After the employee survey then what?

This article is based on a question posted in the LinkedIn Employee Engagement group by Hugh Tonks.

After reading his profile I realize he probably has much better ideas about implementation than I do but since I already put the work into writing this I will share it anyway.

Assuming you have discovered some pockets of perfection here are some ideas for spreading peak performance to other “Less lustrous” layers.

1. Be prepared to be transparent in your own opinions and intensely interested in the opinions of others.

2. Convert your shared awareness to a compelling story.

3. Make it easy for people to contribute.  (See HCLT’s U&I internal network.)

4. Rational arguments are typically ineffective.  (Read Dan Pinks’ To Sell is Human.)

5. You need to generate some emotional arousal

   1. “We are not thinking being that have feelings we are feeling beings that have thoughts.”

6. Keep the cognitive complexity down.  Change however positive is hard.

7. Celebrate faster mistakes.

8. The solutions cannot come from the top down or outside in.  Employees must want to improve themselves.

   1. Dan Pink again (quoting someone I forgot) .

      “On a scale of one to ten, how inclined are you to want to______.   Why didn’t you provide a lower score?”

9. Make it a priority to find and remove obstacles

10. Loosen (not release) the reins

11. Create success in small pockets.

12. Find your “positive deviants” and use the Power of Positive Peer Pressure to propel the process

13. Cut loose the dead weight (HBR-Getting Excellence to Spread)

14. If poor performance of an individual impacts the team.  Ignore the “criticize in private” maxim and address bad behaviors in the group.

    1. (This must be done with care separating the doer from the deed)

15. Most (80%) of problems are not personal but process driven.  That does not mean that poor process does not create disruptive people but I have found it most effective if leadership takes responsibility.  This allows the employee “Off the hook” and an opportunity to start new.

16. Mindset first.  Most People (and organizations follow the Do-Have-Be) model.  Sustainable transformation begins with awareness (Bee-ing) first (That is the reason for all the bee characters we use to continually convey community consciousness.

17. Use imagery-a picture is worth a thousand words.

18. Create a system where the survey is just the beginning.  Employees need an open transparent and safe place to post concerns and explore possibilities.  I would recommend reading Employees First by Vineet Nayar.