organizational health and effectiveness survey: highlights 2014

Organizational Health and Effectiveness Survey

Highlights from the Continuity Consulting

2 © 2014 Continuity Consulting

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

The Seven Categories 4

The Best and The Worst 5

Survey Finding Highlights by Category

Purpose and Strategy 6

Leadership and Management 10

Teams and Collaboration 15

Effective Personal Leadership 20

Organizational Support 24

Roles and Responsibilities 28

Procedures and Work Flow 32

Empowering Leaders 37

Organizational Health and Effectiveness Solutions 38

Contact Us 40


We help well-intentioned, intuitive leaders strengthen and mature their organizations in areas such as purpose and strategy, development of leadership, team collaboration, employee engagement, and overall culture. For this purpose, we designed a survey to assess how employees perceive the health and effectiveness of their organization across seven categories. During early 2014, we began using the survey with clients and field testing it more broadly with respondents representing private, non-profit and public sectors. Through continued use with our clients, we look forward to fine-tuning both the survey itself and the baseline results. Even so, we are eager to share with you some highlights of what we have seen so far. For the sake of comparison, when the responses warrant the distinction, we’ve divided the responses into two groups: (1) the private/non-profit sector – labeled “Private” and (2) the public sector – labeled “Public”.

We empower public and private sector leaders to create and lead healthy, high-performing organizations and teams.


PURPOSE AND STRATEGY –assessing the organization’s clarity of purpose, core values, current strategy, and communication of strategy and culture.

LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT– assessing for employee confidence in managers, as well as for managerial skills, such as constructive feedback, coaching for improvement, performance accountability, recognition and praise, and timely communication.

TEAMS AND COLLABORATION– assessing for mutual trust, intentional team building efforts, healthy conflict around strategy, how disagreements are resolved, whether opinions are valued, and whether the employee feels cared for.

EFFECTIVE PERSONAL LEADERSHIP – assessing the individual’s perceptions regarding their personal development and self-leadership.

ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT – assessing perceived barriers to a job well done and overall governance and enterprise resourcing.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES – assessing people’s perceptions regarding the employment and alignment of their strengths, feelings of contribution to the organization, job expectations, level of job skill preparedness, trust in fellow employees to do quality work, and overall employee engagement.

PROCEDURES AND WORK FLOW – assessing work flow, clarity of decision making procedures, freedom to innovate, communication flow, and meeting management.

Here are the survey’s seven categories. Organizational Health and Effectiveness Survey


The Best and The Worst We provided people with the seven broad categories mentioned above and asked them, “What is the best part of your job?” We asked respondents a companion question as well, “What is the most frustrating part of your job?” We instructed them to mark all that apply. We will highlight the winners and losers throughout this report.

Purpose and Strategy

Roles and Responsibilities

Teams and Collaboration

Procedures and Work Flow

Leadership and Management

Opportunity for Personal Development

Organizational Support

What do you think they chose?


How clear is the purpose and strategic direction of your organization?



What are we looking for?


Why does it matter? “Companies that don’t have a simple and clear statement of strategy are likely to fall into the sorry category of those that have failed to execute their strategy or, worse, those that never even had one. In an astonishing number of organizations, executives, frontline employees, and all those in between are frustrated because no clear strategy exists for the company or its lines of business. [Conversely], a well-understood statement of strategy aligns behavior within the business. It allows everyone in the organization to make individual choices that reinforce one another.” -- David J. Collis and Michael G. Rukstad, Harvard Business Review, April 2008

We are assessing to determine the organization’s clarity of purpose, core values, and strategy. In addition, we are looking at employee awareness and alignment with the mission and goals, as well as, how well culture is communicated, modeled and reinforced throughout the organization.

The reason you exist. What you do. How you get it done. The way you behave.



• Over 90% of respondents (both sectors) believe that they understand the purpose of their organization.

• 84% private sector and 79% public sector respondents believe that they know the organization’s core values and how they are expected to behave.

• Less than half of public sector respondents felt that their organization’s present strategy is clear to them, compared with over 2/3 in the private sector.

