Are you making critical people & culture decisions without data?

We know that businesses everywhere are grappling with the impact of COVID-19. In addition to facing the challenge of helping teams perform during a sudden transition to a remote workforce, there are also heightened levels of stress and anxiety. 

A current and ongoing study from Mercer, indicates:

• 72% of companies have implemented some form of business continuity plan
• 50% of companies are addressing employee’s “psychological stress” needs
• … yet only 8% of those same companies have used a formal survey to first understand the specific challenges employees are facing

How do we know we are addressing the right needs? Well, we don’t without asking the people we are trying to help. Specific, detailed information from employees helps ensure we are fixing the right problems. This is even more important in an environment where stress and anxiety has increased in all facets of people’s lives. 

One of the core needs right now is psychological safety. This current crisis has made millions of people feel less safe, less secure. People are worried about their health, finances, family and livelihood. Already on pins and needles, many people also fear making a mistake, overlooking something or saying the wrong thing at work. This is even worse if the team’s leader is operating from a reactive mindset due to their own anxiety.

Psychological safety refers to our need for dignity, respect and integrity in the workplace. We feel safe when we have both autonomy and the expectation of being treated fairly. Research has shown that psychological safety is a critical element of performance. 

Right now many people lack psychological safety. Anxiety is high, things are moving fast and the situation is unprecedented in our lifetime. To make matters worse, the Mercer study implies that most organizations are flying blind, whether they realize it or not. Does your organization offer employees the psychological safety they need to operate in this environment?

92% of organizations are racing to implement people solutions without having critical data on the problems. I completely understand that in the last couple of weeks many leaders did not have bandwidth to collect data from employees about how to support them during a crisis. In some cases employees may not even be sure what they need, given they have not yet fully-adapted to being suddenly thrust into working remotely with their kids out of school. That said, we need to see this as a dynamic, evolving ‘new normal’ where collecting data quickly will improve execution. 

SupportingLines can help you quickly assess elements of both performance and psychological safety. In this time of crisis, we are pairing a prominent psychological safety assessment with the SupportingLines High-Performance Index at no additional cost. This combined approach provides leaders with critical insight during a crisis situation:

• Comprehensive information on exactly how leaders can Help Teams Align & Collaborate effectively
• Comprehensive information on the exact nature and extent of Psychological Safety factors that are undermining performance
• A shortlist of priority questions that we can pulse survey on a monthly basis to monitor status and track progress
• Detailed information on how leaders can Help People Grow once things settle into a new normal

Data provides confidence that well-intentioned leaders are making the right decisions. We are in the midst of an unprecedented crisis situation. When leaders quickly survey employees they will gain deeper insight that helps teams perform. Integrated data from these two powerful assessments, gives leaders confidence that their limited resources are being focused on the right problems.

The High-Performance Index™ quickly provides insight into how well leaders Help Teams Align & Collaborate and how well they Help People Grow. It takes less than ten minutes for employees to complete and can provide results in less than a week. We also pulse survey critical questions to monitor status and track progress. If you would like to experience the power of HPI yourself, complete our Leader Evaluation and we’ll debrief it for free.