It is important to have a means for understanding issues employees have that are preventing high performance. When employees have unaddressed issues this frequently results in low morale and lower performance. Thus knowing what their major issues are and addressing them should be a high priority.
Possible issues could include:
-no one listens
-not appreciated
-priorities change too rapidly
-issues with a particular supervisor
-issues with a fellow employee
-working environment
-working hours
-fear of company success
-lack of teamwork
-lack of trust
-fear of reprisal
-lack of important information
-no means for providing suggestions
- Identifying the issues your employees might have is the first step in the process. I believe that appropriately designed employee interviews can be an effective technique for understanding their issues as I have seen this work. The employees should be told why the interviews are being conducted. This could be that “top leadership wants to know of any barriers that might be interfering with employees being able to do their jobs in a highly productive way”. They should also be told that no one will know what any specific individual said. All input would simply be summarized and presented to top management and they will be responsible for addressing their issues.
- A key question is determining who should conduct the interviews. There are two basic options with one being a person or persons in the organization or an outside resource. This person must be someone the employees can trust and often it is best to have someone like a consultant that is not a part of the organization.
- The issues identified should be summarized and presented to top management. They would be responsible for developing and implementing a plan for addressing the important issues.
Can you afford not have a means for not understanding issues preventing your employees from doing their jobs in a highly productive way?
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