• Roughly one in three respondents -- 36% (public) and 26% (private) -- strongly or somewhat disagreed that their organization communicates to all employees that everyone is responsible for maintaining a healthy, high-performing culture.

Survey said:

Our follow-up interviews with employees confirm that survey statistics can often be deceiving. When an organization gives us the opportunity to interview respondents, our follow-up questions are designed to get behind the responses and discover the “reasons why” and the “what now” for the future of the organization. We’ve observed that respondents are reluctant to admit that they don’t know something (that they think they should know) or to admit that they don’t possess skills (that they believe they need to do their job). On some questions, this can cause the results to appear differently than they may be in reality. For example, at one organization we recently worked at, 76% of respondents somewhat or strongly agreed that they know the core values and expectations for behavior, yet during the one-on-one interviews it was immediately evident that there wasn’t a consistent and cohesive understanding of the organization’s values. Responses varied from a simple “I don’t know what they are” to more negative observations about “what the values really are around here.” Healthy, high-performing organizations have a clearly established purpose, vision, mission, and values. “These are communicated and lived out on a daily basis. This is the heart and soul of the organization – its reason for existing. It is what defines its character, forms its rituals, and establishes the shared values and beliefs which create a deep bond with its employees. It makes work meaningful and rewarding.” [Maximizing Workforce Contribution, R. Jensen and K. Aldrich, 2013]

Maybe things aren’t as clear to your employees as you think they are.

Survey said vs. What they said

https://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http://goo.gl/X9DQ6&urlhash=vFbi


What is the best part of your job?

Second Place Winner:

The Organization’s Purpose and Strategy 50%

Over 50% of respondents (both private and public) chose PURPOSE AND STRATEGY: the organization’s mission, values and goals.


Lea ership and Management

“Google found that managers have a much greater impact on employees’ performance

and how they feel about their job than any other factor.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/business/13hire.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0



Why does it matter? “Effective leadership in the workplace is more important than many people realize. For many employees, good leadership within their company may be more important than financial benefits. Experience has shown that people are often willing to leave a company and good benefits when there is a lack of good leadership.” -- Hsin-Yi Cohen, The Importance of Assertive Leadership 75% of people voluntarily leaving their jobs don’t quit their jobs; they quit their bosses. -- Social Knows: Employee Engagement Statistics, 2011

We are seeking to assess whether or not people have confidence in their managers, as well as employee’s perceptions of how their immediate manager does at providing constructive feedback and coaching for improvement, holding people accountable for poor performance, giving recognition and praise for good work, and promptly communicating necessary information.


People-leaders are your cultural DNA carriers.



Eight Good Behaviors Google recently conducted an internal study code-named Project Oxygen. “Their mission was to devise something far more important to the future of Google Inc. than its next search algorithm or app. They wanted to build better bosses.” (Adam Bryant, New York Times)

They found that the best managers have the most productive teams and higher employee retention rates. So they set out to identify what differentiated the best performing teams and managers from the worst. After two years of pouring through data, HR records, exit interviews, surveys -- evaluating over 100 variables, they found eight attributes displayed by most effective managers. Here is what they are (in order of importance).

1. Be a good coach.

2. Empower your team and don’t micromanage.

3. Express interest in team members’ success and personal well-being.

4. Don’t be a sissy: Be productive and results-oriented.

5. Be a good communicator and listen to your team.

6. Help your employees with career development.

7. Have a clear vision and strategy for the team.

8. Have key technical skills so you can help advise the team.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/business/13hire.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0



So how did managers fair in the survey?

Provides constructive feedback?

Deals with poor performance?

Intentionally coaches for improvement?

of respondents (both sectors) strongly agreed that their

manager provides them with constructive feedback to

improve their performance.

Just 25% strongly or somewhat

strongly disagree that their immediate manager deals

effectively with poor performance on the team.

36% 27% public private

feel strongly that their immediate manager

intentionally coaches them for improvement.

