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      KEYZINE: An e-zine for LEADERS:
     ABOUT THE PEOPLE PART OF BUSINESS
                 Volume 67, October 2006
    Publisher: © Key Associates, 2006
              ISSN # 1545-8873
           http://www.mkkey.com

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This Issue: On "Employee Satisfaction Surveys"

This is a monthly electronic magazine for anyone 
who wants to be a better leader, coach, facilitator, 
or simply, to tune up their people skills.  It is a 
complimentary publication, devoted to the next
evolution of Quality Thinking.

View Earlier Issues --See our new website (http://www.mkkey.com) 

Contents:

"With a hypothetical question you can only get, at best, 
a hypothetical answer."
                  - Father William Seifert

"Live your questions now, and perhaps even without 
knowing it, you will live along some distant day into 
your answers."
                   - Rainer Maria Rilke 

Satisfaction - noun -from Latin, reparation, amends
1: the payment through penance of the temporal punishment incurred by a sin.
2. the fulfillment of a desire, need, or want.
3. compensation for a loss or injury.
4. convinced assurance or certainty.

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WHAT'S HOT IN LEADERSHIP
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TWO-WAY CONVERSATIONS WITH EMPLOYEES, 
JUST TO LEARN.

TURNING WHINES INTO PLANS FOR 
IMPROVEMENT.

PARTNERING WITH EMPLOYEES TO CREATE
A BETTER WORK ENVIRONMENT.

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MAINTAINING YOURSELF AS A LEADER
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Many leaders have sought feedback from their 
workforce, through structured questionnaires.  
Their intention was to learn if their employees 
were satisfied, and if not, why not?  The results 
usually came in a report that had some scores.  
Perhaps means, maybe standard deviations.
By norms, T-scores, benchmarks, or general 
comparisons, they were left with an impression 
that they were good or bad, and certainly short 
of perfect.  If they were lucky, they had some 
anecdotal remarks attached to the score--
that expanded the ratings to explain what was 
faulty or should be improved.  

Nary a clue what to do instead.  Frustrating!

The lesson: if you want to know, have a dialogue 
with your employees.  Or structure the inquiry 
to gather opportunities for improvement.  Read on.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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I am left with employee satisfaction survey results 
that are not terrible.  But they're not good.  I want 
to act on the results, but I'm not clear what to do.

Peter Block has referred to employee surveys as 
"anonymous whining."  The anonymity or confidentiality 
is promised in the hopes of gathering honest responses, 
in a non-threatening way.  The problem is that you are 
left with a score or a criticism that has no explanation.  
Nor do you have an opportunity to dialogue with your 
respondent to ask questions and learn more.  How can 
you make a plan for improvement?

Many administrators have turned to focus groups or 
other group methods of dialogue, to further explain 
and understand the results, plus use employee ideas 
to address findings.  

See http://www.mkkey.com/EZines/ezine42.htm for new 
conversational group meeting styles (FAQ #2).


What do I put on a survey questionnaire?

Turn complaints and whines into statements, e.g.:

  1. I feel a sense of job security and stability here.
  2. We get a lot accomplished in meetings.
  3. My work is exciting, meaningful, and challenging. 

Always follow a closed question (rating, ranking, yes/no, 
agree/disagree) with an open-ended question.  For example,

"I have adequate information to do my job." 

Never---Rarely---Sometimes---Usually---Always

(Then follow with:) 

"How might this be improved?" not "Explain your rating." 

Rather than a tally of means and standard deviations, 
we prefer a literal frequency distribution of how many people 
answered in each category--so that you can see the spread 
and concentration of responses.

 

 

We have made major improvements in our office 
environment, pay scales, and working conditions.  
Yet people still don't seem to be satisfied.  What am 
I to do? 

Frederick Hertzberg (1987) distinguished Satisfiers from 
Motivators.  He maintained that JOB DISSATISFACTION 
(Satisfiers) resulted from:

Whereas, JOB SATISFACTION (Motivators) resulted from:

The latter group can be termed "intrinsic" motivators.  They are 
less tangible and more individualized than the extrinsic side 
of pay and working conditions.  And they are the reasons 
people leave jobs (Branham, 2005).  Be sure and ask questions 
about  the flip side of pay and benefits--Pride in Work!


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EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
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Learn more about surveys
http://www.websurveyor.com/resources/online-survey-resources.asp

Gallup on the HumanSigma Equation
http://www.gallupconsulting.com/content/?ci=52

Learn from a case study implementing a survey
http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/employee-satisfaction-surveys.html

What is the value of employee feedback?
http://www.surveygalaxy.com/articles/article_0006.htm

Key Associates (http://www.mkkey.com) offers:

- Leadership Development courseware
- On-Site Training 
- Focus Groups
- Survey Development

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OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES 
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Instantly create your own survey
http://www.surveymonkey.com/

Free web-based templates
http://www.surveyshare.com/templates/employeehumanresources.html

Free demo survey
http://www.nbrii.com/ppc/employee_satisfaction_surveys_ppc.html?source=goog&keyword=employee+satisfaction+surveys&gclid=CLevqfvWmYgCFR8rOAods3y-PQ

Create a survey now.  Free 30-day trial
http://www.employee-survey-software.com/?source=adwords&int=gold_employee+satisfaction+survey

Free templates
http://www.ridgecrestsurveys.com/pg_template.php?type=sur_template&act=surveytemplates&rd=gc8-sati

Former Keyzines on related topics:
Volume 5, August 2001 - Spirit at Work
Volume 15, June 2002 - Motivation
Volume 35, February 2004 - Employees as Customers
Volume 38, May 2004 - Cynicism
Volume 45, December 2004 - Driving Out Fear
Volume 49, April 2005 - Measurement

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ARTICLES/PUBLICATIONS                              
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Allen, Derek A. & Wilburn, Morris.  Linking customer 
(and employee) satisfaction to the bottom line.  ASQ 
Quality Press, 2002.

Atchison, Thomas A.  Exposing the myths of employee
satisfaction.  Healthcare Executive, June 30, 2003,
20-26.

Block, Peter. The Empowered Manager. 
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990.

Branham, Leigh.  The 7 hidden reasons employees 
leave: how to recognize the subtle signs and act 
before it's too late.  AMA, 2005.

Byham, William & Cox, Jeff.  Zapp! The lightning 
of empowerment: How to improve productivity, quality, 
and employee satisfaction.  Ballantine Books, 1997.

Goudge, Peter.  Employee research: How to increase 
employee involvement through consultation.  Kogan Page, 
2006.

Hertzberg, Frederick.  One more time: How do you motivate 
employees?  Harvard Business Review, September-October, 
1987, 109-120.

Hiam, Alexander.  Streetwise motivating & rewarding 
employees.  Adams Media Corporation, 1999.

McCoy, Thomas J.  Creating an "Open Book" organization: 
Where employees think and act like partners.  AMACOM, 1996.

Topolosky, Paula S.  Linking employee satisfaction to 
business results.  Garland Press, 2000.