Best practices for employee surveys - Step 8: Get buy-in from stakeholders

Previous Steps
1. Determine Objectives
2. Select a data collection method
3. Get buy-in from managers
4. Develop the process
5. Create a schedule
6. Select a supplier
7. Develop the questionnaire

Step 8: Get buy-in from stakeholders

In Step 7, you developed the questionnaire for your employee survey. Now it is time to get approval of the questionnaire from the various stakeholders in the company.

Although you have already achieved management buy-in for the employee survey process (see Step 3), it is equally important that they approve of the questionnaire that will be used to collect employee opinions and ratings. Skipping this vital step can leave you open to second-guessing and criticism after the survey results are in.

For our purposes, a stakeholder can be defined as anyone in the company with enough authority or influence to represent either an supporter or detractor of the employee survey process. This list typically includes all or most senior managers and many mid-level managers. Although cultures and environments vary among companies, here’s a plan of attack that tends to work well.

1. Start at the top

Take the questionnaire directly to the top decision-maker in the company (CEO, COO, etc.). Explain that you and the research supplier have spent a considerable amount of time fine-tuning the questionnaire and are confident that it will be an effective tool to achieve the objectives of the employee research. However, as a matter of courtesy and respect, you want to give the senior manager the oppportunity to review the survey, indentify any additional topics that need to be addressed, and suggest any further revisions to the questionnaire.

2. Work your way down

When the top decision-maker in the company has blessed the questionnaire, it is time to go to the next most powerful manager or group of managers. Explain that you and the research supplier have spent a considerable amount of time fine-tuning the questionnaire and are confident that it will be an effective tool to achieve the objectives of the employee research. Further, the top decision-maker in the company (CEO, COO, etc.) has also reviewed and approved the survey. However, as a matter of courtesy and respect, you want to give this person or group of people the oppportunity to review the survey before it is deployed.

Consider how different the ensuing conversation would be if you were working your way UP the food chain and had not yet received the blessing of the senior decision-maker. In many companies you would be met with a slew of questions, suggestions, and additional survey topics from people interested in protecting their turf and following their own agendas. However, because you are working from the top down, the questionnaire has already been blessed by the "big boss" and the little bosses are less likely to muddy up the process.

This is not to say that you won’t get good feedback as you work through the stakeholders. You are likely to get a few good questions, comments, and suggestions. However, by following this approach, the process is streamlined and averts the "turf wars" common to large organizations.

Bottom Line

Getting stakeholder buy-in of the questionnaire is a critical step in the employee survey process. Follow these guidelines and you should complete this important task quickly and effectively.

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