10% 20% public private

Well, there is certainly room for improvement! In our experience, there are scores of naturally talented, well intentioned managers, many who are experienced and possess substantial subject-matter expertise, but who have not yet learned the skills or picked up the tools necessary to flourish as a manager of people. However, we have learned that these skills can be developed. We have seen it time and time again.



What is the value of a good boss?

“...Good bosses are a good deal better than bad ones. Replacing a supervisor from the bottom 10% of the pool with one from the top 10% increases output about as much as adding a 10th worker to a nine-worker team.” – “The Value of Bosses”, Lazear, Shaw, and Stanton, 2012

http://www.nber.org/digest/dec12/w18317.html


Have you created an environment where employees can thrive?




Why does it matter? “If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time... Teamwork remains a sustainable competitive advantage that has been largely untapped because it is hard to measure (teamwork impacts the outcome of an organization in such comprehensive and invasive ways that it’s virtually impossible to isolate it as a single variable) and because it is extremely hard to achieve (it requires levels of courage and discipline that few executives possess) – ironically, building a strong team is very simple (it doesn’t require masterful insights or tactics).”

- Patrick Lencioni

We are assessing for mutual trust, intentional team building efforts, healthy conflict around strategy, how well disagreements are resolved, whether opinions are valued, and the whether the employee feels cared for.

The context in which you live out your vision and values.



Our interviews confirmed that people do know what it takes for their team to be healthy and high-performing. At least they know what it should look like. When people were asked to describe “a healthy, high-performing team” or “the best team that you have ever been on”, they quickly rattled off attributes such as:

• Clear Direction

• Professionalism

• Teamwork

• Well-Equipped

• Mutual Trust

• Accountable

• Fun

• Results-Oriented

• Team-First Mindset

People know what healthy and high-performing looks like, however, they may not know how to get there or be empowered to make it happen. Yet, we believe, that if leaders step up and lead in the creation of a healthy, high-performing team, people will follow.

Well over three-quarters of respondents believe that they know what it takes for their team to be healthy and high-performing.



From The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni

“We’re not getting the results we want.”

“There’s no accountability around here.” These are two of the complaints that we often hear from frustrated organizational leaders. If you view the situation through Patrick Lencioni’s five dysfunction of a team framework, it is most certainly at the top of the pyramid where most busy leaders feel the pain. They are not getting results, and they can’t seem to get their people to take responsibility for their performance. What Lencioni articulates, and we stress with our clients, is that if an organization is marked by invulnerability and artificial harmony due to a lack of trust and fear of conflict, there will be ambiguity of direction and low standards due to lack of commitment and an avoidance of accountability, all leading to an inattention to results and leaders who are driven by status and ego. In contrast, if you want a focus on results and accountability to develop, you must begin by building trust, teaching people to mine for conflict (around strategy), and establish processes that gain the commitment of every team member. This foundational team building provides the necessary framework for accountability, a focus on results, and a healthy, high-performing team.


What is the best part of your job?

First Place Winner:


60% of respondents (from both sectors) chose TEAMS AND COLLABORATION: positive relationships, friendships, teamwork, and mutual respect.


Effective Personal Leadership




Why does it matter? “Healthy, high-performing organizations don’t fall from the sky or rise up out of the ground, people build them.” – One of our mantras here at Continuity Consulting

“No matter the organization, the goal, or the mission, you’ve got to do it through people.“ – Admiral Mike Mullen, who, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, oversaw 2.2 million men and women.

We are assessing the individual’s perceptions regarding their personal development and self-leadership across ten character competencies that research has shown to be essential for effective personal leadership, as well as, the leadership of others.

People are the implementers of your vision and values. How well are they leading themselves?



16%

23%

38%

17%

28%

61%

29%

33%

22%

33%

25%

33%

38%

15%

21%

60%

29%

25%

33%

27%

To be proactive, take responsibility for myself and know how to

make a positive difference.

To live life with a sense of significance. I know I can make a

significant contribution.

To embrace problems as positive opportunities and actively seek

out ways to overcome challenges.

To be aware of my values and seek to consistently live them.

To have a clear sense of my personal vision, mission and purpose.

