The Power of Opinion

As HR people we are always looking for ways to measure and increase engagement. In the midst of the massive communication and administration efforts of the modern engagement survey (or the more recent favorite, the “pulse” survey), we can’t lose sight of the value and impact of impromptu conversations when we simply ask someone what they think.

I recently had a wonderful and humbling reminder of the power of the face to face opinion conversation. Unlike the survey, which (unfortunately) often leaves the user wondering whether their name can be traced back to their answers, or whether anything will really change as a result of participating in the survey (think voting in a Presidential election), a properly handled opinion conversation can increase engagement and may uncover a little nugget that puts a completely different spin on things.

Last week my colleague and I were facilitating a meeting with leaders from various levels in our organization. One leader, a young man in an entry level role, was offering a compelling point of view on what gets in the way of sustainable culture change. I asked him to stay after the meeting and “would he be able to spend some time later in the week sharing more of his thoughts on current state, and his ideas to move things in the right direction?” We agreed to meet again last Friday.

Come Friday morning, my colleague and I were blown away by the amount of preparation this young man had invested for the conversation. As a new father, he had taken those valuable hours of sleeping time while the baby was down to research and brainstorm on his own, and come back with some truly awesome ideas.  Here was the profound moment for me: at the end of our meeting, he said, “Thank you for asking me. I’ve been here for 15 years and no one has ever asked me for my opinion.” 

This is profound for two reasons: first, he has participated in our Associate Engagement Survey for the past 8 years and clearly did not view it as being asked for his opinion; second, the impact of "being asked" on his overall engagement. It was a beautiful thing to observe.

I share this with my HR friends and colleagues - as we seek to influence our business leaders and our teams to make a bigger impact on engagement – to me, "it" always comes down to individual conversations. Always.