Hr.Com.Transforming.Surveys.Webinar.Feb.21.2011 Pm

Making Metrics Matter:
Transforming Surveys
into Leadership Tools

Theresa M. Welbourne, PhD
President and CEO, eePulse, Inc.
Research Professor, Center for Effective Organizations, Marshall
School of Business, University of Southern California
Editor-in-Chief, HRM, the Journal

Copyright © 2011, Dr. Theresa M. Welbourne 1

eePulse delivers technology,
research and consulting to
energize and engage employees
who deliver targeted action and
measurable business results.

Global provider since 1996;
rigorous scientific human capital research. www.eepulse.com
www.leadershippulse.com
+1-734-429-4400
Transforming surveys into leadership tools and info@eepulse.com
human capital data into actionable insights.

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Copyright © 2011, Dr. Theresa M. Welbourne

Center for Effective
Organizations
http://ceo.usc.edu/

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Goals for today

• Build the case for transformation
• Introduce data coaching and story telling
• Provide simple steps to change today
• Knowledge base for future learning webinars
• Start the discovery process;
there is another way …


Why transform surveys?


Survey on surveys
Something evil = “a situation that is
very unpleasant, harmful, or morally
wrong”

11% of senior leaders said
yes, our employee survey is
EVIL


Comments
• “They are poorly worded, do not address the real issues, fail to be acted
upon constructively, and are typically used to manipulate employees.”

• “People have learned that surveys can be manipulated so the importance of
surveys has been minimized.”

• “Auto dealership surveys tell you "they have to have an 'excellent' response to
all questions". This is intentionally skewing the data.”

• “Most of the time the information goes into a black hole or is used to "beat
people up" for not making the right scores. More often the focus is on fixing
the numbers instead of understanding what is being said. The last one we did
the CEO did nothing with the information.”

• “Surveys do not lead to improvements. It seems more like a "check the
box" exercise.”

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More data
Question Percent agreeing Mean (SD)

The annual survey we use at my
company is something all 24% 2.84 (.90)
employees value.

There is a definite and high ROI
27% 2.82 (.98)
from our annual employee survey.

I experience high value from
30% 2.86 (1.05)
participating in customer surveys.

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HR vs. others
4.00 Although HR has higher scores,
they are not much higher. Overall,
3.50
3.28 the scores on all questions are low.
3.20
3.01
2.92 2.91 2.85
2.82 2.85
3.00

2.50 2.27
1.99 2.02
2.00 1.82

1.50

1.00
Receive a High ROI High value Emp Annual emp Cust surveys
customer annual emp participating in value.annual surveys are are evil.
service survey survey cust surveys. survey evil.
feel better

HR Non HR

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Engagement woes
“Employee engagement scores going up
while our firm performance is going down”

What is it? What isn’t it?

Quest for magic questions

Annual event; does not match
rhythm of the company

Scores going up = Goal

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Most surveys ignoring
“engaged in what” question
You tell me …

Are we helping take
off the blindfolds or
contributing? Are
managers and
employees “blindly
following?”

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Conclusion
Transformation is Needed to Drive
Measurable Business Results

And for
higher
impact
human
resource
management

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Guide to Transforming Surveys into Leadership Tools

Today we
are starting
the dialogue.

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Results model
The “magic” is in the
dialogue phase. Dialogue
has a multiplicative effect on
performance. Dialogue builds
relational capital, persuades, and
it improves sense of urgency and
Results
energy to move forward.
Action
Dialogue

Data

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Data and
Surveys Dialogue Dialogue
One-way communication Two way communication Interactive dialogue
Quantitative Qualitative Quantitative &
Low or no ROI Potential for ROI qualitative
Negative relationship High relationship impact Significant and high ROI
impact for small groups High relationship impact
for large groups

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Dialogue
Data powers the story used in the
dialogue phase.
Why is story
important?

Neurological
research tells
us why.

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What is a Story?
“A detailed character-based narrative of a
character’s struggles to overcome
obstacles and reach an important goal”

Blend the art of story telling with the
science of data analysis and research =
Power Story Telling

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Story Arc
Middle
Obstacles
Conflict

Beginning End
Setup, Characters Resolution
Background, Who, Understanding
What, Where The traditional survey follows this direct path;
no challenge for the “knight in shining armor”

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Finding the Middle
• Need a metrics strategy
not questions
• Communication platform,
not just a survey
• Need the “middle”
– Plan to study the
obstacles, find the
challenges, include them
in your survey work

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Example: The Leadership Pulse


Started in 2003; global sample of leaders; real-time learning and
benchmarking focused on human and relational capital topics
Leadership confidence asked annually. Quarterly Pulse Dialogues.


Leadership Confidence Questions
Sorted high to low based on mean score

677 executives answered in July; 40% are
C-level executives; about 70% are director
and above.

What’s the story in these data?

Story, Part 1

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Leadership Confidence Change
from 2009 to 2010
Percentage of Confident and Very Confident Responses

Economic
climate is the
only item that
increased from
* 2009 to 2010.

How does the story change?

