engagement survey

When leaders interact with their employees, they gain insights into their employees' sentiments and commitment to their role. While this can provide valuable information to managers, these insights might not be entirely accurate. Managers shouldn’t solely rely on their instincts and the general mood of employees to determine job satisfaction and motivation. Conducting employee engagement surveys can allow managers to gather valuable data from employees that can be used to improve processes and increase employee satisfaction. 

Although engagement surveys are most commonly used by large organizations, small and medium-sized organizations would also benefit from the incorporation of engagement surveys. Leaders of smaller organizations may feel they can accurately measure the company pulse since they interact with employees on a regular basis and may even have a personal relationship with most employees. While this can certainly help gauge sentiments, some employees may not provide feedback if unprompted or they may not feel comfortable verbally relaying honest insights. An engagement survey can bridge this gap by providing a structured way for leaders to solicit honest feedback, allowing them to address employees' concerns and improve organizational performance. 

Employee engagement is a metric that represents how employees feel about their organization, which consists of how motivated they are to work and their level of commitment to the company. Employee engagement may sound like a vague concept, but the utilization of engagement surveys can allow organizations to take abstract employee feelings and convert them into quantifiable metrics to make productive organizational changes. 

An employee engagement survey is a tool companies use to gather engagement data from their employees. The survey typically consists of questions covering key engagement drivers, including leadership, company alignment, and professional development. Employees respond using a consistent scale indicating whether they agree or disagree with a question. Companies often also include open-ended questions and general comment sections to gather employee insights that might not have been captured directly by the close-ended survey questions. 

While owners and leaders of small organizations may believe they know what works and what doesn’t at their organization, an engagement survey creates measurable insights into employees’ feelings about various aspects of the organization. Engagement surveys will not only provide data on overall company engagement but also specific aspects that are driving engagement to better understand employee motivations. These surveys can help uncover company aspects that motivate employees that might not otherwise have been considered an important part of the organization. 

2. Identify Areas for Improvement 

Engagement surveys can allow leaders to better determine opportunities to improve the employee experience. Aspects of an engagement survey that receive lower scores from employees can indicate important areas for leaders to prioritize improvement. Engagement survey analytic tools help management sift through the data points generated from engagement surveys to identify critical areas of improvement more clearly. 

3. Measure Engagement Over Time 

Organizations should conduct engagement surveys periodically to monitor employee engagement over time. This strategy allows organizations to observe trends and measure the impact of various initiatives. A single survey is valuable to gather information but is limited to that point in time. Regularly conducted surveys allow organizations to understand their strategic decisions. Tracking engagement over time takes away some of the uncertainty of improving employee engagement. 

4. Cultivate Employee Trust 

Organizing employee engagement surveys allows employees to feel more heard within their organization because gathering feedback signals that management cares about their input. This creates a more supportive environment that fosters a culture of valuing individual contributions. A key component of fostering trust through engagement surveys is to make tangible changes to reflect the feedback from employees. There is no importance to gathering feedback if there aren’t actionable steps that reflect them. Ensure that the implemented changes are communicated to employees so they are in the loop and continue to feel valued. 

5. Retain Valuable Talent

Specifically, within small to medium-sized businesses, it is crucial for companies to retain their employees. These more close-knit organizations may have less standardized roles that require knowledge about specific company practices. Losing employees who have developed a deep understanding of the organization over time is incredibly valuable to the organization. Furthermore, replacing employees is a costly endeavor due to the time and resources required to retrain employees. Understanding what motivates employees and areas of concern will work to retain valuable talent which overall benefits the productivity of the organization. 

While engagement surveys provide many benefits, their value heavily relies on the quality of questions being asked. Using software specifically developed to provide employee engagement survey questions can help organizations ensure their engagement survey-driven improvement efforts are done effectively. Ambition in Motion’s AIM Insights tool provides valuable insights that deliver tangible results companies can use to benefit their employees and the organization as a whole. Through survey question creation and visual reports, Ambition in Motion provides deliverables to effectively identify areas of improvement and streamline action planning for organizational improvements. 

As a leader of a small or medium-sized business, Ambition in Motion recognizes that spending on engagement surveys may not be a top priority and provides completely free engagement survey services. These surveys focus on critical aspects of company productivity: ream cohesion, energy from doing work, alignment with the company mission, and work complementing strengths. After distributing surveys to employees, leaders can visualize areas for improvement and areas of company strengths. 

Another benefit of Ambition In Motion’s employee engagement survey, AIM Insights, offerings is the ability to learn how various leaders respond to different scenarios. Using a database from other leaders, Ambition In Motion provides insights about what a good, medium-performing, and poor leader would do in scenarios leaders commonly face. Furthermore, an AI reporting structure is under refinement that gathers employee sentiments and provides specific feedback to managers on how to improve their management style. With all of these tools, managers can be well-equipped to make tangible improvements in response to their employee engagement survey feedback. 

In her early days as a department manager, Casey prided herself on her ability to adapt quickly and solve problems on the fly. Yet, she often found herself wondering if she was truly excelling or just keeping her head above water. Without a clear benchmark to compare her performance to other leaders, Casey’s confidence wavered. She worked hard, but without a frame of reference, she struggled to identify areas for improvement or celebrate meaningful progress.

Casey’s lack of benchmarks led to a cascade of challenges. Team morale was inconsistent, as she couldn’t pinpoint where her leadership strategies fell short. Her department’s performance was average, which was frustrating for someone who aspired to excellence. And personally, she felt stuck, unsure how to position herself for the next level in her career. It was clear: Casey needed a way to measure herself not only against her past performance but also against other successful leaders.

Everything changed when Casey discovered a leadership development program through AIM Insights, a system dedicated to helping managers grow through actionable data. The program introduced her to benchmarking, a way to compare her leadership practices and team performance against other managers in similar roles.

At first, Casey felt apprehensive. Comparing herself to others seemed intimidating. But she quickly realized that benchmarks weren’t about competition; they were about clarity. By leveraging AIM Insights’ analytics, Casey gained access to key metrics, such as employee engagement scores, project delivery timelines, and leadership style assessments. She also participated in peer-to-peer feedback sessions, where she could learn directly from other managers.

Through this process, Casey experienced several transformative benefits:

AIM Insights goes beyond simply providing benchmarks as it tracks comprehensive performance management data for both managers and their teams. By analyzing key metrics like productivity, engagement, and leadership effectiveness, AIM Insights empowers managers to identify growth opportunities and implement targeted improvements. This continuous feedback loop not only helps individual leaders like Casey advance in their careers but also drives collective growth within their organizations, fostering a culture of excellence and innovation.

Six months into using benchmarks, the results were evident. Casey’s team exceeded their project deadlines by 20% according to the AIM Insights analytics tool, and their employee engagement scores were among the highest in the company. Her newfound clarity and confidence also led to her promotion to Senior Manager, where she continued to inspire her team and peers.

Casey’s journey illustrates the immense value of benchmarking. For managers looking to elevate their leadership and create measurable impacts, tools like those offered by AIM Insights provide the roadmap to success. By comparing herself to other leaders and leveraging benchmarks, Casey not only achieved her career goals but also cultivated a thriving, high-performing team.

For managers who feel stuck or unsure of their progress, AIM Insights is a powerful resource to gain perspective, set goals, and transform your leadership. Just as Casey discovered, benchmarks aren’t just a tool, they’re a catalyst for growth and excellence.