Option #3: Work Process Survey

Most surveys focus on the subjective experience of individuals, their opinions and feelings. This third option takes a different approach and focuses on the work rather than the worker.

The starting point is to compile a macro work map of the entire organization. Typically long-term employees and employees who have moved through several departments can draft such a work map in an hours. It does, however, require facilitation from someone fluent in process characterization.

The work map creates a "table of contents" for the effort to follow.

The next step is to present the macro map to employees and explain the process to follow:

• There is a short survey which is the same for each work process.
• Fill out as many surveys as you wish, as long as you have some connection with that work process.

The questions in the survey would vary with the specific concerns of the client, but a good "starter set" would be the following:

1. The quality of the work outcome (report, decision, data, product, recommendation, etc.)
2. The quality of the interaction among the participants in the process (candid? collaborative? creative?)
3. Examples of best performance of the work process.
4. Examples of worst performance of the work process.
5. Likely consequences to the organization if the work process deteriorates or fails.

The survey data can be complemented by other hard data about the work activities, such as staffing requirements, existence of documentation, vulnerability to turnover, location, departmental involvement, or regulatory constraints.

The last step is the most interesting. The original work map is color-coded to reflect the evaluations from the survey results. The employees are once again convened and asked to reflect on the overall map. This session can take many twists and turns, but the emphasis is always on identifying soft spots in the work rather than in the worker. The goal is to make choices about change efforts in the context of the entire enterprise. The work map provides the view of the overall system. The employees can select where to invest time and energy based on overall strategic value of change rather than merely chasing after any low score. Senior executives can provide parameters for the choice and the efforts to follow.

The examples of best and worst performance can be used to fuel discussions about any work process deemed worth special attention. The circumstances that led to good or bad performance can be a rich source of clues of possible process improvements.

This process can be a powerful "front end" to any number of organizational improvements. Perhaps a particular work process gets singled out for classical process improvement. Perhaps a critical process involves so many departments (and subsequent hand-offs) that a structural rearrangement is warranted. Or perhaps a common theme in numerous work processes is poor decision-making, weak collaboration, or a fearful culture.