MEASURE WHAT MATTERS
Surveys provide perception data that inform us, but the most important part of surveys is what we do with the results. Essential parts of our survey work include a results report for an organization and its respective units. One aspect that differentiates our survey work from others is the survey rollout process linked to each survey.
The survey rollout process...
provides results that help us
diagnose where we are.
engages our teams in
conversations about the results.
uses input from the conversations to continue focusing on areas working well and define one or two areas to improve.
These actions are recorded on an action plan so that continued progress can be tracked to determine if the actions are making a difference and improving our organizational focus to serve others well. We’ve found that the better we communicate the results and provide avenues for retrieving input, the greater the opportunity we have for creating a team approach to problem-solving.
The time we take to administer surveys to our employees and those we provide services to is meaningless unless we clearly understand why certain perceptions occur and what we can do to improve. As we review the survey tools the value of the tool is only as good as the process we use to share the results.
SURVEY TOOLS
Leader Insights
Measures the extent to which a leader’s team members (direct reports) perceive that the leader provides a work environment that helps the team members achieve their highest potential.
Employee Experience
Measures the extent to which employees are satisfied and engaged in their work environment.
Support Services
Measures the extent to which the operational offices are providing excellent service to others working in the organization who use the services.
Stakeholder Experience
Measures the extent to which people are satisfied with what we offer and value choosing our services – including students, parents, customers, community members, etc.
Loyalty Scores
Either separately or as part of existing surveys, we include “loyalty” or “Net Promoter Score” types of items. The items measure the likelihood that employees would recommend the organization as a great place to work and those who choose organizational services would recommend those services to others.
Straight A Leadership
Measures the extent to which our organization:
- has clear alignment and focus;
- has a readiness to change;
- understands clear leadership fundamentals;
- has a keen sense of self-awareness about the organization’s health;
- applies consistent and reliable leadership practices; and
- aligns individual and organizational accountability.
Organizational Assessment
An assessment used as a starting point to create and/or bridge the organizational strategic plan – a combined survey and focus group process to assess the status of an organization (i.e. quality success outcomes, work environment, services, processes, and leadership).
How do our surveys help you and your organization improve?
Our survey administration and rollout processes include:
1. DIAGNOSIS
We administer the first surveys to diagnose the starting point and compare baseline results to our benchmarking results.
2. ROLLOUT SUPPORT
Leaders have access to our Survey Rollout Toolkit, modules, and coaching team as they roll out the results to leadership and stakeholder groups.
3. ACTION PLANNING
Leaders roll out the results using our standard rollout process and complete an action plan focused on one or two areas to improve.
4. PROGRESS MEASUREMENT
Progress monitoring measures and approaches are included on the action plan to keep leaders focused on designing and applying improvements.
5. PERSONALIZED DEVELOPMENT
Once the action plan and monitoring procedures are in place, leaders can choose from various learning materials aligned to the Nine Principles® for Organizational Excellence to help provide high levels of professional development for their teams and those they serve resulting in excellent service.
6. BENCHMARKING
We administer the same tool and create comparative results over time and provide benchmarks to other organizations that provide comparisons across organizations.
7. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
The last step becomes the diagnosis for the following year resulting in a survey process that is an iterative, continuous improvement approach for moving input to action to achieve excellent results.
REQUEST SURVEY INFORMATION
FROM SURVEYS TO SUCCESS
The most important part of the research/surveys is what we do with the results.
That is, the key to the employee experience survey, or any other surveys, is not the score itself—it’s how well we, as leaders, share the results with staff and how we communicate actions based on their feedback.
In education, we administer experience surveys to employees to measure how successful leaders are at providing an environment that allows employees to reach their highest potential. It is important for leaders to communicate survey feedback to their employees and share action plans, if they want to lead a high-performing organization.
In Arlington ISD, parent satisfaction ratings increased on surveys that the district administered. They shared these results and discovered an impressive outcome:
“Results were presented at Thursday night’s school board meeting, where the trustees approved a $508.4 million budget for next year.”