Case: digging into disappointing employee survey results

How a FMCG crowdsourced solutions using Synthetron online dialogues following disappointing survey results on retention and work life balance.

 

“This exceeded our expectations, and those were high.”

— Senior board member

 

Situation

A multinational consumer goods company board member was surprised to see – despite overall good results – some very low work-life balance and retention scores in his business unit (BU).

Management did not have instant answers for the disappointing survey results.  They also lacked insight into what potential actions would work to turn these scores around.

They wanted to dig deeper into the survey results by engaging employees in a different way.

 

Approach

Together with representatives of the company,.Synthetron developed the questions for an online dialogue to better understand the low work-life balance and retention scores.

The entire BU was invited to spend 1 hour of its monthly “all in office” day to join a Synthetron session about work-life balance and retention.

Top management observed the discussion in a separate room. In this way, they experienced the authentic feedback and could sense the energy of the conversation.

Results

On the day of the discussion, the entire BU felt lots of energy and excitement. Some difficult topics were on the table, and solutions were now clearly articulated.

Within two weeks, Synthetron presented the results to the management and two weeks later to all participants. The results provided insight into what the different issues were. Motivators and de-motivators were itemized. 4 actionable improvement areas with specific suggestions for implementation were presented.

In addition, a mindset analysis made the management aware of how important it was for them to act.  The mindset analysis also explained how management could best communicate about some of the very sensitive issues.

The BU management took action on the practical solutions suggested.  They also addressed the sensitive issues very openly. This created instant good will and a significant increase in employees’ survey scores the next year.

Case: assessing readiness for culture change

How a global company used a Synthetron value jam to assess readiness for a culture change.

Situation


A worldwide division of a large industrial services multinational developed a proposed new corporate culture with a changed mission.

They wanted to test this in order to launch it successfully at the worldwide top 500 conference.

This involved getting input from different locations before the conference.

Approach


Synthetron organised a value jam session with 8 online open discussions split by employee segment. The goal was to identify present: motivators, irritators, and hopes and fears.

The resulting synthetrons (most supported statementes) were analysed by segment. Furthermore they were integrated to give an overall insight into prevailing, missing, and aspirational values for different managerial segments.

The synthetron and mindset analysis produced a clear overall value map (values that enabled or slowed down). The value map contained a profile of each segment: person, team, company, and outside world.

Results


Management realised there was a significant gap between today’s aspirations & emotions on the one hand and the proposed new culture on the other.

Furthermore, they realised this would compromise the worldwide conference and that they needed to adapt the proposed corporate culture based on the input, and find the necessary bridges and convincing arguments, before moving ahead.

They postponed the conference while they addressed this gap.

Case: addressing diversity to improve retention

Synthetron online dialogues. Home. Moving forward. Together

How a top league consultancy used Synthetron to address diversity and improve female consultants’ retention.

Situation


A top league consultancy was concerned about the high staff turnover of its female consultants just before they became partner.

They had appointed a diversity manager to solve this retention challenge, because they felt they did not adequately address diversity.

Hence, they wanted to understand the drivers of the high turnover, and how to keep this group engaged.

Approach


Two separate Synthetron sessions were set up: one for male, and one for females consultants, all potentially becoming partner in the next 3 years. The script that we developed with the client was the same for both discussions.

The question script was developed with representatives of the client and of Synthetron, it addressed 3 main topics:

• Identifying the employee value proposition that consultants had in mind when joining the company (the reasons and ambitions).
• The current satisfaction of the job/company (motivators and currently perceived motivators and tension points).
• The future ambitions and expectations.

In the discussion particular attention was given to understanding the triggers. When and how did tension points become breaking points? And, what measures could be co-created that would prevent this from happening?

The anonymity and safe space of the Synthetron discussion insured that everybody could freely speak their minds. 90% of the target group female consultants and 60% of the much larger group of male consultants joined their respective discussions.

Discovery


Synthetron consultants analysed the discussion data. They created a concise segmented report, comparing the insights of the two discussions – male and female consultants – in a grid of drivers, distractions and retention solutions.

The outcome demonstrated that both groups had very distinct sets of motivation, tension points, and retention factors.

This output has made the organisation decide to fundamentally differentiate its HR policy towards both groups with a more menu type of approach (balancing between learning , care policy, part time or flexibility …etc).

This led to adapted career paths. This made them more effective and simultaneously avoided give away to one or the other group. The results of the Synthetron were reported internally to all participants.

Case: building Employee Value Proposition from the bottom up

Synthetron online dialogues. Home. Moving forward. Together

How a telecom company built its Employee Value Proposition (EVP) from the bottom up using Synthetron online dialogues.

 

“When you deal with a big company, it is not always easy to get the opinion of large groups of employees…Working with Synthetron has allowed us to involve a big part of the company when defining our Employee Value Proposition. The Synthetron process is simple, the outcome very valuable, and our people really enjoyed participating. Thanks to the chat sessions we now have a more realistic view about how our employees perceive us as an employer.“

— VP Employee Engagement Belgacom (Belgium)

Situation

The challenge of Belgacom’s HR department in a changing market environment was two-fold:

  • Maintaining a high level of motivation and employee engagement
  • Attracting the right people

Available material was too generic to help build the “who we are” and “who we want to be” pictures for the Employee Value Proposition (EVP).

