A group of researchers looked into the state of employee-manager discussion and found that fear of retribution is not the leading cause of employee silence. Instead, it’s futility, at least among the professional class, and among women, a Harvard Business Review story said today.
If this research can be extrapolated, the emphasis we communicator-types have placed on helping managers create a “safe” environment for people to speak up isn’t helping managers get the straight scoop that they need. It’s almost an HR article of faith that humanistic style, paying close attention, smiling and telling people you really want them to share is the path to effective leadership. Now this.
Does employee feedback matter? It does to employees, but we can’t get at the problem presented by this research without addressing the elephant in the living room… When they give feedback, does anything happen to fix the issues they share? It’s just like doing employee surveys — if you aren’t willing to change your organization as a consequence of the research, don’t do it.
The disappointment of truly thinking like a business owner and offering suggestions that go nowhere is soul-crushing. Why do it if it just doesn’t matter? Cue up Bill Murray and “Meatballs.”
On the other hand, what if organizations committed to changing where it makes sense and letting people know. Sounds kind of, well, motivational.
Nah.
Tags: communication, Communication AMMO, communication experts, communication methods, discuss, effective communication, employee, engage, internal communication, manager communication, PR measurement, reputation management, Research
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sean Williams and Sean Williams, Kim Walters. Kim Walters said: RT @CommAMMO: We should help orgs turn employee feedback into action. http://bit.ly/commammo8 (HT @AkronAreaPRSA) [...]
Sean, right on target. This is real motivation, unlike others we’ve discussed! I love using Peter Drucker’s quote that we aren’t just an organisation’s trumpet, we are also its hearing aid.
One of the KPI areas I include in roles is about following up the actions or decisions from feedback, internal and external. Not all feedback will result in action, but at least it deserves the respect of a decision, and reporting back on the rationale for the decision.
You can sell this into the C-Suite by designing innovation channels and management development opportunities that break down silos, so using the established language of management and business, rather than talking about feedback, which I find has less of an impact on senior managers.
Cheers, geoff
Geoff — thanks for your kind comment. There is an association for people who manage suggestion programs, and I have a dim recollection that it’s imperative that no matter how few suggestions get implemented, it’s critical to celebrate the ones that do. Otherwise, the pipeline drives up. I think the most famous suggestion story is the one about the office that switches to fluorescent lights (back in the day, you understand). The employee who proposed the switch did the cost analysis as part of the suggestion — something like, “at $X net increased cost for each bulb, the initial outlay is $Y, but we would recover that cost in Z months…”
On the other hand, there’s a load of BS in some suggestions!
It seems so easy to just be respectful of the process and let employee feedback mean something…
Cheers indeed!
Sean
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sean Williams and Sean Williams, Kim Walters. Kim Walters said: RT @CommAMMO: We should help orgs turn employee feedback into action. http://bit.ly/commammo8 (HT @AkronAreaPRSA) [...]