There are four ways to solve a problem: address it promptly, consider it for a while and resolve it soon thereafter, act in the distant future, or do nothing about it all. Consider addressing the “low-hanging fruit” (items that are easy to solve) first before tackling more complex issues.

Address the responses: Individuals who provide feedback willwant to know that you heard their concerns, what you plan to do about them, and, if no action will be taken, good reasons why. As Sara Baker Stokes, Ph.D., noted in a May 2011 column for Morehead Associates consulting firm, “Employees must believe that their feedback will be taken seriously. In order for employees to take the risk of offering honest and perhaps critical feedback, they must trust that feedback won’t be disregarded as invalid or unrepresentative simply because it may not be what management wants to hear.”

As attuned as you may be to employee concerns, however, a business is not a democracy. There will always be some wants that you cannot meet (e.g., large salary increases when your business is barely surviving) and some people you simply cannot make happy. What youcan do is let people know that you are listening to them (by echoing their concerns) and that, when the budget allows, their needs will be addressed (giving them something to look forward to). Take note: whatever you say you will do, you must do it! The worst thing a leader can do is recognize that there is a legitimate issue and fail to follow through. If this happens, responses to future surveys will be low or inaccurate, since employees will figure that responding is pointless anyway. Always “under promise and over deliver” in everything you say and do.

React carefully, methodically, and promptly to findings: Use the survey responses and interviews to develop a strategy on how to proceed. Be sure to redact any sensitive information—you want to release as much of the report as possible, but it is also important that personal, confidential, and/or damaging comments about individual employees or customers are removed. The purpose of the report is to make positive changes, not demoralize people, and you want employees to feel like they can bluntly express their opinions without hurting others.

Share with management: Because time can allow for better perspective, it is best to look at the findings several times over a 30-day period, searching for important points like a detective looking for clues. When you have thoroughly examined the results, you can either develop your own report of the findings and ideas for improvement or provide them to your management team for them to develop a response. Since our staff faces heavy workloads this time of year, we developed a draft report ourselves and distributed it to our senior leadership team for review and input.

Categorize the findings: Make lists of both positive responses and opportunities for improvement, grouping similar ones together. People naturally focus more on weaknesses, but you should also think about how to elevate good responses to excellent ratings in the future. This promotes a valuable habit of constantly asking, “Can we create excellent outcomes better, faster, and cheaper, while also improving customer and staff happiness?”

Share the results with staff: Consider the best time to give the report to your employees. You don’t want to distribute important information like this during high workload times. We plan to share our draft after late August 2011 but before our companywide meeting takes place in September 2011. During the meeting, employees will break into small groups to discuss the report. We will incorporate their feedback into a final document later in the year and, ultimately, into our strategic plans. By showing employees that we value their opinions and allowing them to impact where our companies will go next, we build trust and buy-in for the future.

Implement improvements: Rather than making changes in bits and pieces over time, study the information, solicit a lot of input, and then develop a comprehensive plan so everyone sees the entire picture. Clarity, comprehensiveness, and consistency are especially important when structural changes to the organization are necessary.As Larry Bossidy, author of the bestseller Execution, told us, “You don’t want a new plan coming out every two weeks!”

Staff surveys should not dictate your entire strategic plan. They are, however, an important tool to document how you are doing and where staff members envision going next. Developing quality strategic plans takes time, effort, and several sources of information. Unfortunately, many business leaders spend more time planning their vacations than they do planning their companies’ futures!

The bottom line: Excellent cultures staffed by the right people push companies to greatness and promote long-term success. Build your team, plan, and culture correctly, and profits will follow!