Recently my wife had an accident. She required surgery on her broken ankle, an extended period of no-weight on that leg, and a number of doctor’s appointments. During one of our waits in a doctor’s examination room, a simple poster by the sink jumped out at me - “How to Hand Rub and How to Hand Wash.”  

Hand cleaning is such a simple, but absolutely critical behavior for proper hygiene and health. The laminated sheet had simple illustrations, sequenced steps, duration of time to do certain steps, and described a different technique when using an alcohol-based product compared to soap and water. It was a great example of using visual content to help clarify desired behaviors.

While we continued to wait for the doctor, I wondered why this technique is widely used in business for technical instructions and operational processes but rarely to clarify key, desired cultural behaviors. Especially since research findings continue to reinforce the power of visual content. For

• 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual
• The human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text
• 65% of us are visual learners, according to the Social Science Research Network
• People following directions with text and illustrations do 323% better than people following only text

Here are four simple questions you can use to help audit, clarify and enhance your organization’s key cultural behaviors.

1.  What percentage of your overall organizational values communications are clarified through visual illustrations compared to text?
The major challenge with values is few, if any, would debate them. No one would say integrity isn’t important, customer focus drives repeat business, or teamwork increases efficiency. BUT, here’s the catch – everyone would say their behaviors consistently support the organization’s values but they see others who do not. Do our text descriptions alone provide enough clarity?

2.  Do your giving & accepting feedback communications provide simple, clear step-by-step illustrations on key behaviors to excel in and/or avoid? Research has found over 60% of managers are unable or unwillingness to have difficult feedback discussions.

3.  Are you illustrating acceptable behavior for resolving differences of opinion in your communications? Research has shown the average human will only pay attention for 17 seconds before interrupting and/or preparing a rebuttal.

4.  How many of your communications on personal accountability use visual content to clarify what proactively influencing, taking ownership, and delivering desired results actually looks like? According to an AMA Enterprise survey, “more than 20% of managers believe 20% to 30% of employees avoid taking responsibility.”

I bet you can leverage more visual content in your communications to stimulate more consistent desired business culture behaviors. New technology and social media make this easier and easier to do. By increasing the use of pictures, illustrations, video clips, info graphics, etc. you will make it easier for your employees to understand, remember, and share with others. Marketing has accelerated its’ use of visual content to spark engagement. It’s time for leaders of people to do the same!  Remember –  

What does an Inc. magazine article on real-time data analytics and a recent movie about a team of magicians that pull off heists have in common?  The answer is contained in a tag line from the movie – “Come in close, because the more you think you see, the easier it'll be to fool you.”  This same warning can apply in collecting and analyzing employee opinions.

If you quickly skim the Inc. article’s headline and content, you may pick up statements such as:

• “How a new wave of real-time data-driven tech tools can turn a disengaged staff into a passionate one.”
• “… there haven’t been great tools to look inside a company to see who’s motivated and who’s not and figure out how to fix it.”

Are you drawn in?  Do you want to learn more? Could this be the answer to all your workforce commitment, effort, and loyalty issues?  Be very careful.  Don’t be fooled.  Technology, real-time data, and more analytics are NOT ‘silver bullets’.  They are simply great enablers.

What may be missed are some other important comments in the article including:

• “Set up a response plan before you get the data.”
  
• “Reveal the warts and make sure to tell the why not just the what.”

Before putting all your efforts into new, improved technology for collecting and analyzing employee opinions faster - check your organization against these five critical factors that are severely underestimated by many:

• Strategy.  What is your ultimate goal in surveying employees?  Is it to identify warning signs, evaluate initiatives, or assist in predicting and driving organizational outcomes?  Is it to address problems and concerns employees are actually facing or simply try to gather input on what is on leaders’ minds?     
• Methodology.  Can leaders apply their own methods, metrics, and standards for collecting and using employee surveys?  Or does your organization have standards that are monitored and reinforced – no shortcuts, skipping steps, or countless exceptions?
  
• Accountability.  Is there direct ownership of the survey questions and results?  Are leaders expected to take ownership of results (positive or negative) and pro-actively work on influencing change? Or do leaders rationalize ‘unpopular results’ and blame the survey content, rating scale, process or administration timing?     
• Integrated Process.  What comes after survey data collection?  Research continues to show timely feedback (here’s what you told us) and taking tangible action (here’s what we plan to do or change) drive higher, sustainable performance.
• Gaming the Numbers. Does your organization tolerate leaders who decide to ‘influence’ or ‘manipulate’ the survey process or actual participants?  Is it acceptable in your organization to shift numbers in a desired direction even though they may not reflect reality?

The current challenge in employee opinion survey processes is to balance faster response times and trend analysis with other key essentials including strategy, accountability, feedback, and taking action on employee opinions.  Don’t be fooled – the ultimate value is HOW the information is used.