To maintain work/life integration and am able to balance all

aspects of my life.

To quickly and effectively resolve personal challenges and conflicts.

To cultivate my character and have a plan for personal

development.

To adjust well to change and unanticipated obstacles.

To never give up or quit on the things that I value as important.

Personal Leadership Competencies

Public Sector Private Sector

From this list of ten personal leadership competencies, respondents were asked to select three that they would like to develop in the coming year.



From a list of ten personal leadership competencies, respondents were asked to select three that they would like to develop in the coming year (as seen in the graph on the previous page). The top two responses were the same for both the public and private sectors:

1. “To maintain work/life integration and be able to balance all aspects of my life” (chosen by 61% of respondents)

2. “To embrace problems as positive opportunities and actively seek out ways to overcome challenges” (38%).

If you can help your employees develop in these two areas, what difference will it make?

If people can develop healthy work/life integration, they will be able to balance priorities, be less impulsive, be more disciplined, have more energy, be in position to develop a wide range of interests, and be less likely to disengage or burnout. If people can develop the ability to embrace problems as positive opportunities, they will be more optimistic, open-minded, see the big picture, overcome weaknesses, be hopeful, confront issues head on, and be better contributors and teammates.


Resourcing employees.

Removing barriers.

Organizational Support


Do your employees have all the resources they need to do their work right?

There was not much enthusiasm in response to the statement:

“I have all the resources I need to do my work right.”

Just 2% of public sector responses strongly agreed. And the private sector was not significantly better at 18%.


Are there barriers that prevent your employees from doing their job well?

Even though 50% of private sector respondents strongly or somewhat agree that there are no significant barriers at work to doing their job well, 24% strongly or somewhat disagree. In the public sector, 55% strongly or somewhat disagree that there are no barriers. With only 6% strongly agreeing.


Act differently to think differently.

Respondents feel that innovation is encouraged more often in the private sector/non-profit world than in the public sector. However, in both sectors, there was a significant divide. 63% (private) and 45% (public) strongly or somewhat agree that they are encouraged to innovate at work. However, 42% from the public sector strongly or somewhat disagree, compared to just 17% in the private sector. It appears that innovation doesn’t just happen. It needs to be built into the DNA of an organization and deliberately encouraged. As Jeff Bezos has said about Amazon.com, “Innovation is deeply ingrained in all of the nooks and crannies of our culture.” If you desire to increase the level of innovation in your organization or on your team, the first step is to “Act different to think different”.

Inn

ov

atio

n

NO!


Do your employees know what is expected of them at work?

Do they know who is most impacted by how they perform on the job?





Why does it matter? “In fact, leaders of companies that go from good to great start not with ‘where’ but with ‘who.’ They start by getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.” – Jim Collins, author of Good to Great

70% of U.S. workers are not engaged at work. – “State of the American Workforce,” Gallup, 2013

2.5x more revenues for companies with engaged employees versus competitors with low engagement levels. – Hay Group study, 2012

Studies found that highly engaged employees were 87% less likely to leave their companies than their disengaged counterparts. – Corporate Leadership Council

We are assessing people’s perceptions regarding the employment and alignment of their strengths, feelings of contribution to the organization, clear job expectations, level of job skill preparedness, trust in fellow employees to do quality work, and overall employee engagement.

Getting the right people with the right attitudes and the right skills in the right job.


90% (private) and 75% (public) respondents feel that they have the necessary knowledge and skills to do their job well.

However, respondents have less confidence in their co-workers.

Just 8% (public), compared

to 25% (private), answered that they strongly agree that their fellow employees can be trusted to do quality work in a timely manner.

I Trust My Ability. Not So Sure About You.



How engaged are your employees?

Only half of

respondents strongly

agreed that they know

their strengths and work

within them the majority of the time.

Am I a Contributor? feel strongly that they are

making an effective contribution to what the

organization does.

38%

49%

public

private

50%

In response to the statement, “My job provides me the opportunity to do challenging and interesting work”, we found a huge distinction between the public and private sectors.

• 51% of private sector respondents strongly agreed with the statement.

