What if employees from across your organization got together and wrote a tell-all book?
I know–scary, right?
Let’s push through those feelings of dread and think about this for a minute. What kinds of things would it reveal? What would be the general theme of the book? What ideas would keep surfacing in one way or another?
Every organization has a story, and often, there’s an “official” story and an “unauthorized” version, with the latter being far juicier than the former. But it’s that “unauthorized” version that you want to understand more fully, because chances are it’s a closer-to-accurate snapshot of the undercurrent at your organization. Underneath it all, what’s going on? What are your employees going home and telling their friends and family about their workplace and leadership? What’s the grapevine telling you? Do they use words like trusting, collaborative, or fun? Or do you hear things like it’s political, there’s a lack of trust, or it’s boring?
This would be a great group exercise. Get your team in a circle, sing kumbaya, roast some marshmallows, and ask them what they think would pop up in an unauthorized tell-all about your organization. You might be surprised at what you hear.
The point is that you’ve got to find ways to dig into your organization’s story. Some would prematurely overcomplicate it and immediately resort to some sort of employee engagement survey instead of using my super-duper-top-secret employee engagement method first, but either way it’s good to try to keep your finger on the organization’s pulse.
So what about you? What do you think your employees would write in a tell-all? How do you keep your finger on the organization’s pulse?
