Improving Organisational Health Index (OHI)

Challenge

The Organizational Health Index solution measures and tracks the key nine organizational elements  that drive performance, including - direction, leadership, innovation, motivation, accountability,  external orientation, capability, environment and values, coordination and control [1].

Couple of years back, our organisation conducted a general survey to determine the OHI in order to  gain insights in each of the above mentioned elements, benchmark against peers and improve the  overall organisational performance, as required. The survey provided an output which identified two  major areas of concern by the employees, i.e. direction and leadership. I am a member of a special  work group which has been set up in order to review the outcomes of this survey. The team is a cross  section of employees from across all departments/groups and is tasked to act as a Change Agents,  suggest and put in place actions to resolve some of the issues that caused the less than expected OHI  score for the two highlighted areas.

Selection

The team members deliberated about various ways to actively seek the truth/true feelings from the  various groups of employees, and carried out various design thinking activities. It was decided to try  the learning launch tool in the form of a more localised survey for every individual department at a  given location to ask more direct and relevant questions, specifically providing opportunity to the  employees to be more elaborative in their responses.

Application

In order to capture and create an updated/detailed list of employee’s concerns, they were invited to  write down any concerns/issue they had with respect to direction and leadership. They were offered  suggestion boxes to provide their input (anonymously), which were conveniently placed in communal  areas of their respective departments/groups.  During communication of the survey process, it was  also highlighted that the survey was not only for understanding the concerns of employees but it was  also an attempt to gather some solutions if they wish to offer for resolving corresponding concerns or  issue, thus getting them engaged in the whole process.

For example, their input (issues/resolutions) was requested around (but not limited to) following  questions,

1. General issues affecting them in the areas of leadership and direction, including trivial or

major concerns.

2. Elaborate what were their expectations from their line management – whether the line

management was instrumental in providing the high quality and fulsome service to the  employees or not?

3. Did employees think that the line management was empowered enough to support them? If

not what they thought needed to be done in this regard?

The suggestion boxes were collected after two weeks to start the review process. The output was  registered for further deliberation.

Insight

Through the implementation of learning launch tool, our team was able to test the anonymous survey  approach to engage the various groups of employees at a local level. Based on the survey output it

was identified that there were some local issues that could not be captured effectively in the previous  large scale OHI exercise. These could easily be resolved with an effective intervention as ‘quick fixes’.  Remaining points were segregated and conveyed to relevant members of management team (MT)  and pursued further. The inherent flexible nature of this survey in terms of opportunity to write down  true concerns/resolutions proved extremely valuable for majority of employees against simply  participating in a multiple choice questionnaire (which was the case with previous OHI exercise). The  overall number of responses/participants was increased, owing to the more localised nature of the  survey.  This provided more intimate picture of employee concerns to the MT for them to act and  address them. There were also several resolutions collected after the survey, which helped  significantly to our team (of change agents) during the process of implementation to bring about the  necessary change/s.

Approach

The learning launch tool proved to be very valuable to our team’s effort to gather insights into  employees true concerns and generate the roadmap to address them at various levels (local –quick  fixes’ and wider scale initiatives with long term plans). We are continuing to engage with different  employee or their groups to keep them updated on the progress of the implementation process of  the survey output, giving them confidence about our result oriented campaign. We are positive that  using design thinking approach would be beneficial towards improving the two major areas of  concern, which will not only improve the OHI index of our organisation but consequently also the  overall performance.

References

[1] https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/organizational-health-index


Improving Organisational Health Index ( OHI ) Challenge The Organizational Health Index solution measures and tracks the key nine organizational elements that drive performance , including - direction , leadership , innovation , motivation , accountability , external orientation , capability , environment and values , coordination and control [ 1 ] . Couple of years back , our organisation conducted a general survey to determine the OHI in order to gain insights in each of the above mentioned elements , benchmark against peers and improve the overall organisational performance , as required . The survey provided an output which identified two major areas of concern by the employees , i.e. direction and leadership . I am a member of a special work group which has been set up in order to review the outcomes of this survey . The team is a cross section of employees from across all departments / groups and is tasked to act as a Change Agents , suggest and put in place actions to resolve some of the issues that caused the less than expected OHI score for the two highlighted areas . Selection The team members deliberated about various ways to actively seek the truth / true feelings from the various groups of employees , and carried out various design thinking activities . It was decided to try the learning launch tool in the form of a more localised survey for every individual department at a given location to ask more direct and relevant questions , specifically providing opportunity to the employees to be more elaborative in their responses . Application In order to capture and create an updated / detailed list of employee ’s concerns , they were invited to write down any concerns / issue they had with respect to direction and leadership . They were offered suggestion boxes to provide their input ( anonymously ) , which were conveniently placed in communal areas of their respective departments / groups . During communication of the survey process , it was also highlighted that the survey was not only for understanding the concerns of employees but it was also an attempt to gather some solutions if they wish to offer for resolving corresponding concerns or issue , thus getting them engaged in the whole process . For example , their input ( issues / resolutions ) was requested around ( but not limited to ) following questions , 1 . General issues affecting them in the areas of leadership and direction , including trivial or major concerns . 2 . Elaborate what were their expectations from their line management – whether the line management was instrumental in providing the high quality and fulsome service to the employees or not ? 3 . Did employees think that the line management was empowered enough to support them ? If not what they thought needed to be done in this regard ? The suggestion boxes were collected after two weeks to start the review process . The output was registered for further deliberation . Insight Through the implementation of learning launch tool , our team was able to test the anonymous survey approach to engage the various groups of employees at a local level . Based on the survey output it was identified that there were some local issues that could not be captured effectively in the previous large scale OHI exercise . These could easily be resolved with an effective intervention as ‘ quick fixes ’ . Remaining points were segregated and conveyed to relevant members of management team ( MT ) and pursued further . The inherent flexible nature of this survey in terms of opportunity to write down true concerns / resolutions proved extremely valuable for majority of employees against simply participating in a multiple choice questionnaire ( which was the case with previous OHI exercise ) . The overall number of responses / participants was increased , owing to the more localised nature of the survey . This provided more intimate picture of employee concerns to the MT for them to act and address them . There were also several resolutions collected after the survey , which helped significantly to our team ( of change agents ) during the process of implementation to bring about the necessary change / s. Approach The learning launch tool proved to be very valuable to our team ’s effort to gather insights into employees true concerns and generate the roadmap to address them at various levels ( local – quick fixes ’ and wider scale initiatives with long term plans ) . We are continuing to engage with different employee or their groups to keep them updated on the progress of the implementation process of the survey output , giving them confidence about our result oriented campaign . We are positive that using design thinking approach would be beneficial towards improving the two major areas of concern , which will not only improve the OHI index of our organisation but consequently also the overall performance . References [ 1 ] https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/organizational-health-index