You have an amazing team. They are highly engaged and doing an excellent job. Let’s keep it that way.
Measuring and evaluating employee engagement is an essential part of maintaining a thriving team. The best way to know how your team is doing is to ask them. Yet most people feel uncomfortable just telling you directly, so an anonymous survey is your best bet for candid feedback.
Tips for Small Businesses
- Have someone outside of your firm facilitate discussions.
- Focus on themes and trends. Try not to determine who said what.
- Pick 1-2 key areas to focus on, take action, and request feedback along the way.
There are many great vendors available to host your engagement survey, help you analyze your results, and build action plans around your areas of opportunity. Additionally, by having a third party manage the survey it assures your employees that you cannot discern who says what.
Some businesses are too small for an engagement survey to produce results (generally a team of 5 or less). In those cases, alternative options can be used. Psychological safety and transparency are key ingredients to obtaining information on how employees truly feel, especially when they cannot hide behind an anonymous survey. Work to build an environment where it’s accepted and even expected that employees speak up about concerns and ideas, and you will pave the way for candid engagement feedback.
If you plan to ask for this feedback, it is essential that you are prepared to act upon it. Set aside any preconceived notions or biases. Accept the themes and trends evident from your results as the voice of your team and publicly commit to and take action upon the findings.
