Companies spend more than $1 billion on employee engagement surveys, a very traditional means of finding out what is standing in the way of team member satisfaction and fulfillment.
At Barry-Wehmiller, we prefer a much more personal approach.
外围十大菠菜app和人们交谈. 事实上，外围十大菠菜app让他们说话. We simply ask the right questions and then we open our ears and our minds and we listen.
Years ago we discovered the incredible power of asking one thought-provoking and open-ended question.
Back in 2002, after we drafted our cultural vision statement, the 领导力指导原则(GPL), we began holding what we called “GPL Sessions” designed to take our new principles off the wall and imbue them deep into the hearts and minds of team members across the organization.
We gathered groups of people together at each of our facilities to discuss our new set of beliefs and their feelings about it. We talked about how it reflected our aspirations for what we should and could be and then asked that very important question: “What can we do better?” Essentially we wanted to know where our actions weren’t aligning with our vision.
The value of these sessions was—and still is– priceless. 当时, 当外围十大菠菜app的文化处于形成阶段的时候, the candid dialogue opened our eyes to things we had never noticed before. 因为这些会议，外围十大菠菜app 消除了古老的习俗, 识别领导力差距, discovered hidden talent and learned countless lessons about what it meant to walk our talk. Our team members saw that we were really listening to them and were intentional and passionate about becoming the kind of organization that we described in our Guiding Principles of 领导.
We could not have achieved these same results through something as impersonal and one-dimensional as a survey. 这种人与人之间的双向交流, during which we invited honest and often painful criticism, established huge amounts of trust and mutual respect, enabled people to reveal their emotions and frustrations, and sent the message that we were true partners in creating a better future.
“I’ve never worked at a company who did anything like this,卡罗琳·萨特克利夫说, Event and Project Specialist who recently joined our corporate communications team. Caroline attended her first GPL Listening Session in September. “People who had some difficult issues came forward to ask for help, 但即使你没有任何顾虑, it just feels good to have the opportunity where someone will listen to you. It makes you feel valued because you feel like the company wants to hear from you and is including you in making things better for the future.”
There is so much power behind that simple question “What can we do better?” And we continue to ask it throughout our global organization.
Earlier this year, in preparation for the release of our book, 每个人都很重要, which tells the story of Barry-Wehmiller’s journey from traditional business to a people-centric organization, we encouraged listening sessions to hear how our team members felt the culture in their corners of the organization aligned to what was described in the book. Although we know our journey to a fully people-centric culture is a work in progress, we felt it was a good time again to ask that powerful question in order to identify the gaps. 一如既往地, our team members offered critical feedback and opportunities for improvement that we have already begun to address.
Because of the positive impact this tool has had on Barry-Wehmiller and our people, we now assist other organizations in conducting effective listening sessions through our BW 领导学院 (now 查普曼 & Co. 领导学院, 点击这里阅读更多.) The genuine feelings and deep-rooted issues that our trained facilitators help bring forth at these sessions are often the most critical first step in transforming to a people-centered thriving organization.
“So often we speak of leadership talks and meetings, 但真正需要的是领导层的倾听,马特·沃特说, 她是BW领导力研究所的合伙人.
与调查, 倾听会让你知道你被倾听了, one of the most positive and affirming experiences you can have. When someone truly listens to you, it validates your worth. “我很重要，”它说. “This person cares about what I have to say and therefore cares about me.”
“仅仅通过调查你就能得到数据, but with a listening session you get the data and the human connection,马特说. “你会给你的家人做一个调查吗?? 那为什么要用在你关心的人身上? 他们是某人的家人.”
So instead of turning to expensive and impersonal surveys to determine what’s keeping your team members from being fulfilled, 想想人与人之间交流的力量吧. Ask the right questions and you’ll turn your audience into drivers of positive change rather than mere passengers in the process.