Appoint a Steering Committee

We recommend appointing a Steering Committee to help guide and implement the survey. Ideally, there would be a representative from each major constituency who can reflect the interests of the unit and can maintain ongoing communications with the unit's management. Others may include human resources, communications, information technology, facilities management, and personnel research. Consideration should be given to including customer, third party, and board representatives.

The Steering Committee will meet several times in the course of the survey project. The Survey Consultant will attend these meetings and participate fully, but these meetings should be conducted and hosted by the Organizational Survey Project Manager. The consultant should help prepare the agenda, facilitate the meeting and discussion, and focus on actions to be taken by the members.

The Steering Committee would do the following: Review the project objectives Review the overall approach Review the questionnaire content Review the administration procedures Participate in discussions with the management in their respective units Oversee the administration in their organization Track participation rates Prod the organization for a high participation rate Assist in the dissemination of the results Assist in the preparation of people who will conduct feedback meetings Facilitate follow-through on the action plans

The Steering Committee will take an active role in working out special arrangements for administration to disabled employees, employees with literacy or language problems, and employees who may be absent or traveling. The Survey Consultant should be experienced in developing multilingual surveys.

A vital part of the committee's responsibility is the planning of the communications strategy for the survey. The survey project must be marketed and advertised.

Employees must be aware that: A survey is coming It is important to their interests Participation is encouraged Anonymity and confidentiality will be protected Administration details will be provided They will receive feedback in some form They will participate in the validation of issues and the development of actions

Communications cannot be left to chance. The Survey Consultant can provide guidance and specific suggestions for a communications plan.