June 2015
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Quit Asking Unanswerable Questions

Monday, May 4, 2015

When it comes to engagement surveys, managers should never ask questions that yield answers about things they can’t fix. If an employee indicates something is wrong, the management team should have a solution on deck. This seems like a simple concept, yet some of the classic standby questions for employee engagement surveys are often the worst offenders. Statements like "I have great friends at work," "I like my boss," "My boss cares about my well-being," and "I trust my boss" don’t seem like bad lead-in statements for surface-level questions, but if the answers are negative, managers may not be empowered to address such issues. In fact, many times there aren’t clear solutions to these issues. And because there is no solution, employees may think the company isn’t doing anything to address their specific problem. Engagement surveys should focus on specific scenarios that can be addressed directly. A prompt like “When I share my work problems with my manager, she responds in a constructive manner” is a great way to assess the employee-manager relationship in the context of a potential communication problem that can be addressed. If low marks are received on this prompt, a solution can be reached in a timely fashion.

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