Gallup Comparison

Gallup’s Q12 versus the People First® Cultural Health Assessment

The People First® Cultural Health Assessment is a systemic process that provides over\all insight into what is working or not working enterprise wide. The Q12 program does not assess the systemic nature of your organizational culture. It goes in at the middle and tells only part of the story. It does not tell you the level of balance or alignment that exists in your organization.

Why are these important? If balance between the overall needs of the business and those of all employees is not measured and achieved, you will always be looking for the next program – flavor of the month – [like the Q12] to fix a symptom rather then seeing the root cause of why you are not achieving your business goals. The same is true when it comes to alignment. If your values and, more importantly, how you live them, are not in alignment throughout all levels within your organization, and not in alignment with who you are, you, again, will continue to look for programs to fix symptoms rather than addressing the root cause of the problem. This is not to say that the Q12 is not a valuable program. It is - the key is to understand the intent and purpose behind implementing such a program. Does it fit into who you are and what you are striving to achieve as a business?

To gain a measure of how well your organization is doing by going in at the middle is only giving you a snapshot – a microcosm - of a point in time. If the outside – the outer/upper layers-are not healthy they will eventually impact the core of your organization. A good metaphor would be an apple. When the apple begins to rot on the outside eventually it will impact the core of the apple unless that core can be carved out and exist alone. Therefore, all layers must be healthy and be in alignment.

The Q12 does not take into consideration the overall culture nor does it take into account how your culture impacts your middle managers being rated on the Q12. The Q12 is an effective tool once you have decided, as a leadership team, what you value and what will be rewarded at that level. Also, if the middle managers are not having the same experience as outlined in these questions, and if top leadership members are not walking the talk when it comes to the Q12, you are sending your middle managers a mixed message and asking them to do things that are not really embraced by senior management. This will create distrust, dissatisfaction and have an impact on their morale and engagement levels, which will trickle down to the line employees who are being surveyed. The only way to know if this is or is not occurring is to conduct an assessment like the People First® Cultural Health Assessment.

On the Q12 each employee has to answer each question on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest or best score. In theory, then, those managers who get lower scores are expected to bring those numbers up. Thereby guaranteeing that anyone who has direct reports is actively communicating with their employees. In theory this sounds good; however, if the culture that the middle managers are operating in does not support the concepts contained in the Q12, the program will not work over the long term, everyone will become frustrated and morale and engagement levels will go down.

In one company employees were asked: "What did everyone think about the survey [Q12]? What was the buzz?" An administrative assistant stood up and said: "Just circle five to survive, baby! Mark five to survive." That's what I was told. "Five to survive!!" She was told that unless she wanted a lot of extra meetings and other extra work, she was better off just putting "5" down for everything, and then her department would be left alone. If employees do not understand the intent behind a program like the Q12 and if they do not understand how it will help them in their work, and if they do not understand how if fits into the big picture their level of engagement and the integrity of the program will be at risk.

Leadership within any size organization must first define their culture and determine what their values are, and how they will govern life within that organization. All too often leaders ask the levels below them to "do as I say not as I do" and what happens often times is you may get the buy in and raise the engagement levels of front-line employees; however, middle management becomes discouraged and disillusioned because they are not being treated the same. This type of a situation cannot be sustained. Over time the middle managers become frustrated and it begins to show in their treatment and relationships with their employees.

The Q12 is an assessment tool similar to other programs that have been introduced in the past, such as the 360-degree feedback. This program failed miserably in many organizations – why? Because 360 requires a high level of trust and honesty and if trust and honesty are not practiced values of the organization the entire process is meaningless. The Q12 is no different. If the culture is not supportive and in alignment with this program, as mentioned before, it will fail. Typically what happens is managers are blamed for the lack of success when it is really the culture that is to blame.

Leaders within organizations must take the time to define who they are and understand their current state of The best way and the best way to determine that is by conducting an overall assessment involving all employees. Reality does not come from the eyes of leaders; but rather from the eyes of employees. Whenever a decision is made to move forward with a program such as the Q12, it is critical to understand why you are doing it and how it plays into and/or feeds into the overall picture of your culture and success of your business.

Over the last 9 years in using our cultural assessment tool we have found that things contained in the Q12 are very important to employees; however, it does not go deep enough or broad enough. Leaders must know and hear from all levels to understand where potential breakdowns are occurring in communication, values and expectations. The Q12 often uses the word seems. When soliciting input from employees it is important to know – is it happening or not? The word seems leaves you wondering whether it is really happening or not.

The purpose of the People First® Cultural Health Assessment is to gain clarity around the current reality for all employees involved including top leadership. Is everyone being treated the same? Again, look at all levels not just the front line. The People First® Cultural Health Assessment helps to clearly define the how. How effective are leaders at all levels? How effective are your communication systems – both internal and external? How effective is your decision-making process? Do employees have all the tools they require to be successful? How effective are your relationships – at all levels and within and external to your business? How effective are all levels of leaders when it comes to treating everyone with respect and honor?

