For the past couple of OnTrack issues, we’ve been talking about communication within organizations – getting information out to staff and sharing information between managers who work different shifts. But getting information from staff is also very important.

I love the idea I just heard from Shawn Askinosie, of Askinosie Chocolate in Springfield, MO. After Shawn attended ZingTrain’s “Small Giants” seminar, he went back and revisited his mission statement – which had gotten “buried in my business plan someplace.” He labeled the existing statement as a draft and posted it in the company’s work room. According to Shawn, “People emailed me about it. People met with me about it. We then decided on a final mission statement… Here is the cool part. We keep the mission posted in our main chocolate making room. We write on it every week. Anybody can write whatever they feel has happened that relates to the mission. So in that sense it is interactive.”

Those of you who have been to a seminar in the last couple of years have probably participated in a structured question and answer session that we call Open Forum, but we use the format regularly in large staff meetings and departmental huddles alike. When you’ve presented a vision for an organization change or shared a bunch of information on any topic and want to generate discussion and questions, Open Forum is a great tool to use. For an overview of the process, check out the ZingTools.

Another systematic way to get feedback and input from employees is to conduct a regular staff survey. Here at Zingerman’s we’ve been using our “Feelin’ Groovy” survey since 2004. We use the 12 questions that the Gallup organization has validated through their extensive research and that are explained in the book, First, Break All the Rules. After all, why reinvent the wheel when we can learn from something that has worked for someone else? (see ZingTools for the list of Gallup survey questions)

Since we started doing a staff survey, we’ve offered it quarterly, and although we value the information that the survey results provide, we’ve also been frustrated that we are unable to effectively act on the results before it’s time for the next survey. So we’ve just decided to shift from 4 surveys a year to 2 surveys a year. Our goals are to 1) minimize “survey burnout” that we think is having a negative impact on participation rates and 2) give us a better chance of seeing results of changes made in response to the results reflected in the subsequent survey.

I’m interested in how many of you are doing regular staff surveys and, if so, whether you are using the Gallup questions (as many seminar participants tell us they are) or some other format. Do you have other ways of soliciting feedback and communication from your staff? What have you found particularly useful? What have you done differently in your business because of the feedback you’ve gathered? Please write to us at zingtrainzingermanscom.

Thanks for reading!