Approach

First, the desired insight was identified: the components of the EVP (affiliation, culture, HR policies, way of working and job). Then participants from 6 business-critical target segments were recruited.  In total, we conducted for 11 Synthetron online discussions in three different languages over three days.

Synthetron designed the discussions to trigger all of our 3H components.  3H components are: behaviour (Heart), rational thinking (Head), and competencies (Hand). People discussed what motivated them about the company and what they were less enthusiastic about.  They also shared their aspirations.   Finally, they gave their advice to the leadership.

The participants were thanked and given a quick report after every discussion. This created a lot of goodwill.

Results

We structured the management report in two parts to make it more actionable. The first part gave the global view of all segments.  The second gave specific insight per segment in terms of: drivers, image, mind-set, and management implications.

Profile sheets were also created.  These indicated the starting level and drivers of engagement and how to improve or maintain them, the recommended tone of voice, and finally what is common and different to other profiles.

The report, profile sheets and subsequent workshops helped Belgacom to successfully revise the EVP.

This new sharp and strong EVP has since helped to:

  • Build the internal employee branding plan
  • Rewrite job advertisements and find better-fit candidates
  • Rewrite the internal career site and reach higher training rates
  • Launch new strategic employee programs

Click the “download file” button for more detailed information on this case.

Case: addressing disappointing HR survey results

Synthetron online dialogues. Home. Moving forward. Together

How a multinational organization used Synthetron’s crowdsourcing method to address disappointing HR survey results.

Situation

The annual internal employee satisfaction survey produced disappointing results for “leadership” and “trust” measures.

Management discussion led to the idea that by reorganising the organisation, most of these issues would be solved. However, they wanted to hear from the floor if this was really the case.

What really matters to the employees?

Approach

Synthetron held a series of 8 Synthetron discussions segmented by management level and business unit/country.

In the discussions participants were first asked the same poll question as in the survey for calibration, followed by a discussion of why to identify root causes.

Next, the focus was on identifying the solutions and Key Success Factors. During the discussion, the hypothesis of re-organisation was tested.

Discovery

Synthetron identified a surprising set of root-causes. The main root cause was the decision making process in the organisation. In none of the discussions did the participants confirm that reorganisation was the way forward. 4 actions surfaced repeatedly as higher synthetrons (broadly supported statements) in all the discussions.

The report gave management insights into what actions would have most impact and which were perceived less important.

Management shared the report openly with the participants and held a set of global web meetings to share what actions were identified through the Synthetron session.

In the end, no reorganisation took place. Rather, the decision process was streamlined and a campaign to strengthen empowerment was launched.

The following year’s survey showed significant better results on trust and leadership.

Case: team building for the new CEO

Synthetron online dialogues. Home. Moving forward. Together

How the CEO of a small charity used Synthetron to understand the real story of why things weren’t working.

Situation

As new CEO, he was struggling with team building. He needed to find out what was really going on. Who’d have thought that such a small charity would have such complex personal dynamics? In their large open plan office it was proving hard to get to the bottom of what anybody thought.

He was keen to improve the effectiveness of the organisation, increase its impact and demonstrate how he could add value to a cause he really believed in. But first he had to understand the real story of why things weren’t working.

Approach

A donation in kind had given him access to a Synthetron dialogue. He decided to invite everybody from the London office plus some of the regional managers who dealt with volunteers and partner organisations.

The topic was simple – what is working and what’s not. Synthetron helped craft the questions that would give him the answers he needed and he watched the session closely. “Maybe you don’t need to do a report” he ventured afterwards, “Since I saw everything already.”

But the Synthetron consultant suggested doing it anyway to look at what was going on below the surface. Not just WHAT people were talking about but also HOW. Understanding the team building dynamics, their motivations and sources of resistance.

Discovery

The most surprising discovery was the crisis of confidence inside the organisation. He knew there had been some bumps in the road under the previous leadership but he hadn’t realised how deep it ran for employees. No wonder they were struggling to convince partners to get on board if they felt so unsure of the mission and vision of the charity.

He was happy to get such a clear steer on the problem blocking team building, and on how they wanted to address it.

He set up small action teams straight away to address the issues of what they offered partners and the materials and prospect lists that people needed to get cracking. Let’s move from shy and uncertain to clear and confident he declared.

Case: involving staff on strategy globally

How an international NGO involved its staff on global scale to shape its new strategy.

Situation


This international NGO was one of the biggest. The winds of change were blowing through the organisation. Therefore, it wanted to update its strategy. Old, defunct processes were swept away and new questions were being asked of everybody.

The changes were refreshing but also felt a bit unstable. There were some murmurings out in the field as people wondered about the new direction. What was it? Did they agree with it? Did they want to stay?

