Efforts by the County Board of Commissioners (BOC) intended to improve working conditions and efficiency in the county building continue to fester in controversy and hurt feelings.
Faced with high turnover and internal tension within offices, the BOC approved hiring Michigan Leadership Institute (MLI) to conduct an employee climate/culture study. The study was done with the promise of employee confidentiality. Results were presented to the BOC at a recent meeting.
The report and presentation laid the facts on the table for the BOC. To say it was not met with open arms would be an understatement. The process was questioned. The validity of the summary report was challenged. There was a sense of denial from some commissioners.
Those reactions are not that unusual when faced with sobering, personal feedback.
Organizational psychologist Adam Grant explored the physiological response people have when presented with negative feedback: “We tense up, our breathing gets shallower and our ego becomes so threatened it begins to limit the information that is let into our brains. We regulate to avoid taking in harsh critiques.”
A Harvard Business School study found that negative feedback causes employees to reshape their networks to shore up their professional and personal identity. This lowers performance, the opposite of the goal of the performance feedback, as it is perceived as threatening to one’s self-concept.
The challenge for the BOC, elected officials and department heads is to put the hurt pride and egos aside and get to work on fixing the problems within the walls of the county building.
MLI and the BOC has resisted the release of the data gathered in the survey process. We disagree with that approach.
In a survey, the raw data is the heart of the results. It is where issues are exposed and feelings are expressed. It quantifies the degree to which issues exist.
We do not question the validity of the survey or the points expressed in the final report. We do feel, however, that the BOC cannot fully grasp the degree of employee concern without the raw data.
The raw data, in a redacted form to ensure confidentiality, should be requested of MLI. That is what was paid for in a survey.
With, or without the data, the BOC needs to move forward quickly to remedy the underlying issues within the county building.
We encourage the board of commissioners request the redacted data from MLI to best be able to understand the survey results and get moving on finding solutions.
