Effective Action Planning Strategies to Ensure Your Employee

Effective Action Planning Strategies to Ensure Your Employee Survey Leads to Tangible Improvements Presented by: Matt Roddan ORC International’s Employee Research Practice October 13 th 2011

Welcome • Your speaker today: Matt Roddan Head of US Employee Research

Agenda for today’s session • How successful is action planning? • The top 5 reasons why employee survey results don’t lead to action – Case Study: Sodexo • Summary: Four steps to successful action planning • Q&A

A leading provider of employee engagement research & solutions Top 10 global market research organization International coverage with 17 offices across the globe Leader in employee research services and employee engagement modeling – supported more than 200 organizations in the last year Employee research & technical team of 50+ research consultants, technicians and statisticians P. 4

Our Approach We specialize in employee engagement research - helping our clients to understand their people and improve their organizational performance. Maintain engagement and How do wealignment increase engagement? Organizational aims Are our highest performing Vision &staff strategy highly engaged? Values and culture Business objectives Which groups are the most and least engaged? What is the impact on the bottom line if People objectives engagement increases?

How successful is action planning?

What does the data say? Q. I believe that action will be taken on the problems identified in this survey • Average response rate in the US for employee surveys is 69% • 47% of US staff believe that action will be taken on the results of the survey

The top 5 reasons why employee survey results don’t lead to action

• The top 5 reasons why employee survey results don’t lead to action

Reason 1 The process isn’t planned thoroughly enough or early enough

Where does action fit in? Develop questionnaire Take action! Track Communicate results Develop Conduct survey Communicate results Analyze results Set objectives & engage stakeholders Plan Develop questionnaire Take action! Analyze results Communicate Conduct survey Train

A Corporate and Local approach Success requires action both at the Corporate and Local level: Corporate level Teams/ Departments/ Stores In order to be successful, priorities should be focused and consistent, with flexibility to address local issues

Creating a strategy What does success look like for us? What timescales do we need to work to? How does it fit with our other business objectives? What support is available for managers? How will we communicate what we do?

Reason 2 The data isn’t available quickly enough or in a format that can be used to generate action

The importance of pace! Survey closes Headline results Managers clear of expectations Corporate priorities decided Delivery of team reports Deadline set for initial discussions Progress monitored and tracked Plans submitted

What information do managers need to take action? User friendly and intuitive reports Support materials

Reason 3 It is difficult to move from a report to a SMART plan

What is SMART? Timely SMART plans are important and it is worth considering the effort and impact of actions Relevant Attainable Measureable Lost Cause Big Impact Waste of time Quick Win Effort Specific Impact

An example Results show that staff do not have a clear understanding of the goals of the organization Plan A Ø Strategy Paper already exists Ø Signpost people to the Intranet Ø Quick win! Ø Communications to lead Ø Outcome: improved EES results Plan B Ø A chance to increase leadership team visibility and sense of direction/vision? Ø “Bringing the vision to life” workshop with middle management to develop compelling story Ø Story to be presented at front line staff events by relevant SMT member(s) Ø Roll out over the next 6 months Ø John Smith is action sponsor, comms. to lead on plan Ø Measure success through event evaluation/feedback

Providing practical tools to help managers get SMART The questions that need asking: • WHAT needs to happen? • HOW will you make this happen? • WHEN will it happen? – Start and completion dates… and review dates • WHO will do it? • WITH what resources? Bearing in mind… • WHAT difference will the action make? • HOW will success be measured?

Reason 4 There is no way to track what is actually happening!

You Said… We Did… errrr? ? When action is being taken across the organization it is worth collating plans centrally. Not only does this keep a record of action being taken, you can use it to: üEnsure plans are smart üProvide support where managers may be struggling ü‘Buddy up’ managers who are working on the same area to share expertise. But, collating action plans can be an overwhelming task if not managed effectively.

How to track action

Case Study: Sodexo

Sodexo CARES: Speak Up! • Sodexo Health Care – provider of essential on-site service solutions • Sodexo CARES: Speak Up! – Health Care division’s employee survey – 300+ departments at hospitals and retirement communities across the US, – More than 14, 000 frontline employees • Survey measures employee engagement and its key drivers • A holistic approach to employee research, focusing on local action planning

Survey Champions and Appreciative Action Planning • Online survey dashboard to support survey champions through every stage of the process • • Champions can access their own results and log action plans in response “Trigger” system to get action plans approved and create clear accountability

Reason 5 Action does happen, but people don’t know about it

When the initial excitement has died down the challenge really begins • Target setting and monitoring progress • Making this a part of day to day practice communicate You said… we did…

The importance of a strong communications strategy Effective action Effective communication Successful survey outcome The communication of actions can often be where successful action planning can fall apart. It is important to have a plan in place to communicate your actions so that employees are aware of the work which is underway. Hint: Time your communications carefully so that actions are not overshadowed by other important messages.

Some examples

Don’t be afraid… this isn’t rocket science

In conclusion: Four Steps to Success • Strategy development • Process planning • Get ready communication Plan Train • Project/delivery teams • Champions/ facilitators • Report owners • Focus groups and special issue investigations • Corporate plan development • Support for Local planners Develop Track • Tools to measure progress and enable sharing of best practise • Plan evaluation and review

Questions?

We want to hear from you! Questions About Today’s Webinar? Contact: Matt Roddan matt. roddan@orcinternational. com Let’s Keep the Discussion Going! ‘ORC International Employee Engagement’ THE HR survey of the year – the results are in! Join us for a webinar where we present the biggest challenges facing HR in 2011 Wednesday 19 th October, 2 pm EST