Then in an unprecedented move the Head of Strategy decided to involve everybody. So they could give input into the new strategy for the next 20 years. However they had staff in 80 countries and no shared language. Hence they thought it would take forever. How could they make sure everybody had a fair chance to express themselves? How could they turn all that raw data into meaningful and robust recommendations?

Approach


We set up several Synthetron online dialogue sessions in parallel to be able to involve staff across time zones and languages.

We moderated the dialogues and made sure that everyone got the chance to get involved.

In an unprecedented move for inclusion, every single staff member was invited to participate. Hundreds of people inputted thousands of statements and generated a million data points.

Discovery


After careful analysis the Synthetron consultant was able to give them a single image summing up the story. As well as clear direction on the updated mission and strategy.

Then the board wanted to find out if office staff were over-represented. So Synthetron did a segmented analysis looking only at field staff which confirmed only the most minimal differences of opinion.

The strategy team then incorporated the discoveries into their decision making, confident that their thousands of committed employees were aligned with the new plan.

 

 

Case: fair play and diversity

How Synthetron was used to make progress on Inclusion and Diversity.

Situation

Now that she was in the second week of the job as Inclusion and Diversity manager she was beginning to realise just how hard it was going to be to make this work. Not only was there a split at board level between those who understood the importance of this and those who thought it quite unnecessary, but it was also proving difficult to find out what people really thought.

She’d seen those meetings where nobody dared speak up, or they all hid behind political correctness. She wanted to get to the real story so she could see how to move forward.

Then she heard how they’d used a platform called Synthetron in another part of the business and decided to investigate if it could help her too.

Approach

Synthetron set up 10 online discussions with more than 500 people in the organization.

Next, we developed the questions and script together with the client.

Lastly, we moderated the dialogue together with representatives of the organization.

Discovery

Two months and ten discussions later the story unfolded before her. Based on what real people in the organisation – over 500 of them – really thought. What they shared about their experiences and when they knew they could do that safely.

There was a lot of work to do but she had a much clearer sense of where they stood. And what the Inclusion & Diversity journey was going to look like.

She had discovered some hazards to be avoided and some great ideas to be spread across the organisation. A surprising insight had been that fairness was something everybody agreed with. It meant much more to everybody than I&D and avoided a lot of the pushback she had seen in some of the conversations.

She had a term that provided a good frame to move forward with. Furthermore it was a way of measuring progress thanks to the classification data of everyone who participated according to how aware, willing and able they were of the issues at stake.

See how we can help you with our Synthetron I&D+ tool.

Articles on Inclusion & Diversity

  • Sallie Crawcheck, former CEO of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, considers why we still expect women to behave like men and think that is diversity. LinkedIn article
  • Greg Ward, MD of Transguard group explains why it’s just not that hard to have a diverse workplace. LinkedIn article

Case: leadership meeting needs an agenda

How a large multinational used Synthetron to focus the agenda for a top leadership meeting.

Situation

A large multinational was planning the agenda for its Top 100 Leadership meeting. They did this every two years.

This time they wanted to discuss how to implement the new strategy. Head Office had created it and they wanted to see it in action.

Approach

Prior to the meeting the team used Synthetron to work out where to focus the agenda. They wanted to discover which aspects of the strategy were most important.

Before developing the script, Synthetron consultants asked if the strategy was well known and accepted. Although the answer was yes, the script allowed for both scenarios. All of the meeting participants were invited to join in the discussion to help shape the agenda.

Discovery

In fact the discussion highlighted a lot of confusion. This was true at various levels. Many people were not aware of the strategy and few understood it.

Leadership discovered the trouble spots and could start to tackle them. Knowing the Hot Topics for the meeting meant the meeting planners could give them the priority the meeting attendees were looking for.

They fine-tuned the agenda and focused on what would generate energy and engagement. In the end they could all move forward. Together.

Case: getting everyone for the new strategy

How a major electronics manufacturer used Synthetron to engage employees on a new strategy.

Situation

A major electronics manufacturer was about to have a significant new strategy launch. They wanted to engage employees to bring it to life in the organisation. But it’s not always easy to create a fair way for everybody to have their say.

Traditional cascade systems and town hall meetings can mean many people aren’t heard. So they decided to use Synthetron instead. To make sure that everyone’s voice was equal, and no matter where they were they would get the opportunity to participate.

Approach

We organized 3 Synthetron online dialogue sessions on the same day with a total of 600 employees.

For each session, employees listened first to a webinar explaining the ideas. Then they had their online discussion.

After this session, the CEO came back online to thank them for their participation and tell them when to expect feedback.

In total, more than 2500 comments were gathered through the Synthetron dialogue.

Synthetron consultants were invovled in the development of the script and the moderation of the sessions. To ensure that everything would go smoothly and the script would touch upon the right subjects.

Discovery

Synthetron analysed all the sessions afterwards to deliver key conclusions on employees’ hesitations and accelerators to the client.

The Synthetron sessions identified practical aspects of the strategy that were important to employees on the factory floor or in the distribution chain. Gathering these points of view built engagement as well as provided valuable data.

This enabled the management to adapt the strategy and set targets which they knew were supported by staff.