Monthly Archives: February 2018

From your own experience, describe on occasion when you filled out a questionnaire or survey. Did you feel that questionnaire/survey asked meaningful questions or asked for meaningful opinions?

Every 2 years, our organization launches a global engagement survey.  The survey consists of 43 questions that are asked based upon 12 different categories including:

• Communication
• Supervisor
• Recognition
• Engagement
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Enablement
• Energy
• Line of Sight
• Retention
• Commitment
• Performance and Development
• Compensation and Benefits

I think that the questions that are asked on the survey are very meaningful because they directly relate the things that directly contribute to overall engagement and retention of associates.

This survey has been implemented for the past 10+ years, and the questions haven’t changed significantly.  I think that this is important for associates to understand, because it demonstrates that the organization is interested in the consistency of feedback.  For this reason, I think that the survey is one of the most meaningful questionnaires that our organization launches.

Regardless of the questions that are asked on the survey I (and most associates) think that it’s more important for the organization to demonstrate that they are acting on the feedback from the survey.  There is a lot of effort put into boosting the participation rates of the associates, and typically, we have a 70% response rate.  If the associates are taking the time to provide their feedback, it’s critical for the organization to make efforts around communicating the results and taking action on the feedback.  If our organization doesn’t do this timely, it could be perceived that they don’t care about the feedback and it’s just another “HR initiative”.

From your own experience, describe a situation in which you receive feedback. Was it a helpful experience? If not, why not?

When I got promoted to a Manager, I had a feedback session with my boss that I found to be extremely valuable.  As an individual contributor, most of my communication involved reporting out- and in most cases, reporting “up” (to my boss).  I tended to do most of the talking in meetings and other group settings.  Soon after my promotion, my boss, Sarah, asked to meet with me following a meeting that I had with my new team in which Sarah had also been able to attend.  The course of our meeting is still very clear to me.

She indicated at the beginning of our discussion that the purpose of the discussion was for her to provide some feedback to me regarding observations she had made during the meeting.  She encouraged me to be open to the feedback and reassured me that the intent was for my development as a new leader.  The focus of her feedback was about my communication during the meeting and how it felt as though I dominated the discussion, which resulted in others possibly not sharing their own ideas.   Before I had the opportunity to even say, “that wasn’t my intention”, she reassured me by saying, “I know that wasn’t your intent, but my observation is that your actions (dominating the discussion) resulted in others not participating”.

She shared with me that one of the initial learnings she had as a new manager was talking less and listening more.  She shared a similar “lesson” that she had learned from a similar situation and this was an area of development for her as well.

The reason why this was so impactful to me was that the environment and her approach was genuine, warm, and non-threatening.  She communicated the “why” behind her feedback so that I would understand its importance and she supplemented her coaching with her own personal experiences.  This style is something that I have since adopted when I’m providing feedback to members of my team.