Culture Reviews – What Are Your Staff Members Really Thinking?
Are you confident that you know how your staff are feeling at work? Have you noticed tensions in the staffroom or at meetings, but no one suggests anything is amiss?
Perhaps you already do an employee engagement survey but don’t feel this is giving enough relevant details. Or perhaps you are aware that there is a particular team which is not functioning well and you can’t quite establish why that is.
There can be a variety of reasons why it can be hard to get to the heart of what is happening in situations such as this – finding time in a busy schedule, using the right tools to gather in that feedback. Sometimes there is a reluctance from staff to engage on sensitive issues or to speak about colleagues. If left unchecked these tensions may well develop into significant issues for you. Undertaking a traditional workplace investigation to look into these matters might not be the right tool, as the concerns may not focus on one individual, may come too late, may not be practicable, or might not really get to the bottom of the issue.
What Does a Culture Review Involve?
This is where a culture review can really help. It can take a number of forms – online surveys directed at the particular issue, focus groups or one-to-one interviews. Often a culture review will involve a mixture of these methods to really gain a detailed understanding of what is going on.
What Data Can a Culture Review Gather?
At Narrow Quay HR we have a lot of experience in running a variety of culture reviews – looking at general morale across the staff community, dysfunctional teams, character clashes and conflicts. We have also conducted reviews to check in on staff confidence and understanding of key policies such as safeguarding. We know that staff respond really well to a third-party undertaking this type of review – it reassures them of confidentiality (or, potentially, even anonymity), enables them to talk more freely than they would to colleagues and/or offer constructive feedback where they might not otherwise feel able to voice their thoughts, and demonstrates the school’s commitment to finding a resolution.
How Narrow Quay HR Can Aid Your Culture Review
We work with you to develop the right medium for gathering the feedback you need, and through our analysis will draw together the key themes with recommendations for action. We analyse the data we collate and provide you with a report setting out themes and findings, and our recommended next steps. We can meet with you to discuss our findings and any appropriate follow up. We can support you with actions that may flow from the review, which may be more formal investigations into particular incidents or mediation where you have unresolved conflicts.
Narrow Quay HR is a subsidiary of VWV and our team of HR consultants are a mix of former lawyers who now specialise in HR and highly experienced HR professionals, giving you solid legal grounding and practical expertise.