Leading Adviser Awards 2022

Acquisition International - Leading Adviser 2022 9 Acquisition International - Issue 12 2022 13 Protecting the Employee Experience this successful consultancy, he is a visiting Professor. Michael ensures that psychology is used to develop trust in the survey and to get a high number of open and honest responses. He starts this journey before the survey launches with a personalised video for the employees. Filmed in a casual setting, Michael tells the audience who he is, how the survey will work and how their anonymity is guaranteed. So why are these videos so effective? Michael believes that “Particularly in this social media age, relationships and trust are often formed by seeing and listening to people online, so by creating a video where I dispel myths and concerns about completing a staff survey, the viewers are also allowed to decide if they trust me.” It would appear they do trust Michael and his team as their surveys consistently get high response rates and thereby high statistical confidence levels. This even applies when the organisation is spread globally or has a very diverse range of employees. Protostar are specialists in adapting surveys to be understood and appealing to diverse audiences, minority groups, and those who are often reticent to respond. Another way they differentiate themselves from survey apps or other providers is that their surveys can communicate vital messages to the employees as well as seek their responses. Typically, this might be to provide details of who to speak to if their responses indicate that they are stressed or being bullied. Similarly, it might show them the organisation’s values if they indicate that they do not know them. Managing Director Michael Coates explains how this works. “While staff are completing a survey you have a captive audience, but they are also anonymous, so you can’t send out targeted communications to those who require one after the survey, but we can do it during.” In addition, at the end of the online survey, respondents receive either personalised messages from the CEO of their organisation or they are taken to a video, again capitalising on the fact that they are already in listening mode. Another area that has continued to improve and develop at Protostar is how they present the data to clients. In addition to a detailed narrative report where the main findings are highlighted along with any comments staff provided that might clarify those findings, the data is also available as an interactive dashboard. While the idea of a dashboard is nothing new, Protostar are firm believers that any such tool should be self-intuitive and continuously improve based on user feedback. Michael Coates continued, “Clients love our dashboards as they do not need an expensive license or an instruction manual, yet they do allow you to easily filter, compare and contrast responses.” The last two years have seen significant growth at Protostar and with a healthy pipeline of potential clients ranging from SMEs to public sector organisations and global corporations, many employees will be far more engaged as a result of their support. Contact: Michael Coates Email: [email protected] Telephone: +44 (0) 191 3855455 Company: Protostar Leadership Development LTD Web Address: www.protostar-uk.com/employee-surveys Further reading: https://commons.emich.edu/gabc/vol5/iss1/4/ Michael Coates – Managing Director Protostar

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