I was not even a month in at a new role / organization and I could already tell the executive team’s connection to the frontline worker was not very strong. Just prior to me starting they had agreed to participate in a research study on improving employee engagement. They were to conduct an employee survey at the beginning, make improvements over the next several months based on the results, and then take the same survey again to see how much the results improved.
As the newest member of the 8 person executive team I was put in charge of this project as no one else wanted to. After the first survey the executive team had a meeting with the researchers to review the results. The survey had 10 categories ranked in order of needing improvement.
The #1 category that needed improvement, with only a 28% approval rating, was “Company Leadership”.
The majority of the team dismissed the results and we moved on to talk about something else.
Several days later, as a requirement of the study, the President of the company had to present the results to the entire employee base and talk about what we were going to improve. With the company gathered together we waited for the President to show. She finally walked into the room 15 minutes late and looking like it was the last place she wanted to be. She held a piece of paper in the air and said, “I guess I need to read this.” She read through the document and finally got to the categories of needing improvement. “Here are the top categories you felt needed improvement” she started. “#5 – Employee Benefits, #4 – Advancement Opportunities, #3 …” I immediately new what was about to happen. Employee Benefits was not 5th on the original list, but it was actually 6th! I made eye contact with the one other executive that actually cared about the study and we were clearly thinking the same thing. “And the #1 category needing improvement, Advancement Opportunities. The team will get together and put a gameplan in place and will communicate once it is complete.” And with that, she walked out the room back to her office.
She just lied to every member of the company, and everyone knew it.
They knew where the problem was even without seeing the real results. Any hope of trust or improvement in the culture walked out the door with her. I also knew, right then and there, that my time with the company would be VERY short.