CRA Inc

16 Dec 08 @ 7:25 am

It’s not a fruit basket…

With new technologies and unparalleled global connectivity, survey data collection has become easier than ever. As a result, more and more companies are taking advantage of survey research and are looking to add new tools to their organizational assessment portfolios.

If your company is one of them, and it’s your job to provide support in this area, you probably know it’s not an easy task. There are literally hundreds of surveys out there—designed to measure satisfaction, engagement, alignment, culture, leadership—you name it! Many come with fancy labels and elaborate models to attract your attention. For many firms, survey research has become a commodity business of sorts, and the competition is fierce. Those who have been at it long enough can claim an additional advantage—they have done thousands of surveys and can provide benchmarks* to boot. So, how do you pick?

My answer usually is—you don’t—It’s not a fruit basket!

Unfortunately, many companies approach organizational assessment as if it were a menu of choices. And when they do, they often end up with… apples and oranges. It’s all fruit, but somehow it doesn’t go well together. Companies that approach assessment with this mindset frequently end up with an odd combination of research tools often from different vendors—tools that produce data, and often a lot of it, but paradoxically, generate little consistent or actionable understanding.

What’s worse, some of these tools, when used indiscriminately, can do serious damage—they may send wrong or conflicting messages about what the company values and considers important or what actions the company intends to undertake in the future; the questions or the survey format altogether may be poorly suited for the company culture, its employee population, or the current company situation. Finally, lack of a well-integrated assessment strategy and consistent follow-up, combined with survey fatigue, often erode employee morale and confidence in leadership. So, resist the temptation—don’t go fruit shopping!

Instead, the question you should be asking each time is—What do we need?

Invariably, the answers to this question reside in your current company situation, its immediate challenges, and future aspirations. You won’t get at these answers with standardized tools which by their very nature are designed to provide more generalized insights across different companies and industries, and tend to overlook your company’s specific challenges, potential strengths, and unique opportunities. What you should be looking for instead is a more customized approach which starts with an honest assessment of your short-term and long-term needs, and leads to a well-integrated research portfolio specifically designed to identify and target your company’s weaknesses and leverage its strengths for long-term organizational success. So, next time you wonder “which one do I pick,” think about the “fruit basket” and make sure you ask the right questions.

*Also, see CAUTION: Benchmarking Ahead written by Kellie Hamrick for an interesting take on benchmarking.

posted in category(s): Miscellaneous