We have found over the years that employee engagement is not just measured by whether an employee has the tools or that someone cares or they have a best friend. It comes down to how they feel inside about who they are. They want to know they have a purpose. They want to be involved in decisions that impact their work – this is by far one of the most reoccurring themes we have seen over the last 9 years. Employees don’t just want to show up for work and be managed; they desire to be led. They want to know that who they are and what they do makes a difference, and that their opinion is not only sought after but respected and considered.

Employees desire to be Purpose Partners® and if you desire to become a People First® culture then you must understand how close you are to that reality today. Taking a base line of your overall current state will provide you with invaluable information that will then guide you to what you need to focus on. It will provide you with data that will help you make good decisions about what you desire to create as your future state and what it will take to get there. In other words, what programs will be most effective. Once you have completed this process, you may still feel that the Q12 is a good fit. The key will be – you will know how it fits and be able to leverage all that the program has to offer.

The People First® Cultural Health Assessment provides you with all that you will need to put a solid plan together as a leadership group and to then measure it over time. It will allow you to implement programs like the Q12 and truly understand what role it is playing in achieving your overall goals as an enterprise. All too often we are too quick as leaders to jump to the next program without understanding how if fits into the big picture and our entire organizational structure and systems.

Our organizations are systems and all pieces have an impact on each other. To truly ensure that a program/tool like Q12 will work and achieve the long-term results you desire you must first understand what you are working towards. The People First® Cultural Health Assessment will support you in gaining that insight.

The People First® Cultural Health Assessment

Replaces the need to conduct your traditional employee satisfaction survey.
Helps you to understand what programs, like the Q12, will be most beneficial in achieving your overall results.
Goes right to the core of any successful/healthy culture and measures the level of trust, fear, and bureaucracy in your organization.
Focuses on the relationship between an organization’s people and its business and organizational processes to ensure successful attainment of organizational goals.
Does not use jargon - we call it what it is.
Helps you gain insight into the destructive and constructive behaviors within your business.
Integrates results from the survey into a post survey action plan that provides you with very specific steps to improve operations.
Looks at the soft and hard business issues, takes longitudinal data, and creates links.
Determines alignment. Do you have all the right elements to change your marketing strategy, create teams, etc?
Identifies where you need to focus your resources and energy.
Allows you to see specific results that will have an immediate impact on your business; therefore, buy-in of the process is immediate.
Gets at the heart of the issues and points of healthiness – we do a MRI versus X-ray.
Is a different tool, using different measurements, giving you a different diagnosis, which generates a different prescription.
Is a second level diagnosis that tells you why you have a temperature – unlike a traditional employee satisfaction survey, which just tells you that you have a temperature.
Is user friendly – we have a high desire to engage you in learning our process – so you can conduct the assessment on your own if you so choose.
Identifies duplication of effort, gaps, and re-work loops.
Seeks to identify all the incongruencies that exist in your organization. There can be no preconceived notions that the objective is to "find something wrong." If that is the mind-set at the beginning of the analysis, it is likely to dictate the outcome.

Gallup's 12 Questions

DO I KNOW WHAT IS EXPECTED OF ME AT WORK?

This has to do with communication. The People First® Cultural Health Assessment will tell you if you value communication and if you do, does it include being clear about what you expect from your employees. If employees answer unfavorably to this it does not tell you why. The CHI not only answers the how, it also answers the why. Why are our scores on the Q12 low? Is it only about poor management at the middle level or are they not being incentivized to practice all the elements contained in the Q12?

DO I HAVE THE MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT I NEED TO DO MY WORK RIGHT?

If they do not have the tools or material it, may be due to corporate policies and procedures and bureaucracy related to purchasing, and out of the control of the middle manager. Again, it is important to understand the why of their responses.

AT WORK, DO I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO WHAT I DO BEST EVERYDAY?

To do their best is a bit vague. Does this mean as it relates to the technical aspect of their work? That is not all that motivates employees – doing their best is also about sharing their ideas and being creative. This does not tell you if they are being given the opportunity to contribute at deep levels. This is what really motivates employees and drives them to be engaged.

IN THE LAST SEVEN DAYS, HAVE I RECEIVED RECOGNITION OR PRAISE FOR DOING GOOD WORK?

This does not specify where the feedback is coming from. This is very important. Is it coming from peers, colleagues, a supervisor? It is important to know the source so it can be reinforced and those not participating can be encouraged to get involved and provide feedback to employees. Feedback from their supervisor is very important. To receive feedback from peers and colleagues is not as motivating or as powerful as feedback from an individual’s supervisor.

DOES MY SUPERVISOR OR SOMEONE AT WORK SEEM TO CARE ABOUT ME AS A PERSON?

Again the question is not just about the supervisor, it is vague. This does not give meaningful feedback to the supervisor and the middle manager cannot be held accountable for the actions of all those individuals his/her employee interacts with. Also the word seem is not very definitive.

IS THERE SOMEONE AT WORK WHO ENCOURAGES MY DEVELOPMENT?

