Ask, listen act

Employee surveys are widespread in manufacturing. A lot of companies proudly say it shows how much they value their people. They are often the same ones that put 'People are our greatest asset' on their website and then can't remember the team leaders' names when they walk you round the factory. Used properly, surveys are a true litmus test not just of the relationship between management and workers, but of reality instead of strategy, and of tangible progress instead of theoretical improvement. Used, however, to find small concessions to paper over the cracks, they are worse than useless. People worried about the stability of the company, harassed by yet another management initiative and depressed that their career is going nowhere are not really likely to be placated because someone has noted they don't like the food and changed the caterers. An inadequate response is likely to make bad relationships worse. You are better advised not to do it at all than to stir up hopes of better times, only to have them come crashing round the workforce's ankles. Handled properly, however, they can break down unsuspected barriers between the company and its employees while sharpening all-round business performance. Take Warburtons for example, one of the big successes of the UK food industry. Now into its fifth generation of family ownership, it has expanded by over 60% in the past six years. Once a traditional, northern concern, it is now a national brand, employing 4,800 people in 13 different bakeries and 17 depots from Aberdeen to Newton Abbott. In October 2006, HR director Paula De Valle and her team worked with Ipsos Mori to replace a series of ad hoc site-specific surveys with a single, company-wide one. The objective was clear: after a period of such rapid growth, Warburtons wanted a base line on the difficult subject of employee engagement right the way across the business. There were no sudden revelations of a yawning abyss - the engagement level of 58% from a response rate of 63% is well above average - but, says De Valle, it did provide an understanding of what was actually driving engagement and what needed to be tackled to improve it. Armed with their own results, each bakery set up an action planning group drawn from volunteers at all levels to address their specific concerns. At a national level, however, the survey flagged up three major areas of common concern: career development, communications and work/life balance. "For us, communications was the big one," recalls De Valle. "We've achieved going national; now we needed to look at our focus for the next few years." Warburtons is in the process of launching a new internal communications strategy, developed with consultants. Called Painting Britain Red (the brand colour) it centres on the next major step, gaining market share. "It's all about collaboration, working across sites, sharing best practice and being involved. We do work strongly on a site basis and that local identity is important, but when you recognise you are part of a national business, you want to find out what the other sites are doing and learn from them." But unless Warburtons also tackled the communications barriers flagged up by the survey, it wouldn't work. So it set up focus groups drawn from across the company to get more detailed feedback. "We found a lot of the issues were about people not understanding where we were going as a business and what kind of involvement they actually had." There were slight differences in the way each site chose to put new communications channels into practice but all of them were designed to listen as well as inform. Some general managers held 'bacon buttie' sessions - particularly useful in coping with different shifts - where small groups were encouraged to ask questions and voice opinions. Others cascaded the information through shift teams and team leaders, making the 'big picture' relevant to individual circumstances. "It had became clear that previously some people weren't comfortable asking questions," recalls De Valle. "We wanted to encourage managers to create an open environment by giving them the tools and techniques to engage people. That sounds like management-speak; all we are doing is helping people to feel comfortable talking to you, giving you their ideas and asking questions." The Warburton family still plays a major role, giving 'state of the nation' briefings twice a year and holding meetings with functional groups about their performance against plan. But now material is given out in advance to encourage questioning. It's produced some surprises. One supervisor freely admitted he was asking a question he'd saved from the year before because he had been too nervous to ask it then. Career development was the next big issue. Employee turnover is low and the survey clearly showed that for many, promotional prospects felt like waiting for dead men's shoes. De Valle admits to a certain irony here: "We tended to think people were growing alongside an expanding business; we hadn't realised they couldn't work out where they could go next without changing their geography. What we had seen as a strength in the company was also a potential problem." So Warburtons altered the way it managed and reviewed individual performances: "We made sure it showed people how they were doing against their objectives, what development they needed to get to the next level and the link to reward. Before, it might simply have been a discussion about what they were doing in their job. We wanted to make it clear that it wasn't just the 'what' but the 'how' - their attitude, approach and behaviour - that was important. Now they know what they have to change in the way they work to get on to the next level of their career." Some findings dovetailed into initiatives that were already underway. For instance, there were some doubts about the way leaders dealt with work issues. Now a development programme is helping people focus on how they actually lead as well