Why Employee Suggestion Boxes Don’t Work
Why Employee Suggestion Boxes Don’t Work
* Feedback systems are often black boxes. Ideas and suggestions either never get seen or fall on deaf ears. If you aren’t willing face the brutal facts and take immediate corrective action, then DON’T ASK FOR SUGGESTIONS.
* Feedback received isn’t timely. If the system is designed to gather information, but it’s not noticed or acted on immediately, then the problem either already did its damage or has grown into a bigger problem.
* Suggestions are poorly defined. Too often, employee feedback systems are only used to vent personal issues about peers, managers and customers and don’t identify the core operation or process that is broken.
* Lack of accountability. Most systems don’t provide any feedback loops to ensure corrective measures are identified, implemented and standardized.
* Feedback is ad-hoc, not systematic. If you don’t make it a priority everyday, or every week – then feedback systems won’t stick long-term.
Now the good news. This doesn’t have to be rocket science - here are a few tips to get an effective feedback system started:
* Make it a habit.
* Keep it anonymous.
* Make it about what, not about who.
* Good systems ask for feedback on corrective measures that will work; good systems are not just looking for complaints.
* Don’t shoot the messenger - if you aren’t ready to hear the brutal facts, then go to another website.
* Make sure the issues are visible so EVERYONE can weigh-in on what issues need addressing first.
* Never, ever stop! It’s continuous improvement.
* Offer rewards when improvements save the company time, energy and money. It only works if everyone has a stake in the outcome.
* When you listen - don’t defend but keep an open ear and mind to what your people have to say.
Today more than ever we all need to work together to identify and solve the issues that are holding our performance back. Employees and owners can no longer look to the other for the answers - we need to work together to make our organizations and ourselves stronger, better and more effective.
Why Employee Suggestion Boxes Dont Work - To learn more about this author, visit John Stepleton's Website.
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First, I’ll start with why some employee feedback programs don’t work:
* Feedback systems are often black boxes. Ideas and suggestions either never get seen or fall on deaf ears. If you aren’t willing face the brutal facts and take immediate corrective action, then DON’T ASK FOR SUGGESTIONS.
* Feedback received isn’t timely. If the system is designed to gather information, but it’s not noticed or acted on immediately, then the problem either already did its damage or has grown into a bigger problem.
* Suggestions are poorly defined. Too often, employee feedback systems are only used to vent personal issues about peers, managers and customers and don’t identify the core operation or process that is broken.
* Lack of accountability. Most systems don’t provide any feedback loops to ensure corrective measures are identified, implemented and standardized.
* Feedback is ad-hoc, not systematic. If you don’t make it a priority everyday, or every week – then feedback systems won’t stick long-term.
Now the good news. This doesn’t have to be rocket science - here are a few tips to get an effective feedback system started:
* Make it a habit.
* Keep it anonymous.
* Make it about what, not about who.
* Good systems ask for feedback on corrective measures that will work; good systems are not just looking for complaints.
* Don’t shoot the messenger - if you aren’t ready to hear the brutal facts, then go to another website.
* Make sure the issues are visible so EVERYONE can weigh-in on what issues need addressing first.
* Never, ever stop! It’s continuous improvement.
* Offer rewards when improvements save the company time, energy and money. It only works if everyone has a stake in the outcome.
* When you listen - don’t defend but keep an open ear and mind to what your people have to say.
Today more than ever we all need to work together to identify and solve the issues that are holding our performance back. Employees and owners can no longer look to the other for the answers - we need to work together to make our organizations and ourselves stronger, better and more effective.
Why Employee Suggestion Boxes Dont Work - To learn more about this author, visit John Stepleton's Website.
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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