• On the other hand, in the public sector, just 33% strongly agreed, while 17% strongly disagreed.

The Public Sector Challenge Bringing some of this data together, we see that 17% of public sector respondents strongly believe that their job does not provide them with the opportunity to do challenging and interesting work. Combine this with just 25% selecting that “the opportunity for personal development and growth” is the one of the best parts of their job. These unmotivated, disengaged public sector employees may remain in their jobs for the security and benefits, but that creates a significant problem. Preferably, these people either need greater awareness of their contribution, training to become more effective, more accurate role alignment to increase their effectiveness or, as a last resort, to leave the organization. If things remain as they are, these individuals may become further disengaged and a source of negativity in the organization.


How are you doing on the little things? Procedures and Work Flow



Procedures and Work Flow

Why does it matter? “Written policies and procedures provide the framework for a company's entire operation. They provide clear direction for employees as well as insights into company philosophies, values and ethical standards. ..[They] typically provide a framework for implementing a company's goals and vision. Business leaders want to develop an organizational culture with values that align with the firm's mission and purpose. For example, a customer-centric company would typically have values and policies that promote a culture that supports efforts of employees to meet the needs of customers.” -- Neil Kokemuller

“Over my career, I have worked with a number of organizations. The ones that were the most effective, had highest employee morale and fewest compliance failures had one thing in common: they valued written policies and procedures highly. The organizations and departments that were the most troubled did not. They saw written procedures as inconvenient, unimportant, unnecessary and an annoyance.” – Lewis Kinard, Assistant General Counsel at American Heart Association

We are assessing work flow, clarity of decision making procedures, freedom to innovate, communication flow, and meeting management.

Policies and Procedures answer the “what” and “how” questions for individuals within an organization.


Little Things Matter.

We found that just 56% (private) and 39% (public) respondents strongly or somewhat agree that their team meetings are a good use of time.

Are your team meetings

a good use of time?

Many respondents were not happy with how quickly their immediate manager communicates important information to them. Only 33% (private) and 21% (public) were strongly affirming.

How well do you

communicate?

When it came to questions about decision making in the organization, over 50% of respondents in both sectors feel it is clear who and at what level decisions are made. Yet, conversely, over a quarter of respondents strongly or somewhat disagreed.

Is there clarity around

decision making?


The public sector respondents felt very strongly about the lack of clear procedures – 65% compared to 34% in the private sector.

65% compared to 34%

In both sectors, the top two choices were the same: (1) CLEAR PROCEDURES “The lack of clear procedures, in areas such as meeting management, decision making, communications, and employee evaluation and recognition” [65% Public and 34% Private], and (2) CLEAR ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES “The lack of clear roles, responsibilities, expectations and mutual accountability” [52% Public and 43% Private]. See page 5 for more information on “The Best and The Worst”.


Facing The Worst

What are you doing to help your employees build good relationships with people at work? People spend a lot of time at work, and they enjoy making friends at work. According to research done by Gallup, the number-one reason people leave their jobs: They don't feel appreciated. (How Full is your Bucket? 2004). In another Gallup study, the results showed twelve critical perceptions that employees have of their jobs that have statistically significant impact on their teams’ levels of profitability, productivity, customer satisfaction ratings, and employee turnover. One of those twelve was, “My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.” (First Break All The Rules, 2001).

Is the lack of clear procedures, roles or responsibilities putting relationships to the test? A lack of clear procedures, roles or responsibilities will put friendships and collaborative relationships to the test. The basics – systems and structures – matter. This is the everyday reality of an organization. If you find that good people are habitually misunderstanding one another, landing in conflict, having to apologize to one another on a regular basis, do some of your own research. Trace the issues back to their root causes. It is likely that it is not foundationally a relational problem, but a lack of clear procedures or roles and responsibilities that are putting a strain on good people and their relationships.

Questions for You to Consider

In general, the public sector respondents felt they had about 60% more to be frustrated about than the respondents from the private sector, averaging 2.8 selections per person compared to 1.7.

In response to the question:

What is the most frustrating part of

your job?

