Cedar Root Blog 10 Things Leaders Should Know

Whether you're involved in continuous improvement, operational excellence, innovation or lean six sigma, don't forget to capture the voice of the most important stakeholder in the organization - your employees. My favorite and most frequently used questionnaire to capture virtually any type of feedback is what I'll refer to as a mini SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats). However, it really works well for capturing employee feedback. The mini SWOT is translated into plain English or ten questions that are easily understood whether administered virtually or in person. Kick the tires on this one. Imagine for a moment you're having a candid conversation with one of your employees. It will grant you some needed peripheral vision around the process or organization you're trying to improve. For best results, obtain feedback from multiple leadership levels. The Mini SWOT AnalysisIf our _____ were working perfectly, what would it look like?On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate our _____ today?What could we do to raise that by one point? What's in place today that is helping us reach the level you described in question 1?What is not in place? What's getting in the way of us reaching the process you described in question 1?What do you think we should do more of?What do you think we should do less of?What do you think we should keep doing? If we could change "only one or two things" what would they be?Remember, happy employees create happy customers.