Will the Dialogue Tool Outperform the Employee Survey?

Organizations that want to give employees more input are increasingly using ‘dialogue tools.’ Instead of surveys, they use open-ended questions that allow employees to respond. Heleen Mes, an Employee Experience Expert, spoke with providers of these dialogue tools. “Engaging is an action.”

Standard surveys have been criticized for some time: they’re often too long, too static, too generic, and unclear in terms of what employees find important. Dialogue tools address these issues. These listening tools capture employee needs more quickly and effectively, aligning with the trend of putting ‘the employee at the center.’ This helps HR and the organization get closer to the core of improvements.

Selecting topics themselves

“With surveys, you’re primarily asking about things the organization has thought of,” says Robert-Jan Simons, Partner at Plek. “In essence, you’re listening selectively. But you don’t win a game by playing only on your own side. Which topics do employees find important? What is relevant, and what impacts the work experience? You can’t get that from a set list of questions that you score on every time. A dialogue tool addresses this well.”

The dialogue tool Plek allows employees to choose the topics they want to give feedback on. Follow-ups build on the employee’s own data: “Six months ago, your opinion was ‘X.’ How is it now? Why has it changed?”

“We call this ‘smart conversations,'” says Simons. “Through this deeper engagement, the organization learns more about its employees and sees shifts in priorities according to employees themselves. With deeper insights, you also strengthen the relationship between the employee and the organization. 90% of participants say they could express their thoughts and needs. You don’t achieve that with a standard survey,” adds Simons.

Outcomes for the entire organization are clustered around several personas – think of ’employee groups’ – that AI recognizes in the scores. With these personas, managers and HR gain insight into the people behind the data and can undertake targeted, relevant actions. Simons: “There is no ‘one size fits all.’ Working with personas does more justice to the differences between employees and what truly matters than just showing an average.”

Truly knowing what is important

“Asking closed-ended questions to employees means you’re not really listening to them,” says Maurik Dippel, CEO of CircleLytics. “Focus on open-ended questions if you really want to know what is important. Then it quickly becomes clear what really matters. Employees respond in their own words and bring up what is top of mind.”

CircleLytics offers a dialogue tool in which all employees can participate, with open-ended questions and a positive approach that allows for open responses: ‘What important step can we take together as an organization?’ ‘How can we strengthen ‘X’?’ ‘How can we achieve ‘X’?’ “You can ask for suggestions for improvements that employees propose. When you learn from each other and listen to each other, you build collective intelligence,” says Dippel.

Employees respond to the open-ended questions in two rounds. In the first round, employees give their opinions anonymously. In the second round, they can respond to a selection of each other’s responses to the open-ended questions and indicate whether they agree with them. This establishes a ranking of opinions.

Dippel: “This way, there’s no risk of socially desirable answers, group or time pressure, which you might experience with live focus or feedback groups. Face-to-face, employees often say less of what they really want to express and adjust their opinion less often. And what’s mentioned most in the first round is not necessarily the most important. In the second round, employees regularly adjust their opinion by learning from others with different viewpoints. This brings topics to life within the organization. We see that 10-25% more employees respond in the second round. Engaging really is an action, not a checklist.”

Giving the community a voice

“Facilitating a community within the organization truly gives employees a voice,” says Irene Klein Bog, Senior Research Consultant at InnerVoice. The community InnerVoice works with is a representative group of about 200 employees from the organization. They voluntarily participate in online issues that HR, Communications, or management brings in. These can be issues that delve deeper than a previous employee survey, generate ideas and tips, gather opinions, or present choices. Community members can also suggest topics themselves.

Klein Bog: “Working with a community, instead of with the entire organization, ensures that the group is more engaged and open to discussion. Bringing a group together also leverages interaction between participants. Participation can be anonymous, but some organizations opt for openness.”

“The organization presents the issue, and together we decide whether it is suitable for a dialogue and which research methodology is most appropriate. Various methods can be used within a community, such as an online discussion, a poll, or a short survey.”

“Sometimes multiple rounds are needed, where we dive deeper into a particular topic each time. As an independent community manager, we keep the discussion lively to gain deeper insights. If a topic isn’t resonating within the organization, you notice that immediately. Feedback is collected quickly, and a clear summary and direction are completed within an average of two weeks.”

Working with dialogue tool outcomes

What can organizations do to successfully use dialogue tools? Simons: “A dialogue tool is not a replacement for one-on-one conversations. However, the tool quickly gets to the core of what matters.” Dippel: “A dialogue tool is more supportive for management than an HR tool. The business must be willing to listen to employees.”

Klein Bog: “The most important thing is that employees receive feedback on what is done with the outcomes; otherwise, the interest in participating quickly decreases.” Simons agrees: “Success lies in the follow-up actions at the individual, team, and organizational levels. Ultimately, you have to act on the outcomes of dialogue tools!”