Once again reason to love Canadians……………
In a recent survey given to the Orangeville Ontario Police Service the answer choices were:
- All the Time
- Usually
- Occasionally
- Are You Kidding?
When it came to the question about employee morale being on the high side 47% chose ARE YOU KIDDING!
I love it! Love it. Love it. Love it.
I’ve seen surveys given by many an employer here in the US. Our version of Are You Kidding is Disagree, Strongly Disagree, No or some other boring, meaningless, overused, “safe” word that leaves those taking the survey with no clue as to the thoughts behind the choice.
Are You Kidding jumps out. Are You Kidding is a huge red flag. Are You Kidding says, “Crap, we better do something……and fast.” Are You Kidding says it is time for leaders/managers to get in touch. Are You Kidding is also an opportunity to build a stronger organization; to address what is really going on. Unless of course you really don’t want to know.
Now the article also states that the Police Service is putting a team together to “address the recommendations.” Let’s just hope they don’t do that US style; 6 months of meetings to come up with some some options to present to some VP/Director etc. that will lead to who knows what. Here are 10 ideas for any organization struggling with the morale issue to move the process forward now. And they’re pretty simple. They don’t need a committee and you can probably implement some of them as soon as you finish reading them. Really. I’m not kidding.
And next time you send out an employee survey I challenge you to use ARE YOU KIDDING as one of the choices. Yes, it might feel like a dagger just went through your heart, bruise your ego or get you questioning your abilities; but you also have an opportunity to engage your employees, improve the employee experience and move your organization to a much better place.
For more about the Orangeville Survey you can read the original article here
