A popular strategy that is widely believed to hold the key to great management is employee surveys. Human resource personnel, and management in general, love this data collection method because it is relatively easy and cheap to implement, and provides a lot of data. A hard truth though is that the data, while it may be “a lot”, is rarely as meaningful as you think it is.
Robust survey findings depend on robust survey design
Most surveys are poorly designed. We are so exposed to surveys in our everyday lives with access to many software options that assist in their creation, dissemination, and analysis that few managers recognize that survey design is a technical skill. It is a research technique that needs to be conducted within the parameters of sound research methodology to deliver robust results. For example, it needs a critical mass, or in more scientific terms, a minimum sample size of participants for results to be generalizable. This number may also change drastically depending on whether you just want to generalize findings across the entire company or if you need department-specific generalizations.
Poorly worded questions can also give confusing or false information, and frequencies, the most common analysis of survey data, are in fact the most basic type of analysis with its fair share of potential for obscuring key data.
Surveys can tell you what or how many, but can't tell you WHY
Another reality is that even if surveys provide some useful insight, they rarely give you a contextual understanding of what was the reason for the results. Assumptions are often then made about these underlying circumstances.
Surveys are also vulnerable to several biases such as social desirability whereby respondents tell you what they think you want to hear, especially if there is a perception that the responses are not really anonymous, a common reality when completed by employees of a small company or department.
Survey fatigue is a thing
Persons are also “surveyed out”. Work is not the only place that is asking you for your feedback. Your bank, favourite restaurants, favourite brands – everybody wants to know your perceptions, attitudes, and behaviours. No matter how engaged you are or how much of a data nerd you proclaim to be, I am willing to bet that you have rolled your eyes and groaned inwardly at a survey request before even taking it. That is, assuming you even did proceed to take it. Long-time employees who complete them repeatedly also develop another type of survey fatigue where they feel overwhelmed or bored during actual survey completion. This feeling can be compounded if management has not been perceived as being responsive to the findings to date which increases the chances of survey abandonment or incomplete and less thoughtful or honest responses.
Surveys are not administered nearly often enough to be truly useful
Surveys only give you a snapshot and are hence only applicable to the point in time it was administered. Results can therefore be easily skewed, either positively or negatively, by current events. Surveys thus need to be consistently repeated before trends can be detected and used to guide policies and programmes.
A better option: Results-Based Management
So if not surveys, then what? Our suggestion – embrace a results-based management system that goes beyond an annual (or even quarterly) survey. A results-based management system that is focussed on outcome monitoring lends itself to very participatory processes in an ongoing manner.
It may not be easy at first but when done right, it can be a real game-changer for your organization. Results-based management provides several opportunities for learning and timely evidence-based interventions, potentially saving the company from costly errors or missed opportunities. Several persons also use it to assist with strategic planning.
Most strikingly though, it is an effective tool to improve employee engagement, the very thing you are trying to measure (and presumably strengthen) with surveys. It deepens your understanding of the types of policies, programmes, and projects that work, and more importantly – why they did or did not work.
If you are curious about how you could upgrade your employee engagement strategy, contact us today to help you make the transition to Results-Based Management.
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