What is an Organizational Health Assessment and why is it important?
The annual Organizational Health Assessment Survey is a tool deployed to all Academy members to help get to the heart of how people feel about our organization. More specifically, the Organizational Health Assessment helps answer how satisfied and engaged our staff are with the Academy and its work as well as uncovers any issues that need attention to further support our organizational culture. The Academy has been intentional in our efforts to cultivate a healthy organization since its inception. The Organizational Health Assessment Survey plays a vital role in assessing the impact the Academy is making with our strategic goal to advance the employee experience through our I3 (Inquire, Inspire, Impact) Employee Experience Framework. The I3 framework captures the strategies we use to Inquire with humility, Inspire with heart, and Impact mindfully over the course of an employee’s journey with us.
The survey constructs/themes measured are:
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access
- Communication
- Value and Respect
- Staff Safety
- Connection to Vision
- Purpose and Meaning
What is the process for choosing the specific questions to ask?
At the beginning of the Summer of 2020, members of the Strategy & Outcomes team began to review the existing Employee Engagement survey and the Organizational Health survey with the intent to combine the survey tools and make necessary upgrades before re-deploying as an annual assessment. The team thoroughly researched best practices in survey design and reviewed existing tools from Great Places to Work, Gallup, Qualtrics, and the National Center for Wellbeing.
At the beginning of January 2022, we finalized the consolidation of the Organizational Health and Employee Engagement surveys into one survey, refreshing existing survey questions and adding additional questions around diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and staff safety to help us measure and inform our work to integrate anti-racist, trauma-informed, recovery-oriented practices into our daily work, services, and interactions.
How is the data collected/interpreted?
Data is collected via an anonymous Qualtrics survey and the results are provided to all staff on a Qualtrics dashboard. Means are included for each item, and an aggregate mean is provided for each of the construct/theme areas. For items scoring less than 4.0 out of 5.0 on average, frequencies are provided to show how many respondents selected each scale point.
Qualitative data is independently analyzed by two members of the Evaluation Development Team. Any differences in how responses are coded are discussed and final themes are identified. The top three themes from each open-ended question are presented in the dashboard.
How does it impact the organization to make changes moving forward? How does the Academy use the results?
Survey results are shared with all staff and help us both build on what is working well and explore and address areas of concern. Results are used to guide recommendations and actions to enhance and support Academy processes, policies, work culture, and strategic priorities for the coming year.