as the technical aspects of their work: "They are looking at how they encourage communication and coach people instead of merely telling them what to do." The third area of work/life balance is one most manufacturers find a tough nut to crack. Individual variation does not sit easily alongside overall production demand. Warburtons formed a cross-functional group to look at the issues. Many of the things the company provides already fall squarely into that category such as childcare vouchers, an employee assistance programme, and healthcare schemes. Some, however, were run site-by-site so they have now been standardised through a national provider. The group is now looking at shift patterns, something many manufacturers fight shy of. The company already offers job-sharing but it is now considering other arrangements for flexible working. "We have the feedback on what people would like," explains De Valle. "Obviously we have to balance that against operational requirements, but we are seriously considering what is feasible. It's not easy but we know that, if we don't do it now, we may have recruitment problems later because people want that kind of flexibility." The next survey will start shortly. De Valle says that even though feedback is coming through the focus groups, the survey will prove the real test: "With all surveys, you can never make a true like-for-like comparison because personnel change in the interim. But we want to see that overall we are making changes in the right direction." Mapping ideas Warburtons' story is an excellent example of tailoring a standard technique to meet the specific needs of a company with a strong, established culture. An interesting new approach to surveys, however, is being piloted by The Manufacturing Institute (TMI) in Manchester. It goes under the rather painful title of Cultural Perception Mapping but the content is better than the wrapping. TMI adviser Tom Forbes developed and trialled the technique earlier in his career to help companies who were either about to head down the lean path or were part-way there but stalling. Lean progress depends as much on changing attitudes as it does on changing ways of working, but often companies don't understand their starting point. Forbes says it's common for improvement practitioners to see a completely different company to the one described by the people running it. They need a simple analytical tool for establishing existing business culture before embarking on any structural change. He calls it "a way of drawing a line in the sand of historical conflicts." How does it work? First step is a team brief to tell everyone what is going on and to invite them to help map the current state of the business. Then at least 10%, and preferably more, of all employees are given one-to-one interviews by the outsider. It must be a real cross-section of the company from CEO to managers and supervisors, shopfloor team members, stores and forklift truck drivers. Forbes says it is particularly important to get the view from the grass roots - "They are the people who really know how the company ticks." All interviewees consider the same ten fundamental issues, giving a simple 1-10 ranking to questions like 'Which of these best describes your understanding of your role: no formal role/confused; changing; or clearly defined and understood?', 'Where would you put this company's communications: disorganised or erratic, formal or complex, or well organised and efficient?' and 'Which best describes this company's style of management: autocratic or lax, static or supportive and visionary?' It covers the issues of blame cultures, employees' conduct (do they come to work purely for money or something more?) time management, training and even shareholders' conduct and investment profile. The whole process is much more open-ended than the normal questionnaire because the facilitator has the opportunity to rephrase and probe to help the interviewee arrive at the final ranking. Forbes says they are very careful not to lead, but they can make sure the question is understood in the employee's own terms. He regards it as an MOT on the business. The results are collated into a graph that shows the current state of the business and provides a start point for an individually tailored action plan. This will include standard techniques like VSM and PPM or kaizen, but will also address 'softer' issues like communications failures and perceptions of poor management style. It's a way of assessing the priorities in any improvement programme and keeping the balance right. And it provides a yardstick to measure the acceptance and involvement of employees as the initiative rolls on. Forbes recommends doing it every six months in the early stages. He used it when working with a 45- strong SME in aerospace, which had been trading through three generations of family ownership. It was a reasonably good but totally static organisation that had absolutely no inclination to change until its biggest customer pressured it to think and act lean. The employees' verdict was frankly a shock; the scores were way below average. The non-family members didn't feel bullied or blamed, but communications were impromptu or erratic; the management style was frankly Do As I Say, responsibilities were fixed and without challenge, and only mandatory training was actually offered. Although turnover was reasonable, profits were quite low and there was a hidden resentment that too much was being siphoned off by the family, especially as employees could see the high performance cars parked outside the entrance. As a result, they had little real interest in their work - a pretty poor start line for any lean race. The company did eventually make a successful transformation but it was far from the easy task they had assumed it would be. Without, however, uncovering and acting on these hidden issues, Forbes says it would have been virtually impossible. _ For people management, go to www.worksmanagement.co.uk/people