Again, this question is vague. Whose job is it to encourage an employee’s development? If it is the supervisor/middle manager then it is important for the question to be structured in that fashion so you are getting clear and valid information.

AT WORK, DO MY OPINIONS SEEM TO COUNT?

An employee’s opinion should count. Not seem to count. This is one of the key motivators. When an employee does not feel like his/her opinion is counted, it can be the cause of low morale and high levels of disengagement.

DOES THE MISSION/ PURPOSE OF MY COMPANY MAKE ME FEEL MY JOB IS IMPORTANT?

This question here is more about the company and its goal when an employee ought to be able to understand how what he or she does has an impact on the overall mission and purpose of the company. When employees can feel and see how what they are doing is making a difference they feel energized and engaged. This statement does not give us that information.

ARE MY CO-WORKERS COMMITTED TO DO QUALITY WORK?

DO I HAVE A BEST FRIEND AT WORK?

IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS, HAS SOMEONE AT WORK TALKED TO ME ABOUT MY PROGRESS?

THIS LAST YEAR, HAVE I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY AT WORK TO LEARN AND GROW?

Although these are great questions providing some insight into how engaged employees are, the Q12 merely scratches the surface. As mentioned previously, we must know the why and the how. The People First® Cultural Health Assessment will provide you with those answers to then support you in making better business decisions.

Sample List of Stated Client Goals

Children’s Hospital

"We are interested in improving employee retention and we are looking for a process that will help us:

Become an employer of choice.
Be known in the community as a premier children’s hospital.
Support the leadership team in achieving their strategic objectives for this transition.
Create a higher level of cohesion and collaboration between the staff.
Understand the effectiveness of our compensation program.

Outcome

The Children’s Hospital was able to attract more qualified employees.
Set up HR screening system that provided better functional and cultural "fit" for department managers.
Increased cohesion among senior leadership to ensure alignment with the organizational values.

Credit Card Company

"We are in the process of out-tasking 3,000 employees. We are evaluating the 'best fit' company for these employees as part of our 'due diligence' process. Our goal is to identify the most similar culture to ensure our employees have a smooth transition and experience in this out tasking process."

Outcome

Using the expertise of our professionals, we were able to diagnose the culture of the proposed companies and make recommendations as to the best culture fit and identify which company was most similar to our client. This allowed them to make a more informed "culture fit" decision in their due diligence process. This also supported them in mitigating risk as it related to reducing the possibility of losing the "A" players on their team or having a mass exodus of the employee population during this transition period. Either of these potential employee scenarios could have been a deal breaker in the out-tasking process.

Medical Device Manufacturer

"We want to measure employee opinions about cultural elements, identify weaknesses, and benchmark against other companies to create a healthier and more productive work environment."

Outcome

Employees were very open with this assessment process. There were significant deficiencies found in the manufacturing procedures and in human resources. Interventions in HR for hiring and promotional practices were implemented immediately. Benchmarking data for GMP was provided by ASQ and changes were implemented.

Major Internet Search Portal

"We hope to define the current culture of our organization so we clearly understand and identify the opportunities for growth and change. We are also interested in a process that allows us to build on the solid values and foundation that exists today, develop a plan for cultural integration for the company we have recently acquired, and develop a profile we can use when considering acquisitions in the future."

Outcome

The company selected us over Gallup for this assessment process. They were able to determine their organizational culture, and set a benchmark and metric for future acquisitions. We have completed 5 cultural assessments with them since 2003.

Food Manufacturer

We want to use an employee assessment process that will:

Provide feedback on the effectiveness of our current management team
Provide a clear picture on what is working in our quality systems and manufacturing environment and what requires change and improvement.
Certify our Human Resource professionals so they can run our assessments in the future.

Outcome

Global assessment of 3,500 employees was launched in 5 languages and 8 HR professionals were certified in the cultural assessment process. The organizational assessment highlighted three major areas of concern:

People System issues. HR policies. Practices. Rewards and recognition.
Communication challenges. Current communication efforts were not connected and changes in quality systems, manufacturing procedures and financials were not known through out the company.
Bureaucracy - The employees and many of the leaders indicated that a very high level of bureaucracy was hampering production efforts.

The CEO established three committees, one of which he chaired, and set out to reduce and correct these deficiencies within 6 months. They have completed all committee deliverables and are getting ready to do a reassessment and benchmark progress.

Medical Device Manufacturer

"We want to assure that our organization fully understands the Division’s mission, strategic goals, and values. The assessment should also clarify the Division’s culture and assure that the proper culture exists to support the mission and strategic goals."

Outcome

The organization wanted to measure if the vision, mission, and values were being "brought to life" from the employee perspective. As a manufacturing company, it was very important that all employees understood and followed policies. We found that 75% of the employees did follow protocol, procedures, and policies. It was also clear that there was a high level of trust in senior leadership in some areas of the organization, yet other areas were not as strong. This gave us solid data to approach leadership and take corrective action in specific areas.