How to run an employee focus group
When organizations aim to drive change, one approach is to gather a small group of influential employees. Employee focus groups provide a powerful platform for gathering insights, activating engagement, and ensuring the success of organizational transformations. In this blog post, we will explore the key steps and strategies to effectively run employee focus groups and harness their potential for driving positive change.
Step 1: Curate a purposeful group
To begin, gather a small group of 8-12 influential employees who can serve as ambassadors for the desired change. Your goal isn’t just to gather their input but to activate and engage this core group around the transformation you seek to make. By involving influential employees from diverse roles and levels, you can foster ownership and broad support for the change initiative.
Step 2: Focus on what works
Instead of fixating on what is broken within the organization, shift your focus to identify what is working well. Ask yourself, what makes highly engaged employees so committed? Why do certain employees have long tenure or high promotion rates? By exploring the success stories and bright spots, you can uncover valuable insights that can be replicated across the organization. Devote your time to amplifying what works, rather than solely fixing what's broken.
Step 3: Engage employees through purposeful design
Running employee focus groups goes beyond merely collecting information. It presents an opportunity for engagement and involvement in the change process.
People love and appreciate feeling heard and being involved, especially when the change affects them. Change is personal. We can treat it that way by taking a personalized approach to data-gathering.
Give employees skin in the game by asking for their expertise, stories, and insights.
Assign employees a role as active listeners, encouraging them to identify emerging themes from fellow participants' perspectives.
Highlight the importance of their opinions and experiences by elevating their status and showcasing their unique role in the change process.
This intentional design fosters a sense of ownership, increases engagement, and empowers employees to contribute to the desired change.
Step 4: Embrace a 'Pull' approach to data-gathering
Traditional approaches to data-gathering often involve pushing out information or seeking specific answers. However, when it comes to driving organizational change and fostering engagement, a 'pull' approach is more effective. Rather than focusing solely on the content, prioritize the outcome you wish to achieve from participants. Involve employees as co-creators of the data-gathering experience, tapping into their intrinsic motivation and connecting the process to something they care about.
To implement this approach:
Focus on the outcome you want to achieve from the participants, considering what you genuinely need from them.
Craft the data-gathering experience in a way that appeals to their intrinsic motivation.
Emphasize the personal nature of the change and take a personalized approach to data collection.
Foster engagement by involving employees in co-creating the experience, and valuing their expertise and insights.
Step 5: Foster ongoing commitment
Bringing people together in a focus group is not just about sharing information; it's about building an ongoing commitment to change. Take the time to build a context that fuels ongoing engagement and reinforces the importance of their contributions. Success is not measured solely by the immediate clarity of their answers but by their continued desire and effort to join you in the change you seek.
Running an employee focus group is a powerful tool for driving organizational change and ensuring employee engagement. By involving employees as co-creators of the data-gathering experience, you tap into their intrinsic motivation and make the change process personal. This approach leads to valuable insights, increased commitment, and successful implementation of desired changes.
Remember, the key to effective change is in engaging your employees and leveraging their expertise to create a thriving and adaptive organizational culture.
Lindsey Caplan is a screenwriter turned organizational psychologist who helps HR & business leaders create experiences that boost motivation, engagement, and performance