Simple, targeted surveys
Gathering useful feedback doesn't have to take a lot of time and effort. And it pays in more ways than you might think.
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Yesterday my local community theater wrapped production on a 3-week run of The Diary of Anne Frank.
Within two hours of the final curtain call, the entire set was struck, and all props and costumes returned to their proper places. An hour after that, a new cast gathered for the first table read of the next show.
Life moves quickly when you have an active community-driven organization.
Nonetheless, Diary cast members today received a request to complete a simple survey on their experience in the show.
Anonymous and online. Eleven simple questions ranked on a “Strongly agree” to “Strongly disagree” scale (e.g. “The director(s) clearly communicated and executed the schedule and plan for each rehearsal,” and “I was proud to promote the show to my friends and family”) followed by three open-ended questions like “What was your favorite part of this experience?” and “Was there anything that would have made this experience a more positive one?”.
It took me all of 10 minutes to complete, and after chatting with the executive director by email, I learned that she's reading the responses just about as quickly as they come in.
There are a few simple lessons here:
Volunteers are invested in your work and motivated to give solid answers. Their views and experiences are worth asking for.
Volunteers are not part of your internal staff structure. Their insights can reveal viewpoints that you can easily overlook from the inside.
A simple and reusable survey format can yield useful insights and long-term metrics that will benefit your work. Design it once (or iteratively over the first few events), and you can potentially reuse that one instrument for every single volunteer at every single event, for years to come.
Asking your volunteers about their experience doesn’t only benefit your mission. It also demonstrates that you care about their experience. Even if they don't all complete the survey, they’ll all notice that you're asking. They've already committed to serving your mission without being paid. For many people, showing that you care about them and value their contribution is a significant reward in itself.
Here's the thing:
Of all the work you might undertake in your mission, building relationships may be the most important.
Learning what matters to your people is critical in building those relationships.
So is demonstrating that you care.
A simple reusable survey instrument, coupled with a standard practice of implementation, can go a long way towards accomplishing both.
It doesn't have to be fancy or complicated.
It just needs to be sincere and consistent.
All the best,
A.