"Surveys have come a long way in the last few decades, and used properly, they can have a profound influence on the performance culture of an organisation", to quote Elaine Robertson, Employee Insights Manager for Vodafone. "Our leadership team really does believe that employees will make or break us. So we need to know what they think."


Surveys are a significant investment for any company both in terms of both time and money. To get the most out of a survey the following basic rules should be followed:

• Know why you are doing the survey, and tailor your questions to find the answers to this
• Select a supplier; if you want to benchmark against the rest of your industry you should choose a major research firm
• Sell the idea to the managers by linking the survey to performance; without their buy-in and enthusiasm the uptake is likely to be poor
• Timing: consider how long it will take to generate action plans from the survey and when you will need to put in applications for budget to implement these actions
• Consider how you are going to convey feedback to the staff in a timely and open way: Who will deliver the feedback; when and how will they deliver it?
• Consider how you are going to develop action plans from the survey and who is going to be accountable for delivering these action plans

One survey tool to enhance team performance is Extended DISC® Team Alignment, available from the international boutique consulting practice Performance Solution. It is a survey tool based on the most up-to-date leadership and people-management theories and includes consultation with experienced executive coaches in both the planning and facilitation of team workshops where the results are fed back to the team and action plans are made. Funding for the survey is available through the Government's Train to Gain initiative.

In these times of great change and uncertainty, companies with staff showing greater creativity and commitment will do better. A great starting point for this is to find out what they are thinking. You never know: you might just become a master of all you survey.