Let’s be frank: there are lots of employee surveys to choose from that get both praise and criticism. And often they’re the cause of cynicism amongst staff – which is obviously not your end goal!

In choosing an employee survey or creating one for yourself, you must be very clear on your purpose and what you want to do after you have the results.  There is a way to do this properly so that it can benefit both your staff AND your business, without leaving people feeling frustrated and yawning at yet ánother’bright idea from management.

See, an employee survey is only as good as the degree to which it’s purpose meets its execution.  Sound simple? It is!

Here’s what I mean.  First, you need to have a clearly defined purpose.  Do you want a survey that sks questions of every staff member, or just a selection? What do you really want to know? Do you have a hidden agenda? See, many business owners have a hidden agenda as to why they are doing an employee survey and let me give you the tip: it’s not so ‘hidden’ to your staff!

Be clear about why you’re running the survey AND what you’re going to do with the results.  The last thing I said is crucially important: know what you’re going to do with the results.  Are you going to share them? Table them? File them? Ignore them? Sit on them for 6 months before acting on them?

Remember that your staff will be watching and waiting to see what you do after the survey.

Finally, I must stress the importance of the way in which you survey your staff.  The questions, ratings, format and method all need to be considered to ensure the most accurate and objective information, and to ensure the whole process has been a success.

I’ve used many surveys over the years: designed some, bought some, and had external companies run them for me.  Now I use one that is benchmarked and statistically based for Australian businesses, and which I believe is the best available for SMEs and even large organisations.

At the end of the day, choose wisely.  Think wisely.  And then you’ll get the benefits.

Just as a personality profile paints a picture of who a persons natural relating style is, an employee survey paints a picture of the business as a whole, and who it really is.

When done properly, an employee survey can uncover a lot of the hidden issues and problems that exist in your business whilst highlighting all the things that are working really well.  Wouldn’t you like to have that kind of information?

Armed with all the nitty gritty about your business operations and the feedback comments from your staff (if you choose to ask them for it), you actually have a big opportunity to make changes that will positively impact the bottom line. You know that any issue or problem in your business is costing you money, by the fact that people are using energy and time to deal with these issues, and often it goes uncovered for a long time.  Sometimes it’s a process issue that you’re unaware of, and there are big implications for you not fixing it.

At the end of the day, if you keep your head in the sand and ignore what’s happening in your business, it will cost you money.  So this is why an employee survey can assist you in creating a plan for making changes to help your business.

An employee survey does take some time and effort to put into place, and you MUST do it properly so that you don’t end up causing cynicism and apathy in your staff.  The way you design it and administer it is directly related to the quality of your outcomes.  So spend the time to ensure you get this part right.

An employee survey is all about you taking responsibility for what’s going on in your business.  If you haven’t done one for over 12 months, it’s time you did.

Plus! Having been a part of a national network of HR professionals for many years, and more recently a specialised network of HR Coaches, I gained some knowledge from their experiences using different reports.

So it wasn’t a difficult decision when I came to choosing a particular type of personality profile report, and quickly became accredited to deliver training, develop reports and consult to people on their particular style.

My personality profile report of choice is DiSC.  Why? Because it’s the most widely used, researched, validated and easy-to-use model available.  The DiSC circumplex is symmetrical and therefore can visually explain the correlation between styles, making it easy for all participants to learn.  No matter what your natural learning style is, this will suit everyone.

I’ve used DiSC now for over 10 years and the more I use it, the more I’m impressed by how easy it is.  Also, my clients love it, get it, and keep using it.

One thing you have to be wary of with other types of reports is the long-winded paragraphs of text that is just so very boring.  No colour on the page, no style, way too verbose, and it can be hard to keep up.  They’re difficult to read and get excited about, especially if you’re a visually stimulated person.

That’s where the DiSC reports I use are different. Recently they have been updated with more colour, different colours for the different styles, and are visually stimulating and interesting to read.  They make sense!  Especially for those who relate to visual diagrams and explanations, rather than analytical ‘black & white’ style formatting.

One last bonus about these reports…. the back section of it is reserved for the participant to make notes about their style and actions they can take towards improving interactions with others of opposing styles.  When used properly, these are also a great development tool.

Well, it’s simple.  Sort of.

A personality profile can tell you about a person’s personality traits, natural tendencies and preferred relating style to others.  So it paints a clear picture of who that person is, and ‘what you’re dealing with’, basically.  Once you do that for your whole team (management included), you’ve got some mighty powerful information to start working with. Then before you know it, life at work with your colleagues and team becomes so much easier and even dealing with customers is more enjoyable.

See where I’m going with this?

Happy staff = happy customers = more money to add to your bottom line.

But this is just the beginning.  The personality profile is the first step to creating a more profitable workplace.  There are development options that you can use, which enhance the personality profile. All of these have been tried, tested and proven to work!

So when you’re serious about understanding your workplace better (and each other), then using personality profiling is the way to go.

There is a ton of information available online, and it sometimes gets confusing for Business Owners to know what to read, who to listen to, and who to trust.

Most Business Owners I work with choose to manage staff by what their own experience has been like in the past.  Which sometimes is good, and sometimes is not.

If you’re open to learning new things, finding new ways to develop staff and being prepared to invest in your most valuable business resource – then you’re in the right place.

I’ve been working with and for staff (in businesses) for over 15 years, at different levels and in different size organisations.  One thing remains constant with me, and that is my ability to understand people dynamics, their true intentions, whether they’re a ‘drag’ on operations or an asset, and knowing what the best outcome is to restore the workplace to a level of peace.  And the tools that I use simply provide substance and metrics to enable you, the Business Owner, to make decisions to benefit the business.  Whether that’s for education, development or change – it’s all to help you grow.

I trust you get some positive gems from this blog, and from the F*ree Report available.

To your business success,

Aveline

Understanding yourself is the very first step in understanding the dynamics of your team, and figuring out how you can all relate to each other better.  This is something that not everyone is very comfortable with, yet it’s a massively important part of being a better leader.  Self-awareness is the way in which you will be able to understand others better, and then work with yourself AND them to reach a positive outcome.

This is where a DiSC Management Profile is brilliant.  It will give you not just your personality profile with your typical or natural relating style, it will show you what your tendencies are as a manager.  It will explain how you delegate, lead, communicate and respond to others naturally.  You’ll also be shown areas that are more difficult for you and how you can overcome them.  Most importantly you’ll be shown how you can develop yourself to become a better manager to your team, and for yourself. Finally, you will be able to create your own plan of action that will assist you in developing yourself as a manager to iron out those areas that are more challenging for you.

The way you manage is not just about your experience or the skills you’ve acquired.  Largely it’s about your personality, which we know that you can work on to better understand your team and reach better outcomes.

So all around it’s a win-win.  Your staff benefit from your enhanced management style and behaviours, and you benefit from understanding your natural management style and how you can better relate with others.  Remember that when dealing with your staff, it’s not personal, it’s personality!