Hi all,

I am trying to find some information of questions/survey design that would solicit input/feedback from associate's as to how to improve the business. Questions would need to be more targeted than above, but I'm interested in finding a "laundry list" of questions I could review and use as a starting point.

For example...questions would look like..
How can we reduce costs associated with...?
How can we improve the sales business within X channel?

Any help (including weblinks) is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi Cameron,

I don't think you're going to get the information you want from a survey or questionnaire. You're going to have to conduct interviews and observe processes. It will take longer and be more difficult to quantify, but will generate much more meaningful data.

Good luck,

Alan Landers

Research seems to indicate that many people give better input when they can anonymously provide that type of information - so surveys/questionnaires can serve a very useful purpose here.

As for observing processes, it depends on who is observing the processes - and it should done by a team of business-knowledgeable people, not someone from T & D. Most training and development people do not have the tools and expertise to observe and accurately evaluate most business practices.

I think Cameron is on the right track here in at least starting with general surveys and questionnaires. Those results should lead to the next steps, probably better handled by the business folks themselves.

Cameron,

Consider this approach:

Start by gathering feedback from across the enterprise. Use scales like "satisfaction" "agreement"...etc.

Set up the survey in a way that allows you to identify parts of the organization where the feedback is from (departments/regions...not individuals.) This provides quantitative data.

Use facilitated dialogues to transform the data (quantitative) into information (qualitative). This is where you can zero in on linking gaps and disconnects to potential paths forward.

By using this approach stakeholders have the opportunity to build understanding and agreement on the problem(s) before soliciting input on solutions.

"If you don't agree on the problem you will never agree on the solution." Michael Doyle

_____________________________________
www.commonwealthmetrics.com

There is a tool for this that is more appropriate and powerful than a survey: idea management systems. Implementing one might be overkill for your organization, but if you research them a bit you might at least pick up some of the critical elements and then find a way to simulate them with tools you already have. Of the ones I have looked at, here is my favorite:

http://www.jpb.com/jenni/index.php

Using this tool (or one of the others) you can run targeted "campaigns" to collect ideas on specific topics. The campaign is interactive, so after a couple weeks you have a dialogue that has generated enthusiasm and evolved into some best ideas. With a survey you have no interaction, and may get hundreds of ideas to sift through - or very few. jenni (and most of the others) allows for the ideas to be rated by others and more formally evaluated by a selected team. The other nice thing about Jenni is that the vendor hosts it externally, so you don't have to go through an IT implementation.

Hope this helps - let us know what direction you take.

Andy Beaulieu
andy at resultsforachange dot com
www.resultsforachange.com