Part 2 of the Leadership Story

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Part 2 of the
Leadership Pulse Story
Confused
Leaders

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Part 3, Firm Performance Data Added

Personal and Team Leadership by Financial Performance
4.25
In lower
performing firms,
4.00
confidence in
“me” is much
3.75 higher than
confidence in the
3.50
team

3.25

3.00
Low and Very Low Very High

How do these
data change Your own personal leadership and management skills.--2010
Your organization's leadership team overall.--2010
the story?

Firm Performance Data Added

Success is not about me or my team; it’s not about the
economy. Winning is about how we work together.

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This is how we
told the story.

The Story:
Hope and
Humility


A recession hits; conflict Story Arc
arises; rate of change
escalates. This makes it
difficult for them to perform.
What does the “knight in
shining armor” leader do to
conquer and win?

Only the strong win; the firms
with leaders who band
Leaders around the world
together; they form their own
want to improve their own
“round tables” – they help
performance, their
each other; they are the best
business performance and
of leaders. These knights
they want to learn
(leaders) conquer and win.


Story Arcs Can be Complex
COMPLEX
From Stargate, the series

SIMPLE


Guide Tips 1 - 6
1. Complex data tell a better story; higher impact results.
2. Complex does not equal longer surveys (leadership pulse
uses short pulse surveys, done quarterly).
3. From point in time data, to trend data, and added
performance data for the better story.
4. Collect data to support your story telling to drive results.
5. Good stories are limited when you use someone else’s
data (canned surveys, benchmarking).
6. Be courageous: Find and discuss the obstacles or
challenges.


Guide tip #7
Audit and strategize

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Measurement Map™

In a follow-up
webinar, we will go
DATA
into detail on the
Measurement Map DIALOGUE
for conducting data
audits. ACTION

Measurement RESULTS
Map becomes
place to “store”
your “stories.”

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Result of Audit
• What data are driving dialogue, action and results?
• What data are not driving dialogue, action or results?
• What results are needed this year?
• What actions are needed to drive results?
• What dialogue has to take place to influence people to
take desired action?
– Performance dialogues; team conversations; celebrations; data as
part of regular business meetings; annual presentations?
• What data can propel the dialogues?
• Outcome = Custom metrics strategy

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Sample Metrics Strategy

Horizontal vs. vertical metrics strategy;
match the rhythm of the company.

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Guide Tip #9: Speed Up

The #1 complaint about employee
surveys is that they are overall

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Speed of HRM

25% = 23% =
slow slow

607 Senior
Executives in the HR only
Leadership Pulse subsample

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HR Speed versus HR Accuracy
Mean Overall Leadership
Confidence Scores Per Quadrant

Speed
Low High

Leadership High 3.59 3.81
Pulse data
provides some Accuracy
evidence on 3.36 3.67
Low
need for Fast
HRM in general
If you have to choose fast or accurate,
the data shows the more confident
respondents go with Fast HRM (3.67
vs. 3.59).


Fast, accurate and performance

Fast and accurate leads to the
Speed
highest level of performance, and
Low High
fast with low accuracy beats out
slow with high accuracy (3.80 vs.
High 3.67 3.89 3.67).

The performance data are obtained from respondents.
Accuracy
3.62 3.80 We ask them to rate, using a 1 to 5 scale, how well their
firm is performing compared to other firms of their same
Low size in their same industry. The metric is compared to
3.59 3.81 firm performance measures obtained via archival
financial sources, and we find statistically significant
correlations with these metrics.

3.36 3.67


Comments
• “HR reacts slow and indecisive most of the time”
• “They have no staff. They are only interested in top
management opinions. No foreseeable hope for them”
• “Maybe its a communication issue, but it just feels like
things that are worked on by HR are just very slow
processes”
• “I would like the HR Generalists to be more conversant
with and capable of using the human resource
management system to access data and produce
reports. That would enhance both speed and accuracy.”


Speeding Up Surveys


Tips you can use today
• You don’t have to survey everyone (think marketing; they choose segments)
– And I don’t mean random sampling
• Use a horizontal vs. vertical survey metrics strategy (survey NOT an event)
• Get reports to everyone immediately (build trust)
– Been doing this since 1996; it works
• With surveys, less is more (comment data for ethnographic approach)
• Don’t get data greedy (it slows down process, zero results)
• Technology is helpful; however you can speed up any HR process even if
manual. (See Fast HRM work on www.eepulse.com)
– Implemented in 24 hours; results from large, global surveys within 48
hours (all views, all managers, all locations). Today more is possible.

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Surveys can disengage employees and
have negative effects on organizations.
In an article by Jean Hartley[i] (2001: 188): she notes cites
a comment made by Viteles in 1953, p. 394:

“An employee survey is like a hand
grenade. Once you pull the pin out you
have to do something with it.
Otherwise, it may harm you rather than
help you.”

[i]
Hartley, Jean (2001). Employee surveys: Strategic aid or hand-grenade for organizational and cultural
change? The International Journal of Public Sector Management, 14(3): 184-204.


What Matters

Resources:
www.eepulse.com Write to: info@eepulse.com
http://ceo.usc.edu/ Or call: +1-734-429-4400
www.energizeengage.com

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