Whether developed internally or purchased, many tools designed to gauge employee mindsets-their attitudes, behaviors and practices-operate at a surface level. Individual items or questions do not point toward larger constructs or “scales” that accurately reflect an organization’s performance anatomy.
In addition, most assessments fail to link questions to strategic and measurable objectives, such as using a specific set of metrics to determine whether a company is a top-quartile player in its industry.
But the biggest problem with most of these efforts is that they fail to capture the relationship between employee mindsets and business results. A satisfied and engaged workforce might logically seem to be connected to performance, but it is difficult to prove the connection. In fact, it’s just as easy to imagine how satisfaction and engagement may be undermining performance. For example, it’s possible for employees to be satisfied with long-established, comfortable routines without being terribly productive.
And it’s possible to be engaged-committed to the business, making a serious effort-while occupied with tasks that are not focused on achieving high performance.
Another difficulty: In many surveys it’s impossible to distinguish cause and effect. For example, do engaged employees lead to superior financial results, or is it the other way around?
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