What is The Wheel ?
The wheel is a Business planning tool to focus and align company and department goals. It is a proven, easy-to-do, ongoing process that engages all employees (Employee Scorecard), keeps them informed of your Business Game Plan and uses a process-oriented approach that is easily integrated into your way of doing business.
1.Why should I take up everyone’s time in my company with a survey? I think I know what is best for my business.
Doing a survey will provide you and your leadership team with an idea of how the employees perceive the company’s performance and provide ideas on where changes may be needed or perhaps offer new goals and objectives to improve the company’s bottom line.
2. How do I know people are providing “real” suggestions and not just trying to keep me happy by agreeing with our current plan?
Most of the companies participating in the surveys want the employee’s answers to be anonymous so they receive truthful and meaningful responses. Plus, since the survey is being conducted by an outside consultant, people feel freer to provide candid opinions and suggestions.
3. How long is the survey? I don’t want people taking too much time out of their workday.
We suggest keeping the survey to less than 10 questions so people can complete the process in 5-10 minutes. We recommend using open ended questions to get a person’s true feelings. Or, if you’d rather, we can work with you to design questions specific to any issues you may currently be having.
4. Who should participate in the survey?
We suggest all employees get involved. You may be surprised to hear some creative suggestions from people in all levels of the company structure. At a minimum your leadership team and their direct reports should participate.
5. I like the idea that the survey is anonymous, but what if I am trying to determine if I need to make changes in a specific department? Can we do something about that?
Yes. We can drill down the responses further by asking people to identify what department they work in, how long they have worked for the company, etc. We recommend that if there are only one or two people in a department that we group their answers with another department(s) so we can’t single out who the respondents are.
6. What does something like this cost?
Our surveys typically cost between $500 – $1,000 depending on the number of questions and the number of respondents.
7. What do I get for that price?
You get:
- The survey, designed and distributed.
- A detailed summary of the responses.
- A summary of suggestions and/or recommendations from the consultant reviewing the responses.
8. What happens after that?
We work with you to develop next year’s Game Plan based on the information we receive from the survey responses and suggestions from your leadership team. We then work with you to help implement it, companywide.
9. How do I sign up?
Contact John Ruh at (773) 775-6636 with any questions you have, or click here for the Contact Us page.
The Business Game Plan
What is it?
It is a user friendly document that describes your culture (vision, goals, mission and values) as well as your strategy, structure (who does what) and support tools (you might think of it as your magical tool box). It must be truthful, empowering and writing in a language that resonates with the people who need to execute it (all stakeholders, employees, key advisors, etc.).
Why do it?
In order to win at any game, all stakeholders must know the rules of the game, their role, code of conduct and what winning looks like.
Who has access to it?
Everyone (all stakeholders)
How do we do it?
It is integrated into simple, easy-to-follow recruiting, orientation and ongoing training/development steps.
How often do we update it?
It is a living document. We put in it the monthly, quarterly and annual steps so everyone knows what to expect.
What does it cost?
$15,000 as a project price. It is also included as part of our bronze, silver and gold business consulting packages.
Can we do a game plan without doing a survey?
Yes but why? We want all stakeholders to input and it is an integral part of the process. It shows that you respect them. It gives everyone a voice.
Continuous Improvement Program
What is it? Fundamentally it is a way of thinking. A philosophy, a context that says change/continuous improvement is a way of life at your company.
Why do it?
To survive the coming market. No matter who you aren’t in a constant state of continuous improvement, eventually you will put yourself out of business (Study the history of your industry to validate that statement).
How does it work?
- You define your culture.
- You create an empowering annual game plan that includes the continuous improvement component and process to follow.
- You make continuous improvement a habit like brushing your teeth (johnruhconsulting are-you-brushing-your-teeth) rather than something to do when a problem occurs.
- You put in place a system to log and measure results.
Do we need a survey and game plan to do it?
Yes.
Can we do it as a stand-alone project?
While you can do this piece-meal. it is our strong recommendation that people see the whole picture. (For example how Illinois fits into the whole United States rather than just being a piece by itself.) It is confusing when not seen as part of your overall game plan.
Early Bird Specials Available!
Call us by Nov. 30th to schedule an employee survey and we will give you a 10% discount.
Business First magazine says:
“Employee buy-in is essential to develop a climate of continuous improvement”
The more your employees buy-in to your program, the more they will feel motivated and participate in programs that transform or advance your business.
The Time to Start the Wheel Planning Improvement Program is NOW!
John Ruh Consulting can assist you with the steps in The Wheel Planning Improvement Program, but you need to START NOW by surveying your employees.
November
Get everyone’s input about the company’s performance in 2014 and what they believe are the goals and challenges for 2015. Getting this input, this will set the stage for their “buy-in” for the upcoming year planning.
December
Gather and assess the data, have Departmental Managers meet with their staff for a 2014 review and 2015 planning session, and have the Leadership Team create goals for 2015. Multiple viewpoints will help create a strong 2015 planning session.
January
Have a cost-effective, company-wide meeting and have everyone in the organization take ownership for the success of your 2015 vision and goals.
