8 Tips for Effective Feedback for an Employee Engagement Survey or 360-degree Survey:

There’s been a lot of hollering into the bullhorn these days as organizations and leaders grapple with reopening their businesses under the weight of so many new rules and regulations. It’s not easy.

And while everyone already feels like they’re in the hot seat – they kind of are – if you mention an employee engagement survey or 360-degree survey, senior leaders and organizations get antsy. Unfortunately, there is a pervasive idea that surveys are meant to weed out the bad guys and underperforming departments – a witch hunt of sorts. Many employees believe surveys are administered for punitive reasons instead of development.

So, take a step back. Consider this. What if you were given a tool that could give you information about your employees’ biggest concerns, greatest motivators? What if you could get powerful insight into what’s going on in the organization to make action plans that will have a positive, long-term impact on the organization? What if you could read your employees’ minds to see what you were doing great and where you needed to improve?

Survey processes should not be placed on hold. Now is the time to tap into what’s going on with your team and how they feel about the organization or manager’s processes. The survey results can help delineate a clear development plan and action plans based on insights (not impulse).

There is a lot of pressure on organization leaders. Time to breathe and take the time to learn how employees are feeling about the organization’s response to Covid-19 through an employee engagement or pulse survey or senior leaders’ responses to Covid-19 with a 360-degree survey process.

Give collaborators the basics of providing the best, most actionable feedback they can. A great survey process depends on this.

1. Discuss actions and behaviors – not personality. Emphasize what actions and behaviors can change.
2. Be forthright. Say what you mean, without malice. (Hedging around the idea will only be confusing).
3. Less is more! Keep things to the point and concise. Don’t confuse the message by going off-track.
4. Focus on what can improve. The whole idea of feedback is improvement.
5. Back up information with examples.
6. Base feedback on what you’ve experienced personally – not what people have talked about experiencing.
7. Give recommendations, options, and tips on how to address growth opportunities.
8. Be kind. Always.

Make it clear that being asked to participate in an employee engagement survey process or 360-degree survey means an employee is being asked to participate in the improvement and development of an organization or individual contributor. This is a big deal. Through quality responses that focus on actions, behaviors, processes, collaborators can truly influence the direction of an organization. Don’t shy away from what your employees have to say. Give them the tools to say it in the most effective way possible. Listen, learn, respond, and develop action plans together for a better tomorrow.