CASE STUDY
Culture Change: From Disengagement to Engagement
PROBLEM: Poor Employee Engagement Survey Scores
STARS, a California-wide organization who supplements the foster care system with counseling and education, had conducted an internal employee engagement survey across all of their worksites several years in a row. One worksite consistently received lower scores in comparison to other worksites, and the site’s Administrator knew something needed to change.
In partnership with the Administrator, we conducted our own climate assessment to understand the culture, and we interviewed a random selection of employees. The average survey score was 49% agreement. For example, only 37% of the workforce agreed their manager created a motivating work environment, and only 32% agreed that the organization cared about their well-being.
SOLUTION: Action Team and Series of Short-Sprint Strategic Plans
With our help, the administrator put together an action team made up of employees from different levels and departments, and together we created a roadmap for change. It included creating core values and programs that would bring them to life, training for managers on performance conversations, a process for accepting suggestions and reporting out on their status, quarterly all-hands meetings, and re-creating the onboarding program. The administrator also cleared her schedule for three days to have one-on-ones, and spent much time working closely with the supervisors to improve their management skills.
Key Results: Improved Survey Scores, Renewed Hope & A Path to Engaged Employees
After one year of working together, the second survey showed an improvement on every single survey question. The average score had increased from 49% to 70% and many areas improved by more than 50%.
The organization still had much work to do, but now they had a roadmap, the skills and the confidence to keep improving their culture long after our partnership ended.
