Below is an approach you can use to lead a Commitment Planning session with your team. This is not a strict formula, but we’ve seen it work for many managers and their teams.
You are welcome to change this approach to make it work for you and your team. Be sure to consider the time your team has available, location/venue and the number of employees involved.
Get Into The Right Mindset
- If you are defensive about the results, your team won’t likely offer meaningful discussion.
- If it feels to your team members that you are merely “going through the motions” and not interested in the task, team members may become even more disengaged as a result.
- Don’t rush to judgment or conclusions based on your scores. Your perceptions of what your team is saying may not be reality.
Planning The Meeting
- Select a date, time and location. You’ll likely need an hour for this meeting.
- Have a copy of the Detail Report for each member of your workgroup. (We recommend sharing this in advance of the meeting!)
- These critical Action Planning steps can serve as a good meeting agenda:
- WHY -- Why did we do the survey?
- RESULTS -- Distribute your engagement results to your team.
- DISCUSS -- What do these results mean for our team?
- SELECT -- Which one or two things should we focus on?
- PLAN -- Brainstorm possible actions with your team.
- EXECUTE -- Follow up on your plan periodically.
WHY -- Why did we do a survey? What’s the point?
The goal of the survey is to build a better workplace together. Our goal with Action Planning is to become a more collaborative, more productive, more successful team. Every person in our workgroup, not just the manager, is responsible for driving engagement. Engagement is more than satisfaction; it’s about building a team and workplace that you can love and be proud of, a job that will fulfill you and spark your passion.
RESULTS -- Share your engagement results to your team
We recommend sending survey results to your team BEFORE the meeting. We recommend sharing the PDF of the Overview report with your team.
DISCUSS -- What do these results mean for us?
Go through the survey items and ask questions to encourage discussion. Some examples are below for inspiration:
- What were you thinking about when you answered this item?
- What would a “Strongly Agree” look like on this item?
- What are we doing that makes this a strong or a weak item?
- What do we need to do to improve on this item?
SELECT -- Pick the one or two things your team will focus on
State that your team’s goal is to decide as a team which ONE OR TWO ITEMS you’ll work on together. You can focus on furthering a strength improving a weakness or both -- your goal is to narrow your focus to an item or two you think your team can improve. Ultimately, this should be a team decision so that everyone is bought-in and excited about where the team is focusing. If you’re having trouble agreeing, here are a couple of ways to find consensus:
- Give each team member two choices. They can choose two different items or use both “votes” on a single item.
- Team members can “vote” with a show of hands, private ballot, or another method of your choice.
PLAN -- Brainstorm possible action with your team
Look at the focus items you defined in step 4. Invite your team to contribute ideas for improving that item. Don’t rule out any ideas! Record all ideas on a whiteboard or flip chart. After you’ve got a list of ideas, work with the team to cross off ideas that aren’t specific, measurable and with your team’s sphere of control. Look for ideas that can be “quick wins” for your team (things you can easily accomplish relatively quickly) in addition to bigger ideas so that you can build momentum while also working on your team’s bigger challenges. Identify who will be responsible for each action item. Decide on a schedule to review your progress. Record your team’s commitments on the “Commitments” tab of this tool.
EXECUTE -- Follow up on your plan periodically
Follow-up is what makes a difference!