You Said, We Did

A year ago, I introduced a phrase that's since taken on a life of its own: "𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗦𝗮𝗶𝗱, 𝗪𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗱."

But this started years ago when I became obsessed with this one question: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱?

And what I found from decades of research with nearly half a million people is if you want to innovate and stay relevant, you need to give people the opportunity to speak up. And, you need to create a culture of follow-through.

I built an entire chapter around it in my new book, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, with examples from Lego, ATLiS (Christina Lewellen, MBA, FASAE, CAE) and the Association of Corporate Counsel. And I've delivered it from stages across the country. And it resonated.

The core idea? What we call "survey fatigue" is usually something else entirely: inaction fatigue.

𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱.

This isn't theory for me. Right now, my team at Avenue M is in the field conducting membership research for associations across the country.

We're talking to members. We're analyzing data. We're helping organizations figure out not just what their members think - but what to do about it.

After two decades of hands-on survey work 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁? 𝗕𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲.

Organizations that thrive are the ones that respond - to their members, their staff, everyone they serve.

So before you send that next membership survey, ask yourself: What will we do with this?

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?

1. 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗽𝘀. Before you can improve how you act, you need to understand how you're collecting feedback.

2. 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲. People don't need every idea to be implemented but they need to know that someone heard them.

3. 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴. It's easy to host a town hall or conduct a survey, or nod in a meeting. It's much harder to be changed by what you hear.

4. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲. Take inventory. Do you have a person, team or process for closing the loop on feedback?

Feedback without follow-up leads to frustration. But when you ask, act, and update? That's how you build trust.

That's the real work. And it's work worth claiming.