Death of Employee Engagement Surveys : NOT REALLY!

Few days back somebody forwarded me an article called, Death of Employee Engagement Surveys (1991-2016); my first reaction after looking at the article was that the title was very attractive. Why not, like a typical modern age sensational media it drew your attention quickly onto a subject where most of people I meet consider themselve an authority. So back to the article, it postulated how the world has come to an end for employee engagement surveys and how the new age modern techniques of listening and collecting feedback will be the future of feedback collection (which again is not completely wrong).

Before I say something, let me introduce you to my dad. He was diagnosed with diabetes 20 years back and the reason why he has to go for a blood test was when he felt giddy one fine day after eating mangoes. Once it was confirmed that he had diabetes, he was advised to go for regular checks to see if medicines were working and whether his blood sugar was in control. He was also advised the test without food (fasting) and another one after having food. He was also advised to go for a complete body checkup including test on kidney, lever, eyes and some other tests to see if things are fine. But these tests weren't supposed to be done every month, it was supposed to be like an annual check up. So here you see, different mode of data collection for different objectives to provide information on different things so that something wrong can be detected fast in case something comes up.

Well, my father is very fit even after having diabetes for last 20 years and one of the reason why it is the case is NOT because he has been doing his blood tests regularly but it’s because of the life style he maintains. Morning 1 hour yoga is followed up by another hour of brisk walking. He also controls his food habits and pretty disciplined about what he is putting into his mouth. He also take medicines regularly and reads a lot about how one can manage this disease successfully. He is very particular about his sleeping habits and leads a life with an clear objective of taking full control over his health. Above all he has a mindset which tells him that health is important and he should be taking care of it. Because he understands the impact of his actions on what he is trying to achieve, he has made himself accountable for his actions & is pretty successful in tackling one of the most difficult disease of modern era.

And, Yes the regular tests, the annual test do help him in telling him that he is on right track.

The reason why I gave you the details of my father’s diabetes management is to put forward a point that TESTS/SURVEYS aren’t the things, these are the ways in which you know if you are on right track or not.

Many organizations, starting with a noble objective of understanding the factors influencing employee engagement start surveys. Then the task of survey itself becomes so overwhelming that they are not left with enough resources to work on the result findings. Then comes the data flood without clear insights around what should be done and who should do it. Add to this a blur line of correlations with performance most of these rituals becomes a tick box in many of the HR departments across organizations. Now since most of the companies are in the same boat and don’t have a clear way forward people find a feeling that they might be wasting their effort in something which is impossible for them to manage and hence the glee when someone mentions the death of the ritual and gives them hope that something quicker/faster and agile will come for their rescue.

But let me tell you, technology doesn’t create engagement, people do.

If I take the corollary of my father’s diabetes management to creating an engaged workforce then these 5 point important points emerges which needs leaders attention in an organization.

1.      It’s not only about the blood Tests: With the advent of newer technology through which you can check your sugar every half an hour doesn’t help much. Because the test just gives you a data point. It depends a lot on what you do with the data and not the frequency and the ease with which you are collecting it. You need to follow up the results with strong action planning and execute it without fail.

2.      It’s the mindset: There are several millions people afflicted with this disease and lot of them are not able to manage it properly. That doesn’t tell my dad that he can’t do it. He takes his health as priority and taking care of the same is what he can’t live without. How many of CEOs feel the same for their employees. The day they do it, engaging employees will cease to be an HR KRA only and it would be discussed at board meeting the same way concerns of customers get discussed.

3.      Change requires discipline: Running/Jogging is supposed to help control the sugar levels and it surely does help in keeping you healthy not if you run a week or two. The determination to continually be on track is something differentiates a poor keeper of health than someone who is able to do it properly. Getting a data and enthusiastically working on it for a month or so is not going to help organizations. It requires a long term commitment and willpower to implement the plans without fail.

4.      Creating right support systems: My dad puts an alarm to wake him up on time. He also keeps a watch near him to see the time frame he has set for the exercise. Then there is towel, juice and other things required for him to do his exercise. He also writes down if he has eaten a particular medicine which is supposed to be taken at once in a week. All this to help him create a system so that he doesn’t miss his goals on physical, mental and social targets to keep himself fit. Organizations need to create systems and process which enables people to get engaged and managers can be one of the enablers for the same. That’s why continuous investment in the manager training is must without which you won’t be able to see the difference at the ground level.

5.      Different tests for different objective: Similar to the annual body checkup which is for the clear objective of understanding long term impact on the various part of the body, the annual engagement surveys provides the organization a holistic picture of what is working well and what needs attention & depending on what results say, periodic feedback mechanism can be put in place to see the progress on those critical parameters. Everything has its own benefits and it depends upon what objectives you are setting for initiating a special type of feedback mechanism for a particular result. Killing these options is not good as one can miss important information in the bargain.

To all those people out there who are excited by the quickness of data collection and the agility with which information comes to you, I need to bring your attention to one critical point, that what is the objective of your organization, collecting regular instant feedbacks or building a sustainably engaged organization where you will need to create a listening strategy to know from people from different segments at different time on different issues to take informed decisions for making their life better or create a deluge of data which leaves you looking like smart cookie but doesn’t help anyone.

I am sure you got my point.