Co-authored by David Youssefnia and Liz Guthridge

Liz Guthridge, an expert in lean communications and the writer/editor of the monthly e-zine, The Lean Communicator shares some tips on how to communicate your survey results to make sure you’re realizing the value of your survey. Liz also is the founder of Connect Consulting Group.

Whenever you conduct an employee survey, be sure to include a thorough feedback step. These seven practices can help you strengthen your feedback, which in turn maximizes the time, money and other resources you’re spending on your survey.

1. Get back to employees quickly after the survey closes. People want to know that they invested their valuable time in a worthwhile cause. If the analysis will take awhile, at least thank people for participating and provide them with a timeline for next steps.

2. Be simple and transparent. When communicating results, make sure you share the good, bad and ugly and you do so clearly and concisely. You’ll hurt your credibility if you try to sugarcoat the feedback. You’ll also spoil your chances for high participation next time.

3. Act as both a light-bulb and a laser when communicating results. As a light bulb, you’re illuminating the survey results, including explaining why you conducted the survey, what the results mean on a macro-level, and other important contextual information. As a laser, you’re providing targeted information for each audience group that responds to “What’s in it for me?”

4. Support managers with more data if possible. Even better if you can provide managers the data for their group in a way that’s easy to understand and explain and doesn’t compromise anyone’s confidentially. This “personalized” data will help them do much more targeted communication and action planning. Regardless, first shed light on key results that matter most to managers, without flooding them with excessive details and reports. Then, train managers on how to share results with their employees, either in a face-to-face session, webinar or teleseminar. Managers may not have the time, skill level or interest to go too far in-depth unless they get specialized training.

5. Provide managers tools and make them accountable for using them.
The three most useful communication tools for managers are: 1) a short summary of the overall survey findings; 2) a PowerPoint or FLASH presentation or other mechanism for them to share the results with their employees; and 3) a template to help them lead a discussion on what the results mean to them and their employees and what actions they may want to take. (This can be an action planning tool.) Then check in with managers to make sure they’ve used these tools by an established date. And make them accountable by including survey report back and action planning in their performance goals.

6. View feedback as an ongoing process to keep the dialogue going. The feedback should not be just a follow-on survey activity, checked off the list as “mission accomplished.” Instead, make a practice of using formal and informal continuous feedback loops all the time. This way leaders can regularly listen to key stakeholders, hear their reactions, and respond accordingly, including adjusting communication and other activities.

The formal loops can include rolling measures, such as quick pulse surveys, and feedback mechanisms for special events and programs. For example, do targeted evaluations for meetings, project debriefs, and spot checks.

The informal continuous feedback loops should include some walkabouts and observation techniques to ensure you’re gathering unfiltered information.

7. Link internal and external data in your communication. In today’s world, internal and external bleed together more and more. For example, more and more employees have access to customers, and many employees are customers of your products and services too. If you’re using the same types of instruments and methodologies internally and externally, including the same scales and the same phrasings in your questions, consider ways to leverage this data. That way you can easily relate the external data with minimal to no translation to internal audiences who are interested and can take actions.