The number one thing employees want

It takes courage to ask all your employee's what they really think of your business.  There's no guarantee what feedback you might get.

In 2022 that's exactly what a number of our clients asked us to support them with doing.  Most already had a good culture but they knew there were things that could be better, and instead of deciding what that was themselves they [CEO's and leadership teams] decided to ask all their people first.

While it takes a certain amount of bravery to do this that's not to say they weren't nervous about what questions were going to be asked, they definitely were but by stepping people through the how, what, when and who of the process it starts to demystify any myths and uncertainty.  This makes people feel confident, and even a little bit excited about the process, findings and actions.
And what's not to be excited about?!  Finding out the direction you need to go in terms of operations, leadership and environment are BIG strategic pieces that can help move a business forward....Faster.

There are four key areas you need to nail if you're asking people for feedback on your culture and business.  Make sure you:

• Communicate what you're doing......Before you do it, while you're doing it and after you do it
• Support your people leaders - with a 'heads up' on what's happening prior to main communications going out and give them the tools to support their teams
• Include people in the process - involve everyone and give them a chance to have their say
• Frame it for outcomes - If you're going to ask people questions make sure you're asking the right questions in the right way so you can be assured that people will focus on ideas, solutions and the success of the business 

So what did people say?  How did they rate their culture?  And what was the number one improvement they thought their business could make?

While we keep all our clients information confidential we can tell you by looking at all the survey's we've done this year, the number one thing that employees wanted their business to improve on was - drum roll please......

COMMUNUICATION! In general people's biggest pain point was feeling 'left out of the loop' about: - changes - decisions - discussions

If you're thinking about improving your communications with employees next year, what's the first thing you'd do more, or less of, to improve?

Keep an eye out for our 'top tips' and 'small steps' in this area next year.