Frequently Asked Questions

Getting Started

Key benefits of participation include:

We are interested in working with organizations across a variety of industries. We have a particular emphasis on organizations within energy, finance, healthcare, and higher education, and/or organizations whose strategic directions include a focus on digital transformation.
Our research is particularly well-suited to organizations that are:
- focused on equity, diversity and inclusion. This project examines whether certain voices are being systematically excluded from important conversations.
- about to go through organizational change or transformation. This project helps provide insight into organizations’ readiness for change.
- interested in engaging with something new and different. This project takes a novel approach to understand leadership in the upper layers of organizations.
- considering pursuing other leadership development programs. This project reveals new limitations of leadership in the upper layers of organizations that might be addressed through developmental opportunities.

Ideally, in the next 3-6 months; but realistically, through the end of 2021 (at least).

In an employee engagement survey, leaders may receive a high-level overview of how committed employees are to strategy. The detailed look at the interactions between people and teams that will determine the success of this strategy (the purpose of this study) is not possible with a typical employee engagement survey.

The study typically takes 6 weeks: 2 weeks to design the survey, 2 weeks for data collection, and 2 weeks for the analyses to be completed and the report to be finalized.
We also offer a follow up survey at six months to evaluate improvement in key metrics. This follow-up survey is not a requirement for participation, but increase the value provided to participating organizations.

Yes we do! Our research team will provide all of the communications you would need to work with an organization, including email templates to announce the study to employees.

Generally, the executive leadership team (ELT) and the teams that report to ELT members. However, the answer to this question will often vary based on the structure of the organization. As part of setting up the study we will work with the organizational representative(s) to identify the people who should participate in order to provide the most valuable insights. We have created a video to aid organizational representatives in thinking about who should participate.

There is not a fixed sample or organizational size for this study. However, the project does require organizations that consist of at least 3 levels (i.e., the CEO, VPs, and direct reports).

Our research team will manage the entirety of the data collection and analysis process. Organizational stakeholders will remain informed throughout the duration of the process.

In order to ensure the veracity of the findings in the report we require at least an 80% response rate. This sounds very high, but we have a communication plan in place to help ensure we hit this target and have been successful with all of the companies we’ve worked with. Our team will monitor the survey responses, and notify our organizational contact with updates. Our team will send reminders to participants until that response rate is met, and if necessary we will work with the organization to extend the data collection time frame to hit this mark.

The surveys usually take 30-35 minutes to complete, however; this timeline will vary. That variability is because people have different size networks, and people who have larger networks will spend slightly more time completing the survey.

Most of the debriefings will be virtual, but our grant funding through the National Science Foundation allows us to attend conduct select debrief session in person.