Empowering

[email protected]

Our work has brought us into relationship with many well-intentioned and first-rate leaders.

These leaders possess natural leadership skills, and have served under experienced leaders, so they know what ‘good’ looks like. Most importantly, they have a strong desire to see their organizations become healthy and high-performing.

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Today’s leaders face numerous challenges to building and sustaining a healthy, high-performing organization.

For one thing, organizational leaders are extremely busy. We’ve worked with many leaders who spend most of their days in meetings, conference calls, and firefighting critical issues. This leaves little or no time for gaining firsthand knowledge of what is really going on in their organization, let alone for creating the time and space necessary for visionary, ideological or strategic thinking.

Leaders need information in order to make good choices.

The higher up the leadership ladder you go, the less unfiltered information seems to flow your way. We recently worked with one senior executive who has five layers of management beneath her. She is a knowledgeable and intuitive leader. However, the chance of her receiving unfiltered, comprehensive and accurate information through that lengthy chain of command is like playing the party game “Telephone,” in which a message is whispered around a circle, becoming comically distorted by the time it completes the circuit. While that’s a fun party game, no leader wants to be in that position.

Empowering Leaders to Transform Their Organizations.

[email protected]

We are providing leaders with solutions proven to accelerate transformation.

It is with these unique challenges in mind that we have created our Organizational Health and Effectiveness Solutions. We know that you are busy, your time is valuable, and that you want results, so we make it easy for you to get started. We’ve broken the process down into three clear options – all based on the solutions that our past clients have found most effective. Through a combination of thorough assessment, advisory services, coaching, and workshops, we empower you and your team to transform your organization and to create sustainable change.

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Option 1: Assess for Organizational Health and Effectiveness This opportunity was created for small to mid-sized companies and startups that are looking for a thorough assessment of the cultural health and performance effectiveness of their organization in order to identify areas for improvement. This is also ideal for teams or business units within larger organizations who are just getting started together or who desire to take the steps necessary to become a pocket of greatness within their organization.

Option 2: Build a Healthy, High-Performing Team

This program was crafted for executives, managers, project managers and team leaders who want a step-by-step, structured and proven approach to developing their team.

Option 3: Build a Healthy, High-Performing Organization This comprehensive and robust program was created for executive and senior managers who seek a structured and proven process of assessment, roadmap development, and implementation of solutions in order to build a healthier, higher-performing organization.

See the next page for more details on each of these options.

[email protected] 39

Service Descriptions 1 2 3

One-on-one with senior leaders to clarify the desired future state of the organization

Kick-off presentation to management team (<10 people*)

Kick-off presentation to employees

Organizational Health and Effectiveness Survey (confidential, online)

One-on-one interviews -- questions tailored from survey data (Option 2: less than 10 people; Option 3: up to 30 people*)

MERIT Profile™ assessments (Option 2: less than 10 people; Option 3: up to 30 people*)

Findings and Recommendations Summary Report

Findings and recommendations executive briefing

Comprehensive Findings and Recommendations Report (including all survey data and a presentation slide deck)

The Road Map – a tailored plan to get the organization from HERE (present state) to THERE, (preferred future) including milestones, re-assessment points, and strategic steps toward greater operational effectiveness

BUILD TEAMS interactive group training with management team (4 sessions; <10 people*)

On-site coaching for key members of the management team as they launch The Road Map (<5 people*)

LEADER LAUNCH One-on-One Coaching (Leader’s first 90 days) or TEAM LAUNCH (<10 people*)

Exit Assessment Survey (<30 people*)

Let’s have a conversation to determine the option that is best for your team or organization or to customize a solution to meet your needs.

Initiate

Assess

Advise

Train

Re-Assess

options Organizational Health and Effectiveness Solutions

[email protected]

Contact Us

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2250 E. Bidwell, Suite 100, Folsom, CA 95630 Phone 916-458-5151

[email protected] www.continuityconsulting.com

organizational health and effectiveness survey: highlights 2014

Documents

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communication of strategy

organizational health

work flow

development of leadership

effective personal leadership

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